Best Actor 2021: Will Smith in King Richard

Will Smith won his Oscar from his third acting Oscar nomination for portraying Richard Williams in King Richard.

King Richard tells the story of the Williams sisters through the story of their father raising them to be tennis champions from a young age. A wholly fine film though definitely a bit drawn out for its simplistic approach to the material.

Will Smith is an actor who hasn't always been one of my favorites. Although he certainly has an overabundance of charm that suits him well for straightforward leading turns, he can struggle a bit when confronted with either tricky, or more complex characters. The role of Richard Williams is honestly a little bit of both, as it is in part the type of role that plays to Smith's strengths while also technically being a challenge by not being just a simple hero. Richard Williams by all accounts is a whole lot of a man, and idiosyncratic in more ways than one. Right down to his particular way of speaking and even acting in the particular way he pushed his daughters to be champions. Smith's performance is wholly effective in portraying the mannerisms of Williams. His very distinct way of talking, even his extremely hunched over posture Smith brings to the role here. Unlike his turn as Ali, I think Smith fashions this in a way that is convincing within the performance. It feels a little much at first, but ends up feeling true to the character. He most importantly makes it feel just a part of the character after awhile.

Where Smith succeeds in this role is just bringing his charm and charisma even within the fashioned personal style of Richard Williams. Smith has that star quality that comes off the screen well here, and makes for an endearing presence in portraying the character's various moments of essentially inspiration via pushing his daughters again and again. Smith does hit the right note of earnestness here and really prevents himself from overdoing it which would be very easy with the general tone of this film. Smith though is present in these scenes and brings the right tone for each of these scenes. His reactions capture the moments of frustration whenever there is a setback, or the joy whenever there is a triumph. He hits his marks consistently in this sense. When the film wants Smith to deliver a one liner, that particular Smith brings his comedic sensibilities along with the role. What I think is best here, is that Smith succeeds in hitting the comedic lines without resorting to going back to fully Will Smith. They are still Smithesque in the side eye casual cool but he still modulates the performance for it to be naturally as Richard Williams. 

So much of the film wants to push for how inspirational of a story this is, and the film does this one of two ways. This is either Richard disregarding doubters or potential exploiters with derision or by speaking warm support to both his daughters as they climb the ladder of tennis success. Smith effectively executes the moments of Richard presenting his particular way of wisdom as these blunt as possible deliveries of the man who will speak as he sees fit. He has this kind of clarity by in a way, as a man who so easily projects that kind of exact perspective of his. Smith on the other end of supporting his daughters Smith naturally exudes just this warmth and his eyes always seem to convey just the purest of belief in his daughters. Although the sort of inspirational intent of some of these scenes might be a little too obviously calibrated at times, Smith does hit his marks. Smith is an earnest performer, and that passion he brings comes across naturally here. Again though I must credit Smith in even performing these moments with just enough passivity to still be Richard Williams not Will Smith. 

Where the film shows its limitations is when it ever attempts to really exam any negativity around Richard. It seems like the filmmakers wanted to recognize that there are controversial elements of the man, but only just touch on them a bit. It never quite rectifies the idea where it touches upon that his at times he has dictatorial mandates, or kingly to put it nicer, which sometimes send mixed messages like making the girls lives about tennis then punishing them for celebrating too much. He wants their lives to be tennis but then demands very specific things from their coaches based on his personal thoughts of how things should be handled over their advice. This is a complex idea that isn't really given much complexity in this film. It more of touches upon them briefly noting that Richard can be frustrating, even hard to live with, but never goes much deeper than that. In turn Smith isn't challenged too much in this aspect though I guess to his credit the choice here makes it so basically Smith just needs to consistently portray Richard. Here as the film implies, even if it doesn't ring fully true, that any frustrations with Richard are the same as his successes, which is through his just being his eccentric self.

I'll admit I put Smith in the worst possible position by re-watching his film after The Power of the Dog and The Tragedy of Macbeth, and seeing the masterful and complex performances of Washington and Cumberbatch back to back. In comparison, although Richard Williams is clearly a complex figure in reality, here Smith just needs to be this inspirational figure who might be just a bit too eccentric for his own good at times. Richard doesn't really change, he remains just this consistent figure who is who he is and stays as he is throughout the film. This is as written however though and not on Smith I will grant. Instead Smith is good in repeating the old favorites of the one liners towards those questioning his choices or the passionate speeches. When Richard cuts down social welfare checking on his family, Smith speaks the fierce intensity of his belief that he's doing right with anger towards those he believes are doing wrong. He hits his humor in his bemusement as he ignores seemingly one good deal after another for his daughters knowing the better one is coming, or by just being his atypical self among the "posh" tennis crowd. Even when the film mentions some of the potentially ridiculous things Richard said, it is played off largely just for Richard to get the best of the reporter questioning him by just staying charming even when dismissing and technically insulting. This isn't through any change, but just through Richard maintaining that same eccentricity in Smith's performance. This after all is immediately followed by Richard's better self as he defends his daughter from the doubting reporter, which again Smith hits with the needed passion. 

 

Even when their coach (Jon Bernthal), who is shown to be a wholly positive figure in the story, questions Richard it is mainly played for laughs and Smith's performance is still of the same stubborn yet confident man with an air of righteousness. Probably the biggest variation we get is when his wife (Aunjanue Ellis) raises even bigger questions about his character, and the film hits a little bit of a false note as his wife's take down of his faults somehow ends with her propping him up, despite the fact that he never admits that he might be a little wrong. Again I hesitate to blame Smith, because Smith's reactions are fine in showing some sense of frustration but any real depth is more so conveyed by Ellis's performance than Smith's. Smith still shows the guy being himself just a little more frustrated. Although there is that minor variation, more could've been said by Smith's performance between the lines here even if Smith isn't technically at all bad in the scene. Almost to make sure we don't question him too much this is immediately followed by Richard talking up Venus and making sure he knows he believes in her, speaking about not wanting to let his girls runaway from the world the way he had to from racists as a younger man. As much as I think the positioning of the scene is devised to make us forget about Richard's flaws mentioned in the previous scene by showing him at his most sympathetic, I'd be lying if I didn't say Smith delivers with this scene. Again to Smith's credit he does deliver on a greater emotional turmoil even if still highlighting the inspirational overtones as he speaks of a trauma that helped to propel him to wanting more. I think one could argue that Smith might've mined more depth in certain moments, particularly in that fight with Ellis, but he doesn't. His performance instead remains perhaps too consistent and intent on maintaining Richard as a more simple heroic figure within the film. Smith succeeds in being that figure, and that is clearly a major intention of the film. Although even within that intention the potential for a bit more depth here or there seemed possible but instead we get basically get just a crowd pleasing performance for this crowd pleasing film. While that in itself is an achievement, the possibility of doing that while realizing a bit more complexity in Richard seemed possible, and the two ideas are not mutually exclusive from one another. What we instead see are the strengths and limitations of Smith as a performer. We get his humor, his charm and his earnestness, but we also get an apparent hesitation to ever seem less than affable onscreen. In turn Smith delivers a fine performance here, however a greater depth of character did seem possible even within the confines of this tale of inspiration.