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In a recent review of Iron Man 2 (http://bit.ly/doeQfN), I noted "Robert Downey Jr is like a great basketball player on bad team. He's so good you can ignore the short comings of everyone else." My point is hastily made in the review, and it's something I wanted to expand upon. I'll get to film in a moment..please bare with me.
I have watched the NBA since I was a little boy. One of the things I have always loved is the impact one player can have on a team; it's the team sport where one player makes the biggest impact. This is why the NBA draft is so compelling; this is why NBA free agency gets more attention than games. The impact of one player is collosal.
Case in point: With Michael Jordan the Chicago Bulls won six NBA titles; without Michael Jordan the Bulls have not advanced to the NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics have won seventeen NBA titles--eleven of those seventeen came with Bill Russell on the team.
However, in these examples the teams surrounding these players were already good. The existence of the superstar elevated these team to dynasties. Jordan had Scottie Pippen (Hall of Fame) and Horace Grant (Perennial All-Star). Russell had Bob Cousy (Hall of Fame) and Tommy Heinsohn (Hall of Fame).
The performance of a single player can elevate a good team to greatness. However, a single player (no matter how talented) cannot bring a mediocre team to greatness. Lebron James is an all time talent. However, his Celevaland Cavaliers are devoid of other All-Star caliber players. As a result, Lebron and the Cavaliers continue to fall short in the post-season. His indivdual greatness only made his mediocre team become good--he cannot make them great.
Interestingly, this is paralleled in film. A great individual performance can lift a good movie to greatness or a mediocre movie to "goodness." Just as in the NBA, when a mediocre film features a virtuoso performer it is easy to forget that the rest of the project is underdeveloped.
The 2007 film "No Country for Old Men" is best remembered for Javier Bardem's Academy Award winning portrayal of assassin Anton Chigurh. However, without the artistic contributions of co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin or directors Joel and Ethan Cohen this would not have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It would not be considered the best film of that year.
By comparison, the 2008 film "The Dark Knight" features another iconic villain--Heath Ledger's murdeous Joker. Ledger's Academy Award winning performance single handedly carried this film to various top ten lists for 2008. However, in contrast to "No Country" this film received no Academy Award or Golden Globe nomination. Because the rest of "The Dark Knight" was only mediocre, Ledger's performance could only take the film so far.
When basketball teams consisting of one great player with a sub-parsupporting are lauded as elite teams, it inflates the expectations of these teams. Lebron James and the Cavaliers have not been championship contenders in his tenure there--his greatness just casts the illusion of championship contention. Since expectation is a large part of a film's enjoyment, film reviewers must be careful to separate great performances from great films.
I have watched the NBA since I was a little boy. One of the things I have always loved is the impact one player can have on a team; it's the team sport where one player makes the biggest impact. This is why the NBA draft is so compelling; this is why NBA free agency gets more attention than games. The impact of one player is collosal.
Case in point: With Michael Jordan the Chicago Bulls won six NBA titles; without Michael Jordan the Bulls have not advanced to the NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics have won seventeen NBA titles--eleven of those seventeen came with Bill Russell on the team.
However, in these examples the teams surrounding these players were already good. The existence of the superstar elevated these team to dynasties. Jordan had Scottie Pippen (Hall of Fame) and Horace Grant (Perennial All-Star). Russell had Bob Cousy (Hall of Fame) and Tommy Heinsohn (Hall of Fame).
The performance of a single player can elevate a good team to greatness. However, a single player (no matter how talented) cannot bring a mediocre team to greatness. Lebron James is an all time talent. However, his Celevaland Cavaliers are devoid of other All-Star caliber players. As a result, Lebron and the Cavaliers continue to fall short in the post-season. His indivdual greatness only made his mediocre team become good--he cannot make them great.
Interestingly, this is paralleled in film. A great individual performance can lift a good movie to greatness or a mediocre movie to "goodness." Just as in the NBA, when a mediocre film features a virtuoso performer it is easy to forget that the rest of the project is underdeveloped.
The 2007 film "No Country for Old Men" is best remembered for Javier Bardem's Academy Award winning portrayal of assassin Anton Chigurh. However, without the artistic contributions of co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin or directors Joel and Ethan Cohen this would not have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It would not be considered the best film of that year.
By comparison, the 2008 film "The Dark Knight" features another iconic villain--Heath Ledger's murdeous Joker. Ledger's Academy Award winning performance single handedly carried this film to various top ten lists for 2008. However, in contrast to "No Country" this film received no Academy Award or Golden Globe nomination. Because the rest of "The Dark Knight" was only mediocre, Ledger's performance could only take the film so far.
When basketball teams consisting of one great player with a sub-parsupporting are lauded as elite teams, it inflates the expectations of these teams. Lebron James and the Cavaliers have not been championship contenders in his tenure there--his greatness just casts the illusion of championship contention. Since expectation is a large part of a film's enjoyment, film reviewers must be careful to separate great performances from great films.
__________________
"What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present." - T.S. Eliot
"What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present." - T.S. Eliot
Sorry.
