Much better than I expected

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2018)

I never watched 'A Beautiful Mind' at its time of release as I wasn't a massive fan of Russell Crowe and I didn't know what the film was about. For me, this was the ultimate example of never judging a book by its cover. I still proclaim that the cover of the DVD looks pretty dull and gives no real hint as to what the film was about. Yes, I knew that Crowe won an Oscar for his performance and that it was a story about a guy who did stuff, but nothing about (the little) I heard about it really grabbed me. However, now nearly twenty years later, I finally got round to seeing what all the fuss was about. And I'm actually quite glad I did.
I guess my overriding predictions of 'A Beautiful Mind' was that it was a love story and nothing else. However, the film is actually based on the real life story of John Nash (Crowe), an American code-breaker who helped the US Government decipher Russian messages during the Cold War, making the whole thing more akin to a spy thriller than a romantic drama. I'm not saying that just because it's about spies you're going to get a load of high-octane James Bond car chases and gadgets. What you have here is a far more realistic take on the profession. We see how Nash is 'recruited' by the Government and the way he uses his gifts with patterns and numbers in order to help them out. Of course there's always going to be a reasonable helping of romantic sub-plot and here it comes in the form of Jennifer Connolly who becomes his wife throughout the course of the story. But, in my opinion (now!), it's primarily a spy story.
I won't go into too much detail regarding the rest of the plot as there are most likely some things that you won't see coming. Or, at least from my perspective as someone who knew nothing about the film before watching, I certainly didn't predict what would happen. But, I do recommend watching it, even if you're not a fan of spy-stuff. If nothing else then Crowe's performance is definitely worth a look. You can see why he got his Oscar as he does put everything he has into the portrayal of a man who, by his own admission, isn't that likeable and yet you want to see what happens to him. Ed Harris and Christopher Plummer should also get mentions as they both provide integral parts of the story. I know Jennifer Connolly was good too, but I felt she had little to do other than be Nash's long-suffering partner throughout the story. It is a kind of long film and I think perhaps around fifteen to twenty minutes of the final act could probably have been trimmed to make it a tighter film. It may take me another twenty years to watch 'A Beautiful Mind' again, but I'm pretty sure one day I will.