A compelling drama

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2012)

Back in 1997 a small film made the name of two young actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who were so frustrated about their lack of opportunities wrote their own screenplay so they could star in the film, earning them a Oscar win at the same time.
Will Hunting (Damon) is genius with a troubled past. He is working as a janitor at M.I.T. when he solves a maths formula that is meant to challenge the best students at the university. Will is also on probation after he hit a cop. Mathematics professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) takes Will under his wing, seeing the potential in him to do whatever he wants and gets his friend Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) to counsel the young man. Will also meets Skylar (Minnie Driver), a British Harvard student and starts a relationship with her. But Will is his also his own worst enemy.
Screenplay is really strong and you can see why Ben Affleck has become a respected director. It was a dialogue driven film that focuses on a character who is troubled, who has a tremendous give but is bitter towards people who had the wealth and luxury to go to university. He is also a man who does not know how lucky he is that people care about him and does not realise how lucky he is with his intelligence. There is a great cast who give authentic performances, Damon, Skarsgard, Williams (who won an Oscar for this role) and Driver in the main roles. There are not good guys or bad guys, they are shares of grey with all of them and the real antagonist is Will to himself. Skarsgard and Williams' characters have different approaches and views about Will but they both have his best interests at heart. Will starts off as a real jerk and I personally enjoyed it when Williams' character does get to give Will a telling off.
Gus Van Sant could have made visually safe film but he was able to inject a style to the film, using hand-held cameras for long shots and panning shots and edited TV footage from a famous Red Sox game whilst Sean tells Will the story about how he met his wife. Van Sant to able to make sure all the different stories involving Will's life all get a fair amount of screenplay and it is easy to follow who is who and what is happening. He is actually better a mainstream director then when he makes indie flicks.
There are a few scenes that do not work, particularly when Will sends his friend (Affleck) to be pretend to be him for a job interview which was played for humour but it was just felt out of place.
Good Will Hunting is a compelling drama with a story worthy to tell. It is worth checking out and for a dialogue heavy film it still keeps your attention.