In a world where people are famous simply for being famous, where compensation exceeds common sense and where women are allowed to vote, it’s nice to see that there are some great actors who deserve the fame that has been bestowed upon them. Or does he?
Does anyone Remember the Titans? A great film set in the 1960s about the justified struggle for equal rights for black and white people (even though white people aren’t really white, they’re beige, but that’s neither here nor there). It has everything a great movie needs: contained male, adolescent violence; slow motion football highlights; a car crash; Turk from Scrubs; men coming together to overcome racial injustice; and most importantly, an acting reel for Hayden Panettiere that will later pay dividends in excess when she comes of age to be the cheerleader in distress with the power of rejuvenation. Who can argue that this movie is not a diamond in the rough? No one. That’s who. It’s a great film and if you disagree I’m going to tell everyone that you supported the goings-on at Auschwitz.
How about a little film known as Man on Fire? A down on his luck security guard takes a low paying job protecting a rich family’s daughter played by Dakota Fanning. He has a drinking problem and is borderline suicidal. But through the love of a five year old girl he finds his will to live, only to die for said five year old girl. Sensational movie…with the exception to the fact that despite the title of the film, at no point in the movie does Denzel Washington catch fire.
Finally, I give you John Q. A touching story about a down on his luck father who’s insurance company will not pay for his son’s heart transplant. So what does John Q do? Well, what any decent person would – he takes the emergency room of the hospital hostage and demands that his kid get a new heart. Fair enough.
The astute reader might have noticed an extreme lack of judgement from the author this week. That I have held back and reserved judgement. Well why not? Denzel Washington is an amazing actor whose work speaks for itself. Or does it?
Well, umm, no, to be honest.
“Oh, but his movies are always so good. He’s a fantastic actor!”
Well, I agree with the first part of your statement. Each of those movies is definitely worth watching. Great stories, great characters and they all leave your heart warmed by the end. Except for one fact. Let’s review those movies and the characters therein.
Remember the Titans – It’s about an angry black man fighting injustice.
Man on Fire – It’s about an angry black man fighting his demons.
John Q – It’s about an angry black man fighting the system.
Shall we go on? Indeed, we shall.
The Hurricane – It’s about an angry black man fighting other angry men (some of which are black).
Training Day – It’s about an angry black man fighting the police force.
American Gangster – It’s about an angry black man fighting poverty.
Malcolm X – It’s about an angry black man fighting whitey.
Courage Under Fire – It’s about an angry black man fighting Meg Ryan.
I put it to you that Denzel Washington is no more of an actor than Ben Stiller is tolerable. You can hardly be called an ‘actor’ when the only character you can play is an angry black man! Actors, traditionally play a myriad of roles. Take John Travolta for example. He’s been a singing greaser, a singing fat lady, the good guy, the bad guy, had his face removed, stolen nuclear weapons, done comedies, thrillers, action and tricked everyone in to thinking that Danny DeVito movies are worth watching.
So, why the fuck has Denzel Washington won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Lead Role AND an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role? It’s a fucking joke. You know who should be winning Oscars? ACTORS! Not dull, talentless schmucks who have type cast themselves in to one single role that then gets repeated over and over. When you go to see a Denzel movie, all you’re expecting is to see an angry black man go up against some sort of injustice. Whether it be insurance companies, bad guys on trains, bank robberies, kidnappers or police recruits makes no real difference. You know that at some point Denzel is going to have one of those powerful scenes where the camera rotates around him as he makes some poignant speech, which will no doubt contain the words, “I’m goin’ to git mine!” and will invariably move seamlessly from irate screaming, with spit flying through the air like the fountain outside the Bellagio to a chilling whisper, which reminds me of the time my friend told me he shat his pants five minutes in to a plane flight.
It wouldn’t annoy me so much if this was common knowledge, but for some reason it’s not. Everyone I talk to is convinced that Denzel is some sort of amazing actor. As if he has some sort of super-human acting ability. The only ability he has is to be infuriated. That’s not acting, Mr Washington, that’s just yelling. How about you shut the fuck up and fucking try your hand at a different role for once. You’re a one trick pony and I for one am sick of it.
