Mortdecai (Johnny Depp)
necromancer20
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Getting an absolute caning by critics, just 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it's not expected to open above $10 million at the North American box office 
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necromancer20
Posts: 2,548
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This could have been a fun silly film but it lacks the lightness of touch necessary to make it work. The script is pretty poor but Depp's performance really doesn't help - he plays it in a very knowingly arch manner but the key to making material as ridiculous as this work is to play it straight.
Paul Bettany on the other hand is very good - he gets the tone just right.
There will come a time when his roles will decrease because he has had a fair few of flops over the years, and Directors never like that in their actors. They want actors who are going to attract big numbers
His movie choices become appalling as he gets older. They come across as full of desperation. As if he is in need of the pay cheque desperately to get himself out of debt and he doesn't care if the films are good or bad.
Zero sympathy for him to be honest. He's at that stage in his career when he doesn't need to do these films he is doing as if he is trying to prove himself like a fresh new young actor does.
He badly needs to hope for a McConaissance.
Putting my long-time dislike of Depp aside, he's never been that good of an actor, let's be honest, but he does have screen charisma, which most actors don't have, and a tendency to challenge himself whenever possible.
I think he's exploring the comedy film genre, undeniably the toughest to pull off. I don't know why he's so interested in comedy, though. Maybe he likes Peter Sellers?
He'll have his comeback. They all do.
I would say his screen presence has been strong when his been piled off with inferior characters or actors like in the Pirates or his other Disney films. His made some great films in the past like From Hell, Edwards Scissorshands and Donnie Brasco but to most people he'll only be remembered as Jack Sparrow.
Yeah...and he didn't waste any time in throwing himself into another role...in Pirates of the Carribean 5...:D:D:D
I'm lying of course. It clocked in with a truly dismal $4.1m. It'll probably do better abroad as Depp's films sometimes do (it could hardly do worse), but it still shows just how far his star has fallen.
Hollywood is a slow beast, and as with his more recent misfires, Mordecai was probably a going concern when he was still bankable. It's a situation difficult to adjust, so the duds line up together, like the traffic jam in Week End.
I agree he'll probably have a comeback, but the upswing will need to be as well planned as the descent. Pirates 5 to start then, eh?
Johnny Depp is interesting as a film star, because after a few films where he was praised, people began to say 'he was good in Ed Wood but his later films have been poor', then it became 'his earlier films were good but Pirates was terrible' and then that changed to 'His early films, and Pirates were good but he has gone wrong after those'.
We always want to say that anyone good has got worse. (Like the universal calls for Gazza to be dumped, then that goal against Scotland, then that became good but 'he has gone off since'). I think we want to drag people down to our own level, it Is easier than making our own efforts to do well. But it would take someone with a greater knowledge of human psychology than I have to explain properly.
I agree, the media likes to make stories out of these people's lives.
The slating of his skills has been created because he has gone on to be too mainstream now it's time to bring him down a peg or two so he does that one big movie that will make everyone love him again.
I don't give two hoots what movie critics think, look at the academy awards. More often than not the more deserving films and actors get overlooked. I'll make up my own mind.
Depp has said that he stopped caring about the critics a long time ago and that he does films for himself. I don't doubt his sincerity in that over money. But more fool the people who finance his films since his BO takings haven a significant dive.
I'm one of the few who prefers him in his so called 'wacky' roles. I never thought he was that remarkable of a dramatic actor, at least compared to the guys you mentioned. Any character he has played that comes close to resembling his real life self (well maybe the exception of Finding Neverland), he's come off as really bland. Though even his eccentric roles of late are one note. I'm a big fan of Depp overall though and the trailers for Mortdecai did look funny IMO...
Exactly, and I'd add box office success to the list of things I don't care about. Commercial success, for me, is no guarantee of whether I'll like something, Quite the opposite usually; I'd much rather see a Johnny Depp film that tanks than a Tom Hanks film that's a massive success for example.
Hooray to that. It didn't tank, but J Depp was great in Chocolat even though he apparently did nothing.
on which "Mortdecai" is based, so I was going to give it a look....but
now, after all the negative reviews, I think I'll pass.
Wasn't he in Chocolat only for about twenty minutes? Didn't talk much, either. My memory is probably wrong, but that's what I am remembering.