Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Peter O'Toole in Troy

Peter O’Toole did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying King Priam in Troy. 

Troy tells the story of the Trojan war.

It is always fascinating with any sword and sandal film how easy it is to be a Quo Vadis instead of a Ben-Hur, a Samson and Delilah instead of a The Ten Commandments…a Troy instead of a Gladiator. Where the tone and aesthetic skewed just slightly one way or another makes it feel just silly dress up rather than any kind of captivating rendition of the type. As already noted Troy struggles within it falling into that dress up quality more frequently than not with the performances particularly frequently falling into that stilted attempt to sound almost too regal or legendary or whatever, it doesn’t work. The most notable exception to this situation is the legendary Peter O’Toole in the role of the Trojan King, the father of Paris (Orlando Bloom) and Hector (Eric Bana). Paris who creates the problem by taking Helen (Diane Kruger) from her actual husband, leading to the Greek army of Agamemnon (Brian Cox attempting more so the Ustinov/Laughton method for these things though I wouldn’t say he’s entirely successful as such) to invade Troy. Hector on the other hand is the great warrior and the responsible brother dealing with the weight of war. Priam stands then as the often stoic regal figure which O’Toole is more than happy to provide. O’Toole importantly just gives the utmost devotion to creating a genuine gravitas to the proceedings and doing his best to make you believe this world. O’Toole does achieve this as he finds the right combination between the regal but with enough of honestly a relaxed quality to not become that stiff quality a few of his co-stars struggle with. 

O’Toole is able to establish Priam as the old King with some wisdom but maybe too much of a connection to the old ways. O’Toole in a way presents a degree of a front as the wise King while we get more within certain moments where O’Toole thrives in bringing humanity within the legendary qualities so to speak. As we have O’Toole successfully delivering the words of Priam’s belief in the god Apollo where he can match the sort of elevated tone in every word of his delivery. O’Toole importantly makes it look easy which is in a way part of it, he doesn’t need to seem as though he’s dressing up as this man, he is this man. O’Toole takes it further however when we have the additional moments of the director’s cut where you see the love Priam has for his son Hector combined with his reason for that earlier devotion. When Priam tells of his prayer to Apollo that he believed saved the very young Hector’s life, O’Toole offers a quieter delivery where there is this strict sincerity of a father finding strength within that belief and most importantly the sense of the love for his son within the story. Contrasting that perhaps a bit, even though the film doesn’t do much with it, is O’Toole reactions during Paris’s one sided losing fight against Helen’s actual husband Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), where we mostly see him trying to maintain that kingly grace yet when Paris shows obvious cowardice in the fight, O’Toole temporary disgust is just a great moment from the actor where you see most intense genuine emotion that Priam must keep down. An intriguing bit that sadly doesn’t get too much development beyond that moment. 

An even greater moment comes as a series of circumstances leads the greatest Greek warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt) to seek revenge for his cousin killed by Hector, as we see Achilles call out Hector for a one on one duel. Before Hector goes, knowing the likelihood of his fate, we get two moments from O’Toole where he manages to express the sides of the character in each. As first we have him wish for luck from Apollo essentially where O’Toole delivers it with the firm conviction of the caring king and devoted worshipper. Followed by a great bit of physical work where we see this quick, emotional and really instinctual extra moment where the man is shown behind the king. O’Toole in his hurried delivery bringing instead of the regal quality, the warmth and desperate love of a father one more time to a son he knows he’ll likely never speak to again. A notion that is only all the more powerful when Hector is not only killed by Achilles, but Achilles makes a mockery of his corpse by dragging Hector around on his chariot. This leads to not only O’Toole best scene but easily the best scene in the entirety of the film as Priam sneaks into the Greek encampment to ask Achilles for his son’s corpse to allow for a proper burial. 

