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CINEMA-portrait – Sept05 -- Russell Crowe - The new Brando

In Ron Howard’s Rocky“-Variation - Das Comeback“ (Cinderella Man) the belligerent Oscar Award winner shows the heart of a boxer. Cinema stepped with him into the ring…

A Zen-Master of negative-energy

Unfortunately we don’t know whether they ever met. But if Russell Crowe and Oliver Kahn (Goal Keeper of the German National Soccer team and of the FC Bayern München) should ever meet they will have a lot to tell. The similarities are stunning.

Both are said to be the best in the world in their profession, the one in the “real” dream-factory, the other in the “FC Hollywood” (the nickname of his club). Regardless of that fact they each regularly distract from their outstanding performances by letting out their violent temper or get into the gossip-flashlights because of another affair with a preferably blonde. But what really makes “King Kahn” and “Mr. Maximus” to equal minds at heart above all is their uncompromising attitude to work. As “our” Olli can barely walk in his ambition and his grim winner-mentality becomes dangerous for the success of the team, Crowe describes himself as an “athlete of the acting (discipline/branch), who is mostly annoyed by colleagues that cannot live up to his talent and discipline. Understandable, of course. But then again that image problem gives the Oscar winner trouble, to earn huge respect for his acting skills, but as a person to be considered a rude and frightening guy.

Let us just take a look at the last episode. Crowe is said to have thrown a phone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel in New York, which can in the worst be followed by the withdrawal of his green card and at least – movie like performance! – the charge to take an “Anger Management” therapy. But more than that: This outburst of rage as well in public as in the movie branch threw a shadow above his performance as a boxer in “Das Comeback” (Cinderella Man), for which he had trained, suffered and fought about one year – with the result of getting injured and operated at his shoulder. It is already assumed that another Oscar nomination is more than likely out of sight due to bad behavior, like as he had shortened his chances of the Academy Award a few years ago for “A Beautiful Mind”, too because of becoming violent in London.

No one is more angry and annoyed by that than Crowe himself, as close friends assure credibly. But then again it is worth to turn the tables and ask who would get benefits out of it if that Alpha Male of the movies would change into a lamb. His PR-management or his wife Danielle? Most likely. But the audience?

Even three days before his arrest in New York, at the Cinema-Interview, we can feel that aggressiveness is a main part of Crowe’s self-image and appeal. He might smile slyly and wear a shirt with “Zen Master” printed on it, when he’s talking about his career with such a low voice that forces the audience to listen attentively. But his words never lack of a certain explosive power. For example when he states: “I have no problem to get loud at a shooting and scare sensitive souls. Because by creating a tense atmosphere the whole crew is fully awake – and that’s the only way to get an outstanding teamwork.” Surely he states with some self irony that it is getting more and more difficult to come up with apologies after provocative statements. “But when you hold a clear opinion you have to face the trouble.” What results in making a fuss about admired actors like George Clooney or Robert DeNiro because they betray the integrity of their profession by making commercial spots.

Such statements let the journalists gloat because a ‘bad boy’ sells very well in the media. And in a shallow way it seems that Crowe does like his role as provocateur, who would not let go of the drinking and blustering and therefore is standing in line of the Hollywood-Macho-genealogical-table which goes from Richard Burton to Steve McQueen. For he shows regular explosive performances in the movies that cannot and will not be ignored by the critics.

“In my opinion he is the Marlon Brando of our times,” Insider-director Michael Mann stated. “Because with his insatiable perfectionism he’s forcing every one around him to do a better job and he gives you as film maker the feeling to be allowed to drive a Ferrary with 425 PS.

A similar statement was given by Ridley Scott at the “Gladiator”-shooting: “Russell knows how powerful negative energy can be as a dramaturgical motor and he let burn his creative fire high regardless of that another ego might burn down.”

But you don’t give enough credit to the complexity of Crowe’s acting by just isolating his physical power and pure authority of his person which make most of the younger actors look like “guys in tights” to quote Oscar-Conférencier Chris Rock. No, only a look at his choice of movies and his view of the characters he played, shows what makes the difference between Crowe and the Hollywood-Heroes of the old school: Instead of shooting one action movie after the other Crowe is searching persons who take their strength from deep desperation.

Let the fight scenes in “Das Comeback” look virile and dirty – the real feeling for the inner troubles of a fallen fighter is only revealed when Crowe asks the same guys for support that made their money with his victories in the ring.

Automatically you are drawn to the memories of many heart wrenching high lights in Crowe’s still young career. Like in “Gladiator” when the sight of his murdered wife and son forces him to his knees and makes him cry out his pain. Like in “LA Confidential” when he let go the façade of the fearsome cop and walks towards the house of his love. Or like in “The Insider” when he’s sitting in his hotel room, alone, lonely grey and completely burnt out, imagining pictures from better times. Those are still moments for movie-eternity, not just almost as unforgettable as his performances as the born Commander in “Master and Commander” or as battered genius in “A Beautiful Mind”. Inconceivable however, how his acting would lose it’s balance when he would no longer be able to put himself into characters that are as well vulnerable as offensive and therefore always also have to face the possibility of self destruction. Because they are obsessed by their code of honor. Because they cannot act in another way but expect the impossible from themselves and the others.

Which leads us back to Oliver Kahn. He should not care about low minded skeptics and experts for behavior. He should go on scare off the players that storm towards his goal to get the title of the World Champion. Then he would be on top the Olymp. Eye to eye with Russell Crowe.

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From Babette: "A not very nice review in the same magazine."

Das Comeback – movie critics – CINEMA-magazine Sept.05

In his true boxer-tale director Ron Howard rehashes stale clichés of the American Dream.

Well, even Marlon Brando dished out in movies like (DNA – Die Insel des Dr. Moreau). We admit that was in the fall of his career, but still a low point for one of the best actors of his generation. Russell Crowe, the best actor in the presence, too is not always clever in the choice of his roles. The boxing drama “Das Comeback” is such a wrong choice. Because it is not worthy an actor of his skills.

Crowe plays Jim Braddock, a talented boxer who is drawn into financial ruin by the Depression of the late 20ies. He must replace the neat house in which he, his wife Mae and the three children live by a humid basement flat. The family suffers, Braddock works hard in the docks – until he finally faces a brutal 15 rounds fight against the designated heavy weight champion Max Baer in 1935.

One must give one credit to Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”): He has a feeling for the show. You can feel the violence in the fights almost physically – most times to the unbearable.

But you don’t get to know the man that story is about. You don’t get a satisfying answer to the question: “Who was that man?” Not even from Russell Crowe. Who had tormented his body to look like a boxer, but even he cannot give that character a soul.

This would not have happened to Marlon Brando.