Customer Reviews

Good Will Hunting (Widescreen)

5 star:		(210)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

It's a must see and a must have for any video library. Excellent story and reality. What's it like to be a genius on the "wrong side of the tracks"? or how really smart people can end up using that to build walls. Top of the line acting.

What you get is a solid 1080 transfer (not sure if it's 1080i or 1080p) and nice DTS Lossless Master Audio at a great price. Yes, this release is barebones, but what do you expect considering how inexpensive it is? If you just want the movie, this is a great deal. If you want extras, get this and a used copy of the DVD... or wait for the official U.S. release (which will be more expensive).

I have no complaints and am happy with this purchase.

This is in fact 1080p (not 1080i as the back cover states). English 5.1 DTS HD-MA (and 5.1 Dolby Digital in english and french as well). No subtitles. No special features.
But it's been clarified many times now that the movie is indeed 1080p.

A math genius, Will, grows up in the back streets of Boston. Will has never sought any formal education and frequently gets in trouble with the law. He gets a job as a janitor at Harvard University. Between sweeping floors and cleaning toilets, he finds the time to solve extremely complicated math equations. A professor at Harvard attempts to take him under his wing and to save him from his latest prison sentence. The professor guarantees the court that Will will seek psychotherapy. After a number of therapists refuse to work with him, the professor asks an old friend to counsel Will. Enter Sean, Robin Williams, a man who also grew up in the back streets of Boston. Sean is able to relate to the troubled Will, and thus the healing begins...

I adored this film when it first opened. It had a fresh, funny, emotionally-charged script. The script was written by two young writers, who had lots of potential to become the most celebrated writers in Hollywood. Instead of sticking to the writing, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon chose the easier path. They became "action" movie stars on the back of Good Will Hunting and left their writing behind. I always thought that this was a shame, that they didn't stick with writing screenplays. Because of this, I think the film lost some of its initial impact. Don't get me wrong. It is still a notable work. When most audiences watch it, they find themselves cheering Will on, as he "cuts" elitist college students down to size. The most hardened and cynical viewers will find it hard not to shed a tear, as Will confronts his past. But what really makes this film masterful is that we are not just told that Will is a Genius. He proves it in every scene. Whether you are listening to his piquant repartee with other characters or his philosophy on life, you are struck by the intelligence of his remarks. The dialogue throughout the film is exceptional. It is earthy and natural (to stay true to the background of Will's character), but it is also adept and sometimes quite, profound.

In the ten years since Good Will hunting was released, Affleck and Damon have written only two other screenplays. In fact, they dropped off the writing "radar" to such a degree that rumours began to surface that William Goldman wrote the script. Goldman vehemently denies this. So it appears, for now, that Good Will Hunting may be a one-hit wonder. But I still have hope that when Affleck and Damon's action movie days are behind them, they will collaborate on one last script. And if it is half as good as Good Will Hunting, it will be a smart script with Oscar-winning potential.

The themes and emotions are not just beffitting to the genre of "drama", but with the movie's reality comes the following: a beautiful, inspiring scene of events.

I won't bother with a review of the movie here--there are already hundreds of those--but I wanted to (hopefully) add some helpful comments regarding this blu-ray transfer and help out anyone that owns the DVD that might be sitting on the fence.

To my eyes--and I'm a bit of a stickler/nerd about PQ (I'm an ex-cinematographer/photographer)--this transfer looks damn good; it's a HUGE improvement over the non-anamorphic DVD edition (the only other version, save for VHS, available up until now).

Sure, there aren't any supplements to be found here, but if you're a fan of the film, you're likely to already have that awful DVD version. I'd bet anything that any future 'special edition' blu-ray is going to be the same transfer as this blu-ray (it looks damn good; can't see the point of striking another one) with those same supplements found on the DVD recycled--and I'll bet anything that they'll be in standard definition to boot (just like your DVD).

Short answer? If you have the DVD, keep it--and get this for the great blu-ray transfer. You'll basically then own any 'special edition' blu-ray of Good Will Hunting that will be released in the future and at a fraction of the price.

This is one of the best movies of all time! Not much different with Blue Ray then regular DVD.

This quiet drama about what genius means was the surprise hit of 1997, with friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck both collaborating on the screenplay and acting. Damon plays Will Hunting, a troubled, gruff young man who works as a janitor at MIT despite his incredible self-education and intelligence. When a mathematics professor discovers that Will has solved a complicated problem left on the blackboard, he pursues Will as a potential protégé. But Will is not good with authority figures, as his past includes abuse at the hands of his father. When Will lands in jail, however, and the professor manages to obtain his release with the stipulation that Will work on mathematics with him and see a counselor, Will's whole life begins to open up. As a patient of psychologist Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), Will forges a relationship that acts as a catalyst for a new future.

