A great movie that stands the test of time and repeat viewings

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2017)

A film following a mathematics genius working as a janitor at M.I.T. sure doesn't sound good on paper but this film beyond defines the never judge a book by its cover statement. Matt Damon portrays a realistic south end Boston, blue collar working man; who is struggling with finding a true purpose in his life; after nearly being jailed for aggravated assault Will is approached by fields medal winner Professor Gerald Lambeau to work on highly difficult Math theory's and go through court mandated therapy in exchange for not going to Jail; as the film goes on Will still struggles with finding purpose in his life but after working with therapist Sean, Will starts finding both meaning and purpose in his life. In my opinion and from my two experiences of watching Good Will Hunting I found that this film touches viewers deeply, and resonates with you even weeks after watching it; furthermore, this film just gets better and better after repeat viewings; great and relatable characters that seem realistic further improve the movie. The films use of low key and high key lighting to show viewers the difference of living standards and locations in the movie is very effective. For example, when the movie uses high key lighting in professor Gerald Lambeau's work place to show that he works in a prominent position at a prestigious university versus the low-key lighting they use in Sean's therapy office to represent his lack of success and greatness compared to Lambeau. In addition to this the movie very effectively uses low key lighting to set the rough around the edges character of both Sean Maguire and Will hunting, this can be seen by how whenever will is in his home or with his friend's low key lighting is used to represent their rough around the edges personalities and lifestyle and the same can be said for Sean. The movie benefits very well from the deliverance of strong character lines and acting that seemed genuine and improved the movie. The use of Boston accents mixed in with a lot of slang really helped the movie establish the characters that were will and his friends and it gave a great point of comparison to professor Gerald Lambeau's more proper and gentlemen like dialect and accent; and Skylar's British dialect helped show her off as more of a preppy rich Harvard type character. I personally found the characterization used in the movie were great. The costumes used also helped in showing the distinct levels of class throughout the movie and was an excellent way to visually represent the difference between will and his friends and Gerald Lambeau and even Skylar. What makes the movie even better is the cinematic and Dramatic aspects used to bring forth a sense of realism and felling to the movie. The use of longs shots to establish settings was very effective and helped established a lot of the movies setting. The use of shot reverse shot and close-ups helped convey the emotion coming forth from the characters especially in therapy sessions between Sean and Will. And the use of hand held shot in the fight at the start of the movie really helped put the viewer in the shoes of the characters that were fighting and gave the viewer a feeling of being in the fight scene alongside the characters. The literary aspects of the film like music ended up being UN-notable but still useful in the scenes they were used. Great casting alongside purposeful and appropriate lines really gave the movie another dimension and made it even better. The use of symbolism throughout the movie gave the viewer very subtle yet effective ways of representing Wills life. The use of the square fence and square objects in Wills house showed the viewer how will was in a way trapped with his current life style; and Will using the square shaped train that is constantly on one set path (like will) to represent Will was an excellent and very subtle way to symbolize Wills life; but the best and most significant piece of symbolism in the movie in my opinion was when Will was given his own car, this represented Will leaving the set path that he was always on when using the train and now was able to do whatever he wanted. The use of a car to represent wills change and freedom to do whatever he wanted was an excellent way to tie up the movie and subtly represent the way Will has changed, due to his therapy with Sean. Despite this movie having a lot going for it still has a predictable plot along with quite a few clichés, although most people won't agree with me but in my opinion the predictable and clichéd plot is not a terrible thing but ends up being one of the best aspects of the movie. The use of clichés like the young troubled adult refusing to get help end up elevating the movie and can give people a way to connect with the main character; and the predictable plot of Will's man vs self-conflict being resolved by the therapy with Sean and everything being all happy afterwards ends up being a nice and satisfying way to tie up the movie. The cliché of the main character always getting the girl in the end was also a very satisfying way to end off the film as it really showed Will's change throughout the movie from being too scared to get out of his comfort zone to literally skydiving out of it by chasing his dream girl all the way to California. The conflict of man versus self and overcoming adversity was resolved nicely due to a predictable, clichéd movie with a very satisfying ending. In conclusion, Good will hunting is a great movie worth watching more than once with very little negatives while also having a lot of positives.