One more Lord of the Rings movies post for good
measure. The acting is one of the many
things that make this trilogy for me, with pretty much every actor bringing it
hardcore. In a franchise filled with a
lot of spot-on casting, these are my favorites.
Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf
This
one’s a no-brainer. McKellen is Gandalf, plain and simple. He handles the wizard’s mischievous twinkle
and powerful gravitas in equal measure.
His genuine appreciation for hobbits is absolutely lovely, and even when
he’s just delivering exposition, he can bring it like nobody’s business.
Andy Serkis as Gollum
The start
of a beautiful friendship, one might say, between Andy Serkis and
motion-capture performance. In essence,
the CGI becomes incredibly high-tech makeup that merely makes Serkis look like Gollum, while it’s his
creeping physicality, his otherworldly voice, and his unhinged quality that
really imbue the character with life. At
the time, it was a technological milestone, but it’s also just a damn good
piece of acting.
Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee
For my
money, Sam is the absolute heart of the trilogy, and Astin’s open, honest
performance is note-perfect. He’s very
affecting as this hobbit who doesn’t quite recognize how brave he is as he
gladly goes to the ends of the world to keep his friend safe. As Sam, Astin brings humor, action, and
emotion as needed, with tremendous warmth throughout.
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
I feel
like it’s maybe a little harder to pinpoint exactly what it is here, but
Mortensen perfectly captures Aragorn for me.
It’s a fairly subtle performance that finds the balance between
Aragorn’s reluctance to be the leader others want him to be and his natural
tendency toward heroism. I especially
love the easy, offhand way he slips into Elvish when he’s talking to elves;
it’s a little thing that adds a lot to his character and his background, and
Mortensen plays it just right.
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
It took
me a while to decide on my fifth, because there are just so many spot-on
performances here. In the end, though, I
had to give it up for the Lady Galadriel herself. Blanchett’s appearances in the franchise are
brief, but she makes the most of every moment, and when she has her big scene
with Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring,
she knocks it out of the park. It would
take some doing at this point to convince me that she’s not an elf.
No comments:
Post a Comment