**Don't ask me where I'm going with this. It is just something I've been holding onto. I figure that since I have a blog, I might as well make a post.**
So I was conversing with a coworker the other day and we started taking about Safehouse(2012), the new Denzel movie. Besides the fact that it's an apparently decent film, I noted that denzel plays the same character in every movie. She disagreed.
Essentially, that discussion led to this post.
Now don't get me wrong, When I say Denzel plays the same character, I don't mean the same exact, just the same qualities or characteristics amongst genres. For instance, I'm sure you can take his character from one film, swap it with another and have essentially the same film.
[Now, to be fair, this doesn't work with crossing genres. Action characters aren't the same as Dramatic characters, so naturally, they won't make good examples. But within those genres, you can essentially swap and have (roughly) the same film.]
For example, Try pulling Man on Fire Denzel and swapping him with The Book of Eli Denzel. Can you not see that as the same film (more or less). Why not swap Philadelphia Denzel for John Q Denzel? Concept still stands. Understand that I don't mean any of this as a knock on him or his talent, as each of his performances are consistently good. For the record, he's hardly the only one. Morgan Freeman does this as well as Jack Nicholson. They are all equally accepted as awesome, so no one points this out. I just find this interesting.
So, Denzel, Jack, Morgan. Who am I missing?
More Things Change, Denzel Stays The Same
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Flix, you're off point.
ReplyDeleteDenzel does not play the same character in each film, nor are they interchangeable. Safehouse Denzel is nowhere near characters from any other Denzel pic. The actors you should make that comparative statement are as follows:
Jason Statham, mark whalberg, Jackie chan, Steven segal, nick cage, etc.
To say they're interchangeable is to say they have no range. Denzel in Training Day may be close to his Safehouse but they're different characters. I bet you haven't even seen Safehouse yet!!!!
I haven't seen Safehouse, and I purposely left it out of this discussion. (although I'm sure I could make it work.)
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying his roles are 100% interchangeable or as flat as those of the other stars you've named, however his characters "play in the same wave pool" for lack of a better descriptive term.
The difference between Denzel and the others is that occasionally, He brings something new to each role, but essentially his characterizations are the same.