Supporting Grace in the Guy Pearce Career Re-Watch!
Those
who follow my Twitter account @ThereforeReview
know that I have spent these pandemic years perusing through a Guy
Pearce Career Re-Watch. I retreated to this happy place because
Pearce can always be depended upon to turn in a great performance in
often exceptional films.
After
his self-imposed sabbatical from Hollywood in the early aughts, Guy
Pearce re-emerged in a little bit of everything, adding gravitas to
award winning films and independent surprises alike. Be it ten
minutes or unforgettable villains, Pearce knows how to gracefully
lend his cinematic support in all genres.
Please
click through to previously written reviews and videos at I
Think, Therefore I Review,
InSession
Film
or with the Women
InSession Podcast
and Keith
Loves Movies
for more in depth analysis along with these quick commentaries and
countdowns.
New
Video Bonus: The
Convert
10.
Two
Brothers
–
This 2004 French film provides adorable cubs, intense tiger action,
beautiful Cambodia locales, and picturesque ruins with the help of
real wildlife, clever special effects, and up close animatronics. DVD
Behind the scenes features and conservation documentaries compliment
the period picture, and billed below the titular tigers Pearce is a
rugged trophy hunter learning the error of his ways thanks to
nibbling kittens, innocent children, and colonial corruption robbing
the country of its history. Though labeled as a family film, the
story here is very upsetting for audiences of any age with tiger
mating, animal shootings, circus abuse, violence, and cub anguish as
our brothers are repeatedly separated from those they love. The
lessons win out for a happy ending, but viewers must know this is a
tough watch despite the cuddly big cats.
9.
Genius
– This 2016 slice of life about Colin Firth's (Kingsman:
The Secret Service)
editor Max Perkins to Jude Law's (The
Talented Mr. Ripley)
writer Thomas Wolfe adapted by John Logan (Penny Dreadful)
should be fascinating literary discourse. Instead the tormented
artistry is a slow, dry yarn under-utilizing Nicole Kidman (Dead Calm)
and Laura Linney (The
Truman Show).
I'm not a fan of either author but Dominic West (The
Affair)
has one scene as Ernest Hemingway – as does Vanessa Kirby (The Frankenstein Chronicles)
as Zelda Fitzgerald – with precious few minutes more for Pearce as
the bitter late stage F. Scott Fitzgerald. That's the biopic I
needed.
8.
The
Hurt Locker
– When naysayers on Twitter say Guy Pearce hasn't done anything
since Memento,
sometimes I like to be a little mean and recommend this 2009
Katherine Bigelow (Near
Dark)
Best Picture winner just to mess with them. Pearce's opening gravitas
immediately establishes the devastating shock, action awe, and Iraq
War pain to come for Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)
and Anthony Mackie (The
Falcon and the Winter Soldier).
7.
Lawless
– I should like this 2012 prohibition epic from director John
Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave more than I do thanks to their
previous glory that is The
Proposition.
This has period style, sweet cars, and suave gangster Gary Oldman
(Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy)
to match real life bootlegging brothers Tom Hardy (Venom)
and Shia LaBeouf (Nymphomaniac).
However, the moonshiners, crooks, and corrupt officials are all just
shit men going on and on in believing their own self-perceived
invincible hype. Why did Jessica Chastain (Crimson Peak)
and Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre)
sign on to play such used, abused, and objectified women? Of course,
Pearce hams it up as the no-eyebrowed and over perfumed villainous
Chicago dandy out to get our brothers in the film's best, most brutal
moments.
6.
Swinging
Safari
– Director Stephan Elliott (The
Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert)
provides a zany look at growing up in seventies Australia in this
nostalgic 2018 ode with everything from a beached whale stinking up
the summer to kids with cameras setting each other on fire for their
Death
Eaters Super
8 magnum opus. Great retro colors, bell bottom styles, and period
gadgets accent the perilous pets, pool mishaps, and mangled fruit
substituting for Evil Knievel gore amid vignette freeze frames, slow
motion, and distorted in-camera narrations. Our youths are left to
such danger at play thanks to
bored parents Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue (Bio-Dome),
Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen),
and Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck)
– who decide to get down with a key party gone awry and therein is
the problem. This is two films in one mashing a serious Wonder
Years coming
of age with an adult comedy that doesn't have enough of the titular
scandal. Too much is happening and the charm becomes disjointed
despite numerous entertaining moments worthy of a more complete
picture.
5.
The
King's Speech
– This 2010 Best Picture winner about George VI's overcoming his
stuttering problems is a charming period piece thanks to the lauded
cast including Best Actor Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter (A
Room with a View),
Geoffrey Rush (Elizabeth),
and Guy Pearce “kinging” with aplomb as Edward VIII. Of course,
the vocal exercises come across so feel good because
the story excises any probable Nazi implications to the abdication.
Here tuxedo wearing, champagne popping, piloting his own plane Pearce
abandons the throne solely for love. Certainly I'd love to see a more
accurate portrayal of the dirty dynamics between the subsequent Duke
and Duchess of Windsor warts and all, but the endearing focus here
builds to a superb radio speech accented by divine Beethoven
crescendos.
4.
