I recently managed to watched The Last Viking when it got its UK release, so I thought I\u2019d tally up what I\u2019ve seen from this talented guy so far. And there\u2019s still a lot of Mads\u2019 work I haven\u2019t seen so far, so this post will inevitably be updated at some point too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Mads has just got one of those. Like an actor\u2019s face. A face that can do a lot without talking. Which might have something to do with why a certain film of his gets a really high position in my ranking. But anyway. We\u2019ll get onto that soon enough. Here we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The worst of the lot that I\u2019ve seen so far. In Mads\u2019 defence, the whole film\u2019s a bit of a train wreck, but his villain\u2019s just got a weak backstory, and there\u2019s nothing compelling about him to get to grips with. Meh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctor Strange<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar problems to the above. The narrative just didn\u2019t engage me. It felt like another lame entry into an increasingly dull Marvel canon, and it\u2019s just a bit wimpy. I appreciate Mads\u2019 eye shadow though. And it\u2019s worth mentioning that it\u2019s a tough gig going up against another compelling actor like Tilda Swinton. There\u2019s too much rizz between those two, and not enough character development with the screenplay. Or anything, really. Sure, there are worse Marvel films out there, but this didn\u2019t work, and Mads couldn\u2019t do much to save it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though you don\u2019t really get to see Mads much here, he still makes a decent impression as conflicted father Galen Erso, forced to develop a project he has no desire to complete and abandon his daughter in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Eternity\u2019s Gate<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar vibes to the above, in that is character\u2019s not on screen for long, but still makes an impact with that expressive face of his. Nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hannibal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having watched all three seasons, I\u2019m still not sure how I feel about this one, but I can\u2019t deny that Mads puts in a stellar performance as the series\u2019 titular antagonist. The aesthetics are super stylised, and there\u2019s a lot of focus on food. Some food which, uh, might not be of the vegetarian kind, let\u2019s just say. And it\u2019s generally just super theatrical. Sure, it diverts from the OG source material a fair bit in places (I\u2019m pretty certain that, as someone who\u2019s read Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs back- to-back, that there\u2019s nothing goin\u2019 on between Hannibal and Will Graham, but hey, you can heavily imply that in this adaption if you want to). But yeah, Mads is super suave and charming in this interpretation of Hannibal, I can\u2019t deny that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pusher<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the earliest things that Mads has done, and it also happens to be the directorial debut of Nicolas Winding Refn, whose film \u2018Drive\u2019 remains one of my all-time faves. And you can get a sense of Refn\u2019s fascination with crime in this feature, where Mads stars as a small time hyperactive gangster who needs to calm down a bit. It\u2019s fun seeing Mads slightly play against type compared to all the future roles that he\u2019d go on to star in. I need to watch the sequel to this and Refn\u2019s other collab with him, \u2018Bleeder\u2019, but hey, that\u2019s something I\u2019ll get round to in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Casino Royale<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Probably the flick that made Mads\u2019 name in the Hollywood sphere. Mads does a lot without saying too much here, and that\u2019s always a compelling acting choice, particularly when you\u2019re playing a bad guy. Enigmatic, evil and theatrical, this is Mads on top form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hunt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mads is in another starring role here, albeit a lot more parred down. This one made a big impression on me and brought back a lot of anger from Atonement, because, you know, peeps \u2018be lying. In a different way from Atonement, sure, but it still made me angry. And it\u2019s usually a sign of a good film if it can get you riled up in that way. But not if said film is objectively awful, like, uh, Mamma Mia (that\u2019s a different issue that I won\u2019t get into on this post, but\u2026anyway)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valhalla Rising<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the big winner for me. I know VR wouldn\u2019t make it anywhere near this position in most other\u2019s rankings, but hey, this is my ranking. Mads\u2019 dedication to silence in this one is compelling. A smooth, minimal 90 minutes, and his character doesn\u2019t utter a darn word. Where is this set? What time period? I dunno, it doesn\u2019t get into specifics. At all. This wouldn\u2019t be most people\u2019s idea of fun, but like I said, this is my ranking, so I\u2019m calling the shots. With minimal speech from the surrounding characters, you\u2019re left to use imagery and sound as your expositional guides, and this makes a heck of a difference. None of that expositional talking, lads. Just a nice journey into hell with an enigmatic main character who doesn\u2019t say a single thing. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently managed to watched The Last Viking when it got its UK release, so I thought I\u2019d tally up what I\u2019ve seen from this talented guy so far. And there\u2019s still a lot of Mads\u2019 work I haven\u2019t seen so far, so this post will inevitably be updated at some point too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}