Tuesday, April 28, 2009

my love hate relationship

I've got this love hate relationship with Kevin Costner. Michael Bynum mentioned the western Open Range at his blog today. Open Range is a great movie and Kevin is most excellent in that movie. The first time I saw Kevin was in (other than playing the dead body in The Big Chill) was in the 80's suspense thriller No Way Out. I really enjoyed his roll as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables. For a while there I thought there was nothing that actor could do wrong. Once Kevin hit super-stardom, he started dropping some bombs. His biggest bomb was Waterworld. It was so obvious that Kevin Costner didn't want to be Kevin Costner - he wanted to be Mel Gibson in Road Warrior. I remember when he came out with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. It was a star studded yawnathon. About the same time, if not the same time, a movie starring Patrick Bergin came out of England called Robin Hood. It was so much better than Kevin Costner's version. Kevin also came out with an attempted epic movie called Wyatt Earp, but here again was another long winded yawnathon. About the same time Kurt Russell starred as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone and blew the saloon doors off of Kevin's version. Kevin seems so full of himself at times. He seems to try to make big epic movies with him bravely at the helm with his hair extensions blowing in the wind. Frankly, Kevin sucks at epic. Take a movie like Field of Dreams or Open Range. These two movies are incredible and yet they are not epic in size - just story telling at it's best. The only movies Kevin ever tried to produce and epic and succeeded (in my eyes) was Dances With Wolves and The Postman. Dances With Wolves is a good movie but it's not a movie that I care to sit through again. I've actually watched The Postman several times. I'll probably one day watch it again. I don't know why that movie didn't go over as well as it did. It's a very unique story executed well. Maybe movie goers started getting tired of EPIC KEVIN. On the most part, I hope he stays away from trying to make himself an epic movie figure. He just doesn't have the chin for it. Kevin Costner is a good actor, but not of the consummate ilk. I just wish he'd just stick to what he's good at. I am sure that you all have your own list of like and dislike rolls that Kevin has played.

5 comments:

Greene Street Letters said...

I'm gonna go you one better. I love the untouchables...great movie, but you take Robert DeNiro and Sean Connery out of it and Kevin Costner could not have carried it. Those two made the movie, along with Charlie Martin Smith and Andy Garcia. mb

RODRIGUEZ said...

Hear...Hear! I agree with MB..... Untouchables was good....but Costner's character was replaceable ...the others weren't (in my opinion). This is about the only Costner movie I liked.

RODRIGUEZ said...

I've been thinking. Maybe Costner was right for that role....for that particular character. Ness seemed a little dry...a 'by the books' kind of guy. Made the other two main characters exciting.

Brook said...

Remember Costner as the rootin' tootin' two-gun-shootin' youngster in Silverado? Wasn't bad in that.

David Finlayson said...

Nope - not bad in that one. I didn't care for the movie but Costner wasn't bad in that.