Manohla on Leo
In Blood Diamond (Warner Bros., opening today), Leonardo DiCaprio "plays Danny Archer, a Rhodesian-born diamond smuggler who, having been orphaned during his native country's violent struggles in the 1970s, has spent most of his 30-some years crisscrossing the continent as a soldier of fortune and a merchant of misery. Tousled and tanned, with a long, slicing gait and a killer smile, Danny looks as if he were born for trouble of the sweetest kind.
"But Mr. DiCaprio, perhaps because he knows that much of the audience has already crawled into his pocket, plays the smuggler as the scum he is. Even as the film coaxes Danny toward redemption, the actor fights to hold his ground and the truth of a character who has inspired the most fully sustained performance of his adult life." -- from Manohla Dargis' N.Y. Times review.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 8, 2006 at 5:15 AM
comment #1
dre
says ...
There's a lot of people jumping all over Leo's Blood Diamond performance and the movie isn't getting beat down from the critics all things considered. maybe we are in a leo bv leo fight after all
Posted by dre
at December 8, 2006 5:49 AM
comment #2
dre
says ...
There's a lot of people jumping all over Leo's Blood Diamond performance and the movie isn't getting beat down from the critics all things considered. maybe we are in a leo v leo fight for a nom after all
Posted by dre
at December 8, 2006 5:50 AM
comment #3
breadlymoore
says ...
Why do people think this chick is such a sharp writer?
Posted by breadlymoore
at December 8, 2006 7:29 AM
comment #4
Mr. Gittes
says ...
The LA Times liked it. This movie is getting split down the middle reaction. Some people calling racist, Roeper saying it deserves a nomination for best pic. Weird....
Posted by Mr. Gittes
at December 8, 2006 9:53 AM
comment #5
actionman
says ...
Why do people think this chick is such a sharp writer?
because she is
Blood Diamond is moronic and shallow and utterly asinine...I was extremely disapointed with the movie.
Posted by actionman
at December 8, 2006 11:13 AM
comment #6
austin111
says ...
Some folks still respond to it, even if it is little more than "moronic" or "shallow" melodrama at it's core. Dargis is right about DiCaprio, though -- he really does hold his ground and not try to make Danny Archer much more than he is, an asshole who's cynical to the core. Ironically, it may be the one thing that most reviewers respond to in the film, beyond Honsou's overly earnest efforts, because it comes across as generally honest.
Posted by austin111
at December 8, 2006 7:45 PM