Breaking Down My Denzel Washington Take
So this clip is the latest of many clips making its way around the interwebs that makes people want to burn me at the stake. Before we get into my actual "take" (I'm starting to hate that word), I ask you to please take a step back, loosen up your brain and hear me out. This isn't "trollsoxdave" speaking, this is Dave Williams* speaking. Let's first take a step back to this "take" yesterday.
I said it and I regret it because I truly don't believe the words that came out of my mouth. They just...came out of my mouth. By now everyone should know that happens with me. Denzel Washington is a very good actor. Now I wouldn't have him on my Mt. Rushmore of great actors per se, but he's very good at what he does. To say "he stinks" is disingenuous and I do not believe that, not in the least, but that's what came out of my mouth spur of the moment yesterday. This is why it happened:
Advertisement
And this happens regularly. Often times it gets me in trouble. See #MouseGate and #WrongStatsInBlogsGate. Typically I'll freak out and try to justify my claim when I say this kind of shit, but that just digs me into larger, deeper holes. I could have done this yesterday and doubled down on my "Denzel stinks" take, but I didn't. I slept on it, heard arguments, and waited 24 hours or so to construct this blog. Call it maturation, if you will.
But I do have *some* beef with Denzel Washington, no pun intended to a popular term in the Barstool Chicago office. My issue with him is that in a lot of his movies, his tendencies as an actor are very similar IMO. I'm talking real, actual nuances to acting i.e. speech patterns, language, verbiage, hand movements, etc.
WSD, you're a fucking re... uhhh, moron and couldn't judge good acting if it sat on your fat face and don't have the cognitive ability to formulate your own thought!
Fair. I haven't done anything to dispel that stigma, aside from being a baseball savant.
I'm not a baseball savant, but most people seem to think that's the only thing I know anything at all about which as a baseball guy, isn't all that true. There are a billion people I look up to about baseball that know 100000x more about the game than I do. I am constantly picking their brains as a means to advance my own knowledge of the game.
But back to my Denzel take - I just don't see a huge variation from each role to each role. That's my "issue" with him, for lack of a better term. Frank Lucas in American Gangster is basically the same character as Alonzo in Training Day and even Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. Same facial expressions, same verbiage, same voice inflections... same dude IMO.
Now he kills this type of character. Dominates it. Again, I am walking back my "he stinks" take from yesterday. I was totally wrong about that, but again, I don't screen things that come out of my mouth some (a lot?) of times. But in order for me to say "holy shit this guy is a good actor" I want to see a wide array of different roles. Think Dicky Ecklund vs. Patrick Bateman. To go from one role to the other has gotta be fucking impossible to do, yet Christian Bale makes it look easy. I just don't see that kind of variance out of Denzel Washington. That's exactly where my "he stinks" word vomit was bred from and why I feel the way I do about him.
Now I haven't seen The Bone Collector or Malcolm X and it's been years since I've seen The Hurricane. Those are roles that could very well change my "one trick pony" opinion on him completely and totally. When you're speaking with Dave Williams*, he'll hear both sides of any argument and will speak sincerely and admit when he's wrong. I am wide open to changing me "take" on this matter if I truly feel I am wrong about it.
Advertisement
For instance: I stirred up the internet when I said I don't really like Will Ferrell when he's a lead in movies. I take that (subjective!!!) opinion to the grave. But I hadn't yet seen "The Other Guys". I watched it and thought it was fucking hilarious. Blew other Will Ferrell movies out of the water IMO. Constant laughs. The whole TLC side story was hysterical. I didn't despise it just to be a troll or because I refuse to abide by what's popular. I watched it and formulated an opinion. If/When I see "The Bone Collector" and Denzel's character is completely different from the typical Denzel character, I will admit defeat and say I was wrong. I have ZERO problem doing that.
But I also have no problem speaking my opinion, even and especially if it goes completely against common thought. It's similar to the band Nickleback. They're so hated amongst the populace that I often find myself defending them because I refuse to think one way just because everyone else seemingly does. I think for myself. That, and I actually do enjoy a few of their songs and am not afraid to say that out loud, which a lot of people in my position as an online persona are. This Afternoon and Animals are bangers IMO.
I'm really glad we could engage in civil discourse on this matter. Hearing both sides of the aisle always wins out. I'm sure you will all have rational responses to me after thoroughly reading this blog.
*Speaking in the 3rd person (is that the right person?) is without question the douchiest thing I've ever done on this site, but I couldn't figure out how else to word it. In checks the "WSD is a moron" stigma. Whatever