O’Toole’s amazing in this scene bringing such a potent combination of qualities. As we sense the overriding grief beneath every word and his eyes carry the heartbreak of a man who would never fully recover from this loss. Yet Priam’s first action is to kiss Achilles’s hands, the hands that killed his son and supplicate himself. O’Toole finds such power in his quiet and nuanced delivery of each word of true wisdom and warmth as he appeals to Achilles’s humanity with such a pure sense of belief in the greater nature of man. When speaking of Achilles’s own father’s death it isn’t pester but rather connect with the sense of regret of an older man who has seen so much pain and death in the world. O’Toole manages to create even warmth to this killer of his son in the moment, finding still while projecting such striking grief and creating a true poignancy of the moment of the father believing in humanity in what should be in his moment of greatest doubt. O’Toole is able to combine such overwhelming vulnerability as so much of his physical work is of a man near a complete emotional breakdown in the way his lip quivers, however countered with the strength in his voice of a man who believes he will succeed in this task. It feels a wholly natural combination of a man empowered by his grief, which naturally is no easy idea to convey, yet that always feels convincing thanks to the greatness of O’Toole. I mean O’Toole is so great in the scene that Pitt, in maybe the least of his performances, even becomes decent in the scene almost seemingly in reaction to what O’Toole is delivering. It is extraordinary work in the scene from O’Toole particularly within a film that is filled with so much of it is overwrought and stiff. O’Toole wholly elevates that scene to think you’re watching a much better film than you are through his great talents as a performer. A talent that I would say in the theatrical cut in particular is underexploited outside of the scene, though the more than crumbs he gets from those deleted moments thankfully do allow O’Toole to elevate himself beyond a one scene wonder and reactor who knows how to sell the material. O’Toole elevates every moment he does have to create a captivating portrayal of the King as a king but also a man, with one extraordinary scene that is worthy of mention along with the very best of his illustrious career. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Alfred Molina in Spider-Man 2

Alfred Molina did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Doctor Otto Octavius aka Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2.

Spider-Man 2 follows the continued adventures of Spider-Man aka Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) this time against Doc Ock.

Molina plays the villain this time around working within similar contexts to Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin/Norman Osborne from the first film though to do different ends. Similar in the sense that both films, very much fitting the style of Sam Raimi, involve a transformation towards evil. With Otto we meet him also attempting a risky experiment that will create an amazing breakthrough at Oscorp, although a difference being he’s technically an employee as a researcher being funded by now head of the company, Harry Osborne (James Franco). Molina’s first scene actually does a lot as we initially meet him as the somewhat reluctant host for Peter who is writing a paper on Otto’s work. Molina I think key, and really what is the backbone to where the character goes, is the initial coldness and kind of disregard for taking the time as he speaks of his work as far beyond any other requirement, only relenting when Harry reminds him of his financial support. There’s something there that Molina eventually expands on, though we first get an important reprieve where we see Otto lighten up when he finds out that Peter is the “Smart but lazy” student his friend has told him about and has lunch with his wife Rosie (Donna Murphy). Molina and Murphy for that matter I think importantly give no sense of where the film is going to go, instead convincingly playing with genuine chemistry a long loving married couple who still have fun chatting up about their old days and their differences as science and poetry focused people. They really are lovely together and exude such a strong sense of the relationship in just one scene to show it very much as the humanity of Otto. An element he even shares with Peter as he encourages him to take a forward approach romantically with such a sincere little grin of someone who is so in love he’d only want someone else to share that as well. It’s great work because Molina and Murphy work would be convincing in a feel good or even drama about the different yet connected couple, and don’t play the relationship as thin given it will be wiped away by the plot. 