You’re not an actor, Denzel Washington. You’re an asshole.
BRAD!
Malcolm X isn’t an angry black man. Is the journey toward spiritual and political awareness of a man. Philadelphia is the struggle for the rights of others and the awareness that everyone is equal. In Much thing about Denzel Washington plays a tale prince. In Inside Man a fun police. In Taking of Pelham a man with little self-esteem. In a military pacifist Crimson Tide …
If Denzel Washington is an angry man, then what kind of actor is Sean Pean. There is no film in which Sean Peen is not the angriest man in the world
Comment by Joe — December 14, 2009 @ 9:01 am
Sean Penn – ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’
Comment by bradsworld — December 14, 2009 @ 9:23 am
and the one where he plays a retard. Sean Penn that is
Comment by Justin — December 14, 2009 @ 10:34 am
Yes he did. Good film.
Comment by bradsworld — December 14, 2009 @ 11:12 am
Very funny and extremely ignorant post, the “angry BLACK man” is just a load of BS. This is just how to dissmiss the (extraordinary) talent of a great actor at it’s most ignorant & pointless form.
So by this way, Pacino just played an ‘angry WHITE man” in Serpico and in The Godfather and in Dog day Afternoon and in And Justice for all and in Scent of a Woman and in The Insider and the list go on and on. Same for De Niro in most of his greatest acting achievements Raging Bull = Angry WHITE man, Taxi Driver = Angry WHITE man, Mean Street = Angry WHITE man, all of his gangster roles = angy WHITE men…same for Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, etc…??? Really…No. Why ? Because all those actors use different characterisations, nuances & emotions for each roles.
Denzel as Malcolm X is a tour de force of acting, he has to play 3 different characters and is absolutely convincing, the emotional range, the nuances and the honesty of the portrayal of this complex yet fascinating man is beyond word. John Creasy, his character in Man On Fire (or Philadelphia or Training day,…) could have been played by actor of all races, he just happened to be played by a black actor but who cares ? If a white actor (De Niro & Brando were supposed to play the role decades ago) played the part, would you accuse them to play an angry WHITE man ? No. It’s about a man deep crisis and Denzel’s terrific in the role, it’s a bravura performance. He was heartbreaking in John Q (a role similar to Pacino character in Dog Day Afternoon) and I endend to hate his Corupt cop character in Training Day (who in some ways is a little Scarface-esque), both roles are in no way similars, the characterisations, the emotional complexities and motivations aren’t the same, but he’s totally believable in both, that’s great acting is all about. He’s absolutely brillant in The Hurricane (the hole scene is one of the finest piece of acting I’ve ever seen) a role similar to Day-Lewis in In The Name of the father, would you accuse Day-Lewis for playing an angry WHITE man, Let me guess…NO. These roles are so much, SO MUCH more than just playing an angry BLACK or WHITE or GREEN man.
Now if you want to see Denzel in less emotionally complex and intense roles try Much Ado About Nothing (a charming & funny Shakespearian movie), The Preacher’s Wife or a movies where he infuse some light comedy touch (Inside man, Philadelphia, Mo’ Better Blues, etc…).
He’s a dramatic actor, like Pacino or Hackman or De Niro, etc…so of course he’s going to be intense in most of his roles. I don’t buy the angry BLACK man statement, BS !
Comment by Bois — December 14, 2009 @ 11:12 am
I like how your start your rant with “very funny and ignorant post” which implies the impression that you get it…but then you carry on with your racist inferences and seem to imply that white people can’t be angry or something. So, I guess you didn’t get it after all. I dunno though, you kind of jumped around a lot. Look, if you have a man crush on Denzel, that’s fine, I just think there are far more people deserving of adoration and shit for their jobs. The part I like best is where you said, “Much Ado About Nothing (a charming & funny Shakespearian movie).” Seriously? Is that really how much better you think you are than the average reader and more specifically, me? Holy shit, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is Shakespeare? Well thank you, I can see your degree in literature is coming in very handy. Or perhaps you’re studying to be a drama teacher? What kind of moron do you take me for? “Oh, well he totally missed the subtle undertones of ‘Malcolm X’ so he obviously has no idea who Shakespeare is.” Fuck you’re a dumbarse.
Comment by bradsworld — December 14, 2009 @ 11:59 am
Instead of making myself being an angry WHITE man by reading your pointless post I’d prefered to laugh at it, so yeah it’s funny. There is nothing racist in what I say, If someone should be tagged a “racist” it’s certainly not me. It’s amazing how you could dismiss a BLACK actor for playing intense characters but when a WHITE actor play similar intense (and since you like this word…angry) character it’s seems to be Okay to you. John Travolta ? Are you actually serious ? The worst thing is that I’m sure you are, JT is one of the most typecasted actors out there, his cartoonish over the top villain is expired and annoying, have you seen Pelham 123 ? Who was angry in it ? Denzel nuanced portrayal of a mild mannered family man dispatcher make Travolta’s unbelievable (in the bad way) acting look like amateurish. There is also nothing “man crush’ in my post, I showed arguments and good comparisons but you have no point, no answer to what I’ve say, so insults came. But I have to say that I didn’t expected more from you.
As for Much Ado About Nothing, why don’t you mentioned it in your first post, you jumped to say that Sean Penn played Jeff Spicoli in FTARH to defend him, Denzel was probably the angry black prince in that too…
Anyway, I say what I have to say, I don’t think you realise how pointless your posts are, it’s quite sad.
Comment by Bois — December 14, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
It’s always about colour with you, isn’t it? That or the word ‘nuance.’ You’ve clearly got a hard on for using that word. Yeah, it’s a good word, but it’s not great. Get over it already. At least use thesaurus.com. How fucking long do you think the article would have been if it were called ‘A summary of every typecast actor ever’? Sure, there’d be Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and countless others that would come under the ‘italio-American gangster’ banner, then Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and to a lesser extent Vince Vauhn flying the flag of ‘Stupid for the sake of being stupid “beautiful” people’ and then jenifer almost every female actor ever as the ‘over worked, under appreciated girl who finds her self confidence (usually in some guys pants) and excels at life.’ I picked one actor who I feel epitomizes this. If you’re that fucking retarded that you can’t draw causal links between this and other actors to see the point I was making then I hope your god is a merciful one, or at the very least has more of a sense of humour than you do.
Comment by bradsworld — December 15, 2009 @ 5:42 am
This post does come across quite as quite racist, even if it’s unintentional. Having just seen The Taking Of Pelham 123 (his most recent film), there was nothing “angry” about Denzel’s character. In fact, he was pretty soft, and came off as a bit of a pussy. He was still black though. Guess he can’t help that.
He’s not even close to being my favorite actor, but I’ve seen him in lots of films where the reductive “angry black man” label simply doesn’t apply on any level. Cry Freedom (more a relentlessly upbeat and postive black man), The Preacher’s Wife, The Bone Collector, Pelham, The Pelican Brief, Much Ado About Nothing. He has acually got range.
Yeah, he plays a lot of roles that call for him to be intense/badass or “angry”. But that pretty much applies to most of the the better rated dramatic actors. I blame Marlon Brando for that. After Brando came along, most dramatic actors became convinced that being moody, angsty or pissed off in the majority of their roles, was the way to go to be considered great. There are very few Daniel Day Lewis roles where he couldn’t be described as angry or intense. Of course he can do more than that, but people go nuts over his “angry guy” performances in Gangs Of New York and There Will be Blood, and barely pay any attention when he plays a more normal, relaxed guy (like he did in Ballad Of Jack And Rose).
I guess audiences would rather pay to see Denzel play an “angry” badass than some soft pussy. Denzel played soft pussies in The Preachers Wife and The Taking Of Pelham 1-2-3, and they both flopped at the box office. When he gets all brutal and angsty (American Gangster, Training Day, Man On Fire) people want to see it. Hell, I want to see The Book Of Eli just to watch him kill people with a sword. And see Gary Oldman as a bad guy again.
Comment by Rob — December 15, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
While you definitely have a point with Daniel Day Lewis, I see him kind of differently. I mean, during the filming of ‘Gangs of New York’ he didn’t break character for the entire production time. He spoke in that accent no matter where he was or who he was with for the duration of filming. That’s pretty cool.
I also think that people are hyper vigilant about racism these days. To the point where if you mention colour, it’s racist. I didn’t denegrade Denzel for the colour of his skin or use the colour of his skin as evidence for him beinng not as good as other people. I merely said that the role he often plays is an angry black man. If I were writing the piece about Daniel Day Lewis, I would have said angry white man and no one would have said anything about racism. People with a similar attitude to yours are just as bad if not worse than regular racists. It’s a “they’re black, so I’d better give them concessions” kind of attitude. It’s the same thing disabled people get. Like when people talk louder and slower at a blind person. It’s not consideration. It’s condescension.
Comment by bradsworld — December 15, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
hey brad no matter which type of role you do you still got to do it well and the directors are not fools to chose him for the movies he did its only cause of his talent his role in the movie”philadelphia” is not just about an angry black man !!! powerful roles demand powerful characters hollywood is lucky to have such a powerful character !!
denzel might not be the greatest of actors ever but he surely is a great or atleast a good actor!! he aint an asshole by far but you are my friend!!
Comment by undertaker — January 2, 2010 @ 7:41 am
Denzel is a huge jerk. I met him, he is an arrogant prick who is full of himself. Denzel, you are not any different or anymore special than any other human on this planet. There are nuerosurgeons performing brain surgery right now, YOU are a nobody!! And I don’t buy the fact that you care about any charity or cause other than your arrogant self!! Im actually QUITE positive that is a BIG ACT. Wow, looks like you CAN act out something other than the angry black. Get over yourself…
Comment by Ann — August 14, 2010 @ 1:12 am
denzel washington is of course a very good actor and i think that he should have lifetime achievement award too _
Comment by Vegetable Storage : — November 1, 2010 @ 2:14 am
SUCK COCK, YOU SOUND LIKE AN ANGRY WHITE MAN FAGGOT, DENZEL IS THE BEST OF THE BEST GAYBOY!!
Comment by dude — December 29, 2010 @ 4:10 pm
My cousin and I watched the first 20 mins of Malcolm x and could not stop laughing. Some seriously funny shit.
Comment by Jackthestripper — March 20, 2011 @ 9:42 am
Denzel has played numerous roles where he didn’t portray “an angry black man”. Maybe you construe his roles as that because he is in fact black and fighting some injustice.
Philadelphia – lawyer
The Pelican brief – journalist
The Preachers Wife – angel
The Bone Collector – detective
The Taking of Pelham 123 – Subway worker
Comment by t — May 22, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
don’t forget the movie “Glory”, Denzel plays a defiant, racist, angry Negro soldier in the Civil War. I believe Denzel is a racist, and will never again play a role where he is percieved as being less-than a white man, or less tougher, and never gets his ass kicked by whitey. I think he sucks an actor and is a racist prick in real life!
Comment by Bob Wells — January 30, 2012 @ 7:49 am
He’s racist because he doesn’t want to play roles where he is seen as equal to a White man…? Damn him for being uppity, huh? He should realize he’ll never be equal. Denzel seems like a conceited ass, but you don’tseem like your any less of an ass (and a racist one at that) than he is.
Comment by PJ — February 10, 2012 @ 11:29 am
How are you people even finding this? I wrote it in December 2009. I don’t even update this blog anymore. I just get annoying emails from WordPress every now and again asking me to moderate my blog. It’s always this article as well. Everyone else has forgotten about the other articles, but for some reason this one still gets traffic. How did you find it?
Comment by bradsworld — February 19, 2012 @ 6:41 am