Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on May 10, 2005 at 15:20:39

Sean Penn: what an enigma. Why the hell he keeps trying to establish himself as a character actor I don't know. It's like watching Robin Williams doing drama: who cares, it's still HIM.
Watching a major star like Penn take on such an anti-hero seems unfair, like watching a heavyweight boxing a featherweight. Of course, the extremely poor writing didn't help. I can't think of one line, one scene which defined the character: Not one memorable one, and this was a long movie.
I just don't understand Penn. He can be magnetic as hell, as he was in Dead Man Walking, or he can be almost soporific, as in The Interpreter (all those loooong closeups of his furrowed brow and hangdog expression!).
When I think of what Pacino and DeNiro were doing at his age...
Mystic River, 21 Grams and the two films mentioned above. Not one great film in the bunch and not one performance one would expect from a guy who showed so much promise and already had delivered several magnificent performances.
Someone needs to slap him about the head and tell him to start accepting roles commensurate with his talent. Working with a director who knew what he was doing would help, also.
Lastly, he needs to drop the absurd directorial pretensions.