Surprises on every corner, and astonishingly moving!

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2017)

This film is pretty damn moving. That's the best way I can figure out how to explain this movie. "Good Will Hunting", directed by Gus Van Sant, is about a young janitor named Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon, who ends up being a genius, and solves a very difficult math problem, which grabs the attention of a math professor, but Will has some pretty bad physiological issues leading him to be seen by a psychologist, played by the remarkable Robin Williams. If you have not watched this film, do not continue reading! (Unless you want this film to be spoiled for you) Trust me, you won't regret watching this.
"Good Will Hunting" really surprised me. I was not expecting this to be such a moving film filled with some great performances. There is so much right in this film, but the first thing that really shines in my opinion is the score and soundtrack. Elliott Smith wrote many songs that are in this movie, and he happens to be my favorite musician. Miss Misery is the PERFECT theme for this film. The last scene in this movie is both extremely heart warming and unexpected. Miss Misery really turns this scene into a masterpiece. I am going to have to talk about the last scene, so if you haven't seen the movie, please go watch it, you will not regret it, trust me. The last scene shows Will gone, and his friend ends up going to his house and Will isn't there. This was super clever, because not even a few scenes back, his friend does say that one day he wishes he could just come knocking at his door, and he won't be there because he wanted to move on to bigger and better things. That's not all though. What really caught me off guard is how the film goes full circle, Robin Williams sees a note from Will, and it says exactly what Robin said in the past "I went to go see about a girl", and I started BALLING! The approach to making this film go full circle is amazing. It is just so unexpected, and really shows Will character ark shine, it's just all the right ways not to make a cliché full circle ending, and Miss Misery is playing and it just elevates it EVEN MORE! I really think getting Elliott Smith to write a song for this film was amazingly clever. There was 2 scenes that I thought they should have switched the songs for, because the tone of the song and scene don't fit at all. It's when "Angeles" plays in a very serious and sad scene, and "Angeles" does not have a dark tone, it has more of a uplifting, but slightly haunting sound. They should have swapped that with the scene that plays Elliott's most famous song, "Between The Bars", which is a pretty damn dark song. If Gus would have just switched those songs, it would have made the scene it home WAY harder, it did take me out the scene, because I was confused by that decision.
Moving on, the plot is pretty simple, and it's not anything extremely unique, but the approach is, and the passing is perfect. I was not wanting to miss one scene in this movie, because it really grabbed all of my attention. I was not looking at the time, and I really was emotionally invested into Will Hunting. They did not make Will out to be the socially awkward and unattractive nerd that you would expect. Will is actually an asshole, but his personality is called for due to his past.
I want to talk about my favorite part of this film, which is the performances. There was no one weak actor here, but Matt Damon's and Robin Williams performances are astoundingly powerful, which really gave everyone a run for there money. The most heart crushing scene in this film is really due to the way the performances were executed, and this is the scene where Will finally reveals what happened to him that has made him so damaged, and it's just so amazingly believable on both sides. I do believe Robin Williams gave his best performance ever in this film on this scene, and likewise for Matt Damon. I was crying like a child, and I never get so emotionally involved in a film, but this movie made me start looking at film as a actual art, I mean come on. If you seen this movie, you will most likely agree with me, because every time I have watched this film with someone else, the other person ends up crying because of this emotional scene. This is THE WAY you make a moving scene, I mean it's just so, dare I say epi-- I can't do it, It would be insulting to this film.
I do have to say one thing I think this film is lacking, which is good cinematography. None of the scenes really show beautiful shots or unique angles, they are just pretty lack luster and average, which is a shame because I know Gus Van Sant could do some amazing shots. The reason I say this is because one of my all time favorite films, My Own Private Idaho, has some of the most amazing cinematography I have ever scene in film. I am not saying that My Own Private Idaho's cinematography is anything like "2001: A Space Odyssey" (directed and written by the one and only Stanley Kubrick, and Arthur C. Clarke), but I know Gus can pull of some amazing shots. That is basically my only complaint about this film.
If you want to watch a entertaining, moving and interesting drama, you should really consider giving "Good Will Hunting" a chance.