I, Tonya Review – Spoiler Free
I, Tonya is a film which comes directed by Craig Gillespie who some may know as the director of The Finest Hours (2016). The film stars Margot Robbie and is about the true life story of Tonya Harding who was an Olympic athlete during the 1990’s and is well known for her ice skating abilities as well as other dramas which occurred in her life along the way.
When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was mainly only interested in seeing it because Margot Robbie was in it. Sure there’s a whole bunch of other actors there too, but they’re mostly unknowns and it’s also a true story about an ice skater I have no idea about as well. So going into this film, I’d say it would largely depend upon if you’re a fan of Margot Robbie and would like to see more from her as an actress. But if you’re not a fan though, I’d say that actually this is worth seeing anyway because her performance here in I, Tonya is one of the best of her career so far and I think she strongly deserves an Oscar nomination for what she did here, if not the award itself.
The plot of the movie is a little crazy, we are introduced to this character Tonya Harding. She’s kind of I guess a more roughly brought up ice skater and isn’t at all the usual composed image that we are used to seeing for the sport. This causes trouble for her as a person trying to make a career because while she is probably the most talented skater, she just doesn’t get the points for being “graceful” or “attractive” from the judges, which in my view is a bit unfair. On top of this, Tonya has a very rough upbringing and suffers from both an abusive mother and an abusive husband and these two characters really do push her hard and do some very hurtful things to her while she is trying to make it as an ice skater.
I found the whole film to be very interesting and I did really like the Tonya Harding character. She had such negativity and toxicity around her while she was trying to compete and I don’t blame her at all for being a little crazy at times. But coming out of the film, I was very glad I went in and saw it. I learnt a lot about ice skating and the world of competing professionally in that sport, but also just about humanity in general. It’s almost a little inspiring in a way but in other ways the story is a little bit tragic to watch. It’s a difficult balance to maintain as the narrative progresses because I feel that with the wrong tone, the film experience could have been really negative. But Craig Gillespie who directed the film seemed to have found the right balance between the negative characters and their actions and somehow making the I, Tonya experience a positive one in the end.
This isn’t at all an action movie and it’s more drama based. But there are quite a few ice skating stunts in there to see were you to go out and see it this weekend. All the actors put in some great performances and there’s no one there who will disappoint you. You might hate some of the characters in the end for what they do to poor Tonya, but acting wise, they’re all fairly good.
Overall I, Tonya is definitely a must see film at the cinema this month. It’s also definitely one to see if you’re checking things off on your Oscars checklist for this year as it has been nominated for a few awards, including a well deserved nomination for Margot Robbie. The narrative is a well put together character journey where you will really get to know the life of Tonya Harding and what she went through. It’s both tragic and inspiring at the same time and Craig Gillespie has done exceptionally well with the film. It’s a solid entertainment experience and one of the best film’s in Margot Robbie’s career so far and I highly recommend going to see I, Tonya.
