Christian Bale

What a fascinating year for Christian Bale. Ignore the rant on the cinematographer from the set of Terminator. The man has played second fiddle in the three best action films in the past year. I've yet to see THE HURT LOCKER, which might toss this theory out the window, but the three best action films in the past year are THE DARK KNIGHT, PUBLIC ENEMIES, and TERMINATOR SALVATION. Not in that order. Only PUBLIC ENEMIES is great all the way through. DARK KNIGHT falls apart in the 3rd act and TERMINATOR falls apart about halfway through. But gimme a good half of an action movie these days and I'll take it. What's fascinating is Bale's role in all three...in TDK Heath Ledger gives an incredible and justifiably lauded performance. This movie has been on HBO recently and I re-watch it just to see Ledger prance around. Only the very end, in Gary Oldham's speech, is there a part of the film without Ledger that is excellent. Likewise, in Terminator, the Sam Worthington is routinely praised as the best part of the film. I don't quite agree. The best part of the new Terminator is the new "take" on the franchise, doing a Terminator movie as a war-pic. It doesn't quite deliver, but the first half provides quite enough excitement and terror to make it a worthwhile movie. Nevertheless, Worthington is good, and once again, Bale doing his Scottie Pippen. Johnnie Depp is rarely bad and PUBLIC ENEMIES is no different. Bale is serviceable in the movie - as are all the performers. Would Mann allow any different? I'm trying to think of any "bad" performances in a Michael Mann film and I can only point to Jaime Fox in Miami Vice. And in trying to think of stand out performances in a Michael Mann movie - DeNiro in Heat...Russell Crowe in the Insider...those are the two I'd list. Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell do some of their best work in Collateral and Miami Vice. Was Depp up there with DeNiro or Crowe? My initial impression is no...but those performances grew on me...so only time will tell. For crissake, I've only seen PE once so far and must take it in 3-4 times to make a real judgment. As for writing an entire piece of PE, I don't know that I have much to say. It gives me great pleasure and comfort to watch any Mann film and PE was no different. I loved the very end of the movie. There were some holes for me and the movie wasn't transcendent. But I don't care much about that at the moment. Anyone looking for transcendent (or should I say, when I look for the transcendent) is bound to be disappointed. But Bale is fascinating in playing second fiddle in these movies. He's able to step aside and let these other actors be "the man." It is quite a talent to be able to do this, especially considering Bale's considerable acting prowess. In Heat, Pacino goes big and DeNiro stands back, lulling and dodging, but it's a tactic - like Ali's rope-a-dope - and it's his performance that stands out in the movie. Pacino - as much as I love him - goes a bit too over-the-top, whereas DeNiro's steely gaze and inability to look his girl in the eye when he wants her to come with him is the standout. Bale does not have these moments in any of the three movies. His best moments in Batman are when he's hurt and jealous of Eckhart's character and overcompensates with three beautiful ladies or boasting of owning the restaurant. In Terminator, his best moments are at the beginning of the movie when he is alone, with less power than he's due, witnessing the machine's grand plan. And in Public Enemies he is again best when he declares to Hoover his men are outmatched and cannot speak loud enough for the man to hear him. Perhaps Bale has figured it out - like Ray Allen or Silvio Dante - some people are better as number 2.