Warrior Casting

[qos]

I'm taking a poll: which actors (from the 1980's to the present) do you think have been the most convincing in portraying warriors: people who fight and kill other people as a way of life, whether as good guys or bad guys. They look like they have both the physical strength and the mental orientation to engage in deadly force and survive long enough to get good at it. There's usually a ruthless streak in them.

Off the top of my head: Russell Crowe in Gladiator is a standout. I've always found it easy to believe Sean Bean, especially as Sharpe. Chow Yun-Fat has the natural grace and strength, as well as the mental focus. I was willing to believe Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai.

Your thoughts?

Comments

[aerden.livejournal.com]

I vote for Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. Ralph Fiennes in Red Dragon was also convincing, but he wasn't exactly a warrior. :P

Chantal

Warriors

[amqu.livejournal.com]

Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans

Kurt Russell in Soldier

Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy

Roy Dupuis as Michael in La Femme Nikita the TV series

[amqu.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Sean Bean, I thought he and Pierce Brosnan were both good in Goldeneye as two faces of the same coin. In fact, I thought Pierce Brosnan really fleshed out who I always thought James Bond really was in that movie.

[gothic-coop.livejournal.com]

Antonio Banderas - 13th Warrior
Forest Whitaker - Ghost Dog
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Conan the Barbarian
Clive Owen - King Arthur
Jean Reno - The Professional

That is just a fast dirty list.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But are real warriors anything like the warriors we see in the movies?

Audie Murphy was a genuine warrior- the most decorated U.S. serviceman of WWII. After the war he got a career in the movies. He was a short, round-faced guy and never really made it beyond the "B" list. Probably his best screen role is as the "coward" in John Huston's Red Badge of Courage.

Jimmy Stewart was a real warrior. He flew bombers. John Wayne, on the other hand, never saw a day's action in his life. But which of the two would you choose to play a warrior? John Wayne every time!

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Definitely Michelle Yeoh. I would also have to vote for Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and the woman who played Eowyn in the LOTR movies.

[athenian-abroad.livejournal.com]

Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger in Platoon. Michael Biehn in The Abyss (also not bad in Aliens and Terminator). Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro in The Hunted (a bad movie, but with interesting bits -- best training montage ever! -- and lots of pretty footage of Portland).

Let me also second the nominations of Tom Hanks and Jean Reno. (Reno is also good in Ronin.)

I'll also put in a good word for John Amos, who plays Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, on television's West Wing. Not exactly the sort of warrior you have in mind, I suppose, but worth thinking about.

I notice that I seem to favor portrayals of more or less contemporary soldiers...nobody on my list carries a sword. Maybe I don't find ancient/fantasy portrayals "convincing"...the temptation to romanticize may just be too strong to allow a really convincing portrayal. Or maybe I just like guns.... No, that's probably not it.

[rocket-jockey.livejournal.com]

Are you looking for an archetype of "warrior" of the reality of "warrior"?

Archetypal warriors "are the job" - no regrets, no fear, kill and survive.

Real warriors usually don't really want to be there, suffer fear and doubt, sometimes regret what they have to do. Not many characters fit that mold, and not many actors portray that sort of depth.

That said, some people that come across as "warrior" in their roles:

Toshiro Mifune
Zhang Ziyi
Wes Studi
Anne Parillaud