One Of The Year's Best!!!

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2002)

Catch Me If You Can [PG-13] Running Time, 2 hours: 20 minutes Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio Tom Hanks Christopher Walken
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Well Leonardo Dicaprio has returned to the big-screen these past few weeks with two great movies, by two great directors. The previous film that was released to star Dicaprio was Gangs Of New York, directed by Martin Scorsese. This week, we have a very different kind of movie from the man I like to refer to as `the great one,' called Catch Me If You Can. `The great one,' being Steven Spielberg, my favorite director who's made some of the finest motion pictures in history. In my opinion, the release of a Steven Spielberg film is an event. He's created some of the most memorable and beautiful scenes in movie history. For example, who could forget the touching goodbye of E.T., or the horrifying invasion of Normandy in Saving Private Ryan. Catch Me If You Can is no exception to the greatness of Steven Spielberg's direction. This isn't one of his best movies, but it is one of the best films of 2002. What's more, who could resist a movie that also stars Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken.	The story was inspired by the real events of Frank Abagnale, who as a young man eluded the authorities of millions of dollars in check fraud. Dicaprio plays Abagnale, and he certainly pulls off a stellar performance that will leave you laughing and saying, `my God, how does he get away with all this!' Tom Hanks plays the FBI agent, Carl Hanratty, who tracks Abagnale across the world. Among the identities that Abagnale assumed while forging checks was that of an airline pilot for Pan Am, a doctor, and a lawyer. It all leads to Abagnale one day working for the FBI in the check fraud division, and helps bring many criminals to justice.	This film is really witty and will certainly leave it's audience pleased. Many people agree that the film is fun to watch, as well. It's especially great to see Leo portray the young Frank Abagnale, as Frank becomes obsessed with modeling himself after James Bond. Even going as far as to buy an Aston Martin with the money that he's received from the forged checks. This film is definitely worth seeing and is certainly one of best movies of the year. Quite possibly, in my top five picks of the year. And actually, I liked this more than Spielberg's other film released this past summer, Minority Report that starred Tom Cruise. Great work by John Williams on scoring another fine soundtrack to another great Spielberg film. Williams uses some jazzy ensembles in the score to represent the time and feeling of the film, although the main title theme of Catch Me If You Can is hardly one of a large sweeping theme. Nonetheless, there's little if anything to complain about here. The film works on all levels and I highly recommend seeing it. I was waiting to acknowledge what the best movie of the year was until I saw Catch Me If You Can. Well, I don't think that Catch Me If You Can is the best movie of the year, although one of the best films of 2002. ****