Believe the hype.

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2008)

Pretty much perfect. I do have one complaint with the film though; we should have seen more Dan White. It felt like they just spaced out scenes for him where he showed up every ten minutes after his first appearance and each scene of his was a big block of character development. It did a good job of demonstrating what led him to kill Harvey Milk, but didn't give us a chance to sympathize with him or even really understand why he did it beyond the basics. I felt like there was a lot more depth to him beneath the surface and while Josh Brolin did a great job of showing the insecurities and anger of the character internally, I wanted to see his flaws fleshed out more in the actual story instead of just in Brolin's performance. Aside from that, I have no complaints with the film.
I've seen a lot of people call it an unconventional biopic, and while I can't really agree with that, it's definitely the pinnacle of a biopic. I'm tempted to say that Sean Penn has never been better than he is here and I'm struggling to think of a reason why that wouldn't be true. People say it about performances all of the time, but it's really true here; Sean Penn became Harvey Milk. He embodied the life and soul of Milk and completely disappears into the character. It's one of those cases where you think he's not really doing anything impressive...but that's what makes it so impressive. He lives and breathes the character so much that it just becomes his natural persona for the duration of the film and you don't realize just how brilliant he was until it's all over and you think 'That was Sean Penn that entire time.' An impeccable performance if I ever saw one. No one can beat Sam Rockwell (in Snow Angels) for me this year, but since he's not a contender I'm throwing my hat in the 'Give Sean Penn another Oscar.' ring as of now.
Gus Van Sant's direction was superb; he used the technique of bleeding real footage into the movie footage that we've seen before, but something about the way he did it made it all feel very organic which I loved. He made everything lively and fresh while not getting in the way of the actors doing their jobs and that's pretty hard to find. The screenplay incorporated all of these big, epic moments of Milk's history into the story of his personal and political life without missing a beat or making anything feel like 'Oh, this is just building up to that big speech.' which is a problem that occurs with a lot of biopics. Danny Elfman's score ranges from emotionally powerful to beautiful to quietly haunting without getting in the way of the rest of the story. It's my favorite of the year so far. The cinematography gave a very intimate feel to everything from the first love scene between Milk and James Franco's character Scott Smith to those big speeches and marches unlike most films where they make those moments seem grand and out-of-this-world. But here everything is very 'in the moment' throughout.
And finally, the acting from the entire cast is brilliant. Penn leads the front with an Oscar-worthy portrayal. Josh Brolin is emotional and painfully insecure in his own body. James Franco goes from being the gorgeous, flirty young boy to a brooding man who just wants to be with the man he loves but that man is too busy focusing on much grander things. Emile Hirsch is adorable, driven and wildly charismatic. And the rest of the campaign cast did a great job of blending organically into their roles.