Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Sleight Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 28, 2017

If drugs are bad (mmmkay?) then drug dealing must really be the pits. There aren't many ways out of a drug entanglement that doesn't end with a bullet in the head, but in Sleight one young man may have found a loophole by cutting a hole in his shoulder and science-rigging a get out of jail free card with a magnet and brain power. The film, from Director J.D. Dillard, escapes the death knells of genre repetition and partial unoriginality with well-defined characters, a novel approach to the story that puts a quasi-superhero spin on it, and world-class pacing. The film is a pleasure to watch, far better than many larger films with infinitely bigger budgets thanks to passionate filmmaking, smart writing, and crafty ingenuity, a welcome escape from the cookie-cutter crowd pleasers that infest today's multiplexes.

Bo (Jacob Latimore) has lost everything in life but his younger sister Tina (Storm Reid) and his mechanical know-how. After his parents' deaths, he had no choice but to turn down a scholarship and stay home to care for Tina. He makes money by performing magic on the street, some of that magic real, some of it aided by a magnet he's implanted into his shoulder, allowing him to manipulate small metallic objects much to the delight of his fans who reward him with a few dollars in his collection bucket. But street magic is hardly enough to pay the bills. Out of desperation, he's turned to drug dealing and found something of a friend in his supplier, Angelo (Dulé Hill), but he wants out. Angelo treats him well and pays him well but continues to push him further down a dark and inescapable path of increasing violence and detachment from basic humanity. Bo eagerness to escape only intensifies when he meets the girl of his dreams, Holly (Seychelle Gabriel), who seems willing to stick with him through thick and thin. But when he takes drastic measures to pay his way out of Angelo's clutches, he finds his greatest challenge that will require his most inventive magic trick ever to escape alive.

Sleight may rely on genre staples -- such as the story of the good kid forced into a bad life through no real fault of his own -- but the movie is boundlessly unique elsewhere and builds itself around an expertly defined central character who is worth rooting for. His story may be centrally recycled, but the support elements are impressively unique, made by a stellar lead performance from Jacob Latimore who emotes all of the raw emotions -- pain, uncertainty, confidence here, fear there, and dedication to his family, his girlfriend, his craft at any cost to his well-being -- with knowing depth and believable soul. It's easy to become invested in his life, his plight, and his possibilities for escape, which grow increasingly desperate and brazen but eventually bring him full circle back to the person he truly is, not the person the drug world has made him to be.

Who knows whether the hard science behind Bo's trickery and world manipulation is viable, if it would work as it's depicted or if it's just another bit of movie trickery meant to gin up excitement. But that's really beyond the point. It's just an interesting support piece in the larger story that gives the film a sense of creativity and the character another layer. The transition to a very mild superhero-esque film is welcome and comes naturally, and by the time Bo is suddenly capable of playing a very crude version of one particularly popular superhero, the audience has become so invested, so hopeful for his fate, so comfortable in his abilities that anything short of donning a cape and zipping around above the city is going to fly. The movie works because of its soul, its depth, Latimore's performance, and the film's craftsmanship. It can get away with a bit of the fantastic because it's otherwise so grounded. It's a great movie watching experience and another example that shows that so many of today's best films aren't of the mega-blockbuster variety (though there are certainly a number of excellent movies in that arena, too) but rather coming from the creative minds working outside around the Hollywood periphery.

One flaw to consider is that the film doesn't adequately explore Holly to the point that she's a believable girlfriend once she comes to know the truth of Bo's situation. Theirs is a tender relationship, but her willingness to stick around, shower him with whatever money she can muster, and trust that he will come out alive and she will come out unscathed seems a little far-fetched. The awful Blu-ray cover artwork does the movie no favors, either. Otherwise, a fantastic film through-and-through.

Sleight Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed Sleight is more often than not dark and dreary, devoid of significant color pop and punch, but presenting on Blu-ray capably and complimentary of the film's visual style. Several brighter daytime exteriors, generally when Bo is performing magic on the street, deliver an evenly saturated palette without much filtering. Colors are suitably bold and details complimentary. Nighttime and low-light exteriors are much more drained, favoring a gray-blue scheme that fits the film's often dour mood. Details are stable, never exquisite to be sure but that's primarily on the filmmakers' artistic vision, not the transfer. Black levels are fine and skin tones are reflective of the film's lighting. Mild noise and banding appear in spurts. A few smudgy edges are apparent. It's not a looker by its nature, but the movie is well served by its Blu-ray release nonetheless.

Sleight Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sleight's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is mostly front-heavy with only a few sparse, but effective, moments of expansion in the film's few more boisterous scenes. Party din and heavy music occasionally filter on through, accompanied by a healthy, but not overbearing, low end support. Effects like a beeping smoke alarm at the beginning don't offer much punch or spacing, and gunshots ring out with but average intensity. Din at an arcade lingers along the front, and environmentals are largely limited throughout. The track's best moment comes late when the low end engages quite a bit in support of a climactic action scene. Dialogue drives most of the movie, and it's presented fine, with good positioning, clarity, and prioritization.

Sleight Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Beyond some trailers for other Universal films, this Blu-ray release of Sleight contains no bonus material. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy are included with purchase.

Sleight Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sleight certainly doesn't define "movie magic" in the traditional sense, but there's no mistaking its excellence in telling the story of a quasi-magician who uses his mechanical know-how to escape a dangerous, hopeless life. Well written, superbly performed, impressively directed, and precisely paced, the film is a hidden gem and one of the year's best. Universal's Blu-ray is, sadly, featureless, but video and audio perform just fine. Very highly recommended.