It’s hard to argue that Al Pacino has been in any good movies since 2007. Back then he was in the acclaimed Ocean’s Thirteen, and he was as good as he’s been in a long time. I could call up one movie but that would be a big no-go for a lot of people. Stand Up Guys with Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin was decent at least, but I can see how a lot of people would easily let that one go along with the rest that he’s come up with in the past decade. I won’t even bother stating just how ridiculous he was in Jack and Jill.
It’s kind of saddening really since Pacino is such a great actor that finding him roles that really make his style come out and his acting talents pop shouldn’t be too hard. But it almost seems like he’s been on a ten-year long hiatus from the usual stuff he’s been up to. From the days of Dog Day Afternoon to Serpico to the Godfather and forward he’s been just awesome. He had a stare that could level just about anyone back in the day, and even after that his voice and his mannerisms have been so great that there have been few if any people that could really touch the greatness he represented.
He’s had a few flops along the way obviously. Dick Tracy wasn’t exactly a great movie for him to star in and Insomnia was borderline for a lot of people. It’s not a matter of who he stars with, since he can bring out the best in some people and simply bowl over others like he did to Keanu Reeves in Devil’s Advocate. Seriously, it’s like someone slapped a suit and tie on Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and put him in the movie. Pacino stepped over Reeves so easily that you could almost see the faint apology in his eyes.
But the one thing that has happened to Pacino that happens to all actors is the one thing that’s been breaking him down so much. He got old, he is old, and it shows on him in more ways than one. It’s sad to say because I love the guy and I love watching him work his magic. But he’s lost a lot of that spark that he once had and it’s a sad thing. Even in Any Given Sunday and Ocean’s Thirteen he had it still, but lately it’s almost as though he’s been trying to fade into the background, not to die, but to just take a break perhaps.
If that’s the case then he needs to mount a comeback sometime soon because I know a lot of people miss who he was and what he can do. He’s got a voice like a whip crack that can get people to pay attention and a manner about him that’s aged but still somehow edgy and dangerous. That’s why he’s still worth thinking about. He needs to get it back though, and soon.
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