This film is one that popped up on my recommended a couple of times, but I always avoided it. This was actually because I am dumb, not because I didn't want to watch it. In my mind, I had somehow mixed up the title 'Catch Me If You Can' with 'Now You See Me', and I didn't want to watch a film about magic tricks.
Then, I sat down to watch a movie with my parents, and my Dad put this one on. I kind of sat back, annoyed that I would have to watch a film about magic, and then I realised how stupid I was.
I proceeded to watch this film three nights in a row, and have returned to it multiple times.
So, without further ado, let us take a look at this movie (which has nothing to do with magic tricks).
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Based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a true-life story of the most successful bank robber and con artist in U.S. history. Successfully eluding the FBI for years, Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a master of deception: posing as a commercial airline pilot, pediatrician, assistant attorney general and history professor - and a brilliant forger passing millions in bad checks both in the U.S. and Internationally. FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), has made it his prime mission to bring Abagnale to justice and pursues him relentlessly, eventually capturing him in Paris.
My Review!
Frank William Abagnale Jr. was a young man no different from everyone else. His mother and father were a lovely couple, and Frank could want for little. However, with his father in trouble about money, Frank’s life gets turned upside down when his family is forced to move to a smaller house. He has to change schools, and his parents’ relationship grows strained. It is when Frank is faced with the decision, which parent does he want to live with after the divorce, that he runs and doesn’t look back.
The way Frank’s life goes seems to be that he has an idea, and rolls with it, without thinking anything through first, but thinking about it after he has made the decision of what to do next. When his checks start to bounce, it is clear he needs money, but the only question he faces is, where does he get it, especially when everyone stills treats him like a child. And so, his new life starts when he changes his birth date back ten years, and begins to force checks.
The phrase ‘digging yourself into a hole’ certainly applies to this depiction of Frank’s life. He makes things up on the spot, says ‘yes’ to things without thinking about the consequences, and he bluffs his way through so much it’s incredible. Not to mention, he is incredibly smart. He does not manage to get his way through things by pure luck, he learns very quickly how the work of a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer goes, and follows it. He learns the trade, although considerable less so in some cases, and genuinely works his way through jobs he does not really have the qualifications for. When you think about it, especially considering he was under the age of 20 when he did all of this, it is astounding that people that smart really exist.
And yet, it is heartbreaking to know that, with everything Frank does, he is simply trying to put his family back together. He is trying to get his parents back together, to fix his father’s problems and mistakes, but along the way, his mistakes end up to be too much to simply put aside and, as it is said, two wrongs don’t always make a right.
The irony of it all, of course, is that, having the knowledge about check fraud that he did, Frank ended up doing incredibly well for himself working to catch those using fraudulent checks – not that I’m saying check fraud is something we should all be pursuing, but it is ironic that Frank became what he spent years running from, and he found a job he didn’t have to pretend at, and that he, once again, excelled at.
This film is the kind that you watch in amazement, wondering just how Frank is going to get himself out of the next situation, and what kind of strange scheme his next will be. There are many times that, while watching it, you are certain this will be the time that Carl Hanratty catches him, and yet, we know how the story ends before it begins. This isn’t a fictional story, but a depiction of real events. And Frank Abagnale was caught.
I loved watching the developing relationship between Frank and Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent who is determined to catch the man who made him out to be a fool. Carl starts out despising Frank, and yet, as Carl gets closer to catching him, and with a yearly phone call from Frank, to wish him a Merry Christmas, their relationship grows from simply chaser and runner. Watching the realisation that these two people really only have each other, despite the fact that they are on opposite sides of the law, was wonderful.
I have watched this film at least five or six times now, and it is not the sort of film that you quickly grow bored of, and can’t sit through another time. It is the kind of film that holds your attention each time you watch it, and no matter how many times you watch it, you will still watch with rapt attention. I can predict what scene will come next, but I do not wish for it to hurry up, I sit and eagerly watch. This is the sort of film that fully entertains for the duration of it, and the pure genius of Frank’s mind, although it is not entirely put to good use for much of the film, is incredible to watch.
And done!
Everyone knows my lack of preparation at this point, so there's really no need to point out that I started making this post last night, and finished it an hour before it's due to be posted.
I'm so predictable!
That's all for now...
Bye!
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