Review of Philadelphia (1993) by Anthony L — 24 Jun 2012

Sometimes there is just nothing like watching a movie that was considered ballsy at the time it was made and watching it with the context you have some 20 years later. Philadelphia tackled the matters of homosexuality and AIDS in the early 90â²s when such things were insanely taboo.

There were points throughout this movie where it was almost comical that people were that terrified, indeed watching this brought back some of my own memories about that that time. In some ways it is amazing how things have changed and havenâ(TM)t changed about society.

Tom Hanks won an Oscar for this and deservedly so, this was an absolutely amazing performance, and even though he has gone on since to have other fantastic roles I still think this one might be his best out of the bunch.

Denzel was Denzel he was great but I thought he was quietly overshadowed by Hanks. And not enough credit can be given to the supporting cast in this film from Antonio Banderas to Charles Napier, to Mary Steenburgen.

Iâ(TM)ll give a little bit here and say that courtroom drama is not everyone cup of tea and it really isnâ(TM)t mine either but I can honestly say that this was a film that kept you engaged. Sometimes it feels like if you donâ(TM)t have some kind of fight scene, or a huge scream and yell argument that you canâ(TM)t drive the tension high enough but this movie did so in spades without any of that.

The only nitpicks I have with this movie is the constant use of various operatic pieces in the score near the end of the film. Nails on a chalk board! Seriously that was my only major point of contention. This is worth seeing if you havenâ(TM)t done so already.