Boulevard (2014)
7/10
An incredibly gripping final performance in an average movie
20 August 2015
Boulevard stars the late Robin Williams and is the last on screen acting performance we will ever get to see of the man who changed so many peoples lives through his amazing performances in films. And this performance is no different, it is a different type of role, a very dramatic role and i have to say he has left us with one of the best performances of his long and incredible career. Boulevard may not be a fantastic movie but Robin Williams showed in every scene why he was one of the greatest of his generation. He manages to portray this character who is so kind and giving but at the same time conflicted with feelings that he holds to himself so amazingly that you cannot look away from the screen. And with such a small cast he shines as he carries the film from start to finish making you feel so many different emotions at the same time for this incredibly fascinating character. The small supporting cast were all great and all contributed to really understanding Robin's character and why he acts the way he does throughout the film. I speak a lot about Robin's performance when talking about this film because it really is the best thing about the movie and apart from a few other aspects the movie wasn't as fantastic as it could have been.

Another thing i thought was so incredibly interesting about this movie is that it deals with many different themes and ideas that you don't see often in mainstream movies. It highlights certain topics in American society and although it isn't the most accurate representation of these topics it does it's best not to sugarcoat what is happening and that really helped staying engaged in the film. The movie also takes on a very, very slow pace and i understand that the movie needed to have this pace in order to properly share this mans story but without the performance mentioned above driving the film it would not have been nearly as good. The movie has plenty of very slow emotional moments that almost bring you to tears but it also get fairly dark and intense and although the two tones could have been balanced better throughout the film i found myself on the edge of my seat most of the time. The last 10-15 minutes of the movie seemed to fly by and some of what it showed i thought was very relevant to concluding the story but some other things i felt were unjustly concluded, i guess i wanted a little more in the end but it was an alright finale.

In the end, Robin Williams is the reason to watch this movie because not only was it one of his last but it was one of his best and was a truly emotional performance. The film itself was somewhat engaging but a lot of what was wrong with the film was hidden behind Robin's great performance. - 6.5
42 out of 50 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed