King Richard (film): Best Actor award was deserved

These days whenever the Oscars come around I am a little perturbed by the choices the academy makes for what films are going to be nominated and in many instances I am annoyed but what wins. I feel as though this particular award ceremony, which is the most prestigious in the world, is more geared towards social justice movements than they are geared towards acknowledging what is truly the best films. I say this when a film like Moonlight wins best picture when nobody went to see it in theaters and most people hadn't even heard of it but since it was about the experiences of a gay minority, it wins a bunch of awards. When I eventually ended up watching it because it had won I thought it was a pretty good film, but couldn't shake the fact that I still felt as though it had won because of the race and sexuality of the characters and not so much because it was really the best film made that year.

Will Smith is a different animal though since he actually is a very gifted actor and does a wide range of film types. He has done basically every genre other than horror (maybe he has done that as well and I am just not aware of it) and even when the movies are bad such as Men in Black he performs very well in his roles.

When he won Best Actor for King Richard I had my doubts about the quality of the film and had not yet seen it. I watched it the other day and stayed very interested the entire way through and after seeing it, I can confirm that I don't think Will won this award because he is black and playing the role of a poor black man from Compton. I think he won the award because his performance was truly fantastic in the film, which is also excellent.

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To be honest, I didn't really know any of this story before the film and this probably has a great deal to do with the fact that I don't really keep up with sports and never have. I do know who Venus and Serena Williams are because they were a couple of the biggest names in the world for a time there and you knew who they were even if you didn't watch tennis matches.

I didn't realize that their rise to glory was almost exclusively because of the never-ending dedication of their father Richard, who refused to give up on them and had a literal plan for their lives and how they were going to become the best tennis stars in the world, despite their humble upbringings.

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Will Smith's portrayal of Richard is a tragic and touching one as it shows the immense sacrifices that he had to make as a father in order to get them access to trainers or even quality tennis courts for his daughters to practice on. In multiple instances he is beaten up by gangbangers simply for being on the courts and because he wouldn't back down when they try to flirt with his teenage daughters. For anyone that has a good relationship with their father, or had a father that made sacrifices in their upbringing, these are going to be moments in the movies that will nearly bring tears to your eyes, and Smith pulls it off in a masterful fashion.

I think that this is tougher for Will to do than it would be for many other actors because he does such a wide range of films including some rather slapstick comedies that he must need to practice and focus a lot more than other actors that focus primarily on one particular genre of film. It would be very easy for him to accidentally slip into another character and totally ruin the performance of his role as Richard, but this never happens in this film. His performance from start to finish is truly flawless and even though I normally disagree with the Academy, I do not disagree with them about this decision. Smith's portrayal of Richard is extremely well-done and he deserves the accolades for the role.

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It is worth pointing out that Smith is not the only fantastic actor in this movie as I was truly impressed with Saniyya Sidney (Venus) and Demi Singleton (Serena) even though just as a general rule I tend to not enjoy child actors. One thing that surprised me is that Jon Bernthal plays the role of tennis coach Rick Macci and managed to not completely fuck up the role the way that he does nearly every other role that he has ever been in. He is one of my least favorite actors and feel as though he is just terrible in most things. Perhaps being coached by Will helped him to finally learn how to act.

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There isn't a single person cast in this film that isn't absolutely brilliant in their role and there also isn't any "filler" involved in the movie that is meant to just take up time in order to make it to the obligatory 90 minutes. In fact, this film is more than 2 hours long and it is very rare that this doesn't end up being a problem. You will stay glued to the screen the entire time because every single scene has a purpose.

Should I watch it?

This is going to be one of the most heartfelt recommendations that I have made in a while when I give a resounding "YES!" as an answer to that question. Even if you don't like tennis or sports biographical films, this is an extremely touching, heart-warming, and exciting film. Combine this with the fact that the actual scenes where they are playing tennis must have been extremely difficult to film seeing as how the actors aren't really tennis stars and you have yourself an amazing production. This is one of the most entertaining films that I have seen in a long time and while I am sure they took some liberties here and there, the fact that it is also a true story makes its watching even more enjoyable.