stylish but unnecessary sequel

Rating: 6/10 (12 November 2010)

Paul Newman slips comfortably into the familiar role of Fast Eddie Felson in this belated sequel to the 1961 pool room classic 'The Hustler'. Now older and wiser, Eddie begins grooming an arrogant, immature upstart (Tom Cruise, naturally) for pool hustling stardom, but is unwilling to pass the torch when his pupil's talent begins to eclipse his own. It all ends, of course, in a showdown between mentor and protégé at the championship games in Atlantic City, but the expected climax is missing, and the lack of peripheral characters leaves Newman and Cruise in a high profile vacuum. Martin Scorsese can be excused for attempting to bolster his commercial credentials by agreeing to direct this rather conventional surrogate father/son bonding drama, but at least he injects the film with enough style to make it consistently interesting. A lot of the credit properly belongs to ace cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, who does some amazing things with camera and cue ball.