A-List: Ethan Hawke
By Jason Dean
May 4, 2005
Ever have the moment of realization that an actor that you never considered to be one of your favorites seems to be in quite a few of your favorite movies? Or movies that you at least consider to be good movies? To the point where maybe it’s time to reconsider where exactly that actor should rank on your own list?
This idea has been slowly percolating ever since I saw Assault on Precinct 13 earlier this year and then saw the disappointing box office results, In my opinion Rogue Pictures did everything correct, from having a good movie to a decent marketing campaign. Even with those necessary elements for success, one can’t guarantee a paying audience and they didn’t receive one. The central star of the Assault on Precinct 13 is the subject of this installment of the A-List: Ethan Hawke.
I would hazard a guess that for most people, the first memorable Ethan Hawke performance was as one of the lead students in Dead Poet’s Society. I recently caught part of the movie on TV and was stuck by the realization of how young he looked. Just how long ago was that, anyway? In the course of doing some fact checking for this column, it turns out that he’s almost exactly a year younger than I am, so maybe it wasn’t all that long ago after all. Regardless, there are the signs that at that young age that Ethan Hawke had the possibilities of going on to be leading man. Additionally, he seemed as though people might consider him and cute, and looked to be a pretty decent actor.
The order of the remaining movies covered in this column will be a combination of how memorable I find the movie and how much of a favorite it is. I've ranked them starting with the least favorite/memorable films, moving up to those that I like the best.
Alive
This movie starts out the list because although I remember that Ethan Hawke was in the movie and I vaguely recall that he got as thin and chattered his teeth along with rest of the cast, what I really remember is the opening crash. It ranks right there with the CGI engine nearly taking off Tom Hanks' head in Cast Away and gives those with a fear of air travel absolutely no reason to reconsider. Actually, I think the crash sequence in Alive is more jarring for the time we spend in the cabin that is done with physical effects.
Training Day
It’s all about Denzel chewing scenery on the way to an Oscar win, but Ethan Hawke does more than just provide a character for Denzel to play against. Implausible as part of the movie seems, the general earnestness projected by Ethan Hawke does allow some degree of believability to the eventual good over evil ending.
Hamlet
Shakespeare has been done over and over again, but in my opinion, this modern take wasn’t half bad. While this version was not as interpretative as Baz Lurhman’s Romeo + Juliet, the idea of Denmark being a corporation and playing out the story line in that modern framework allowed a decent chance to show the timelessness of Shakespeare’s themes. By this point in his career, Ethan Hawke is more than believable as the tortured prince.
Gattaca
I liked this movie probably more than the average movie goer. I appreciated everything about it - the take on a completely tracked society, the reserved performances by its leads, the almost-here future setting. At the same time, reflecting from the viewpoint I have at present, I have to ask Ethan how exactly one screws things up with Uma Thurman. I mean really, she's the mother of his children and all that...but it was Uma, kickass, cooler than cool (so cool that I can more than overlook the less than flattering feet closeup of Kill Bill infamy) Thurman. I swear that it’s things like that go beyond giving guys a bad name.
Reality Bites
Speaking of cool, there’s Troy Dyer. He's the too cool for a job, super-irresistible, remote fondling, under-employed-to-unemployed musician. Of course he was going to win the heart of Lelaina Pierce. I actually rather like Reality Bites, but outside of the All I Want Is You montage, I knew the choice in suitors was going to go the way it did. I still hated it, as I’m just so not Troy Dyer. Actually as I type these words, it finally clicks that my growing hate of the Troy Dyer character has everything to do with Winona Ryder’s "you can’t be a real musician unless I’ve had a relationship with you reputation" as much as anything.
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset
At this point, Ethan Hawke could go on to make some of the worst movies ever and I would still talk highly of him for his participation in these nearly perfect movies. Perfect for what they were - which is some of the most intelligent and romantic relationships ever put to screen - the incredible ease and believability that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy portray in their characters makes for an absolutely engaging experience even if the movies basically consists of the two characters talking in various locations. That Ethan Hawke jointly wrote the Before Sunset screenplay along with his co-star and director just make me adore him (in a manly, platonic type of way) all that much more.
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