Being one of my favorite movies, this one was very easy for me to sit through. I actually even teared up a little when Will started crying. It happens. This is a great movie for so many reasons. So much better than that stupid Titanic crap. I am in utter disbelief that Titanic won the Oscar over Good Will Hunting. Its sick.
So you have Will, boy genius. Is he happy though? He certainly makes it seem like he is. He doesn't want to go anywhere with his life, because he is "happy." Doubtful. As Sean unveils, he is anything but happy with his lifestyle. He is scared. This shows us how even if an individual is a genius, they can still be stunted. They haven't had a chance to live life to the fullest for the simple reason that their mind has had too many things flying through it for the past 20 years.
Will starts to get happy with Skylar, and instantly he pulls away from her because he doesn't want her to drop him. He thinks that he is protecting her, or himself even, and really he is just making the situation more difficult. Both of them were completely miserable while they were apart.
Every movie needs a hero, you might say. There is always going to be somebody that comes in and saves the day, takes the climax of the movie, and throws it in the proper direction. Who was the proverbial hero for Good Will Hunting? Most would probably say Sean was the hero. I'm not saying that this is entirely incorrect. Sean helped him grow in many ways that he had been needing for years. This is definitely something that helped push Will in the right direction, towards Skylar and California. But what actually did it? What probably had the biggest influence on Will leaving? Ben Affleck. Who would have thought that this two bit actor (look at his other movies and tell me I'm wrong) would be the person to turn Will around. "If you're still here in 20 years, i'm going to _______ kill you." Here are some of the most powerful words in the entire movie. Will's best friend is basically telling him to get the hell out of Dodge. He tells him that it would be a slap in the face if he were still here, and that Will owes it to him and the other two of the gang to take this opportunity and be done with the manual labor. Just like Sean says, these guys are his best friends because they would in a heartbeat take a bullet for him, smash somebody's face in for Will. So here is Chuckie, the best friend, the one who is the most devoted, and he is telling Will to leave. This is, without a doubt in my mind, the most determining factor for Will. Chuckie ends up being the hero.
On to the dorkier parts of the review (no offense Mike!). The cut the we viewed in class was in a 1.85:1 ration wide-screen, or American wide-screen format. I don't know what other people think of the subject, but as far as I'm concerned, I think that viewing a film at Standard screen, 1.33:1, takes the movie experience out of the film completely. You know what I mean by the movie experience. You've got the popcorn, the soda, maybe even some Milkduds, and if you're lucky, a beautiful girl cuddled up in your arm. So the only thing that can cheapen this is if you are even more removed from the movie theatre experience by having to watch in Standard screen, full screen as I know it. If you're not actually in a movie theatre, you want it to be as realistic as possible, and the screen format plays into this just as much as a nice television and surround sound. The film stock was a smooth-grain, as this movie was not intensely contrasted, but more blended and subtle.
Good Will Hunting told a story of man vs. self. Throughout the entire movie, whether it was evident til the end or not, Will was fighting his inner demons. He had plenty of people around him, trying to help him out, and he finally fought through the challenges presented inside his head. It had a heavy Focus on Character theme. This made the movie very much just about Will. Even the title, Good Will Hunting. What does this suggest? Does it say that Will has been a rebel his entire life, and only through the help of his friends, does he become good? This is open to interpretation.
The only real set in the movie that we were able to become familiar with was Sean's office. This is where most of the learning took place. I think that Van Sant did this intentionally. By doing this, he made the viewer sit up in their seat every time that two duo were in the office, as they knew that something important was about to happen. Rarely was the viewer let down. Van Sant shot the entirety of the film in an Objective point of view. The angles never really changed all that much, and we felt like we were the viewers the entire time, as opposed to feeling as if were were in the movie, part of the film. The camera angles were generally straight-on, so as to not distract the viewer from what was being said and taking place.
Let it be argued, but this film definitely should have taken home the most coveted Oscar of 1997. It was a great film that showed how somebody who is so strong can still be torn apart by his/her inner demons. The idea in this movie is that everybody has flaws, and more importantly, everybody can work through said flaws. Kudos to Damon and Affleck for this masterpeice
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