Okay, but hardly a Sequel

Rating: 6/10 (22 September 2015)

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. When I heard that it was a sequel to THE HUSTLER, one of my all-time favourite movies, and directed by Martin Scorsese, I had to see it. Sadly, the result was a disappointment, hardly a sequel in the truest sense of the word. Sure, its main character is a pool player named Eddie Felson and he is played by Paul Newman, just as in the first film. Okay, up to that point. But beyond that, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that young Eddie Felsen and the older, more mature Eddie Felsen is even the same person.
Too many background details from that first movie are either forgotten or ignored, not the least of which was his thrashing of Minnesota Fats, an expert pool player who remained undefeated for more than fifteen years, making him the man to be reckoned with. Surely that is the stuff of legend - at least among pool players who take the game seriously - yet no one seems to even be aware of it in the second movie. In fact, the name Minnesota Fats doesn't even enter the conversation.
Nor is it explained what turns Felson's life took after his acrimonious split with manager Bert Gordon (George C. Scott, in the original) who vowed that he would never shoot big-time pool again. And Eddie lives alone now. Does he ever have any regret about the shabby way he treated his girlfriend (Piper Laurie) who was driven to suicide and best friend (Myron McCormack) who he dumped along the way in his incessant drive to be the best?
Such questions deserve at least a nodding reference to suggest a continuation of the story, but none come into play and what we are left with is a fairly standard story of a liquor salesman (Newman) who occasionally plays pool and decides to mentor a young gun, Vincent (Tom Cruise), to hustle high-stakes games and split the take. Inevitably the two must square off to find out who is best.
Newman is okay here, though hardly the electrifying performer we have come to expect over the years. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is good as Carmen, Vincent's girlfriend who likes the excitement of being around him and around the pool halls. But Tom Cruise, as the young hotshot with the pool stick, quickly becomes annoying with his excessive brand of cockiness.
On its own, THE COLOR OF MONEY is well enough made and not without interest, but as a sequel it misses the mark by a wide margin.