King Richard

Most of the best sports dramas are coupled with a great "behind the scenes" story that's unknown to a majority of the general public. 

King Richard leans into this which is probably obvious from the title itself. A film about Venus and Serena William's origins is actually a film about their father and his plan to raise them out of Compton and into some of the best tennis athletes the world had ever seen. 

In some ways, that makes this a very unique telling of a story that I certainly had no idea about. When Venus & Serena were just starting to get big, I was too young to really care about tennis, but their star power is clearly so large - equal to the likes of Michael Jordan & Tom Brady - that they're household names nowadays. 

In other ways, King Richard, despite being a great movie, feels like an odd focal point to tell this story and I think that I'm probably not the only one who was confused when the "Venus & Serena" story was announced, but was about...their father?

Either way, what we have here is a compelling sports drama that earns extra interest because it's based on the true story of a couple of GOATs, while being completely anchored down by not only a fantastic Will Smith performance, but fantastic performances all around (it's a good weekend for child actors, apparently!).

Starting with Smith, this film is unequivocally his. The camera is almost always on him unless there's a tennis match going on (more on that later) and we already know he's one of Hollywood's most effective leading men. That's no different here as he plays a loving father that's also obsessive and over-protective. Along with a slight lisp and accent, Smith is impeccable, displaying the father's (misplaced) shame in himself and eagerness to "stick to the plan" in order to make his daughters - all 5 of them - successful in a variety of ways. The weight which he holds comes through in several powerful scenes while also being able to capture some of Richard's more eccentric and comedic tendencies. In a storied career, Richard William's is one of Smith's best performances and the film's depiction of him is balanced and more complex than you might expect. 

The Williams crew rolls deep!

Other performances such as Saniyya Sidney as Venus Williams, Demi Singleton as Serena Williams, Aunjanue Ellis as Brandy Williams, and Jon Bernthal as Rick Macci are all up to the task of stealing screentime from Smith and interacting with his larger than life character. Sidney and Singleton in particular feel like genuine children who are along for the ride with their dad's goals for them. Bernthal is playing a character far different than the machismo we've come to expect from him as the Williams' sister's lively tennis coach who genuinely just wants to see them succeed. It's a refreshing turn from him that displays some range and he's my "2nd Place" MVP vote outside of Smith. 

Outside of pure performances, the rest of King Richard is "pretty good". In a lot of ways, the view feels quite narrow for a film that I really wanted to be about Venus and Serena, but perhaps that's my own fault. It focuses primarily on Venus' quest since she was first, and by the latter half of the film, Serena is quite literally on the sidelines the whole time. Richard's story is definitely interesting - and sometimes shocking - but the film doesn't do much in terms of actual movie making to dial things up and make them more special. The original score is about as generic as a sports drama gets, for example, and the tennis matches themselves are remarkably and disappointingly stagnant. The latter is a bummer that they're just "good" and most often choose a camera angle of "low and behind" a single player when tennis is such a fast-paced game with tons of movement that there could have been more creativity there without going full "Matrix". 

But despite my minor qualms, King Richard is probably exactly as good as you were hoping for/expecting for a sports drama about Venus and Serena Williams with Will Smith starring. Meaning...that's it's pretty damn good, but it owes quite a lot to the performances that build it.

CONS

• Some generic creative choices
• The original score is just...there
• Tennis sequences lack velocity and more movement that could have made them more exciting
• Perhaps just me, but the film's narrow view point feels like a disservice to the sisters, particularly Serena. Richard's story is very interesting, but so is Venus & Serena's...

PROS

• Counter-productive to my most recent point, this story is VERY interesting, particularly at the beginning and I really had no idea about Richard and his tenacity
• Incredible performances all around
• Smith, unsurprisingly, gives one of the best of his career
• Child actors Sidney and Singleton just nail their challenging roles
• Bernthal plays a different character than normal, to great effect
•  Entertaining thanks to the performances, Richard's larger-than-life persona, and the fact it's attached to two of the biggest sports superstars of our time

Rath's Review Score | 8/10