Film Overview

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2017)

Despite the plot of this movie being very predictable, I will talk about this later on, I still think this movie is worthwhile to watch. There is very good use of cinematography and you will really get to know the characters and discover things that they might not even have known themselves.
The main conflicts in this movie are internal, more specifically, "Man vs Self". The most apparent conflict is about Will overcoming his fear of vulnerability. During his childhood, he had been abused and did not get praise from his parents. This causes him to become very defensive with his life. He never wants to take chances because he is too scared that something bad might happen. For the same reason, he will push away anyone that he cares about before they can push him away; this acts as a defence mechanism since this way he feels like he is in charge of the relationship.
The reason that I claimed that this movie is predictable is because the plot of the story is written just like any other one. There is a typical young adult, getting drunk, getting into fights, etc. He requires some sort of assistance so that he can recuperate from a past experience, then an actor that is famous for giving life advice, such as Robin Williams or Morgan Freeman will show up and somehow have a connection to the character in need of assistance and end up helping. After a montage of the therapist talking and helping the person, he will realize that there is actually nothing to be afraid of and that he was living his entire life wrong; so he goes on to follow his dreams, and at the end of the movie he rides into the sunset. Sound familiar?
Skylar is a student attending Harvard that starts dating Will. She is very intelligent and very wealthy. She is astonished by how smart Will is. There are concepts that he can comprehend without breaking a sweat, while she can not understand it no matter what. She inherited a great sum of money from her parents' death, which allowed her to attend Harvard.
Sean Maguire is a psychology teacher at a small school. He grew up in the same neighborhood as Will, which is one of the reasons that he is chosen to help Will. Sean is used as an example of how a person can be born into a bad situation and still be successful. Even though Sean is supposed to help will, if becomes apparent that he can learn a great deal from Will as well.
Gerald Lambeau is a math professor at Harvard. He is an old friend of Sean Maguire from college. He is very arrogant and believes that he is better than everyone else, however, admires Will because he is smarter.
The main theme present in this story is overcoming adversity. Throughout the entire story, someone is trying to overcome something. Will is trying is overcome his fear of being vulnerable to being hurt; he tries to live his life as simple as possible, to avoid any kind of harm being done to him. Sean and Gerald have the adversity of convincing Will to use his talent to his full potential.
The setting of the story is Boston. Within Boston, there are many different settings. There are times it is set in MIT, this is where Will solves all the math problems. Another important setting is the bar, this is where Will meets Skylar; she is also the one that causes him to stop pushing everyone he loves away.
This story makes the viewer feel like they have a connection with Will. The story is trying to show that he is a person that does not know what to do with their life; this is something that everyone goes through at least once in their life.
When Will was is his old world, his house, his friends, etc, the colours were very cold and dark; and when he was with the professional world professors, school, etc, the colours were very warm and bright. This shows that his old world is very sad, boring, and pessimistic; whereas the professional world is very inspirational, happy, and optimistic.
Gerald always wore very arrogant clothing. This shows that he felt like he was better than everyone else. Sean always wore very laid back clothing. This shows that he is not very strict and is a person that people like to be around. Also, he had a beard, which showed that he is very old, wise, and knowledgeable.
There was an abundance of different camera angles being used in this movie. For every scene where you are supposed to be feeling a certain emotion, you can bet that you will be feeling it. For example, there is a scene where Will and Gerald were arguing; Gerald confessed that he is not as smart as Will, however, Will does not care and walks away. During this section of the movie, the camera was positioned below the eye level of Will, while it was positioned above the eye level of Gerald. This causes Will to seem more powerful and in control while making Gerald look vulnerable and helpless.
In conclusion, this is definitely a movie that you should consider watching. Even though you can probably guess the ending of the movie just by watching the first couple minutes. Getting to know the different characters on a deeper level and seeing the different sets that have been created, are all reasons that you should give this movie a try.