King Richard (2021) - Biopic starring Will Smith

[laagi]

Probably Will Smith's best performance to date. Clearly also a vanity project for him.

I'm no a tennis fan by any means but I've really enjoyed this one! Largely due to the aformentioned performance by our lead but also everyone involved did an outstanding job. Special mention should go to the young actresses who portrayed Venus and Serena respectively. Also who isn't a sucker for a good "underdog" story especially one that is true. Just kind of makes you feel good.

Now I'm aware that Richard has brought on several controversies. I won't go into it myself as there's plenty information out there already if you choose to go down this rabbit hole. There's certain hints here and there throughout the movie but nothing too on the nose.

One thing though that kept bugging me. If I would feel malicious I'd call this entire endevaor a blatant oscar bait. It clearly taps into several topics the academy loves; especially in recent years. Coming of Age, American Dream, Underdog Story, Strong Female Characters, African American Background. But I feel while these concerns do bear some truth it still wouldn't do justice to the movie.

It's fascinating though how much we still believe in the "american dream".  The promise that anyone regardless of race, gender, religion can achieve anything through hard work and dedication. While in this instance it may appear to be true; although probably improved for our viewing pleasure. I can't help but wonder for every success story out there how many have tried and failed. And in the course of this have lost everything let alone sometimes their life.

I don't mean to be cynical but for every success there's probably a thousand if not more who failed. Were these individuals less talented, not hard-working enough? Hollywood loves to create this myth about the american dream and usually at least in my humble opinion leaves out an important detail. There's also a huge portion of luck involved!

Nevertheless in closing I wanna be clear this is a good movie. And if it even helps to inspire one young girl or boy out there to try and achieve their dreams, then it's well worth watching.