Speaking of, we get Otto demonstrating his self-sustaining fusion reaction, which naturally requires the use of four giant mechanical arms grafted to his body, and we get the introduction from Otto. Molina opens as the slightly corny scientist with a bad joke and his general presentation, before starting the experiment with the arms where Molina fashions a direct intensity in his eyes and we see essentially the strength of his ego in the moment. A pivotal moment actually to play the seed of the character before we take the next step, less so as a Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde as we saw with Norman Osborne and more so the man letting his worst element be taken to an extreme. An extreme that comes as the experiment goes terribly wrong, needing to be shut down by Spider-Man, Rosie dies, and Otto loses his protection from the influence of the arms leading to the arms to massacre the hospital staff that attempt to remove them. Where we make the shift very much more so to the Raimi style villain where there is a degree of arch to it, as we honestly begin Molina’s work as Doc Ock with a dramatic “Nooooo” at seeing what has happened and an announcement of anger that infuses both the losses he’s endured and the monster he seemingly has become. This might sound like a criticism but trust me it is not. Rather what Molina does is find ownership in the more operatic qualities that really aren’t all that out of sorts for a man finding himself both grafted to metal arms but also influenced by them that reinforce his worst impulses. Where we see the moment of the arms "building him” up and Molina’s terrific in playing into this frenzy as he goes with every suggestion to continue with the experiment but to only make it bigger without any thought to the consequences. 

Molina finding a pathway into then creating the villain as essentially showing that intensity but now as the man who has come to believe anything he does is perfectly fine as long as it is in service to his vision. In turn we do get quite a lot of fun of Molina then playing basically as the ego without any bounds and someone who comes to even enjoy his villainy as he goes about robbing banks, threats and kidnapping to meet his demands. Molina finds a juicy material in more ways than one honestly, as even some of his head movements are so specifically of this comic book effect that it is utilized in the ideal way where he presents the comic book heel in such a dynamic fashion. While also making him quite entertaining in playing up those egotistical moments of the villain playing around essentially such as when he purposefully sets up a train for destruction to exhaust Spider-Man with such aplomb, or coming to threaten Harry with the biggest smiles of someone just totally living in being the monster beyond himself by giving into those impulses. Molina getting to have fun with the fiend and thriving within the style of the film, yet never becoming too much that you lose the core of the character at any point. Molina successfully connects the “arch” elements with that sense of expanding ego leading to the finale where Doc Ock tries the experiment again only leading to greater destruction. When Doc Ock sees Peter, not Spider-Man, trying to talk sense into him, Molina’s moment of clarity is fantastic where we see the push and pull essentially between going with arms and his ego, to that humanity of his scene with his wife and Molina finds genuine pathos in the man realizing he’s gone off the deep end. Leading to a genuinely moving moment where he insists on stopping the experiment insisting he won’t be remembered as a monster, where Molina’s reaction embodies a loss of the ego, genuine sorrow in where it has taken him, but also a different new type of determination as he goes about righting his wrong. Molina delivering a strong performance that succeeds in managing to take ownership of the more overt comic book tone to make an entertaining villain, however without going so far that we lose the thread that provide the necessary grounding to make his strange journey believable within the tone of the film. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Nick Nolte in Clean

Nick Nolte did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Albrecht Hauser in Clean. 

Clean follows a drug addicted woman, Emily (Maggie Cheung), dealing with the aftermath of her longtime companion and the father, a musician, of a child who dies from a drug overdose. 

Nick Nolte plays the father of the deceased man who we see early on taking the news where Nolte’s reactions suggest a dad who really probably had a good relationship with his son at one time but has been lost and separated from his life for a good long time. His reaction to losing him is moving in the rather subdued reaction where Nolte conveys the complicated feelings of heartbreak but with a certain distance of that sense of separation with his son for some time. An idea continued when we first see Albrecht interact with Emily, where he suggests that she give some time away from her own son given the very difficult circumstances of the situation. Nolte’s very good in managing to find a tone within his delivery where we feel no sense of Albrecht playing a note of self-righteousness or meanness. Rather in Nolte’s sensitive delivery you see a certain awkwardness with her, a struggle to speak the words who knows the situation is tough, yet in his eyes and in his manner he is emphasizing a man who very much cares about his grandson’s well being and the ask for Emily to take a step back as she deals with her own personal struggle is from a place of genuine concern. Nolte doesn’t make it simple though and shows that Albrecht himself is just trying to do what he thinks is best in an extremely difficult situation. 

