Amazing performances and an important story.

An excellent bio-pic. I'm not really a fan of Sean Penn in general, but he has his moments where he shows how good of an actor he is and this is one of them. Some people say it was formulaic and I can't really disagree completely with that, but it didn't bother me too much. A movie I would definitely recommend to anyone.

Overall Enjoyment: 35/40, Plot/Themes: 20/20, Cinematography/Direction: 15/20, Acting/Writing: 20/20 Fantastic acting, deeply interesting characters, all together a very well made film, and on top of all that historical and informative

Brilliantly shot, scored, performed, paced, edited, written... I could go on! Penn is another level of brilliant here.

Strengthened by Van Sant's gift for photography, the film is at it's strongest when focusing on the bigger picture of the political context and the story of one man's successful fight for social equality. The weakest aspects stem from the film clinging to the biopic formula and slogging down the story with a decades worth of events and an often condescending aura of importance that some scenes are imbued with, as though there is a vain sense of social relevance taking priority over storytelling.

A great Sean Penn performance highlights this engaging look at a forgotten political icon.

One of the better movies I have seen. Really should have won the best award at the 81st academy awards.

While I did enjoy this a lot, I think it's mainly because I knew nothing about Harvey Milk before seeing this (for one thing, I never saw the ending coming). I don't think it will be too memorable for anybody whose familiar with his work, and Van Sant could definitely shine out more, but nevertheless 'Milk' is still a solid biopic.

That bad.

It's an odd film in that on one hand it is obvious Oscar bait, and on the other it's very deserving of whatever praise it gets. Sean Penn was inspired as Harvey Milk, but I still felt he wasn't in the same league as Mickey Rourke was in "The Wrestler" when it came down to Best Actor. Either way, it's a good film that honors a brave man.