Reviews of Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump review

Posted : 2 weeks, 4 days ago on 8 December 2009 07:25 (A review of Forrest Gump)

Forrest Gump is one of the single most amazing films that I have ever watched in my whole life. Forrest Gump is one of the biggest inspirations to me and I have many reasons for this. It is a beautiful story of a man with a low IQ who experiences different things in life. That can encourage people to live life to the maximum level they can just like Forrest does. Forrest Gump and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button are the only two films that make me see through life and what there is to achieve within it even though they both tell different stories of life. Forrest Gump is a film that I cannot take my eyes off while I'm watching it because it is that much of an inspiration to me. Forrest Gump is a purely magical story that is really well known in the public especially with the Bubba-Gump shrimp restaurant in Manhattan, New York in which I went to when I was 13 years old. It is a comedy but I wouldn't call Forrest Gump an absolutely outrageously hilarious film because it is more of a romantic drama. Forrest Gump is the feel-good film of the 1990s and it is that simple. It is a deeply lovable story that I have watched time and time again when I need cheering up or anything like that. Forrest Gump himself is an inspiration to me as well because through Forrest I can see other different kinds of people especially people with learning difficulties, disabilities or anything else like that.

Tom Hanks' performance as Forrest Gump is a one-of-a-kind performance that can never be beaten. Personally, I think Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump is the best leading male performance of all time because he is one of the few actors who can make the character very realistic like they're a real person. Performances that are quite similar to Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump are Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, Sean Penn as Sam Dawson, Russell Crowe as John Nash and Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button. Tom Hanks portraying Forrest Gump truly is a performance that will become legend in the future because of the accent and the truly realistic personality that Hanks brings into the character. Tom Hanks has always been an actor of such inspiration to me because he has been in masterpieces where he has portrayed different characters and has given very different points of views of films and the character's personalities. The Green Mile made Tom Hanks my favourite actor of all time and when I saw Forrest Gump, he became even more of an inspiration to me. Hanks' performance as Forrest Gump is a performance that I personally think is sort of respecting to those people who suffer with disabilities and learning difficulties in real-life by showing what it is really like to suffer from a disability. Forrest Gump is a man who is born with an unknown disability and has leg braces on his legs. The doctor says his legs are the ones that are strong but his back is really crooked. He lives with his mother in a mansion on the outskirts of Alabama. Things start taking a turn for Forrest because he starts school and he ends up being the victim of bullying. I think the one scene that sends chills down my back is when Forrest is running from the bullies while he has the leg braces on and Jenny says "Run, Forrest, Run!" Then his braces come off and he starts to run really fast while Forrest as an adult is telling the story. He experiences college, the army, ping-pong, shrimping and being a national celebirty which is a dream life and Forrest is the lucky one chosen for it. His love for Jenny is one that she never really understood because she said that he doesn't know what love is but he sees love in a clearer and better way than she does because he had love for her but she had love for sex and illegal drugs. Robin Wright Penn's performance as Jenny Curran was another amazing performance. Robin portrayed a very emotional yet a very disturbed and confused Jenny with such realistic motions and ways of expressing other people who are in that kind of situation in life. Jenny was the only friend Forrest had as a child. She achieves all of the things within high school but she got too deeply involved with sex and illegal drugs. After she was kicked out of college, she became a drug addict and prostitute unbeknownst to Forrest. Robin proves as well that only she can portray Jenny. Gary Sinise's performance as Lieutenant Dan Taylor is probably the most serious performance of the whole film because he is a man who suffers and thinks he doesn't need to live anymore but eventually his life gets back on track again. Sinise showed the really emotional side to Dan and also the very rude and abbrupt side to his personality as well. Dan is a Lieutenant of a platoon during the war in Vietnam with Forrest and Bubba as two of those soldiers. After an unexpected attack from the Vietnamese, he and most of the platoon get wiped out or badly injured. Forrest rescues pretty much all of the platoon including Dan but he had to have his legs cut off. That is where he thinks he has no other reason why to live. Dan now behaved a bit like Forrest. Dan didn't want to be called "cripple" or "freak" just like Forrest didn't want to be called "retard" or "stupid". Sally Field's performance as Mrs. Gump was an absolutely fantastic one. She reminded me a lot of Queenie in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Sally Field is only 11 years older than Tom Hanks and she is portraying his mother. That is exactly the same when Toni Collette and Paul Dano were in Little Miss Sunshine together because Collette is only 11 years older than Dano and she portrays his mother. Mykelti Williamson was really good as Bubba but did get quite annoying at times.

