Something challenging with the character intentions - otherwise, golden!

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2016)

I prepared myself to this by watching The Hustler (1961) and enjoyed its' slow pace and character-driven story. The Color of Money kicks off with much more ballsy tone, really talking a lot about the game itself, and masterfully introducing the characters between the clacking of the balls and swooshing of the sticks. Scorsese goes very artsy with the camera angels and it gets a bit tiresome and feels a bit too intentional twisting and turning here and there, but overall the film is shot solid. Still, the biggest issue comes with the characters; you feel like you're almost there with Paul Newman, watching as he "plays" the kid and "plays" the girl, but it turns out that he's actually one step behind you in the end, which is a bit of a shame in the end. You'd want Paul to be the cleverest of them all, you'd want him beat that snotty annoying Cruise kid, but in the end, he is pleading for the last game and he gets hacked by Whitaker and he gets played by Cruise. Yes, he gets his say in the end, but still it doesn't feel somewhat satisfactory enough. Somehow, the characters end up in weird places and the development feels a bit off. Still, all is well and it's a beautiful film to watch, ambitious and very Scorsesean.