Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

King Richard 

This film is a showcase for powerful performers and a truly inspiring story that will have you cheering and in tears! Will Smith delivers his finest performance of his career showing truly dazzling emotional depths we have never seen him explore to this degree. It’s a sports drama that explores not only the world of sports but the personal lives behind Serena Williams and Venus Williams in a very authentic way that feels very different to most sports films based on real events. As it is able to show the beginning of their career from the neighbourhood and then transition to when they are playing arena’s and it’s done in such a rich narrative way that’s truly incredible. 

Firstly, It never felt overlong or short as the film clocks in at around 2 hours and twenty four minutes and that runtime flew by as it never felt that their were scenes just for filler or scenes that dragged on. It was perfectly paced and I felt the film benefited from its two and a half hour runtime as it’s not rushing to tell the story they take their time to explore these young girl’s lives and inform people of their upbringing and their fathers unusual but affective way of training them that made them the massively successful athlete’s they are today. It is not just a great sports drama but one of the best sports drama’s I’ve ever seen. 

Secondly, The performances are incredible in this film! Will Smith delivers a performance that is truly his best work! He’s given amazing performances over the course of his career theirs no doubt about that but his work here is definitely his crowning achievement. As he plays Richard Williams this father who from the day he decided he wanted kids mapped out their whole career and he worked his kids hard at a young age to make sure they got a good career. Now it comes to a point where he is a bit overbearing and can be seen as cruel to his kids and Will never ignores the darker aspect of this man’s life he shows everything the ups and downs and he is able to also peel so many layers back of who this man was. It’s a fantastic performance that isn’t watered down but he shows Richard for who he is and I respect that on top of the fact Will truly transforms into Richard Williams giving what is truly the best performance of his career. Then you have Saniyya Sidney who gives a incredible breakout performance as Venus Williams the amount of emotional rawness she brings to the role was incredible. She showed the anxiety the excitement and the sheer thrill of wanting to be the best tennis player and we see her truly transition from this small kid who dreams of being a big time athlete to actually taking her family’s legacy on her shoulders and Saniyya delivers that in a truly spectacular performance that shouldn’t be overlooked. As she gives a truly amazing performance that chews up the scenery in every frame she’s in. Everyone else in the film was fantastic even Jon Bertnthal gives a solid supporting turn as Rick Macci everyone in the film delivered top notch performances but it’s the truly breathtaking performance from Will Smith that will have you engaged the whole way through from start to finish. 

Lastly, King Richard isn’t your paint by numbers sports biological film as films like Raging Bull, Rocky, Warrior those films that balanced the personal lives with the sports but never let the other out weigh the other I would put this film in that same category as King Richard shows the upbringing of those two girls that turned into legends of the sport and how they became who they are today from their father and how he shaped them and trained them to be so good at the sport of tennis. But not only did he teach them how to be a good tennis player he taught them how to be a good person too and it’s a film that not only has a fantastic message to walk away with it’s a fantastic showcase for the actors as Will delivers a tour de force performance and an all Around film that will have you cheering and crying as it’s a fantastic film that truly is one of the best films of the year King Richard is a freaking great film I definitely recommend everyone go see this film. 

This film centres around the lives of Serena Williams and Venus Williams and how their father Richard Williams shaped them to be the great athletes they are today 

Rated PG - 13 : Brief drug References, a Sexual reference some violence and strong language 

