King Richard Review

 

Will Smith, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air himself completely transforms in King Richard, a true story about how the deeply flawed yet perseverant Richard Williams molded his girls Venus and Serena into world-class tennis champions. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green this picture makes no effort to pull back from the unflinching reality of these characters and the trials they had to endure to find the path to success both externally and internally. That reality is no better represented than by Will Smith’s authentic portrayal of the iconic but controversial Richard Williams in this rollercoaster of a ride that taps into the full spectrum of human emotions in this inspirational but also revealing character-based tale. 

 

 

 

The story of Richard Williams is one that is told completely from the lens of said respective narrator and Will Smith’s likeness to Williams just happens to be a coincidence as the instant you see Will Smith onscreen you just as quickly forget that it's Will Smith you’re watching as he transforms without reservation into Richard Williams. Richard’s perseverant struggle to get his girls Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) into the major leagues of professional tennis playing doesn’t come easy as he needs his girls to get better access to better methods of training than the rather crude tennis courts he has them playing on in their rough neighborhood. A neighborhood so tough that Richard often finds himself the victim of an unrelenting beating with Smith pulling off the tragic sadness of it in a way to liken him to Tom Hanks’s iconic portrayal of Forrest Gump. 

 

 

When Richard finally does secure a top-tier coach for his girls things start to look up but struggle abounds mostly because of Richard’s ego and pride getting in his own way. The story unfolds with the inspiring account of events that led to the rise of the Williams girls into tennis-champion history but the road to said victory didn’t come easy as Richard was so stubborn and bull-headed in how he wanted to get to that victory which led to plenty of conflict with the partners he made in bringing his girls closer to that world. This is especially emphasized with the odd couple dynamic between Richard and Coach Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) as the two warred over when the right time was to take the girls professional. Bernthal expertly portrays a character that is eager to please but hardened and disgruntled by the stubbornness of Richard and the friendship between the two is really seen to be carved out of the pair testing each other's limits to great comedic and dramatic effect. The depths of Richard’s stubborn nature and vanity is only seen to grow larger and larger over time throughout the picture as we gain a better and more full understanding of who this man is just as Will Smith so clearly understands the truth behind this man in his honest portrayal. 

 

 

Since Richard long stood in the way of that next step to victory for his girls in his long line of controversial decisions the climax of the film is centered around Richard baring his soul to Venus in revealing the origins of his long-held pain that drives how he thinks, acts, and behaves in the false lie he believes about himself which he ultimately must confront when his daughter plays opposite the world’s tennis champion in a game of which victory was definitely not assured. 

 

The humanity of King Richard lies in its dedication to telling the true authentic story of its characters and not doing the movie version of that story instead. Will Smith sacrifices his charismatic hot-shot ladies man persona here to bring to life the deeply flawed and conflicted Richard Williams who had difficult relationships with everyone in his life as he struggled to not let the world see what he secretly thought of himself which was that he was nothing but a dumb black man but in the end as history proves he proved himself wrong with Venus and Serena Williams making tennis history representing African-American girls all across the world and that is something to be proud of.