Review of Philadelphia (1993) by Matthew H — 17 Jun 2014

Philadelphia is a smart, confident AIDS drama that is a very important movie in raising awareness of this horrible disease. Hanks provides a powerhouse performance, and Denzel is amazing as well. However, it's the nuances that make this film a bit off-target sometimes; the awkward transitions from some scenes to scenes are treated like an 80's sitcom would, the beginning of the movie doesn't clearly portray if Hanks' character knows he has AIDS or not, the musical score can be a bit jaunty at times when it should be serious, and even the opening credit typeface acts like this is going to be New Jack City, not a powerful, emotional AIDS drama.

Despite these little kinks, this is one must-see film, even if it is just for Tom Hanks' visceral, electrifying, Oscar-winning performance.