We check in with Nolte a few times as Albrecht continues to deal with the struggles of the dad. We see him in the strange situation as he has to try to make decisions regarding his son’s music. Nolte’s portrayal brings such a sincerity in his slightly confused reactions to talking to the producer and reacting to the suggested artwork for the albums. Nolte captures the sense of a man being in a totally alien world, that grief still nagging in his eyes, and just in every “Sure I guess” delivery being a man who wants to do right by his son yet within that is realizing just how out of his son’s world he was. Something we see extend when Albrecht is speaking to his ill wife about the choices, who speaks her own doubts about. In every word of trying to justify the decisions, Nolte alludes to this messy inability to really know exactly what his son was like but with still a strong sense that he loved his son despite that struggle. A struggle that only continues as the matter comes of whether or not his grandson should interact with the troubled mother or not. Nolte continues to excel in creating such effortless complication in his reactions including even his own grandson expressing his dislike for Emily. Where we get Nolte’s defense for her, which isn’t as simple as a heroic push back, rather again this quiet but powerful earnest understanding and empathy of someone who truly wants to allow Emily a second chance and to get to know her own son. 

Nolte never simplifies an element within this however as when he brings his grandson to spend time with Emily there are some restrictions from the man. Where we saw his empathy for Emily, we see his empathy for his wife and his grandson just as much in this moment as now he’s the one challenging her just as he challenged his wife and grandson’s own views of her. Nolte is able to express this coming from the same place of duty and genuine care. In every word it isn’t a threat, but rather very much a most honest and respectful demand for the sake of everyone that she not overstep these boundaries. Nolte is wonderful in the way he is able to combine simple straightforward love and empathy, with the complexity of trying to maneuver through such a difficult situation that will be good for Emily, his grandson and his wife. Nolte’s performance expresses consistently the weight of such a task, and is very moving because in his eyes you see the man who just wants to try to make the best he can out of a very challenging situation. There were so many ways this performance could’ve mis stepped a little bit into the more melodramatic. Nolte though glides through this work where every moment it is with the strong sense of a history we never saw. The history of a love for his family but even so the extension of that history, where we see the man even extending to a woman he barely knows but knew that his son cared for. Nolte instead of being secondary, he honestly makes Albrecht’s story a parallel moving depiction of grief and the challenges of moving forward with that loss. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Cameron Bright in Birth

Cameron Bright did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Young Sean in Birth.

Birth follows a widow Anna (Nicole Kidman) who is approached by a young boy who claims to be her reincarnated husband. 

Cameron Bright plays the young boy who shows up to Anna’s apartment, just as she’s about to be remarried, telling her not to marry her fiancée and that he is her dead husband reborn. Bright, who had a brief period as the child actor for slightly dramatic parts, plays the central role in the sense that all action of the film is in reaction to the actions of this boy. The character is that of an enigma whose actions are elusive to all including his own parents, yet he challenges everyone seemingly with his knowledge that is far greater than some random boy pulling a prank. Bright’s performance is one that I would describe as hollow, though hollow with a purpose. The purpose in director Jonathan Glazer’s vision makes him not easily discernible in terms of the truth. Instead what Bright portrays is this cold determination of sorts. All the information he conveys, all of the claims about him being the dead man, it is with calm troubling conviction where it seems like he simply knows this rather than needing to think about it. Even when stating he’s no longer his mother’s “Stupid son” but rather this man, it is with just this directness where the emotion is almost that of a slight annoyance that someone would doubt his claim. Bright’s face rarely changes expression however the expression itself does serve the purpose as this ever watching pestering face in that detachment. 