Will Smith : Smith delivers the greatest performance of his career with his amazing portrayal of Richard Williams!  Will Smith has given some truly solid dramatic work through the course of his career with Ali, the pursuit of happiness and most recently the incredibly overlooked Concussion. He has shown to the world how amazing he is in dramatic heavy roles as the films I just mentioned are fantastic examples of how he has excelled in the dramatic genre but his work in King Richard is truly something special as he goes places emotionally we’ve never seen him go before. He plays a father with very unusual methods for training his daughters and he works them incredibly hard but all of that practice he put his daughters through did pay off because they became incredibly successful tennis players. Will pours his entire heart into this performance as you can see him transform the way he walks, speaks and looks truly inhabiting the role of Richard Williams head on. Smith digs deep into his soul and commands the screen with a iron fist as their are scene after scene he crackles in with such genuine emotional intensity. Theirs a few scenes in the film where he is being very frustrated towards his family and you can see the sheer frustration and anger in his eyes and you can just see the emotion wash over him in such a way that doesn’t feel acted but actually impacts the film with fantastic depth. As he wants what’s best for his kids and he has outlined their entire life before they were even born and now it can be seen as overbearing in the way he parents his kids. But he wants the best for them because he knows that he didn’t have a strong upbringing that resulted in a positive career for him and he wants his kids to be able to have what he never did get and in a way I get that but he does get to a degree where he is controlling his kids futures to benefit himself instead of his kids regardless if he’s afraid to admit that. Smith shows the darker moments  of his life through such commitment you can’t take your eyes off of him. As he reaches a breaking point in the film where he is isolating his daughters career wise and everyone around him is telling him to let the kids be in charge of their own future and not let him be the driving force behind some of these major choices. Will in those moments of the film is genuinely scary as you can see him become very controlling and gas lighting every argument with his wife and being so passive aggressive with her. It happens to such that it results in a explosive argument where his wife confronts him about his manipulative behaviour and she calls him out on what he’s doing emotionally to the girls and Smith shows such raw intensity that it genuinely frightened me as he has such anger in his eyes and every word hits like a punch to the chest as he holds nothing back to defend himself about his parenting ethics. He was able to show layers to himself that he had never presented before and even though their are moments where he isn’t at the best emotionally with his kids the times he is are truly touching. When he’s supporting his kids you can see the sheer love he has for them in his heart despite the hard parenting he throws on them beyond all that you can see his love for his girls and his family and Will presents that onscreen in such fantastic ways it’ll make you cry. Smith shows such raw honesty in the really soft spoken scenes where it’s not as intensive and you can see the tears swell up in his eyes and the overwhelming support he has for his family as Smith goes to levels emotionally he’s never explored before onscreen and shows every layer of emotion through his portrayal of Richard Williams. He not only delivers a honest portrayal of the person he plays but he excels beyond a great portrayal of the man he plays with delivering what is truly his crowning performance that is his greatest work of his entire career. Will Smith brings a soft tenderness but emotional force that has been unseen from him to this degree and once he steps onscreen he commands the screen in such strong ways it is truly a tour de force performance by Smith. 

Saniyya Sidney : Saniyya Gives one of the best performances I’ve seen this year! This actress had small bit parts in some big films most recently the Denzel Washington directed Fences but here she’s the main focus of the film which I loved so much and I’ll tell you why. Serena Williams has always been the sister everyone knows best due to her overwhelmingly successful career as a incredible tennis player and not many people know about Venus Williams the other sister who’s also an amazing tennis player in her own right. Now the film centres mostly around Venus which I found super refreshing because I personally thought it was going to be about Serena I’m glad it wasn’t as we get to find out so much about Venus Williams and her dreams and inspirations as well as her incredible talent as a Tennis Player. Saniyya delivers an astonishing performance in this film as we see her arc from the beginning of the film as this bubbly and really happy girl with very little stress to her having the weight of not only her family on her shoulders but every little girl who’s watching. She shows that struggle and the sheer fear of letting down her parents who have such high hopes for her and their are times where you see that all fall down in a emotional breakdown she has where she feels that she failed her dad when she looses a really big match and the sheer amount of depth and emotional layers she presents of Venus Williams was astonishing. The fact I haven’t heard more people talk about her incredible work in this film is crazy to me as she easily gives  one of the best performances of the year and she brings the joyful aspect of being a child but also can grip the audience with an emotional toughness that you see her present onscreen in a really emotionally authentic way that has your jaw on the floor. She is the heartbeat of this film and my god does she knock it out of the park with a strong leading performance that will amaze you and keep you engaged all the way through Saniyya Sidney is a scene stealer in this and truly spectacular. 

Reinaldo Marcus Green : Now this filmmaker gave us a fantastic breakout film from him called Monsters and Men which was a mind blowing film that got tons of critical acclaim and really got people to notice his filmmaking style. Now here he tackles the legacy of the Williams family that of Serena and Venus and their father Richard who coached them to become who they are today. Now he easily could of done what so many other sports bio pics have done and just do a paint by numbers of who they are and he didn’t go that route. Instead he shows the deep emotional depths these girls went through as well as seeing it through the parents eyes and seeing how they shaped them to be who they are through intensive training and a tough work ethic and it resulted in a film that really keeps you engaged all the way through. As we see the humble beginnings to the big arena’s and it doesn’t happen in seconds it builds up to it and I like that as the film yes is two and a half hours long but I wouldn’t want it any shorter. As it’s perfectly paced theirs nothing i would extend or remove it was greatly done as well as the performances he got from his cast was incredible especially the career best performance by Will Smith. Now the film also doesn’t shy away from the darker elements of Richard Williams life they show both the light and dark elements of his story and I like that as it shows you the full picture of who this guy was and it never sugar coats the material of the story but shows it in a raw emotional way which was fantastic. Reinaldo did an amazing job at crafting a sports bio pic that shows us the tale of Serena and Venus Williams in their humble beginnings and how they became who they are today in what I think is one of the best sports films I’ve ever seen incredible direction by Reinaldo.