Review of 21 (2008) by Jedd Y — 13 Jan 2011

According to me, not taking risks in life is the biggest damn risk you can ever take! How can you live without taking risks? You need to take chances and go with your instincts. Taking risk is like living on the edge. Your pulse is pounding like hammer, heart will blow out of your chest anytime and you are sweating like hell. Getting this adrenaline is one hell of an experience. On this same theme, 21 is all about taking chances on your caliber with little planning. It is based on a true story of five MIT students trying their special skills to remember the flow of playing cards and trying it out in the amazing world of Vegas. Beautiful Vegas- The only place in this world where you enjoy only when you're lost! The movie starts with an amazing one long shot introducing Jim Sturgess-the central character. He is in desperate need of money required to study in Harvard. He is trying hard but that's not enough at all. He then joined his professor Kevin Spacey and gang of four students to explore the gambling world of Vegas. Plan is to make a quick fortune with their skills to count cards while playing. How Jim joins this group, gets addicted and finally, comes out of it is what the movie follows. Crisp narration by the director, well thought of script and excellent cinematography is enough to keep you engaging. Though you can predict the outline as what will happen next but the way it is been shot has made this movie an interesting watch. Jim as the main lead has done full justice to his role and so do Kevin Spacey. The supporting crew including Jim's friends and four students as partners in crime is worth watching. Laurence fishburne too looks so real in his character. In a good movie, every character is assigned to bring out specific emotions and feel like love, fear, etc. In 21, each character is for specific feelings. You can relate feeling of fear, love, betrayal, anger, affection, confusion and etc with each character.

Another best thing about this movie is the climax. I think the director knew that his audience is smart and they can easily predict what will be coming in the end. This is where director uses an interesting twist which excites the viewers and surprise them. In 21, my favourite scene is not one but various close-up shots of actors playing at tables in the casino. Brilliance of great camera work. Movie doesn't have punchy dialogues which I think is an deliberate attempt. Characters could've had become loud and over acted with heavy dialogues which is not at all required here. Characters in this movie have deliberately been kept low and close to reality. 21 gives a fresh feeling with its gripping script, focused narration and great star cast. And that's the reason why I thoroughly enjoyed the new hit formula of movie making called 21.