“King Richard” Review: A father who is also a coach, Will Smith’s career masterpiece

“King Richard” is a sports biographical film released in 2021.

“King Richard” is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, and the film is starring Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney, and Demi Singleton.

The film is adapted from a true story. The plot tells that Richard Williams, who has no background, takes his two daughters off the streets of the slums and cultivates them into legendary sisters in tennis: Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

The hero behind the success of Serena Williams and Venus Williams

Speaking of the legends of women’s tennis, I believe that the first thing you think of will be the sisters of Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

They have dominated the tennis world many times in their careers and won countless Grand Slam titles. They are veritable world tennis queens.

However, how can they, who were born in the slum of Compton, California, have such status and achievements now?

This must start with their father, Richard Williams, the protagonist of “King Richard”.

The true story of “King Richard”

Richard Williams, the protagonist of “King Richard” played by Will Smith, has a tennis dream.

Although he is not a tennis player and has not received formal tennis training, he has set a clear career goal and training plan for the two daughters before they were born.

Richard Williams will drive his daughters to the tennis court every day after class and on weekends, where he conducts intensive physical and tennis training.

And Venus and Serena did not let their father down, they showed great talents and talents since they were young.

The film is adapted from a true story. We can see in the early part of the “King Richard” story that Richard went around “selling” his two outstanding daughters when they were still unknown in order to make his daughters better.

He personally visited many well-known coaches who had taught players and asked them to coach Venus and Serena for free.

Of course, the result was that he was constantly refused to laugh at him.

After all, in that era, who would believe in a “black” who had never seen him before, and was willing to sacrifice his time for two little girls from slums?

Does “King Richard” worth watching?

However, the interesting thing about the movie “King Richard” is that it constantly subverts people’s imagination of this family.

Even if Richard always shamelessly asks others to train his daughter for free, he even corrects and challenges his training methods while the coach is instructing his daughter.

But these ridiculous and somewhat self-defeating behaviors in the eyes of everyone, under the outstanding performance of his two daughters personally trained, made people unable to find any room for questioning.

Unlike basketball and American football, tennis was a sport mostly played by white people at the time.

Richard mentioned to his daughter in the film “King Richard” that he was aggrieved by the apartheid policy when he was a child.

So now that he is a father, he hopes that he can shoulder all the responsibilities and external pressure on his shoulders.

At the same time, he also hopes that his daughter can prove the value of his hard work over the years with their extraordinary strength and performance under fair and worry-free conditions.

The strict father of “King Richard”

Therefore, whether it was rushing to work on the night shift after practising with his daughter, or taking the initiative to find the gangster theory of harassing his daughter at the tennis court, Richard even once held a gun to give them a lesson.

The audience can see in “King Richard” that Richard loves his daughter deeply and has made many efforts and sacrifices for them.

But at the same time as a black family living in Compton, Richard is also very strict with his daughters under the inherent weakness of his birth background.

From going out to practice even if it is raining, to even if their daughter wins the championship, taunting their opponents in the car, they are scolded by their father, and they are fined to watch “Cinderella” and learn to be “humbly” when they go home.

“King Richard” because he has done his best to give his daughters the best education, so they have to listen to their own words, come up with the best way of education, and instantly establish the character and image of Richard.

The unique teaching method of “King Richard”

Because he has seen too many similar cases, Richard chose to retire and rest when his eldest daughter, Venus, had just dominated all parties and was brilliant in the youth competition.

Although this is a ridiculous and unbelievable decision in the eyes of others, Venus wants her daughter to focus on education and leisure like other normal children, rather than becoming famous when he is young and losing himself under the pressure of public opinion and victory. , Only regard tennis as the most interesting development after school.

Richard let Venus enjoy a good childhood, and let his daughter lay the foundation for their future.

As he said in the “King Richard” film: “The most dangerous creature in the world is a woman who knows how to think.”

Perhaps Richard has experienced many marriages and a merciful private life that has been controversial. The various decisions and remarks he made for his daughter have also been questioned and criticized by all walks of life.

But it is undeniable that he has indeed succeeded in nurturing his two daughters who grew up in Compton, who had frequent criminal incidents such as public security corruption and drug shootings, into the world’s top and irreplaceable superstars.

Theme of “King Richard” plot

“King Richard” can’t help but remind me of the 2017 Indian movie “Dangal”.

Under the precise interpretation of actor Will Smith, the film fully presents the role of Richard, an imperfect and contradictory traditional father.

It is true that all the plans and goals he set for his daughter will be achieved after many years, but this is not only accomplished by him alone.

Even if Richard is far-sighted, he can’t go his own way. The family must have discussions and listen to the children’s own opinions.

Therefore, the plot development in the second half of “King Richard” is interesting.

With their own popularity, even the signing bonus given by NIKE was already a sky-high price for them at the time.

But as the first consensus reached by the family in the entire movie, Venus Williams eventually rejected the contract.

Because even if she doesn’t have a clear concept of 3 million dollars, she still feels that with her own ability, she can definitely get better conditions.

The meaning of the ending of “King Richard”

As a sports biographical film, “King Richard” will inevitably have an exciting game at the end.

The movie chose her sister Venus to play in the US Open for the first time, and ended up with the showdown of Martina Hingis, the world’s number one “Swiss genius girl” at the time.

It’s just interesting that compared to the final result of this game, director Reinaldo Marcus Green instead focused on the reaction of his parents and family during the duel and Venus’s perseverance that he did not want to give up.

This brings another layer of meaning to this atypical work besides inspiration.

I like the ending of the movie “King Richard”.

Every viewer knows that the Williams sisters are legends in the history of tennis.

But with the help of their father Richard, who is also a coach, and the mother who silently supported them, their real success is not to defeat the world champion at the time, but to tell the story with every step and every shot on the court.

This not only allows them to gain the appreciation and support of fans after their failures, but also proves to the world that black girls born in poverty can also achieve such an achievement.

“King Richard” film review conclusion

On the whole, “King Richard” is different from the biographical stories of other athletes.

Because the invoice abnormally uses the “home coach” of the Williams sisters as the protagonist, it provides the audience with an interesting perspective.

In comparison with “I, Tonya” which describes former American figure skater Tonya Harding, it shows the influence of parents on children.

And Will Smith lived up to expectations in bringing the best performance of his career in the film.

Richard is both a coach and a father. Although he is strict, patriarchal and romantic, he is also farsighted and loves his daughters deeply. He sincerely hopes that they will be successful.

The complexity of this role also brings more perspectives to “King Richard”.

Therefore, the most commendable thing about “King Richard” lies in the description and presentation of the life of this family.

Although there are several sections that are relatively serious and serious, they are also full of light, humorous and lively and interesting moments.

Watching them step by step from Compton’s dilapidated tennis court to a world-class stadium, the 144-minute duration of “King Richard” is almost not boring.

The Williams sisters personally acted as the producer of this film. Perhaps this is why these stars thank their parents and family members every time they receive award speeches.

Related Post: Will Smith distributes his bonus in “King Richard” to co-actors.