Most overrated actors

[Kyriakos]

Just a thread about which actors are deemed as the most overrated ones.

For practical reasons it is meant to only include english-speaking actors.

*

Some of my own suggestions for this anti-award:

-Robin Williams (i never liked him, he seems to be ruining everything or nearly everything by his brand of comedy which often is not at all in the spirit of the role; i suppose the - already problematic without that anyway - GWH film is a more pronounced example of that).

-Robert Pacino/Al Deniro (they are playing the same role over and over and over and over and over and over and over again).


I suppose that 'J Law' ( ) might be in this list too, but i haven't seen any complete movie with her so i will refrain from being more kneejerk on this than i absolutely have to

 

[H4run]

I like Al Pacino, but it might be true though he always play "Al Pacino" type of character in almost every movie, but same also with Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, I think all of them already establish their type of character in acting, and they also mostly chose to play those character in movie. But for me that is one of the most interesting part, they already construct their own personality on acting, not just learn to simulate specific character they suppose to mimic in acting. But hey that's just my view

If I point out the most overrated actors in my view, I afraid mine will be quite subjective, as I don't like action movie I also mostly don't like the actor. If I see a movie that start with Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage even worst Seagal, I just drew back and don't watch it.

 

[Kyriakos]

I hate action films too :/

Seagal is the funniest one of those three, though. Although by now he looks weirder than the rest of that triad, apparently

Cage was very good in some films, obviously in Leaving Las Vegas, and other ones such as that snuff movie (8mm).

 

[Flying Pig]

-Robin Williams (i never liked him, he seems to be ruining everything or nearly everything by his brand of comedy which often is not at all in the spirit of the role; i suppose the - already problematic without that anyway - GWH film is a more pronounced example of that).

Have you seen Dead Poets Society? I always thought it was a shame he chose to move away from roles like that towards being, well, Robin Williams.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Yes, that was surely one of his better roles/films (although you know that he did some 'robinwilliams' stuff there as well :\ ).

He was quite good in Agfa Montage (edit: One Hour Photo) too. He is a good actor, just very overrated.

+seems to have some particular issues.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

Laurence (Lawrence?) Olivier. His Hamlet is fairly gruesome, but for some reason everyone loves it. I suppose it was the first half-way decent filmed version.

 

[Phrossack]

I cannot stand Tom Cruise, who's usually overdramatic, obnoxious, and Tom Cruise-like.

John Wayne is utterly overrated, since he always plays John Wayne in his dozens of identical Westerns.

 

[ywhtptgtfo]

Tom Cruise

Nicholas Cage

John Travolta

 

[JollyRoger]

Ronald Reagan

 

[Phrossack]

Ronald Reagan

Link to video.

 

[H4run]

Tom Cruise

Nicholas Cage

John Travolta

this, Tom Cruise is a highly overrated actor, if the term 'selfie' have any form or face, it will look like Tom Cruise, even though I like his role in the "interview of the Vampire" but still I don't like most of his movie which usually are 'self center' and 'one man show' kind of movie. The Last Samurai, is a very typical Tom Cruise kind of movie.

 

[Kyriakos]

I actually like Tom Cruise I even liked Last Samurai (it is a cool film in my view, i don't doubt it was not any particularly decent presentation of history or anything).*

I also liked him in Oblivion. But i did not like the Operation Valkyrie one (or the new war of the wordls, but the latter was hardly his fault).

*Besides, that Scottish actor playing the lower ranking officer, is a bit of a legend in the 90s brit stand-up comedy scene iirc. At any rate he was often on tv at the time and i always liked him (probably without ever having seen any whole routine of his, which likely was filled with cursing and little more ).

