Review of Milk (2008) by Gavin M — 20 Feb 2015

This is Gus Van Zant's masterpiece and his best film since "Good Will Hunting." Sean Penn really amazes me, he truly does. He's a phenomenal actor with unlimited range. He is one of those actors that grew on me over time with his performances "Dead Man Walking," "The Thin Red Line," "21 Grams," "Mystic River," and now with his performance as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be voted into office as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in Gus Van Zant's "Milk," Sean Penn literally gives his all time best performance.

He definitely deserved the Oscar for his performance which makes it his second win for Best Actor in a Leading Role and boy did he deserve it. What makes "Milk" such a compelling film is the fact that Sean Penn in the lead role because if know Sean Penn, you would never think in a million years he would take on a role like this, but man does he surprise.

..BIG TIME! He's so awesome to watch in this movie as you literally can't believe it's Sean Penn playing this character, but that's what makes the movie in my opinion a 4 star movie. Because nobody, but Sean Penn could have pulled this off and he actually looks like the real Harvey Milk which makes it even more entertaining to watch.

Not only is he fantastic to watch, but so is the rest of cast such as Emile Hersch as the young gay boy the Sean Penn recruits into his entourage of gay civil rights group, who surprised me too with his mannerisms that I was in shock for a moment that it was Emile Hirsch.

James Franco gives a very heart warming performance as Sean Penn's lover in the beginning of the film before they split because Franco's character cannot take any more part in Penn's political campaign for public office, because he believes it is interfering with their relationship as a couple.

Even Diego Luna who plays Penn's new Spanish gay lover in the film that the rest of Sean Penn's group despises because they feel he is no match for Sean Penn's character and in some ways they are right as he is a very "needy" person.

But the real supporting actor that sticks out in this movie is Josh Brolin as Dan White, the man who shot and killed Harvey Milk and Mayor Mascone because they wouldn't let him come back into public office once he resigned.

Brolin plays Dan White with a fierce integrity that only Brolin himself would have been able to plays. I heard at one point Matt Damon was considered for the role of Dan White, but Brolin was a much better choice even though I would have liked to have seen Matt Damon and Gus Van Zant re-team for this movie, but not in a supporting role and definitely not for "Promised Land" lol.

This is as Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers who I admire very much because I believe I am always on the same page with him says "Milk" is "An American classic!" And I couldn't agree more.