God is Sean Penn amazing or what?!

Rating: 8/10 (24 December 2008)

I really don't know where to begin with Gus Van Sant's "Milk". It's a bold move on Van Sant's part to film a story where some people know the ending already, and it's even bolder to TELL everyone said ending in the opening scene of the film. However, this is a move that works out well in Van Sant's favor, as I believe the purpose of the film was not to tell a heartbreaking story, but an inspirational story of a man fighting for a cause, a story that is easily related, no matter what cause that man could be fighting for. It also helps that Van Sant's lead is nothing short of fantabulous in the title role.
What I like most about "Milk" is that, unlike most biopics, the film doesn't just tell us the story of Harvey Milk. It tells us the story of how his life changed a city, a country, and attitudes across the planet. It expands better than other biopics like "Walk the Line" and "Capote", and thus it stands alone as a good film. Van Sant's creative and flamboyant direction pits us in the fun times of the 1970's in San Francisco, and when we meet the simply delightful Harvey Milk, we don't ever want to leave his side.
We don't ever want to leave his side because Sean Penn plays Mr. Milk with such charisma and such realism that the resemblance between Penn and the real Milk is simply uncanny. His simple mannerisms and bubbly vocal choices make his Harvey Milk one of the best performances of the year. I especially enjoyed how Penn completely disappeared into the role, as I've never seen him act this way before. He ditches his usual over-the-top screaming to develop his character through peace, words, and smiles. And what a wonderful choice he has made. I would say that the credit can go to Gus Van Sant as well, but because the supporting cast is nowhere near as stellar as Penn, I'm going to give all the credit to Penn's excellence as an actor.
The aforementioned supporters are, again, nowhere near the level that Penn is. Josh Brolin's two-faced portrayal of Dan White is remarkable, and probably the next best performance in the film. Though I prefer his turn in "W." more than this one, there's no denying that Brolin is quickly becoming an A-lister, taking numerous and diverse roles which allow him to show a lot of range. James Franco and Emile Hirsch play their roles well, with Hirsch doing a little more for me than Franco. I found Diego Luna to be rather annoying, though I think that was the point.
"Milk" is an inspirational story that does the job of fighting for a cause. However, Van Sant is not preaching gay rights here. He's preaching freedom for everyone, paralleling what the real Milk did in his life. His film is beautifully shot and scored, and the makeup job done on Penn is wonderful (he seriously looks about 10 years younger).
However, while all of this is great, I found that the film, itself, was just 'good' in terms of an engaging story, while Penn himself was excellent. The film's biggest strength is its biggest flaw: Penn overshadows everything and everyone in the film. Though Penn's performance should go down as one of the all time greats, the film is somewhat forgettable. By forgettable, I mean I didn't think about the film again until about 3 days after I saw it. I really don't know what it was, but "Milk", despite being technically wonderful and well made, just didn't have a lasting impression, and feels a bit outdated, mostly because there hasn't been a ton of progress in gay rights since Milk's activism, and it's even more sad because of the recent passage of Proposition 8.
"Milk" is a movie that looks like a bar graph. Every bar, representing a different aspect of the film, is up at a "B" level. However, there's one single bar, right in the middle, that shoots all the way up to "A+". That's the bar that represents Sean Penn. The rest of the film can't keep up with him, and this is what hurts the movie the most. Van Sant's direction is great, but is it, as well as the film itself, Oscar worthy? In this viewer's opinion, no.