X
- 2017
- R
- BH Tilt
- 1 h 29 m
- 2017
- R
- BH Tilt
- 1 h 29 m
Summary A young street magician (Jacob Latimore) is left to care for his little sister after their parents' passing and turns to illegal activities to keep a roof over their heads. When he gets in too deep, his sister is kidnapped and he is forced to use his magic and brilliant mind to save her.
Written By: J.D. Dillard
- 2017
- R
- BH Tilt
- 1 h 29 m
- 2017
- R
- BH Tilt
- 1 h 29 m
Sleight
62
5.3
Where to Watch
Summary A young street magician (Jacob Latimore) is left to care for his little sister after their parents' passing and turns to illegal activities to keep a roof over their heads. When he gets in too deep, his sister is kidnapped and he is forced to use his magic and brilliant mind to save her.
Written By: J.D. Dillard
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
62
56% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
39% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
62
56% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
39% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
In a film about a magician, the most impressive trick in Sleight is how director and co-writer J.D. Dillard is able to spin such a memorable and unique tale on a micro-budget.
Dillard's not interested in the Zing! Pow! Bam! Sleight is quiet, almost naturalistic, even when Bo is stopping bullets with his bare hand. To Dillard, none of this is cool.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 User Ratings
5.3
44% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
33% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
22% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 User Ratings
5.3
44% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
33% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
22% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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It's kind of hard to not compare Sleight with superhero movies. The kid does have powers after all. However, this movie is kind of a different beast. It's plot is driven by regular human struggles and emotion as opposed to world-ending catastrophes brought on by supervillains. Sleight tells the story of a brilliant young man who must care for his little sister after the death of their parents. To make ends meet he's forced to turn to drug dealing and street magic performances. The latter of which is fueled by his remarkable and seemingly otherworldly abilities. Naturally things begin to spiral out of control.
The likable cast delivers strong performances. There's quite a bit of emotion running throughout the entire affair. So the plot and events can hook you. The really impressive part about the movie is how it manages to pull off these incredible tricks that look this incredible on a budget of just $250,000. That's the real magic here. It might not have the grand spectacle of a Marvel or DC film, but it manages to pull of it's displays of power with the same amount of visual fidelity. Sleight offers a more street-level superhero than even that of Marvel's Spider-Man: Homecoming, despite not exactly being a superhero movie. Despite hitting some familiar beats in the drama department, this is an incredibly sharp film. One that isn't getting the credit it deserves.
8.9/10
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The film lives and dies by Latimore’s performance, which is quiet and ever-shifting.
Dillard’s auspicious shift to features reveals an imaginative young filmmaker prepared to take manageable risks in pursuit of his personal vision.
Like its protagonist, Sleight is a scrappy, semi-super origin story that lacks the existential heft of, say, M. Night Shyamalan’s "Unbreakable," or the grim comic nihilism of James Gunn’s "Super."
Perhaps Dillard is too young or green to escape the recycled clichés that constitute the bulk of his script (co-written with Alex Theurer), and yet, charitably speaking, Sleight shows potential.
Sleight never shows much interest in exploring how blackness can inform its genre's tropes.
Even though the story is a bit generic at some parts, I found this movie to be quite interesting. Of course there were parts where you think that what the main character does is just not realistic (in the way that nobody would make decisions like that), but still pretty good.
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This movie had so much potential. The movie had me hooked the whole time waiting for someone badass showdown but its like the movie ultimately built up to nothing. It was like watching lord of the rings without any of the action. It's very difficult to rank this movie because after watching it you really can't decide if the movie was good or not, worth a watch for sure, just be surprised if you'r let down.
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If I was probably thinking what normally everyone would be thinking, maybe Sleight would have received another chance and gained a higher score, but my opinion differs too anyways. I can't say for sure, but this film is sure on par with all future films directed by the director and that's saying much.
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