Brilliant acts in a somewhat jaded perspective of Spielberg.

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2003)

In these days of breath-taking special effects, dazzling sounds and tension-filled interpretation of violent thrill, it's quite hard for a director like Spielberg to check the interest to make uses of them in his movie while he has a number of award-winning films filled with all of them under his belt. But it evidently appeared, after watching the film, that he really wanted to do something new. Something that deliberately will not be considered as a typical Spielberg film.
But he has not quite succeeded to fulfill those wishes. Though he has not used anything special of modern technology, apart from excellent camera work, another typical Spielberg perspective is now exposed which he could not remove from this film too. Well, upto this time that was playfully hidden by the tension his movie used to have. But now, the "cat and mouse" theory, in which the mouse is always the public winner (look at the examples, Jon Anderton, Ian Malcolm et al, the arachnophobics, the family in Poultergeist etc) is at its over-used bluntness while now, the 'cat' has come into the standard of FBI agents.
But above all these, it must be said that Spielberg is quite lucky to have so much brilliant actors at their best in this film. Be it DiCaprio, who is all convincing as young and handsome Frank Abagnale Jr. or Tom Hanks as the FBI agent. Both, especially Hanks, got it all right in every places in the movie. And we must not forget Christopher Walken as Frank Sr. His performance is also quite realistic and fluent. So it turns out to be the acting which prompts us to see the movie over and over again, this time not by Spielberg, though smelling something new in the future air.