by Murtada
I have a curious relationship with Tom Hardy. I like him as an actor but almost never get excited about the movies that he’s in. And that doesn't look like it will change. On the heels of his signing to play Spider Man baddie Venom in a stand-alone film, Hardy will produce and star in My War Gone By, I Miss It So. The film is a personal account of the Bosnian War, based on the 1999 book of the same name by Anthony Loyd, an English journalist and war correspondent. Gavin O’Connor who has previously directed Hardy in Warrior (2011) is attached to direct. Another war film and another macho aggressive character for Hardy to play.
Hardy is currently on screen in Dunkirk, of course...
And, has been abundantly documented everywhere, the Christopher Nolan war epic is another instance when most of Hardy's face - particularly those luscious lips - hides behind a mask. We’ve seen this before in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Mad Max Fury Road (2015). So all we have to connect with, is his beautiful furrowed brow. Of course he’s charismatic, but anyone that says things like “he does more with his eyes” is just projecting.
Only at the very end of Dunkirk do we get Hardy looking like the star he could be. One quick shot of him staring wistfully at the horizon after his mission has ended, he’s projecting movie stardom on the screen instead of us projecting onto him something that's not in his performance.
It was in the Nolan film Inception (2010) that Hardy his first huge mainstream impression. He was charismatic and suave, looking to-die-for in his slightly oversized but still fetching suits. His interplay with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is what I most remember about that film. They had an easy, chummy, even sexy chemistry.
Where’s that Hardy now?
Hardy is alternating tough antagonists (The Revenant), tough lonesome heroes (Mad Max) or tough dour law and order keepers (Child 44). When Hardy shows vulnerability he’s great (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and greater still when he mixes vulnerability with his trademark toughness (Warrior, Locke). When was the last time we saw Hardy play with an actress on screen romantically? Did This Means War (2012) scare him away from movie romance forever? Men fighting wars and brute criminals seeking redemption can’t be the only characters he gets offered.
Hardy is always a compelling presence on screen, I’d just like to see him exhibit more colors. In which mode do you like your Hardy?