He’s not teasing, he’s not smiling, he’s just there and in that consistency you get the sense of why others would find the boy’s behavior more than a little infuriating after a while. Even when getting in a bath with Anna, Bright’s performance still accentuates this matter of fact distance in the action rather than any intention beyond almost duty. Eventually however Young Sean is challenged by a lover of the real Sean as the real love of his life breaking ruse. Even in the breaking of said ruse however, Bright’s performance as he admits not being Sean, not as someone admitting fault or a game, but almost in this logical dictation that he cannot be Sean because he loves Anna and the real Sean did not. Eventually leading him to finally leave Anna alone and seemingly return to his own life. An aspect that is only briefly touched upon as we see him taking a school picture, and suddenly there no longer is that detachment to boy in Bright’s performance and perhaps even normalcy. Bright’s performance I would say delivers on the need of the design of the character to an extremely specific end. There’s no “why” exactly to the young Sean about his performance, nor do we see the steps in the transformation to or back from it. Rather he is as he is and stays the enigma even when the “truth” is shaken. I would say it is a good performance, and I think importantly Bright doesn’t play up any creep factor in a traditional sense that might’ve been the easy route. Having said that, it think the performance services the need of the film but in the end exists within a certain limitation of that need without really an impact beyond it. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: William Hurt in The Village

William Hurt did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Edward Walker in The Village. 

The Village follows an isolated village surrounded by a forest where strange creatures seem to lurk. 

William Hurt plays the elder of the village, a performer who may have had the best armor to deal with the sometimes ropey dialogue of M. Night Shyamalan, because Hurt himself sometimes has a very peculiar way of delivering lines. And for me, unless he’s lost in space, this works regardless even if most actors you might call it stilted, for Hurt it works and for Hurt I was convinced every word he says in this film which is an achievement in itself, particularly when also very talented actors like Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver I found fumbled a bit when trying to get every word across. Hurt handles it with ease. Hurt is effective in doing his best to essentially earn the twist in playing the man who is part of the village, bringing the general needed gravitas as the elder so to speak. What Hurt does so well is play very much with the twist in mind throughout the film and more than anyone earns in his performance. As there is the sense of the weight of the lie in everything that he does, even as he tries to keep this general calm of the man projecting concern and strength for his community. 

Within the moments where the young village stalwart Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) decides that he should try to leave the village for better medicines, Hurt’s reactions within this area with a combination of concern and admiration. The former even not for the man’s life but rather something else that is nagging at him. When even Lucius attempts to make the trip unauthorized, Edward doesn’t react with anger rather appreciation for the bravery of the young man. Hurt’s reaction in the moment portrays honest affection for the spirit of the young man and really even a sense of hope for the future. The main crux of the story comes as Lucius is severely injured by the mentally unwell Noah (Adrien Brody), leaving Edward’s blind daughter Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) to want to save him. Coming to the revelations of the piece, though again I’ll credit Hurt for very much wanting to do the work to try to provide a bit of depth within the context of the twist. Including when Edward tells Ivy of his own father, a financial wizard who was murdered for his wealth. Hurt brings within the delivery of this speech frankly a sense of modernity, a hint of nostalgia for his dad, but also a very strong sense of motivation for the man’s rejection for the rest of the world. Leading to the twist which felt unavoidable at the time of the film’s release, as Edward shows her that the strange creatures lurking in the woods are in fact costumes the elders wear to keep their children to stay within the village. Hurt even within this revelation even excels in his almost half embarrassed/half calming declaration that it is “farce” as he supports his daughter breaking the rules and leaving the forest.

 Leading to what really is Hurt’s standout scene where the rest of the elders come to learn of the choice and some of them severely question the break of their oaths. Hurt is terrific in the scene because what he calls upon is this old passion in his performance as he speaks not only of the crimes of Noah, but the hope of his daughter and Lucius. Bringing within it not just a sense of love and concern for the future, but also the sense of conviction of someone who is reckoning essentially against the strictures of his old choice and instead supporting the fundamental spirit of why he made that original choice. It’s a strong scene for Hurt, one that naturally reveals this history professor who made the decision to go with others to hide essentially in the forest away from society to make some idealized version of society to avoid those ills, now dealing with the ills regardless. Hurt makes the pain of dealing with these realizations feel absolutely real and creates something tangible in the emotional strain he brings in every word noting the man's true passion to hold onto the idea of innocence behind the village meanwhile allowing the fundamental rules of the village to be broken.  It’s there and it is only a shame that this is basically the end of the notion and not something the film deals with beyond a certain point. Which is unfortunate as the film might’ve had something if it continued in the direction alluded to by this scene, but basically the film is wrapping up so that’s that. Regardless, Hurt delivers on alluding to that potential, in creating a performance that not only naturally supports the twist also weaves within it some genuine emotion. I will say it is unfortunate the film isn't better because what Hurt does is create a greater promise within the premise, which sadly the premise as is only allows Hurt to go so far. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Tim Meadows in Mean Girls