The
Last Vermeer –
Scene stealing Guy Pearce's artist Han van Meegeren is second to
Claes Bang (Dracula)
in this 2019 historical drama struggling with a framework that
doesn't completely tell its most interesting tale. Brief flashbacks
of nude portraits, juicy parties getting in bed with the regime, and
photos hidden in the floorboards suggest we've come in too late here
in the post-war aftermath. Questions on Dutch versus Jewish identity
and what double agent wives had to do to survive while upset about it
husbands were in the Dutch resistance are uneven and heavy handed
amid public firing squads and Allied Command versus reinstated Dutch
Ministry intrigue. Vicky Krieps (Old)
is
underutilized as
the female assistant who solves the case but get no credit, and the
pace lags when Pearce is off-screen. Accused as a third rate artist
but first rate opportunist, Han is small, impish, and ornery –
humorous with his drunken house arrest witticisms, sexy assistant,
and sassy wife innuendo. However, van Meegeren is also angry and
duplicitous with careful smoking mannerisms and expertly crafted
double talk. The chastising art community underestimated him, and he
is at once for the people in besting the Nazis yet smug in this
delicately orchestrated scheme peppered with priceless artwork,
laundering implications, and whispers of espionage. The finale rushes
over montaged chemical tests and loose legalese, and whether the
charismatic Han was a hero or a collaborator is left unclear despite
Pearce's compelling performance.
3.
Animal
Kingdom
– Mustachioed good cop Pearce tries to protect Oscar nominated
Jackie Weaver's grandson from their family's ruthless den of crime in
this 2010 drama written and directed by David Michôd
(The
Rover). Ben
Mendelsohn
(Bloodline)
and Joel Edgerton (Loving)
punctuate their “grubby business” with drugs, murders, police
corruption, and creepy family favoritism. Our sweet talking,
manipulative matriarch thinks it's all a boys will be boys happy
family while the innocent are caught in the crossfire. Rather than a
cool crime heist or slick, polished thriller; the realistic filming
is bitter with shabby styles, claustrophobic interiors, and mournful
scoring to match the bleak consequences and brutal existence.
Dramatic builds and abusive, incestuous implications lay the queen
bee, bullying pecking order before shock shootings, car accidents,
raids, arrests, witness intimidation, and bodies in the backyard.
Edgy egos and power trips provide no recourse from this inescapable
web as groomed youth must decide to pay the price or lay down a new
law thanks to the raw, hard hitting performances here.
2.
Rules
of Engagement
– The sensitive subject matter of this 2000 William Friedkin (The Exorcist)
military courtroom drama starring Tommy Lee Jones (Stormy Monday)
and Samuel L. Jackson (Kong: Skull Island)
would be handled differently today. The well done opening siege
action and latter legalese divide the picture in two halves. I'd also
rather we had not seen the mission in question once the gunfire
occurs nor known the fate of the videotape evidence – thus putting
an intriguing uncertainty on what actually happened. However, viewers
are never meant to doubt that Jackson was in the right doing what he
had to do and that Jones will defend him with every crusty underdog
gotcha. Time is taken for their banter and backstory alongside the
fine supporting ensemble. Rather than being the purely villainous,
nondescript prosecutor; Pearce holds his own as our opposing major,
saying he will try the case on good evidence only and respecting the
defending colonels. His Biggs also seems slightly fey,
overcompensating with the macho talk and courtroom showmanship.
Friedkin's winking zooms and stylish lighting accentuate Pearce's
eyes when he realizes what's what. Five o'clock hour shadows add to
the tension on the witness stand, and we must pay attention as jurors
take note when testimonies conflict. Despite knowing the outcome,
this is easy to re-watch for the action, intrigue, and
characterizations. “Sixteen fucking
minutes.”
1.
The
Count of Monte Cristo
–
Although this 2002 swashbuckling Dumas adaptation differs from the
novel; the cinematic relationships and fine ensemble layer the tall
ships, Napoleon intrigue, chess pieces, and betrayals. Burned letters
and treasonous kickbacks mean the idealistic, niave Dantes is
wrongfully imprisoned – counting the stones in his dungeon walls,
vowing revenge, and secretly digging three inches a week. Courtly,
austere mansions versus charming prison montages echo the classim and
poverty as cave-ins and daring escapes lead to treasure maps,
pirates, allies, and murder. Carefully orchestrated vengeance
escalates to feigned kidnappings, ingratiating rescues, and duels
while brief flashbacks punctuate the well paced adventure amid just
turnabouts, pistols, arrests, and ruin. Balconies allow for dominate
downward angles while windows and swaths of light invoke hope.
Candlelit patinas, period costumes, lovely set design, and dirty
attention to detail match the Malta locales, scenic waters, horses,
and hot air balloons. The epic score accentuates spectaclular
parties, revealed secrets, lost love recognized, and a dashing sword
fight that surpasses the written finale. Despite the story's
underlying goodness, we root for Mondego to get his due at times more
than we cheer for our hero. Instead of the offered Dantes, Guy Pearce
chose to play the childhood friend turned villainous love to hate
Mondego – creating memorable deceit, rotten teeth sleazy, and
despicable envy. I suspect this delicious performance is why there is
a certain audience that will always hate Guy Pearce, and
understandably so.
