Milk

Starring: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) decides to enter politics, striving to become the first openly gay city supervisor. He takes on gay rights, which proves to be an unpopular stance with the nation's conservatives.

Review:

Tim: When I was in high school, I watched the acclaimed documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, so I was somewhat familiar with the story. Still, I was looking forward to this critically loved film. Indeed, director Gus Van Sant, does a good job behind the camera. However, I was less amazed with the overall movie, and more impressed with the individual performances. That is the best way to describe this movie- a forum for terrific performances, but the movie itself is slightly less than great. This is a very good movie, but it doesn't reach the heights of the individual performances.

I want to start with Sean Penn. I'm not a huge Penn fan, but he was terrific here. He is such a dark and serious actor, and it was wonderful seeing him here, smiling, laughing, and acting somewhat carefree. His performance is stunning. I could say this same thing about multiple actors (and I probably will), but I loved that Penn played a gay man convincingly without resorting to the typical stereotypes. His performance is believable, but never silly. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was great. That being said, I am still a bit surprised he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. I won't go so far to say as he didn't deserve it (because he did), but I wish someone else had won it.

The rest of the cast is terrific. I loved Emile Hirsch in this film. When I first saw him in The Girl Next Door, I was not much of a fan. However, he has proven his acting ability time and time again, and he does so again here. Like Penn, he plays a gay man so convincingly, but never appears silly. He was excellent. I also really liked James Franco. I've always been a fan of him because of the Spider-Man movies, but he has really proven in recent years that he is a force to be reckoned with. He gives a strong, subtle performance in this movie. I thought he was so critical to the cast because Penn and Hirch were a bit flamboyant, and he grounded the movie well. I also liked the casting of Josh Brolin. I don't believe he gave a particularly impressive performance, but he was good in the role. He and Penn had some great moments together. The cast truly, truly makes this movie.

The film itself is good, but I wasn't completely blown away. It is a good biopic, but it doesn't do enough to leverage itself. It certainly has some powerful moments, but the movie itself could have made a more lasting impact. The movie is a tad long at 128 minutes. It could have been a bit tighter.

Regardless of my thoughts on how the movie could have been better, it is still an impressive achievement. I highly recommend the movie for its excellent performances. It won two Academy Awards (the other being Best Original Screenplay), but failed to pick up the other six awards for which it was nominated. I am a bit surprised Josh Brolin received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor (that should have went to Franco or Hirsch), but all in all, this is a solid movie that will entertain, educate, and occasionally surprise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Times of Harvey Milk, Spider-Man, Into the Wild, Mystic River, W., No Country for Old Men