Am I the only one who didn’t like Milk?

I was expecting a lot from Gus Van Sant’s latest offering, and was baffled as to why I didn’t emerge from the theater wholly satisfied. Milk is a story based on Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected for public office, and featured a well-rounded cast led by Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco and Emile Hirsch. I was expecting to be blown away, especially after seeing the previews and of course already being a fan of Gus Van Sant. However, I have to say I was not very pleased with the overall outcome of the film.

Don’t get me wrong, I did not hate it. The problem is, I didn’t like it either. I personally considered it mediocre at best, and while the performances were fairly good, I felt that the story progression was a little awkward and lagging. Strangely enough it didn’t feel like a Van Sant film. Sure, there were scenes that you could easily pinpoint as a Gus Van Sant scene, but apart from that, as a whole the film felt like something maybe Mira Nair would do.

What I did like about the film was the diversity of cast. I like that Van Sant has no qualms about casting against type–especially with James Franco, who for me, completely stole the show, along with Emile Hirsch. Franco is of course known for his stoner roles and hasn’t really been given the opportunity to shine, and I think he definitely proved his critics wrong in this movie. Franco plays Scott Smith, Harvey Milk’s longtime boyfriend, and he plays it with so much sincerity and commitment that I was actually able to forget Pineapple Express and Freaks and Geeks. Emile Hirsch was also great. I’m telling you, this guy is the next Leonardo DiCaprio or Jake Gyllenhaal. He can play so many characters and deliver 100% performance. A lot of his critics say he was mediocre in Speed Racer, but really, would you expecting an academy-award performance to play a character based on a 60s cartoon? If so, you’re seriously deluded. Diego Luna was also a surprising addition to the cast. It’s not surprising that he was tapped by Van Sant, because he is a good actor, but surprising because of the role that he was given, which he definitely shone in. Let’s just say he was in a lot of memorable moments, and his character was definitely larger than life. A guy who deserves special mention is Josh Brolin, who played his character Dan White with such ease and intensity that I completely did not even remember that he was in No Country for Old Men and W.

Josh Brolin plays Dan White, one of Harvey Milk's colleagues in San Fransisco public office, who eventually shoots Milk and SF Mayor George Moscone.

The story of Milk is definitely gripping, and uncannily timely because of the whole Prop 8 nonsense that’s going on in California. I wish this movie had come out well before the election, so that people would be reminded about how these civil rights should never be put up for debate. Although if they still need to be reminded then that’s really unfortunate. Gay rights, including marriage, is part of those inalienable rights that are protected by the American Constitution and approving Prop 8 is a direct violation of the 14th amendment. I don’t care what your skin color, orientation or personal preferences are, gay marriage should have never been up for debate in the first place in a political environment.

Rant aside, I feel like the story of gay rights was definitely portrayed, however I felt like it was lacking something. I can usually put my finger on what is missing in a film, however I can’t seem to place what is wrong with Milk. All I know is that sometime before the middle of the film, I was hoping that something climactic would happen, and it didn’t happen until after Milk gets elected, which is past more than half of the film. I thought the film dragged on and had scenes that were too small-scale when it could have been big-scale, and they made certain scenes big-scale when they could’ve been small-scale and awesome. Also, despite the message of the film being very powerful, I found myself not really caring that much for the minority in question. Yes, it did make me angry because I remembered that Prop 8 passed. However, the film did not evoke the strong emotion that I was expecting to get from such a sensitive subject matter.

Sean Penn got a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Harvey Milk, but frankly I don’t think he deserves it for Milk. He should have gotten it for I Am Sam, but I think that the academy is just guilty for passing on him that they are dead set on giving it to him this time around, even if there are probably better performances in better films. I really hate to say this, because I think Sean Penn has such amazing talent, but he played Harvey Milk almost like a caricature in some ways. My bad if perhaps that was how he really was, but I’ve seen some of the footage from his old interviews and pictures and frankly I just don’t think Penn did an award-worthy job. 

Overall, I think that Milk is definitely one of those movies you need to see, if not for the quality but for the message it preaches. It represents an important part of America’s history, and should serve to remind people of their rights, and that it is against the very fiber of the American establishment to infringe on these people’s rights. I feel that it could have been better, but the performances were able to string the scenes together well.