Tim Meadows did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Mr. Ron Duvall in Mean Girls. 

Mean Girls follows girls being mean.

Tim Meadows plays the principal of the school where the various teenage cliques clash. SNL alum Tim Meadows very much set out not to be any sort of strict principal of maybe past High School films and instead a largely comedic presence. Although I will say Meadows’s performance is fairly artful in the tone he manages here, which I wouldn’t say is strictly realistic but is convincing as the principal even often used in a comedic sense. Meadows in the more comedic moments playing well the essentially put on smile where his eyes seem just slightly dying inside during the basic school functions and notably at the end of the film where he attempts in vain to cut short the dramatic speech of our protagonist, where every one of his deliveries of “you really don’t need to make a speech” is pretty great in his effortless combination of cordiality with the strong undercurrent of someone saying “shut up and get off the stage”. Meadows’s performance has a bit more to it than that however in playing that convincing part of the high school principal a bit more genuinely. 

As we see his certain exasperation at the nonsense of his student population which is funny, but there is enough of a dignified manner to still be convincing beyond that. Particularly a moment where Rachel McAdams’s villainous queen bee Regina George shares her one burn book, though altered to make it look like it’s not hers, with his Mr. Duvall. Meadows plays the comedy in his eyes of deciphering what she’s up to, but with enough of a genuine pause when asking about the books noting that the high school coach was making out with students. Something that comes later where not too much is made out of the moment, but Meadows is good in bringing a low key gravitas when firmly instructing the coach to stay away from the underage girls. On a similar though slightly lighter note his annoyed delivery about leaving southside only to deal with the girl riot from the burn book, is amusing but does have a bit of weight to it, followed by his commanding requirement that all the girls go to the assembly. Followed by his fairly hilarious yet still pointed way of setting up the “peace talks” essentially, where he brings a certain grace, but with also comedy in his casual threat switch from “well keep you all night” to “well keep you to four” however with the same conviction. A conviction that perhaps is a bit lost when trying to talk to the girls immediately runs into discussion of the menstrual cycle, and Meadows’s overwhelmed reaction to passing the buck again is pretty good. The only note I’m pretty ambivalent to in this performance is the relationship between Mr. Duvall and math teacher Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey). Where we get Mr. Duvall slightly awkwardly asks her if she needs to talk about things, then we see them silently slow dancing together. I don’t think it’s bad, I don’t think Meadows performs poorly either, it’s just kind of there for me. Otherwise though this is a good well attuned performance, that delivers on the right tone, as he’s funny but also still believable. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Billy Bob Thornton in The Alamo

Billy Bob Thornton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Davy Crockett in The Alamo.

The Alamo seems like there is a good film trying to get out, which is supported by the production history where it sounds like earlier versions wanted a more complex and complete version of the history, that is sadly kept prisoner by the extremely standard mostly “print the legend” approach. 