Forrest Gump was the first Robert Zemeckis film that I saw and I have to say that he won't ever create another film as good as Forrest Gump. Zemeckis is a director who has given us films of different genres but all have one genre in common that the characters experience: adventure. If Zemeckis hadn't directed Forrest Gump there wouldn't be a Forrest Gump masterpiece and it is that simple. Zemeckis is a man who has brought a gift to the world as well as the film world that life can be beautiful if you live it to the maximum level. This is a film adapted from a novel and this film couldn't be better adapted in any other way than it was in this film.

Forrest Gump is my all-time favourite drama, it is the best film of the 1990s and that is probably the best decade for cinema. Forrest Gump is Tom Hanks's best film and always will be, it is Robert Zemeckis' best work and always will be hopefully. Forrest Gump is a masterpiece that is filled with comedy, beauty and heartbreak. Forrest Gump and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button are two films that are very similar and those two are the two biggest inspirations to me. Forrest Gump has its rightful place on one of my close favourite films of all time.

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Forrest Gump review

Posted : 3 months ago on 28 September 2009 09:33 (A review of Forrest Gump)

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

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Run Forrest, Run!

Posted : 3 months, 2 weeks ago on 11 September 2009 12:24 (A review of Forrest Gump)

After watching this film, I was so inspired, that I decided, on a whim, to go running all the way across the country. However, by the time I reached the end of my block, I was so devastatingly winded, & I was weezing so desperately for air, that I thought for sure, my left lung must've collapsed in on itself.
So, instead, I just reminded myself that "stupid is as stupid does", & went back into my house & ate an entire "box of chawk-letts".
Which, of course, is what life is kinda like.

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A trip down memory lane...

Posted : 1 year, 1 month ago on 18 November 2008 07:37 (A review of Forrest Gump)

''My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." ''

Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.

Tom Hanks: Forrest Gump

What best sums up good old Forrest Gump? Is he a simpleton? An idealist? A moral paragon of innocence? In this movie it's more appropriate to describe him as what he isn't. Forrest lives in a world that derides him as stupid but, as Mrs Gump states, "stupid is as stupid does", and in this, it's the other characters who seem endowed with stupidity.
Jenny stumbles from one bad trip to another, Lieutenant Dan loses his legs, then his mind at war, while everybody else seems to engage in acts of relentless and tragic idiocy. All through this Forrest is the pinnacle and rock that anchors all the proceedings, the unchanging element.
He sees the world in simple terms, intent on doing the right thing. In this movie it's not Forrest that's retarded, it's the rest of the world.

Forrest Gump mentions and addresses many of the crucial American wounds of the 20th century such as: Vietnam, relationships with African-Americans, drugs, capitalism and the mistreatment of women. Naturally Forrest himself takes the morally upright line on all of these, he fights in Vietnam then rejects war as hell, makes best friends with the African-American Bubba, rejects drugs, becomes a national sporting hero, makes a million without even trying, looks for love with Jenny but loses her despite treating her better than any other man ever did. The interactions and contradictions between Forrest and his more worldly, more cynical cast-mates is the source of much humour, some of it quite dark. Integrating Forrest into various bits of historical footage was quirky and interesting, though played no significant part in the story.

''What's normal anyways?''

The acting is strong, the narrative is compelling enough and its semi-documentary style direction is consistent and provides clarity and pace. However Forrest Gump is little more than an ideological fairy story, partly to keep viewers believing in the cause. Would that we could have a world where the best-intentioned half-wit could pop up at opportune moments in history, winning hearts, amassing a fortune, becoming famous. Sadly, the world generally belongs to those who have screwed over someone else to get there - and that isn't Forrest, he's too nice a guy.

The movie opens with Forrest sitting at a bus stop, waiting to go see Jenny after being apart from her for years. Who is Jenny, you ask? We'll get to that in time. Forrest strikes up a conversation or two with the people that come and wait for the bus with him. Or, more accurately, he keeps talking regardless of whether anybody is listening or not. The movie plays out as a flashback, with Forrest taking us through all the major events of his life and narrating them.
The flashback starts when Forrest is a little boy, about six years old or so, just at about the age where he should be starting school. We get to take a look at Forrest's childhood as he gets leg braces to straighten out his back, as his momma (Field) fights (and does a few other things) to get him into public school, and as he meets for the first time the love of his life. Jenny. He meets her on the way to school, sitting next to her on the bus, and they strike up a friendship immediately.

''One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.''

Eventually we progress to the point where Forrest and Jenny are in high school, and we travel along with Forrest as he makes it onto the football team and gets to go to college. Forrest and Jenny never date, but he's always there to protect her. Anytime he thinks she's in trouble, he rushes to the rescue, ready to beat the ever-loving snot out of anyone who even looks at his Jenny wrong. I think one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when someone is dumb enough to slap Jenny. The film goes slow motion, Forrest's eyes go wide, and he starts charging at this guy like a runaway locomotive, and has the striking force of one too. Watching him beat the crap out of that guy is hilarious.

