Great Performances in Lackluster or even Bad Films

[Totenkindly]

Was thinking about this after watching Tombstone.

Val Kilmer just kinda leaps out from the film, everyone else is at best average and bland/cliche, but it's like no one told the poor guy this wasn't a great film and he totally takes everything up a notch with his portrayal of Doc Holliday. It's unique, fascinating, has an interesting delivery cadence without being silly, and he actually generates interest/sympathy in his character. I'll forget much of this film, but I won't forget him.

 

[Totenkindly]

I would say Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in TROS.

That film is a crapfest, and even this scene isn't properly justified by the writing, doesn't gel with prior parts of the story, and so forth. But Driver's just such a great actor, in so many films he's been in. He has few comments here but his body language and facial expressions carry the scene.

(It's the cyan colored segment of the clip. Sorry. Hard to find an isolated snippet of it.)

I think at least the first two films had some internally consistent bits and decent performances from others. TROS was just such a mess, though -- Driver was one of the few things that held any bit of it together.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Was thinking about this after watching Tombstone.

Val Kilmer just kinda leaps out from the film, everyone else is at best average and bland/cliche, but it's like no one told the poor guy this wasn't a great film and he totally takes everything up a notch with his portrayal of Doc Holliday. It's unique, fascinating, has an interesting delivery cadence without being silly, and he actually generates interest/sympathy in his character. I'll forget much of this film, but I won't forget him.

It didn't work because it was actually initially conceived as a Huckleberry Hound/Quickdraw McGraw movie. Hence, "I'm your huckleberry."

I would say Adam Driver as Kylo Ren in TROS.

That film is a crapfest, and even this scene isn't properly justified by the writing, doesn't gel with prior parts of the story, and so forth. But Driver's just such a great actor, in so many films he's been in. He has few comments here but his body language and facial expressions carry the scene.

(It's the cyan colored segment of the clip. Sorry. Hard to find an isolated snippet of it.)

I think at least the first two films had some internally consistent bits and decent performances from others. TROS was just such a mess, though -- Driver was one of the few things that held any bit of it together.

Yeah. I said that the performances in that film almost save the movie. The movie doesn't really earn any of these moments and yet there are bits that make it impossible for me not to feel something which I think had nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with the actors.

 

[Totenkindly]

This one might be controversial, because it's a bonkers performance, but I always thought that only Eddie Redmayne understood the kind of film that "Jupiter Ascending" was supposed to be and he gives this crazy, unique, stand-out performance that seems so over the top in some ways -- but honestly if the other actors had stopped playing it so straight and really leaned into how silly and crazy this film was... how much more interesting would it have been?

Channing Tatum trying to play being a dog-man hybrid straight is one thing that is so wrong with this film. And Mila Kunis tends to be a grounded actress and matter of fact, rather than really leaning into parody. Everything about it seems like it should have been silly and hopped up -- even the names and plot lines -- but the other actors just weren't willing to go for it.

I don't remember much else about the film (except the other two Abrasax kids) but I'm not gonna forget Redmayne.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

No, I liked him in that movie. It was a movie I really wanted to like but it doesn't really work.

Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy. (Some people might say the same for the first movie, I'll concede).

 

[Totenkindly]

Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy. (Some people might say the same for the first movie, I'll concede).

Oh, that's definitely a great one!

Bridges is great, maybe the only interesting part of the film aside from the Quorra subplot concept. The film itself was kind of a let-down, story-wise.

It's bad when my favorite part of the film (aside from the brief cathartic moment at the end with Clu and Flynn at the end, and the motorbike under the sunrise at the film's end) is when Sam goes into the arcade in the beginning and Journey starts blasting "Separate Ways" over the speakers. It's just a great nostalgic bit that I can rewatch multiple times... but why? you can't make a film around that feeling.

I really like how it switches to muffled when he is not in the main room, and back and forth. it makes the whole scene kind of eerie, like he's recalling ghosts of the past literally. He's looking at the ghost of his father's old office, and then walking through this room with videogames that time left behind, all shrouded in plastic... like ghosts in sheets.

I'm left feeling like this is one of the few creative ideas they started with... so they nailed the scene... but had few creative ideas/inspirations for the rest of the film.

Also, wtf, why did we only get five minutes of Cillian Murphy???