Matt Damon does a wonderful job with the title role, although at times he seems a little wooden. As the therapist with a painful history that Will eventually connects with, Robin Williams turns in one of his less flamboyant performances. His suffering is palpable, and his need to save Will from himself lends real passion to the film. Affleck provides solid balance as Will's friend Chuckie, although his performance is less memorable than the other two, more of a function of the role than the actor. Minnie Driver is charming and believable as Will's new girlfriend Skylar.

The screenplay is intelligent and skillfully developed despite some unbelievable facets of the premise, most notably that such a wounded individual, no matter how bright, would have the discipline to teach himself as much as Will knows. Still, this movie only gets better as it progresses. The relationship between Will and his therapist is dynamic, poignant, and meaningful.

This is a good film to own, as it uncovers additional subtleties on second viewing, as long as you don't mind revisiting emotional angst. Its feel-good story arc is somewhat predictable, but the dialogue and interactions are not, making this flick surprisingly complex given the young ages of Damon and Affleck when it was made.

So many people I respect loved this film that I just had to see it. And I was glad I did. It surprised me. I had seen the trailer a long time ago and thought that the trailer had said it all. I was wrong. This film is a lot more than the plot. It is the story of a brilliant rough working class young man in from South Boston (Matt Damon) who retains everything he reads. He's a janitor at MIT and solves mathematical problems on the blackboard after class. He gets into a lot of fights and when he is arrested the mathematics professor who realizes what a genius he is, puts up bail on the proviso he get counseling with psychologist Robin Williams. What follows is a original, tight, and deeply moving movie. There is more wisdom in this one movie than I have ever seen on the screen before, and it is totally involving.

I understand that before Matt Damon was an actor, he wrote this story as a 50 page assignment for a creative writing class at Harvard. The story haunted him, however, and with his friend, fellow actor Ben Affleck, they created the screenplay by improvising each scene together. What resulted was this work of art. Don't miss it!

Many reviewers have focused on the acting and the story as the basis for their positive reviews, but there are two scenes that really make this movie, although I think the subtlety of their connection sometimes escapes people. Even Amazon's reviewer called the script "clunky" or some such condescending insult, making me think he missed this too.

SPOILER

The first scene occurs when Will Hunting and his posse go out on the town one night, and instead of going to their regular Southie hangouts, they hit a "Hahvahd bah". After a series of amusing events, there is a confrontation between Will and an arrogant Harvard undergrad, Clark. Clark, assuming Will is just some uneducated Southie scum, starts quoting from one of his history/economics textbooks, passing it off as his own thoughts, assuming that no one will recognize the true source of his words, in an attempt to impress some nearby girls. Will, having read the same book in his free time, recognizes the passage, interrupts, and finishes it for Clark, even quoting the book title, author, and page number, and thoroughly embarrassing Clark. Will asks, "are you going to plagiarize the entire book for me, or do you have an original thought of your own?" The humiliated student resorts to the lame comeback that at least he'll "have a degree, and Will will one day be serving his kids fries at the drive-through." Will responds, "at least I won't be unoriginal," and invites Clark to step outside to further "discuss" it. Clark meekly declines, ending the scene.

The second scene occurs after Will has been recognized and bailed out from jail by an MIT professor, Lambeau. Lambeau's two conditions for bailing out Will were that Will spend several days a week working on mathematics with Lambeau, and working in therapy with a psychologist. However, Will inevitably proves smarter than all the psychologists Lambeau enlists, finding various ways to turn the tables and expose their own shortcomings and insecurities, rather than opening up about and dealing with his own, offending them and humiliating them to the point where they refuse to continue working with Will. Finally, Lambeau enlists the aid of Sean (Robin Williams), his old MIT undergrad roomate with whom he has fallen out of touch over the years. Sean, a Southie native like Will, is psychology prof at a local Boston college, and is a man living an empty, dead life, still grieving over the death of his beloved wife to cancer two years ago. In short order, Will cruelly exposes Sean's pain, and believing himself to be the victor once again, exits the session. But Sean is no quitter, and tells Lambeau to schedule the next session anyway. At this session, Sean turns the tables, by telling Will essentially what Will told the arrogant Harvard student at the bar, but on a deeper level. Sean tells Will that he's just boy, whose only experience in life comes from reading books. Sean points out that while Will may be able to talk all about art, war, love, grief, and other aspects of life, he's never actually experienced any of it. He doesn't know what it "smells like inside the Sistine Chapel", or what it's like to be in a war and to hold "your best friend's head in your lap and watch him draw his last breath, looking to you for help." Will doesn't know what it's like to truly love, nor to grieve for the death that of love. This revelation has the effect of instilling in Will a respect for Sean's intelligence and character, allowing him to finally start opening up to someone, and marking a turning point in the movie.

Robin William's monologue in this scene is probably one of the best pieces of writing Hollywood has come up with in recent years, not for its sappiness, but for its depth, truth, and honesty, and for the clever way that it turns Will's own thoughts against him.

So, for these two scenes alone I give this movie 5 stars. There are plenty of other funny and clever scenes that fill the gaps and complete the movie, but these are the most important two, and the ones that make it a must-see.