The Hustler 2 - did we need it?

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2001)

Fast Eddie (Newman) takes top-gun pool player Vincent (Cruise) and his girlfriend Carmen (Mary Stuart Mastrantonio) out on a six week journey to Atlantic City to teach them how to hustle. On the way he struggles with the love of the game that he once had.
And that's about it, as a sequel to the Hustler, Colour of Money stands in the shadow of it's big brother as a lesser film. This deals with Eddie as an old man having given up pool for a quieter life. As a character study of Eddie it is quite good, you see his excitement when he's about to do his first hustle in years and his mood when his bitterness and disappointment come through again. The final lines are a little too twee for the film but do leave you with the feeling that you've followed this character as he's tried to come back to his first love. But this character study is not enough to carry the whole film.
The rest of the plot relies on Cruise and Mastrantonio to deliver and unfortunately they don't do as well as they could. Mastrantonio is pretty good but doesn't totally convince as someone driven by greed (shown by her robbery background and her partnership with Eddie), she seems 2-dimensional but not shallow. Cruise is too simplistic to play the role of Vincent - he merely bounces between cocky and angry in the role. He didn't have the subtlety needed to pull it off yet. Ultimately he is more annoying than anything else. Interest is held by other actors playing small roles (Iggy Pop, Forest Whitaker, John Turturro) but it's left to Fast Eddie to carry the show.
Scorsese piles the visual style on thick and it does help the film immensely. He generates such energy around the pool halls that you can't help but watch during the games (even if you don't fully understand the rules). This is very different from the smoky, shadowy feel of the Hustler but it is a real boost to this film to have him direct. Unfortunately you do feel like you just ate a very light meal afterwards - I got the style, but shouldn't there be more substance?
And that's the problem - you do feel that there should have been more. There's tonnes of flashy pool games, inventive camera shots and good music. There's even good character development in Fast Eddie, but you do feel that you've just watched Paul Newman give a great performance in a 2-hour pop music video. This could easily be entitled "The Hustler 2: Some Things Are Best Left Alone".