 

[cybrxkhan]

I actually like Tom Cruise I even liked Last Samurai (it is a cool film in my view, i don't doubt it was not any particularly decent presentation of history or anything).*

The Last Samurai is perhaps the only movie that made me seethe with almost unrestrained rage due to its glaring historical inaccuracies and silly "oooh Oriental mysterious and ancient tradition" nonsense. I wanted to beat the crap out of something after watching that, and I am usually very patient with these sort of things in real life. I mean I literally felt something of an adrenaline rush due to the anger I felt from watching that. No movie, book, tv series, anime, or any other work of fiction or nonfiction, made me felt that sort of rage before or since.

(It is definitely not a particularly decent presentation of history. Granted there are *probably* worse presentations of history in Hollywood *cough*300*cough* and the ones in The Last Samurai are a bit harder to spot.)

 

[H4run]

I actually like Tom Cruise I even liked Last Samurai (it is a cool film in my view, i don't doubt it was not any particularly decent presentation of history or anything).*

I also liked him in Oblivion. But i did not like the Operation Valkyrie one (or the new war of the wordls, but the latter was hardly his fault).

*Besides, that Scottish actor playing the lower ranking officer, is a bit of a legend in the 90s brit stand-up comedy scene iirc. At any rate he was often on tv at the time and i always liked him (probably without ever having seen any whole routine of his, which likely was filled with cursing and little more ).

The Last Samurai is perhaps the only movie that made me seethe with almost unrestrained rage due to its glaring historical inaccuracies and silly "oooh Oriental mysterious and ancient tradition" nonsense. I wanted to beat the crap out of something after watching that, and I am usually very patient with these sort of things in real life. I mean I literally felt something of an adrenaline rush due to the anger I felt from watching that. No movie, book, tv series, anime, or any other work of fiction or nonfiction, made me felt that sort of rage before or since.

(It is definitely not a particularly decent presentation of history. Granted there are *probably* worse presentations of history in Hollywood *cough*300*cough* and the ones in The Last Samurai are a bit harder to spot.)

I honestly start to doubt myself for prejudice when reading your (Kyriakos) commentary and thinking to re-watch it, I trust your judgement, and honestly I don't watch the movie till finish because I cannot stand Tom Cruise narcissistic role from the very beginning of the movie. He killed a skilful samurai in the battle using spear (which the Samurai also quite trained with this kind of weapon and how to handle it) but in the village he get beaten by a mere kids using wooden sword (this scene already annoy me because of its inconsistency), after that he start practising sword fighting (kendo/kenjutsu) and I already know where it will goes: the untrained Western soldier, able to master Japanese martial art in an amazingly short period and impress all of the natives. Not to mention when he start flirting with the widow of the slain husband, after all of that, I just stop watching. And Cybrxkhan convince my expectation and I'm glad I don't watch it till finish like I do in 300 which totally devastated my mood.

 

[J-man]

I liked Tom Cruise in A few good men. Denzel Washington is overrated IMHO. Also thought Alec Baldwin was absolutely terrible in The hunt for red october.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, i could not watch past the first 5 min of the sequel to 300 (300: Rise of an Empire), cause despite already having a cool battle sequence, it then made up Themistocles wounding mortally Darius with an arrow. Which must have come from a magic bow, cause Darius at the time was probably somewhere in Egypt and not in Marathon

I doubt i will try to watch the rest of that movie, but i might due to Circei

I think that the first 5 min of 300: Rise of an Empire managed to have more pseudo-history than almost the entire original 300, which is quite impressive.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I honestly start to doubt myself for prejudice when reading your (Kyriakos) commentary and thinking to re-watch it, I trust your judgement, and honestly I don't watch the movie till finish because I cannot stand Tom Cruise narcissistic role from the very beginning of the movie. He killed a skilful samurai in the battle using spear (which the Samurai also quite trained with this kind of weapon and how to handle it) but in the village he get beaten by a mere kids using wooden sword (this scene already annoy me because of its inconsistency), after that he start practising sword fighting (kendo/kenjutsu) and I already know where it will goes: the untrained Western soldier, able to master Japanese martial art in an amazingly short period and impress all of the natives. Not to mention when he start flirting with the widow of the slain husband, after all of that, I just stop watching. And Cybrxkhan convince my expectation and I'm glad I don't watch it till finish like I do in 300 which totally devastated my mood.

