Not as good as The Hustler, but still a top notch sequel in my opinion, with a fantastic story and brilliant performances!

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2006)

This is not as good as The Hustler,but still a top notch sequel in my opinion, with a fantastic story and brilliant performances!. All the characters are wonderful, and I thought the ending was just great, plus Paul Newman and Tom Cruise are simply incredible in this!. The 2nd half was just as good as the 1st in my opinion, and I believe Newman truly deserved his Oscar here as he deserved it in The Hustler as well, plus him and Cruise had wonderful chemistry together. Some of the pool shots Cruise made blew me away, and while both Newman's and Cruise's characters were jerks, I just couldn't help but love them, plus Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is excellent as Cruise's girlfriend. The pool match between Newman and Cruise was excellent! and dare I say Cruise deserved an Oscar nomination??, plus this should be much higher then 6.8 in my opinion. I actually felt bad when Forest Whitaker's character hustled Eddie, and Martin Scorsese did a masterful job of directing as always, plus it's actually very unpredictable throughout, as I had no clue on what was going to happen next!.
This is one of Cruise's best performances, and I was so impressed with how Newman, was able to play Eddie so easily after not playing him since the 60's with the Hustler, plus I think this film is quite underrated myself!. For a sequel, you can't get much better then this, and all the characters were extremely likable, plus Cruise's likable cockiness was perfect for this part!. It's extremely well made and written, and I thought the dialog was awesome, plus it had some great emotional scenes as well. Newman's teaching tactics were a bit confusing at times, however they were still great, and while it can't quite match the suspense of The Hustler, it still had plenty of it, plus it would be really cool if they made a follow up to this! with Newman and Cruise attached to star. The music was great, and Newman's final line at he end put a big grin on my face! plus Cruise also had excellent chemistry with Mastrantonio!. This is not as good as the hustler, but still a top notch sequel in my opinion, with a fantastic story and brilliant performances, and I say Go see it now, if you loved The Hustler, you will most likely will love this, just go in with low expectations.
The Direction is masterful!. Martin Scorsese does a masterful job here as always, with wonderful camera work, and just keeping the film at an extremely engrossing pace.
The Acting is indeed Oscar worthy in my opinion!. Paul Newman is incredible here, just like he was in The Hustler, he truly deserved his Oscar, just like he did in The Hustler also, and he is able to match his incredible performance, as well, he also had wonderful chemistry with Cruise, had some fantastic lines , had some brilliant scenes with Cruise, and while his character was a bit of a jerk I just couldn't help but love him, as he was extremely likable! (Newman Rules!!!!!!). Tom Cruise is amazing as always, and is also incredible here, he truly deserved at least an Oscar nomination,in my opinion, he also had wonderful chemistry with Newman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, was likably cocky, as always had loads of charisma, and made some pretty wicked shots!, and did wonderful in his emotional&anger scenes,and while his character was a jerk like Newman's I also couldn't help but love him! (Cruise Rules!!!!!!!!!). Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was wonderful here, and while she may or may not have deserved her Oscar for best supporting actress, she was very sexy, and had wonderful chemistry with Cruise, I really liked her!. Helen Shaver is good as Newman's girlfriend I dug her. John Turturro is good as the dick Julian, and was convincing. Forest Whitaker is good in his cameo as Amos he was great. Rest of the cast do fine.
Overall Go see it immediately if you loved The Hustler like I did, you shouldn't regret it!, just go in with low expectations and don't expect the original. ***** out of 5