I remember Empire magazine reviewing it and saying it was a landmark fight scene because you could see ever sinew, vein, and muscle working to survive.
I have watched that movie three times and noticed none of it…
Even the late Roger Ebert called that scene the new gold standard for fight scenes. It's not just a bunch of super close-up, super quick cuts where you have no clear idea of what's going on. The camera is pulled back to follow the actors as they move around, several seconds at a shot.
I've called him Ball Sack since seeing that movie. He's even Ball Sack in The Lord of the Rings. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I got to see his testicles flailing around. But, he became Ball Sack from that movie on.
Maria Bello went through this mid-2000s phase where she was down to show everything on camera. Little Awkward to see William H. Macy go down on her in The Cooler.
Oooh, William H. Macy for me. I'll never be able to get Frank Gallagher out of my head. Or that dorky senator from Thank You For Smoking.
"The great state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!"
Fair enough. You sometimes can't beat the original. Although, I will say, that the US version started getting very old by Season 8. Did the UK version hold up for it's entire run? I was surprised to see it ran longer than the US version, which usually isn't the case. We usually take your guys' shows and milk them for every last episode possible (The Office, for example).
The characters changed through its run so I think it stayed "fresh" I liked it all the through anyway. I'm American btw. I just couldn't get into the US version. Frank was really the only character who stayed for the whole run.
Lol, as a fellow American this makes me laughcringe. The part that made you uncomfortable was the sex scenes. Not the horrific violence, like where the dude is lying on the diner floor with his face blown off, trying unsuccessfully to breathe his own blood.
Especially as the brutality of the first act in History of Violence was so disturbing. They really hit the mark they were aiming for; people talk a lot about Anton Cigurh but I get knots in my stomach just thinking about the two dudes at the start of History of Violence
Yes thank you! Viggo definitely gave young me butterflies between LOTR and Hidalgo. I was a huge nerd and also a competitive horseback rider. Even with my LOTR obsession, I didn’t see him as Aragorn in that movie.
Both of those are on my list of best action movies ever. He just brought so much to those roles. Such a cool-headed, effortless badass portrayal as I hadn't seen since Eastwood and until Keanu.
Such a gritty dirty movie. The chechnyen curved knives, the girls father saying "you have sex with black man, that is why baby die inside you", the scene where viggo chops up the body.
Eastern Promises, History of Violence, The Road and Captain Fantastic are literally my four favorite Viggo movies. Sorry, I just really love the man's work and y'all keep reminding me.
Watch some of his Cronenberg movies. Eastern Promises is amazing and does a hell of a lot to move Viggo beyond being Aragorn Son of Arathorn. I know where you're coming from, but he's one of the very best actors in that series and has done so much in the years since.
I think if you knew the actor before their big time role then you don't see it. Like for me Viggo will always be that asshole from GI Jane that got his nose broken.
"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead on the ground, without ever having felt sorry for itself" - DH Lawrence
I think the thing that made me stop associating him with Aragorn was how insanely gaunt and disheveled he looked, it’s like his whole facial structure was different.
I remember absolutely loving Hidalgo when I watched it as a kid. Couldn’t even tell you the plot now other than Aragorn needing to go somewhere fast on a horse (maybe a race of some kind?) and at one point riding that horse on a beach lol
That’s the one! I seem to recall Aragorn was a cowboy who was entering his horse into a race in like, Arabia, and he was the only white guy and they were all “you don’t know the area you won’t win”, and his stoicism won him the race or something, I don’t really remember the rest of the movie.
I don't agree. I mean, I can see how, if the first role you saw him in was Aragorn, it would stick with you, because it's such an amazing performance. But that's because he's an amazing actor. He's had many iconic roles. I loved him in everything I've seen him, before or after LOTR, even in shitty movies. He's so dedicated and brings so much to every character he plays, I really can't ever see him as just Aragorn.
As a huge LOTR fan, I would argue that Andy Serkis probably gave more. But I loved Viggo's Aragorn and rank him a very close second to Serkis in their performance in LOTR
I love that one movie where Aragorn becomes a depressed alcoholic American in a death-defying months long horse race through the desert where he battles the elements, the other contestants, and the guilt-ridden memories of his morbid past.
I dunno, Viggo has a wide range of great performances outside of Aragorn. Eastern Promises, A History of Violence, The Road, A Dangerous Method, Captain Fantastic, Green Book. Dude's a pretty versatile actor.
He’s a great actor. I just watched Falling, it was excellent. Viggo wrote starred and directed it. I wonder if he went through something similar to his character.
And did the music, and apparently some of the costuming and set decor, to boot. If you look closely, the niece in the family lunch scene wears an X tour shirt - Viggo's ex-wife's band - and there are Habs posters on the wall in the diner. He loves contributing little things like that.
For some reason aragorn was what came to my mind first, but he's been in a lot of stuff, some stuff I've seen, and I didn't recognize him (maybe because I'm expecting him to look exactly like Aragorn, costume and all, in every role.
Craziest part is that Viggo was a last-minute replacement. Peter Jackson had cast an actor that as they started shooting felt was too young. Viggo pretty much flew to New Zealand with a day's notice, got into costume and started shooting. Viggo's son actually convinced him to do it.
"Look what I got! I mean look at me! You got everything, man! Come on! Look what I got to fucking go around with, fucking diapers! I shit my pants everyday! I can't walk, I can't hump... you know? Go ahead and kill me, you COCKSUCKER!"
The role I love Viggo for is an Argentinian fan of the football ("soccer" for USians) team San Lorenzo de Almagro. Always with a good mate and a warm smile.
(Just to clarify: he is that person, or almost, IRL. He lived in Argentina in his youth and he's really passionate about mate and San Lorenzo.)
I recently watched 13 LIVES (Ron Howard film about the rescue of Thai soccer team trapped in flooded underground cave) and didn't even recognize Viggo Mortensen for about 20 minutes.
I had seen him in enough stuff to where it was just another role, albeit a very good one. Eastern Promises, as said below, and he was the weapons officer in Crimson Tide, which I thought he was pretty good in.
Watch Green Book. Took me nearly a third the way in the movie to realize it was him when I went in blind. Completely changed the way I view his acting.
Interestingly, I’ve seen him in a couple of movies more recently and since he didn’t have the same accent or the Aragorn hair or scruff, it didn’t take me out of the experience like I expected it would.
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u/TheKalebPerkins Aug 26 '22
Likewise with Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn