coming soon as an impassioned letter in Wizard
Important business:
- Via Matt S.: Leonardo DiCaprio as Captain America!? No no no. That's the wrong kind of earnest. He looks wrong, is a pretty atrocious actor and has never pulled off a convincingly alpha-male leading role.
- Hulk is about the Cold War? I have to defer to Spencer's greater familiarity with the franchise, but this seems all wrong to me. The Hulk is afraid of himself and his lack of self-control. He's defined by rage, isolation and the hopelessness of ever achieving normality. He's a teenage boy, in other words, Peter Parker but with a worse temper and gloomier attitude. Hulk is for anyone who's felt like the anger welling up inside of them could destroy the world, and been unsure if they liked the idea.
I mean, yes, radiation, etc. But that was just the unknowable technology of the day.
Comments
DiCaprio is indeed a really bad fit for Captain America, but he's very far from a bad actor. See, for example, Catch Me if You Can or his freakishly good Rhodesian accent in Blood Diamond (don't ask why I saw that movie).
Hm. I have to disagree -- I didn't think Blood Diamond was very good (same goes for Aviator, CMIYC, Gangs of NY, The Beach and Titanic). While he *does* act, it's in a way that makes you think "oooh, look at him acting!" the whole time. Certainly that's the effect that the accent in Blood Diamond had. I mean, fine, he's making an effort. That's great, but he's doing so in such a way that it works against the suspension of disbelief. The total effect is as if you're his parent, watching proudly from the audience but paying no attention to anything else.
And if I can make a counter-recommendation, let me suggest The 11th Hour, which reveals DiCaprio to be dumb as a post.
But that's actually exactly how old white people from Zimbabwe talk (and yes, it's a bad movie). Your inability to suspend disbelief is the fault of the casting director, not his acting. I'll admit, I haven't seen the aviator, gangs of NY or the 11th hour so my opinion isn't particularly well founded, I'll admit.
Well I grant that it was probably an excellent accent -- I'm not really in any position to judge -- but of course there's much more to it than believably portraying one element of the character. That the accent was great is an impressive technical achievement, but doesn't necessary say anything about how well DiCaprio's performance worked.