Besides the stereotypical "oooh Asian mystical arts Euro-American dude learns to become one with himself" nonsense, I think I also came to hate it because it kind of just butchered the whole Meiji revolution, which is a part of history I find great interest in. I mean, the guys who were modernizing Japan were the freaking samurai to begin with, and them freaking (overrated) samurai actually loooooooved guns (since the 1500s). The conflicts the movie are based on were basically a contest between which faction in Japan could get more guns and more dudes who could shoot guns, not some "I SHALL BRING HONOOOOORRRRR" katana vs. gatling gun nonsense. The losing team that inspired the samurai in the movie used swords only because they ran out of ammo. Well, not to mention their leader, Saigo Takamori, was one of the guys who spearheaded Japan's modernization.

And... well, I just don't like how they butchered one of Japan's crowning achievements with "ooooooh mystical Orient oooooooh so mysterious and spiritual".

If you want to experience something closer to reality that's still fun, just buy the Fall of the Samurai standalone expansion to Shogun II Total War. I mean it's still ridiculous in some ways but it gets the actual atmosphere and politics behind the real Meiji revolution much better.


Also, as one last note, I dunno why the Emperor in the movie sounded and acted so effeminate... I dunno if that's just me...

more pseudo-history than almost the entire original 300,

 

[Kyriakos]

'So sorry...you may not'

 

[Narz]

John Travolta

I don't know if Travolta is overrated, I just don't like him for some reason though.

Denzel Washington is overrated IMHO.

Yes, something about him is kind of flat.

 

[H4run]

Besides the stereotypical "oooh Asian mystical arts Euro-American dude learns to become one with himself" nonsense, I think I also came to hate it because it kind of just butchered the whole Meiji revolution, which is a part of history I find great interest in. I mean, the guys who were modernizing Japan were the freaking samurai to begin with, and them freaking (overrated) samurai actually loooooooved guns (since the 1500s). The conflicts the movie are based on were basically a contest between which faction in Japan could get more guns and more dudes who could shoot guns, not some "I SHALL BRING HONOOOOORRRRR" katana vs. gatling gun nonsense. The losing team that inspired the samurai in the movie used swords only because they ran out of ammo. Well, not to mention their leader, Saigo Takamori, was one of the guys who spearheaded Japan's modernization.

And... well, I just don't like how they butchered one of Japan's crowning achievements with "ooooooh mystical Orient oooooooh so mysterious and spiritual".

If you want to experience something closer to reality that's still fun, just buy the Fall of the Samurai standalone expansion to Shogun II Total War. I mean it's still ridiculous in some ways but it gets the actual atmosphere and politics behind the real Meiji revolution much better.


Also, as one last note, I dunno why the Emperor in the movie sounded and acted so effeminate... I dunno if that's just me...

I am really laughing so hardly reading your description regarding the movie

Do you also notice the Kisra in 300 also quite effeminate? I thought the discourse of Eurocentric perception toward the East play some sort of repetitive binary opposition. Like:

The West are better lover-The East are not:

Like James Clavel in Shogun, how William Adams contest the wife of the samurai and able to win her love and loyalty, while her husband left as a loser, such narration commonly found in literature.

Lets said like Loti in Aziyade wrote to his friends, his goal is to sleep with a married Orient and make her crazy about him that she able to risk her head and others just for being with him. While all of those are only left in the West wildest fantasy regarding Orient, Aziyade is nothing but a fictional character to satisfy Loti wild fantasy of the Orient.

The West are masculine, explore and penetrate the East- The East are feminine being explore, naive and need a white male guidance:
the most loser character in the West can become a King, tribe leader or bring massive change in the East, or to be worship as a God.

The West are rationalist and scientific-The East are emotional and spiritual
The West are clarity-The East are mystery
The West are science-The East are superstition
the list goes on and on and on.