Best & Worst of Benicio Del Toro

Article by Gabe Zia
So it's that time of the week again, so I'm gonna look at the best and worst of some actor, actress, director, or genre. This weeks topic film is Paul Thomas Andersons Inherent Vice, an adaptation of a book about a Private Investigator who gets caught in a major conspiracy. After films like The Master and There Will be Blood, arguably incredibly dark films, PTA seems to be going back to his stylized films like Magnolia, in which there are unique and interesting characters and it has dark comedy aspects, but is ultimatley a drama. The film also has a huge cast, with Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Benicio Del Toro.

Personally, I think Benicio Del Toro can usually go both ways in a performance. As a supporting actor, I think he's great, and can usually carry a movie more so than the lead. Some of his best supporting roles are in 21 Grams, Traffic, The Usual Suspects, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Sin City, and plenty more. However, my pick for best also happens to be one of my all-time favorite dark comedies, and that film is Snatch.

To be fair here, I'm kind of cheating with this pick. This is about as much of a Benicio Del Toro movie as Her is a Chris Pratt movie. However, I'm still going to talk about it, because it's an awesome movie. There are some movies that have interesting and creative characters who are all memorable. There are some films that you can watch over and over again, and never get tired of watching it. There are some films with dialogue that's timed perfectly, written perfectly, and acted perfectly. Snatch is all of these things wrapped up into one awesome and near-perfect film.

While Del Toro happens to be great at supporting roles, his lesser films are the ones where he's featured in a lead role. For example, Che, Jimmy P, The Hunted, or my personal pick for worst, The Wolfman.

Do you want to see a film featuring a werewolf? Well too bad, because while The Wolfman has a werewolf, it has it for about 10 minutes. This is a perfect example of a director who is way too sure they're a genius. John Johnston has made a film that uses bland and boring characters in a way that it makes you feel like the director is trying to make them important, and failing miserably. Like I said, the actual wolfman is barely in this movie, and although this film is slightly shorter than two hours, it feels like it's three and half, much like this years Ouija. And also like this years Ouija, The Wolfman is irredeemable garbage nobody should ever see under any circumstance, ever.