No offense to Kit Harrington, but he just doesn’t look like a tough guy. John Marston from Red Dead Redemption looks like someone that might shoot a person dead for spilling his drink, and Harrington has never really looked that dangerous, ever. Does anyone remember the movie Brimstone? Even then, when he really needed to summon up a dangerous look, he still had that puppy dog appearance that followed him throughout the Game of Thrones series and into his movie career. John is the type of character that might scowl at someone and cause them to look away, where Kit is the type of guy that might scowl and make someone laugh in reply. That doesn’t mean he can’t act, it just means that he’s hard to accept as a tough guy, and a story like Red Dead Redemption really needs this type of character. Why folks continue to believe that he can play tough characters is hard to fathom, but then again everyone has their own perspective and from a different angle he might actually look tough. That wasn’t the case in Pompeii or Silent Hill: Revelation though since he almost always appears to play a sorrowful character, no matter if he’s able to fight or not. This kind of role looks like it’s Kit’s specialty at this time, and obviously people are willing to accept it and will do their best to accept him as a tough individual, but for a couple of reasons, it just doesn’t feel like a good fit.
For one, Kit looks like too much of a nice guy, as he resembles the nice, respectful type of person that you might find is a great friend and is more like Jon Snow than anyone might realize. While John Marston is a family man and former outlaw he still looks and sounds tougher than Kit in a big way, but maybe that’s a personal view. It could be that he can be a bit of a brawler since apparently before auditioning for Jon Snow he did get into a fight in a McDonald’s, which forced him to audition with a black eye. That must have been a fun explanation, right? But all in all this guy just isn’t that intimidating, even with a blade such as Longclaw or with a gun in hand. He looks like the type that would rather talk it out and figure how to solve things in a peaceful and civilized manner than go on the hunt for a wanted criminal. There are plenty of roles out there for a nice guy in a few genres and at the very least Kit does know how to play an active role. But thinking that he’s anywhere near intimidating is kind of hard to agree with since next to most of his costars on GoT he’s really not that terrifying when it comes to his ‘mean’ look. Seriously, Arya and Sansa had more chilling looks than Jon ever did, and between the two of them, it almost feels like Arya could take Jon out anytime she wanted by dint of the skills she learned as an assassin.
It should be recognized that Kit is a good actor and he does turn in an impressive performance, but at the same time, there are definitely roles that he might not fit entirely depending on one’s perspective and how it lines up with the source material. Red Dead Redemption is after all a story that deals with revenge, betrayal, and the hard-nosed folks that live a life that’s not even one step removed from possible danger. The life of an outlaw, after all, has never been an easy one in any time period since the idea of living outside the law isn’t something that a lot of people can just walk away from without losing something or everything. The kind of hard-bitten, roughened characters that are needed for such stories doesn’t tend to be fresh-faced looking individuals such as Kit, though with some practice and more experience it’s possible that he could lose the puppy dog eyes and really become a hard-bitten individual that could be far more convincing than he has been in recent years. Truthfully he is a good actor and has turned in decent to good performances throughout his career, with one on the horizon that might be another that will net him acclaim as he’ll be a part of The Eternal for the MCU. But trying to play him off as a tough guy just doesn’t work that well.
Noble, yes, a warrior, okay sure, a tough as nails individual that’s perfected the thousand-yard stare? Not really. Like it or not, Kit really needs to work on his grizzled veteran of many battles face, especially if he’s going to keep taking such roles as the years roll on.
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