Review of Milk? (2012) by Philip S — 16 Oct 2011

I'd heard wonderful things about this movie and I finally got around to catching it on the weekend. Sean Penn gives a terrific performance as Harvey Milk and some of the supporting cast is strong as well.

In the end, though, I just wasn't all that enthralled. Hard to blame a script when it's based on a true story (although who knows how accurate it is, and I have heard of at least some objections in this department), but a film is a film and you have to judge it on that basis - it's not a documentary.

So, yes, the acting is fine, but the story left me a bit cold. Yes, what happened to Milk is both inspiring and tragic, but after a while the stories of Milk's many failed attempts at office, his liaisons with younger men, his vote trading with White and the plight of the neighbourhood gets kinda tedious.

I felt a little like one of Milk's political opponents: I understood all the outrage, but I began to wonder what it all stood FOR. I'm not sure I really got to know Milk any better than what I gleaned from the trailer.

Surely he wasn't the one-issue politician that he was made out to be in this film. More nuance would have been nice. Heck, White was a more interesting, complicated character and we barely saw him.

Yes, it's a thumbs up film, but this could have been far more powerful.