Review of Moneyball (2011) by Chet K — 01 Nov 2012

This is an amazing film. Not being a lover of sports, surprisingly I don't mind sports movies or the underdog film. However this is something entirely different. Perhaps it's Sorkin's ability to turn stories about ordinary people into tragic character journeys of epic proportion; that of kings and wars that invariably change and mold the future as we know it. In this case it's our engagement with sports amidst a developing capitalist society. This is not terribly dissimilar to Social Network (also a Sorkin script), which provided profound insight into how new civilizations are built and how this inevitably changes the nature of human interaction. But what makes this an amazing film is that at it's core (which it never strays from), it is a heart breaking character struggle centering on a man who will forever change the nature of a society in such a way that will be overlooked by history; a history which opts rather to concentrate on more definitive changes (i.e. wars or revolutions).

Brad Pitt gives perhaps his most mature and convincing performance by completely embodying this subtly complex character. Jonah Hill should not go unmentioned either - showing he is actually capable of a serious role. The two actors surprisingly have great chemistry. Miller's direction will keep the audience engaged and he does this unpretentiously and modestly, allowing what I think the main credit to fall to Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin's script. Many people would be excited to see these three work together and the pay off definitely meets the high expectations.