'The Mighty' (1998)
A movie review by Walter Frith
Member of the 'Internet Movie Critics Association' http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/5713/index.html
and
Member of the 'Online Film Critics Society' http://ofcs.org/ofcs/
The after school specials that ABC television has produced in the past are a good stepping stone for producing 'The Mighty'. ABC has nothing to do with this film but the makers of this one certainly look like they watched a lot of them. An intelligent, if somewhat overly sentimental film, 'The Mighty' has some good performances from two young actors who steal the show away from their adult colleagues but some of the writing is a cross between corn ball and a lot of the dialogue and situations are flippant.
Set in Cincinnati, Ohio, 'The Mighty' is the story of two boys and their dysfunctional lives and how they become the best of friends. Elden Henson is an over sized seventh grader who refers to himself as Godzilla and draws stares from the other children at school because of his size and his homely features. He is taunted by a gang of punks at school who tease and harass him about his past and his father's imprisonment. Henson's father (James Gandolfini) killed his mother in a domestic dispute and is now serving time. Henson lives with his maternal grandparents (Gena Rowlands and Harry Dean Stanton) who care deeply for the boy.
Henson gets a tutor at school (Kieran Culkin), a boy who is highly intelligent at his level in life but he suffers from a disease that eats away at his body slowly and he is supported by arm braces when walking. The two meet awkwardly when Henson is blamed for an act of cruelty against Culkin in the school gymnasium and has to serve detention for it. Later, the two of them become close friends and Henson serves as Culkin's protector and is brought out of his shy shell after being inspired from the stories of brave knights brought on by the fact that Culkin also likes to draw references to medieval times and the sanctity of knights when describing a situation or involving himself in it.
'The Mighty' is a good family film that has a good marketing strategy by casting Sharon Stone as Culkin's mother. The ordinary style the film projects of everyday life in the surroundings of ordinary people are quite admirable. What I really thought was strange was how all the adult characters in the film were under written. I think it's a rather cheap marketing trick to have popular stars like Sharon Stone and Gillian Anderson in very under written roles. Anderson plays a drunken white trash individual living with her equally trashy boyfriend (Meat Loaf). Her character only appears in a couple of key scenes but Anderson is an excellent actress capable of the most impressive diversity.
Elden Henson and Kieran Culkin are terrific young actors but Henson clearly steals the show as his character goes through a transformation of soul searching and his life is clearly influenced for the better at the teachings of a tutor who has much to teach him and makes his life wholesome and determined to stay on the right track. A lesson much of today's youth needs badly. Parents are encouraged to take their children to see this film for a memorable experience that they will remember fondly as they grow older
OUT OF 5 > * * * 1/2
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