|
Ice Cube may well be our own modern-day Lawrence Olivier, if
his restrained and intelligently written role in John Carpenter’s Ghosts
of Mars is any indication, but what of the underdogs? The great
actors relegated to second billing in generally obscure films? There
are many, to be sure, but I speak of none other than Ron Perlman, currently
playing opposite Wesley Snipes in Blade II.
Perlman, among many things, is an extremely ugly man.
I can think of no other plausible story to account for his unlikely
birth than a drunken one-night stand between Tom Waits and a mountain
gorilla. He’s also one of the more talented and unique
actors in the business, though the films he’s in are generally an acquired
taste. Here are a few of his
better efforts – a Ron Perlman sampler, if you will:
THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, this is probably
the best Perlman movie out there, and the only one I know of in which
he received top billing. Perlman plays a traveling circus strongman
whose adopted brother is kidnapped by one-eyed cyborg religious zealots
and sold to the Krank, a mad scientist who lives with a midget, a brain
in a jar and five clones on an offshore oil rig and steals children’s
dreams. While Caro has apparently dropped off the face
of the planet, Jeunet has gone on to direct Alien: Resurrection
and Amelie.
ALIEN: RESURRECTION
This may not be the best movie out there, but it’s got Ron Perlman
in it and he kicks ass. He even
does a gorilla impression at one point, and that makes Doom happy. He also, when accosted by insufferable chipmunk-woman Winona Ryder,
says, “I am NOT the man with whom to fuck!” I was pleasantly surprised
to see the Perl Man’s character live through this movie, along with
his former City of Lost Children co-star Dominique Pinon.
BLADE II
I’m the only person I know who didn’t like the first Blade
film at all. The human characters were too flat and too
prominent, the action was well-directed but sparse and Stephen Dorff
was a completely ineffective villain.
Ron Perlman to the rescue! He plays Reinhardt, leader of the
Blood Pack. He kicks ass in this movie. The rest of the movie is also a lot of fun,
with art design by Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Blade’s trademark
nonsensical insults, and random acts of wrestling, like when Blade gives
a security guard a suplex, or the leader of the Reapers treats Blade
to the People’s Elbow.
 PRIMAL
FORCE
I think this is the quintessential Ron Perlman movie – not necessarily
in terms of quality, but certainly in terms of entertainment value. As a film student, I have to say that it is
impossible to have a better idea for a movie than this: Ron Perlman
on a jungle island versus hordes of killer hybrid baboons.
While this sounds like prime B-grade material, and in a sense
it might well be just that, but Primal Force is a step above
most B-movies. It’s got decent production values, the cinematography
is at times outstanding and the acting is generally not too grating
unless it’s supposed to be. Perlman
is a rescue worker called back to a jungle island overrun by super-aggressive
baboons unleashed by a fanatical scientist years ago. Perlman’s character escaped the island once,
but now he has to rescue the passengers and crew of a crashed private
jet before they’re baboon food. I
couldn’t help but think throughout this movie that there was something
wrong with all this. Isn’t it
sort of like Perlman killing his own kind?
HELLBOY
This movie is not out yet. It’s
barely even in pre-production. However,
it will kick ass for a number of reasons.
One, Ron Perlman is playing Hellboy.
Two, Mike Mignola, author/artist of the original Dark Horse comic
series (hands down the best on the market), is co-producing.
And three, Guillermo Del Toro, who previously directed Perlman
in Blade II and the Spanish vampire film Cronos, is directing. It’s nice to know Ron Perlman still has a career
ahead of him. It’s not every
actor who looks like an angry gorilla AND speaks about five different
languages fluently.
|