Sleight (2017)

“Sleight” stars Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Sasheer Zamata, Storm Reid, Cameron Esposito, and Dulé Hill.  Released on April 28, 2017, the film is about a young street magician who must use his skills to save his little sister.

The film is written and directed by J.D. Dillard.  While we won’t get a proper superhero movie until next weekend, we do get a film that’s somehow like a superhero movie.  This latest project comes from WWE Studios, the production company who is responsible for certain films that transform their popular WWE wrestlers into movie stars.  While this one doesn’t star a professional wrestler, it does have Latimore in a leading role after appearing in several movies that have him as a supporting character.  There have been plenty of superhero movies that use flashy action sequences, explosions, and a bunch of CGI to entertain their target audience, and believe me, Hollywood is not going to stop making them anytime soon.  This film serves as a nice little breather due to its much lower budget and the lack of heroes wearing spandex which, in this case, should be considered a good thing.

Pros:
The cast delivered some good performances.  Jacob Latimore was very impressive as Bo.

J.D. Dillard’s direction and storytelling were both handled very well.

The cinematography was good.

Its themes and situations were relatable, especially the lifestyle of Los Angeles. 

Cons:
The story was a bit predictable and slow.

A couple of superhero genre cliches.

Final thoughts: It does have a few predictable spots here and there, and the pacing can be a bit of a nuisance for some people, but “Sleight” has enough tricks up its sleeve to provide a unique and well-acted take on the cliched “superhero” genre.  With a very low budget, J.D. Dillard managed to create a grounded story where a superhero is just a ordinary, vulnerable boy with magician skills, and the result was pretty impressive in my book.  This film is worth checking out before seeing some of the high-budget summer blockbusters next month.

B