The movie is a tour through American history of course, but I don't think the special effects detract from the basic simplicity of the story. It is basically a morality story. Not a very deep or complex one, but just very simple--do the right things, and your life will turn out okay.
There aren't very many of these movies made anymore, and so it's somewhat satisfying that this one was, and that it was so successful. It's as if American society had finally had its fill of beautiful alienated youngsters who rebel, do drugs, hate their parents and act like all around jerks (see American Beauty).
It is so unique because of the character Forrest Gump himself, who has a low IQ of only 75. Although he is 'mentally challenged', he finds himself in historic and troublesome situations and like that he manages to Forrest Gump' his way out of it and end up a hero or role model. but the real beauty in this movie to me was his ability to simplify the complexities of the world we live in and somehow do what some war movies fail to do. show the importance of world peace or what love movies can't deliver...the importance of love.
I love that Forrest doesn't lose his innocence and purity throughout the movie, or maybe he just can't but either way, this shows you don't need to be evil or really intelligent to be recognised or successful. Then again it is just a movie (and a very good one too). So maybe it doesn't work like that in reality. what that simply means is that the acting and story of this film was incredibly touching on a real level. And in my definition that's what a good movie should be able to do.
Gump isn't the best movie ever made in my opinion, but it's a strong one, one very much worth seeing, and seeing again to be honest. "Stupid is as stupid does" may not be poetry or very deep, but it ends up being true, and more than enough to fill up a book or flick, and make you feel as free as the feather floating up into the air at the climax.

Forrest Gump: What's my destiny, Mama?
Mrs. Gump: You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself.

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Forrest Gump review

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago on 31 August 2008 05:43 (A review of Forrest Gump)

Every once in a while a film comes around that is so incredibly amazing that it leaves everyone stunned into silence. Forrest Gump is amazing but nobody can pin point exactly why, a silent understanding lies between one another that this movie is just great, there in lies why this movies will forever be a firm favourite.

Like an age old tradition or the unwritten etiquette of the underground, Forrest Gump bemuses me. Forrest Gump is completely unprecedented, he isn't an all out hero, he doesn't particularly earn his rags to riches position, he isn't cool, he isn't witty or funny and he isn't the typical 'disabled' figure that insights a wealth of pity. Gump instinctively does the right thing without any cogitation, he has no motives, no aims, no sense of money or concept of ownership, no greed, no malice, no wroth. What is he then?...I can't tell you. His innocence and honesty likens him to the robotic character, similar to that of Bicentennial man, yet his humanity is underpinned by his constant and unerring love for Jenny.

I have started many a review for this film, but never finished one, so concerned with definition and explanation, that I've not been able to put it into words. I recently saw a documentary that said "We don't know how the big bang started, but we do know what happened a millisecond after it did"...I'm going to take this approach in this review, I don't now why Forrest Gump is so good, or what the character is, but can tell you what effect the film has.

This film is unbelievably multifaceted, it evokes the deepest feelings of sympathy at the same time as the evoking awe. It will make you cry and laugh at the same time, stun you into silence then draw you into yells.

The film never loses it poignancy as it follows through most of modern history's most important events, the civil rights movements, presidential assassinations, Watergate and the Vietnam War, to name but a few. All the while the inherent human tendency toward evil is highlighted in its opposition to Forrest's unwavering goodness and innocence. This most certainly evokes that guilty and remorseful feeling for some of the shameful actions of the human race. In all this shame and remorse however, Forrest's humanity remains a glimmer of hope that the human condition isn't entirely doomed and may be inclined to good, if guided in the right direction.

This is so much more than a good film, it is a modern parable. A reminder that modern man can be driven to terrible things, but has the potential to be entirely innocent and at peace with the world. Forrest, unconcerned by material gain and sinful ventures, remains eternally peaceful despite his bleak surroundings. Even Jenny, who experiments with every kind of sin and vice, finds redemption in the end.

On a cinematic level, Forrest Gump is pristine, beautiful shots and some clever camera trickery place Gump in many an iconic media moment. The film has a substantial war scene which incorporates many of the awesome, sweeping camera shots and orchestral themes that are convention within epic war movies. The sound track is beautifully composed and stirring to say the least. Tom Hanks also plays his character to such a high standard that he forever sealed his 10/10 status, playing Gump with light-hearted whimsy as well as solemn dignity.

I'm not saying that Forrest Gump is the new bible, nor am I saying everyone who watches it will ditch sin for a cleaner life; but I think anyone who watches this film will be hard pressed to deny it does a bit to realign the moral compass within all of us.

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Reviews of Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump review

Forrest Gump review

Run Forrest, Run!

A trip down memory lane...

Forrest Gump review

Just perfect

Good Film

Excellent.

Forrest Gump review

:)