Sharper
Apple TV+After a prolific television career including work on shows like Sherlock, Andor, and The Crown, Benjamin Caron heads to Apple TV+ to give his directorial talent to a rare feature-length project, Sharper. A twisty psychological thriller with plenty of turns and reveals, Sharper kicks Apple TV+'s 2023 feature slate off with a bang as the film delivers an engaging and satisfying viewing experience. The film sees 4 different narrative chunks, all revolving around a different character with new perspectives leading to new revelations. The initial plot sees a young love bloom between the owner of a used New York City bookstore named Tom (Justice Smith) and a student named Sandra (Briana Middleton). An initial spark leads to weeks of passionate romance until Sandra's brother is forced to cough up $350,000 or be killed due to outstanding debts. Tom decides to give Sandra the money, but Sandra quickly disappears. The left is a complex game of lies and secrets.
From the technical ability of the film to its plot organization, the best word to describe Sharper is slick. No other streaming service has created quite a defined visual identity and attitude as Apple TV+ with every cityscape and piece of iconography feeling crafted and polished. Sharper is no different. The portrayal of New York City within the film is a canvas in which truth and hoax live side-by-side. The cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen is clean while the editing from Yan Miles is purposeful with Miles bringing his proven worth from Sherlock to the project. For a streaming project made largely by talents who have defined themselves with television work, there is something unmistakably cinematic to Sharper that gives it a needed edge and venom both in presentation and soul.
The plot carries this into its web of lies that are sure to keep the audience guessing. While some twists feel somewhat random and the plot can be hard to follow at times, the film is overall efficient and effective with the audience getting plenty of loose ends to chew on and plenty of reveals to keep engaged. With the complexity of some of the relationships and dynamics, one easily could see the plot of Sharper being blown up to an entire season of television, yet the 116-minute runtime never feels too restrictive. The film is forced to use nearly every line of dialogue carefully to bring this story and all of its layers to life with a talent one might not expect from screenwriters Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka considering their overall lackluster body of work to date.
The one place where the film does really begin to lose control is the third act. Specifically with a fake-out of a grand climax, the film beings to push a bit too far into defying expectations with a noticeably rushed pace as it tries to fit in every last emotional beat and turn. Sharper is an ambitious feature, which is an overall positive but does lead to a messy final act. This is the place where the film could have used some more development to get a cleaner conclusion that would still have the same impact and satisfying ending.
The impact of the plot is undeniably enhanced by the film's performances. Justice Smith has never been better than he is in Sharper with a grounded maturity and vulnerability that is a nice breath of fresh air for the actor who has tragically been reduced to comedic relief characters in most other projects. Julianne Moore and John Lithgow are predictably excellent with Moore especially chewing up every piece of her performance with incredible control over her emotional output. The biggest surprise of the cast, however, has to be Briana Middleton. This is the biggest stage that Middleton has been given and the young actor nails it with a performance that finds complexity and maturity. She is given a big task and delivers wonderfully with her chemistry being undeniable with whichever actor she comes into contact with. The one downside of the cast is Sebastian Stan who still struggles to deliver as the brooding force of tension and threat. This was a weakness highlighted before by his effort in Hulu's Fresh, and it continues to be a weak spot in Sharper.
While the lack of advertising and social reaction to Sharper might lead some to expect the film to be a disappointing effort, the film is one of the more engaging psychological thrillers in recent memory with enough craft and ability to stick the landing and deliver a feature of value. While there are areas where things could be cleaned up, the film is overall confident and succeeds in its ambition.
