Most critics respond warmly to Milk, with praise concentrated on Sean Penn’s performance and Gus Van Sant’s humane treatment of political activism. Penn’s humour, charisma and emotional detail emerge as the chief strengths, making Harvey Milk persuasive both as a public campaigner and in his personal relationships. The reviews also value the film’s energy, its recreation of the period and its ability to make the work of organising a movement accessible and stirring.
Reservations centre on the familiar biopic structure, with some critics finding the storytelling staid, uneven or too thin in its supporting strands. The AV Club admires Penn but finds the film prone to the genre’s usual structural lumps; The New York Times, by contrast, praises its avoidance of those traps. The spread is chiefly one of enthusiasm rather than outright disagreement: even the more qualified notices find substantial value in the performances and political subject.
R
Radio Times
★★★★★ · Adam Smith
100
Gus Van Sant's humane, intelligent biopic features an unexpected gem of a performance from Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. The film wonderfully recreates 1970s San Francisco and handles the material with great skill.
Van Sant delivers a conventional yet daring, intelligent biopic of Harvey Milk that blends political activism with personal relationships. Sean Penn gives a revelatory performance driving the film's jubilant energy.
Van Sant's most conventional film since Finding Forrester is a briskly-told, warmly humanistic and stirring portrait of Harvey Milk with superb performances from a starry cast. It will win over liberal audiences and earn awards recognition.
The critic praises Sean Penn's empathetic lead performance and the film's timely perspective on gay rights progress. He notes that it succumbs to the conventional lumpy problems typical of biopics.
The critic calls it a winning biopic that surges with gay pride and praises Sean Penn's committed lead performance as Harvey Milk along with the effective use of archive footage to ground the history.
The review finds the biopic smart, sexy and very funny, highlighting Sean Penn's transformative performance and the film's exploration of Milk's personal life and relationships alongside its political themes.
The biopic delivers a clear, well-edited look at Harvey Milk's grassroots political rise with strong performances from its cast, though it does not substantially surpass the earlier documentary The Times of Harvey Milk and omits key events such as the White Night Riots.
The critic presents Milk as a hero for our time whose story resonates with contemporary struggles. He highlights the film's energetic depiction of activism and history-making through Lance Black's screenplay and Penn's performance.
The film is seen as more conventional than compelling in its celebration of gay rights activism, yet given extra relevance by contemporary echoes in its script. It singles out Sean Penn's persuasive performance as Harvey Milk for its offbeat charisma.
The critic finds the film does a body good in the wake of Proposition 8, celebrating Milk's foresight and humor while praising Penn's performance and Van Sant's visual touches. He notes it is closer to conventional biopics than the director's experimental work but still rousing.
The critic praises Sean Penn's ferocious and detailed performance as Harvey Milk but finds the film slightly staid and closer to the middle-of-the-road side of Van Sant's work. He singles out the complex, obsessive relationship between Milk and Dan White as potentially more interesting than the straightforward biopic presented.
The critic calls it the first great film to examine civil rights from the gay movement's perspective. He praises its superb craftsmanship, intimate portrayal of Harvey Milk and the era, and Sean Penn's extraordinary performance.
The review praises the vibrantly entertaining biopic for its rowdy anthem of triumph and careful handling of the assassin's character. It singles out Sean Penn's soulful, universal demand for dignity in the lead role.
The critic calls 'Milk' the best mainstream American film of the year for its accessible and instructive chronicle of politics and its portrait of a passionate, generous warrior. It singles out the film's graceful evasion of biopic traps and its moody lyricism in framing and focus.
The adroit and tenderly observed account returns Van Sant to the mainstream with a smart study of Milk's powerful effect on individuals and society. It singles out Sean Penn's surprising, winning performance as the sweet yet fearless political motivator.
The critic praises Sean Penn's standout performance as Harvey Milk for its understatement and passion, and notes Gus Van Sant's skillful direction in reclaiming respect for accessible serious filmmaking.
Sean Penn gives a joyful, deeply layered portrayal of Harvey Milk that captures why he became a local hero. Van Sant approaches the characters with psychological nuance similar to his earlier work like Elephant, resulting in an uncommonly graceful biopic.
The film focuses on Harvey Milk's final years and the movement for gay rights rather than a full life story. Sean Penn delivers a fantastic performance as Milk, and director Gus Van Sant crafts a strong statement on civil rights without being preachy.
The critic admires the film's noble intentions and powerful performances, especially Sean Penn's embodiment of Harvey Milk, but finds it constrained by conventional biopic structure and underdeveloped subplots.
Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate
