The best (and also the worst) of Russell Crowe

Well, Russell Crowe uses a lot of frowning as a resource for many of his scenes. And it seems that he has abandoned himself physically in recent years (or at least that is what is said in the face of what could be any other problem or even script demands). But it cannot be denied that Crowe has that something that he transmits. Because without being a leading man of Apollonian canons, he has always been that actor who captivated wide-ranging viewers.

Something like a middle ground between the charisma of Sean Penn and the appeal of Richard Gere. That's where Crowe goes in his extensive filmography. Successful roles, voluntarily or not, so as not to stick to a stereotype and approach that idea of ​​a total actor capable of frowning at any plot. Perhaps that is the trick to convince us of his acting skills, and faith that he gets it.

More than 30 years contemplate a career with few ups and downs. Interpretations of all kinds that take him to the top of Hollywood. You can't ask for more from this New Zealand interpreter who can never be considered finished. Because although he is no longer the young, or the interesting middle-aged guy, at this point he can play all kinds of roles so that any movie takes greater flights.

Top 3 Recommended Russell Crowe Movies

A Beautiful Mind

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Look, I don't usually like biographical works where personal battles are glossed or each person's circumstances and decisions are magnified to the epic level. But in this case, what happened to the mathematician John Forbes Nash is another story. Because the movie offers us two very different visions. On the one hand there is the viewing of someone who did not know Nash and therefore cannot even imagine what is coming to him. On the other hand we have those who already knew the life and work of Nash and who, therefore, were already warned...

I was one of those who had no idea about the renowned mathematician. So I discovered a fascinating plot in which Russell was introducing us to a government plan of espionage and counterespionage, of underground movements to avoid cold wars and other ins and outs under official diplomacy.

Until everything explodes in your face... In a way this movie has a touch of Shutter Island, only not as dark. Of course, it also has to do with the fact that Nash's vital profile finally has to shine in that positivist side of life.

Although a point of humanity made in Crowe also interferes. A disturbing performance at many times but ultimately reconciling with the world we live in when ghosts visit everyone...

Gladiator

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Okay, yes, it is a blockbuster. But that's also what cinema is about. If you have a good story to tell, between the historical chronicle and fiction, it is better to use resources to fill the scenes of Romans and great circuses than not to remain in a vain exercise...

The epic was perfect for Russell, locked in that brooding hatred, in that thirst for justified revenge, full of nobility and need in the face of evil. We have all seen this movie and yet we continue to see it when it is "cast" on any general television. The duel between Crowe and Phoenix is ​​anthological. We take more than a grudge against Caesar and we adore that spirit of Crowe that returns home as if suspended among the splendid wheat on the way to his Emeritus Augusta...

cinderella-man

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Boxing movies always bring us closer to that dichotomy between glory and hell, stereotyped with absolute plausibility in the boxing world. To get close to the weight of James J. Braddok, Russell had to get that physique of the boxers of old. The matter is rounded off with that melancholy gesture of someone who splits his face in the ring, facing above all all those previous defeats that took them to the twelve ropes.

Crowe, and his frown, make the boxer's life the perfect approach to a very special era of boxing between the twenties and thirties, with a United States plunged into misery...

James J. Braddock suffers the effects of the crisis of 29 called Great Depression, after having been a professional boxer and losing his entire fortune in bad investments. He works as a longshoreman in the port and his family lives in overcrowded misery. His manager believes in him and encourages him to try again his luck in boxing despite not being young anymore. Braddock defeats many rivals showing tenacity, courage, although not much technique in his early days.

His wife opposes boxing and argues with his manager; but in the end, spurred on by her misery, she agrees to expose her husband. After this, she gets a second chance in which she will have to face for the title against Max Baer, a brutal boxer who has killed two opponents with a powerful right hand in the ring. The fight is scheduled for 15 rounds and people bet 9 to 5 on Max Baer. Braddock incredibly withstands Baer's heavy pugilistic artillery and feels his opponent's powerful and devastating right hand in his head.

Russell Crowe's Worst Movies

Wild

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I don't want to be cruel... But after seeing this film it seems to me that Russel Crowe's physical deterioration goes hand in hand with the loss of his acting skills.

It is worth that the psychopath at the wheel of the SUV could from the start adjust to that look between feline and unfathomable that Russell has always worn. But the thing loses gas as we see it pull the throttle through the streets of New Orleans.

Everything is too capricious. It's worth it that the guy is over there and the protagonist is affecting his morals a little. But without the roots of a greater cause, such triviality is not justified even if it is sold to you as an exponent of the gratuitous violence that surrounds us.

And then there is the performance itself. On her side, she still leaves you. But the Russell thing is something unspeakable. Unfathomable rictus to the point that you don't see a background to his psychopathy. Because it is worth that the bad guys have to be bad from the darkness of their pupils. But there must always be something else that hooks us.

Taking everything ahead, the only moments that hook may be those that Russell occupies talking to a friend of his victim in a cafeteria. Because that is where the tragedy is chewed. In those moments, yes, the tension overflows as if it were Tarantino's thing, but little else...

5/5 - (15 votes)

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