Very well done, very very very by-the-book stuff.

Rating: 7/10 (6 December 2008)

It was very well done, very very very by-the-book stuff. Some of the photography was bad, which helps it blend in with the archive stuff, I know, but still.
The cast was good, though now and again Penn or Hirsch got pretty damned close to parody. But then, so do queens, so...
*shrugs*
I found myself checking my watch way too often. Milk himself wasn't very interesting to me, which basically just left the cause itself, and as much as the story centered on that, there was a serious lack of urgency. The most moving moment in the entire film is almost thrown away: a cop refers to a dead man's boyfriend as his "trick"; Milk responds that he wasn't his "trick," he was his "lover" (or "boyfriend" -- I can't remember the term used). The cop again casually dismissed the man as the corpse's "trick" and Milk again responds that he wasn't his "trick," he was his "lover"... He's just trying to get through to the cop the idea that a gay man has humanity and it's sad, horrifying, poignant -- everything the entire film should have been.
Too bad. I'm definitely a Van Sant fan, but this wasn't much better than good.
7.25/10