By My second review today is for the movie 21, released in 2008 and directed by Robert Luketic.
21 is very, very loosely based off the true story you may have heard about, the MIT blackjack team that cleaned out Vegas. It centers around an MIT student named Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess). Jim’s aspiration is to get into Harvard medical school. He’s got the grades, but he doesn’t have the money, he needs $300,000 for the tuition and as perfect as his grades are, he’s applying to a school where perfection is the norm. He doesn’t stand out enough to get the prestigious Robinson Scholarship which would pay his way through all of school.
Jim leads a rather normal life. In fact, because he’s always been working to attain perfection, he really hasn’t had time to experience the joys of life that are common place to most people his age.
Enter the MIT blackjack team. Jim is recruited to join the highly secretive team after showing a rare aptitude for math in Professor Rosa’s (Kevin Spacey) class. Jim refuses to join at first as he struggles with the morality of it.&nbs
My second review today is for the movie 21, released in 2008 and directed by Robert Luketic.
21 is very, very loosely based off the true story you may have heard about, the MIT blackjack team that cleaned out Vegas. It centers around an MIT student named Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess). Jim's aspiration is to get into Harvard medical school. He's got the grades, but he doesn't have the money, he needs $300,000 for the tuition and as perfect as his grades are, he's applying to a school where perfection is the norm. He doesn't stand out enough to get the prestigious Robinson Scholarship which would pay his way through all of school.
Jim leads a rather normal life. In fact, because he's always been working to attain perfection, he really hasn't had time to experience the joys of life that are common place to most people his age.
Enter the MIT blackjack team. Jim is recruited to join the highly secretive team after showing a rare aptitude for math in Professor Rosa's (Kevin Spacey) class. Jim refuses to join at first as he struggles with the morality of it. He feels that they are cheating the system and wrestles with his conscience.
Ultimately, the allure of money wins out. After some convincing from Jill (Kate Bosworth) and an overwhelming desire to go to Harvard, Jim joins the team.
The intoxication of money, the lifestyle, and Jill start to control Jim, will he be able to quit the life?
Why does Professor Rosa watch from the sidelines? He takes the students to Vegas, provides the fake IDs, the plane tickets, and the hotels? Why does he refuse to actually play blackjack?
Will Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), the old school enforcer catch the blackjack team and prove his worth over the rapidly spreading face scan technology?
The movie's plot is formulaic. It's been done many, many times before and doesn't really offer much of a different spin from anything else you might have seen in the genre. The characters themselves are often rather bland. I had a hard time feeling anything for the main character. He wasn't really likeable or relateable. Kevin Spacey does a good job of fluctuating between imposing, mysterious, and warm. The team itself came off as bland. The film doesn't tell you much about their motives, their history, or their personalities. Quite frankly, you won't really care either.
I liked a lot of the themes that were presented in the film. I've always enjoyed watching anything involving a system, beating it, and the repercussions for beating it. I liked the exploration of the consequences of the pursuit of perfection. Perfection can be had, but at what cost?
Overall, though, I found the movie to had a very been there, done that feel about it. I found it to be entertaining, it kept my attention, but it's nothing you'd want to sit down and watch more than once.
I give 21 3 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites out of 5.