We watched this last night and it’s definitely the best movie we’ve seen all year, probably the last few years.
Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in this movie and it’s apparent why. He completely disappears into the role, with no remnant of Aragorn, or Captain Fantastic anywhere on screen. You forget who you are even watching.
Mahershala Ali did win an Academy Award for his performance, which is reserved, powerful, intriguing, and believable all at once. I’ve only seen Ali portray villains before, and I had forgotten about my previous conception of him within the first few scenes.
The chemistry between the two actors is remarkable, and they play off each other very well throughout the movie. We found the movie to have a perfect blend of seriousness, humor, heartbreak, and triumph. The script is great, the acting superb, the directing stellar, and the music is flat out amazing.
The movie doesn’t pull punches with the overt racism of the South during that era. The pair - genius musician, and street smart bodyguard - encounter multiple dangerous situations. They save each other, both literally and figuratively, throughout the movie.
Overall I can’t praise this movie enough. It is an outstanding accomplishment, and deserved every award that it won. Check it out!
This was kind of like a 1980s movie. The lack of cynicism was refreshing given how gloomy many other recent movies have been.
I completely agree! It actually received a fair amount of criticism because of that, but my wife and I appreciated it for that. It was a feel good movie, and very well done. They manipulated our emotions, but only to make us feel better.