The Forger (2014)

A thief works with his father and son to forge a painting by Monet and steal the original. Together, they plan the heist of their lives.

Director:

Philip Martin

Writer:

Richard D'Ovidio

Stars:

John Travolta, Christopher Plummer, Tye Sheridan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Raymond J. Cutter
Christopher Plummer	...	Joseph Cutter
Tye Sheridan	...	Will Cutter
Abigail Spencer	...	Agent Paisley
Anson Mount	...	Keegan
Marcus Thomas	...	Carl
Jennifer Ehle	...	Kim
Travis Aaron Wade	...	Detective Devlin
Lyndon Smith	...	Melanie
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Raul Carlos
Sean Malone	...	Finn
Owen Burke	...	Collin
Steve Sweeney	...	Ivan
Bryan Veronneau	...	Rodney
Christy Scott Cashman	...	Dr. Wallace

Storyline

The world's best art forger (John Travolta) makes a deal with a crime syndicate to get an early release from prison, but in return he must pull off an impossible heist - he must forge a painting by Claude Monet, steal the original from a museum, and replace it with a replica so perfect that no one will notice. He enlists the help of his father (Christopher Plummer) and son (Tye Sheridan) and together they plan the heist of their lives!

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Plot Keywords:

forgery | 

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Taglines:

It's never too late for one last heist.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Travola traveled to Hong Kong to study oil painting in order to prepare for his role in this film.

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Goofs

When Ray is explaining to Will why new oil paints cannot be used to forge an old painting (19th Century), he (correctly) mentions a big reason is because of air pollution from the 20th Century caused tiny little black specs in the new paints. However, he does not mention 1 very important reason: Any oil painting made prior to the first atomic bomb, which was detonated at Trinity Island in the Pacific Ocean plus all subsequent atomic explosions caused sub-atomic particulate matter to be formed in all new paints (and paintings). This is a key test which can be done to determine positively if a painting was made before or after the first atomic bomb. Also, this is a very expensive test.

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Quotes

Joseph Cutter: [toasting] Life is short, and things go wrong. May we always have enough.

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Connections

Referenced in Chelsea Lately: Episode #7.152 (2013)

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Soundtracks

Higher
Written by Eric Cross and Daniel Brake

User Reviews

A pretty good movie, after all.

The review that caught my eye, before I rented "The Forger", was "Travolta's best performance in ten years...". But then, just before watching it, I searched for more reviews and saw that some critics panned it. Well, I happy to say they are wrong—it's a pretty good movie, after all.

I mean, come on, critics! I usually agree with you—but saying this is too "slow paced" and that it has "two, conflicting, story lines"? I LOVED the pace, and the acting, and, especially the story line(s).

OK, so it does have two story lines going on—the forgery and heist, and the human interest about the forger's family (his dad, his son, his ex-wife who had not seen the son in years, the female detective...). So what? It's believable (as much as any heist story or human interest story can be) to the point that plot vs. sub-plot is just not a problem.

I thought Travolta DID give a heck of a performance. His pace fit the overall pace of the film, as did that of the other actors. And Travolta, who has had his share of sorrow in real life, looked to me like a man who has been there, done that. He looks the part and is very convincing.

Everyone actually looked pretty good (or properly bad-ass) thanks to some solid lighting and overall nice cinematography. (This is not some kind of "art" film, but nevertheless consistent in it's camera work.) The sound quality was good (a pet peeve of mine in some films) including the music which seemed to fit the film nicely.

As for the VERY best performance in the film, besides Plummer, who is always fun to watch for me... it has to be young Tye Sheridan. Nicely understated, smart, believable. I'm looking forward to his next film, whatever it turns out to be.

Finally, the director certainly knows a thing or two about film making, as, even with the somewhat slow pace, everything builds mostly evenly towards a satisfying ending. Of course the screenplay had to work too, for that to happen.

Bottom line, I'm glad I rented "The Forger". I enjoyed pretty much all of it, and even replayed a few parts to study how the film was put together. Probably no Academy Awards coming for this, but all cast and crew can still stand tall.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

24 April 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Forger

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$500,304

Company Credits

Production Co:

Saban Films, Code Entertainment, Freedom Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 95 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1