The most substantial element of that version lies within Davy Crockett and Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of the character. As what Thornton and the film do, it very specifically seeks to break down the notions of the legend Davy as the “king of the wild frontier” and deal with him on more human terms. We are introduced to Davy as the politician and living legend where he’s literally at a function where someone is performing his “life story” for him. Thornton’s quite effective in managing to balance a combination of the politician taking the points with a certain smiling graciousness, yet within that smile denotes someone not entirely comfortable with the nature of the situation. After Davy loses his political seat he ends up going to Texas and joining forces at the Alamo, and honestly is a pivotal scene for Thornton’s whole performance as Davy twofold. One in his saying he got kicked out of the congress so might as well go to Texas, Thornton delivers that line very much like he’s running his PR campaign. It isn’t with the pride of a man trying to fight for freedom but entirely a man looking for some avenue to continue his career. Adding on top of that the moment where he is told that the full Mexican army is heading towards the Alamo, Thornton’s reaction and delivering of having thought there wasn’t much fighting, is with a glint of genuine fear and more than a bit of disbelief as we see guy potentially looking to score some political points now in the middle of a genuine war. 

Within the scheme of the film Thornton is consistently the most interesting aspect throughout the film as he creates a real complexity in the story of Davy within the scheme of the Alamo. Thornton does play the part as the “hero” rather what he manages to do is create a lot of different fascinating shades to the idea of the folk legend. Where Thornton is quite remarkable in finding moments of trying to live up to the name while also at others admitting to being far less than what is expected of him. You have the moments where people do speak of the legend of Davy, and I love the moment actually where Davy takes a pot shot at a Mexican soldier, where Thornton’s whole manner suddenly is very much playing the part of the legend briefly as a sort of morale boost to everyone around him, even playing off the near miss of the shot as having got caught in the wind with this certain not entirely false, but not entirely true confidence of someone doing his job of playing the part, while not entirely living up to the part. Contrasting that is when he speaks to Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), another man of legend whose stories apparently are true, unlike most of Davy’s. Thornton brings such a naturalistic realization of the slight embarrassment at needing to admit that he’s far from his legend particularly noting his lack of a Coonskin hat with a bit quiet humor, where he manages to hit the right note of sincerity of someone kind of caught in the middle of an idea he is partially responsible for but also is not. Thornton manages to find a nuance in it, not being someone who denies it, not being someone who lies about it either, finding the struggle to deal with the notion but not wanting to entirely destroy it either. 

Within the buildup towards the battle Thornton does the most out of any performer to add some genuine gravity to every moment and creates a journey which can follow with Davy in dealing with the challenges of the situation. Once more not choosing a single approach so easily, such as when after an initial skirmish Davy suggests burning down some buildings to prevent the Mexicans from using them as cover. Thornton's initial delivery is very much as the nonchalant hero as he notes he wanted to stretch his legs anyways. When actually in the action though Thornton does keep a sense of real urgency if not fear as he has to take on Mexican soldiers and even kills one. A moment where Thornton is great is the moment of shooting the man and his eyes realize the very real weight of killing a man in the moment. Following it with his particularly powerful delivery of asking what the man’s name was before the man dies, Thornton captures such a potent sense of real humanity within the moment that does not make it all a simple “killing the enemy” moment. Similarly we have a key moment when asked about his past exploits, and Thornton’s reactions are a combination of a certain humility though combined with a certain fear and even an understanding of his limits as a soldier. Thornton finding a poignancy in underplaying his exploits and more so emphasizing that his previous duties weren’t exactly of a great warrior. All except his speaking on a time where he was part of a raiding party where they killed natives in fire and the grease from the dead men cooked potatoes that their squad prepared to eat. Thornton’s quite effective because as he begins the story it is of the wise man sharing accomplishments however as it continues in each step there is a haunting shame that forms in his eyes and that even in his most unusual story it isn’t one of any kind of triumph. 

Thornton during the battle and build up scenes, really just brings a much needed weight in every moment, from even just trying to ease tensions by playing the violin, to later every single reactionary moment through the battle where you can feel every moment of loss most through him. Leading eventually to his final scene where I think you do see the most weakness of the film get in the way, as the more human idea of Crockett is pushed aside for his hero moment as he unleashes his disgust against General Santa Anna rather than ask for mercy. There was probably a way to reach this point, where we see Davy purposefully play up the notion of being the “legend” that could’ve been better realized, however I wouldn’t say on a writing side entirely builds up to it perfectly. Having said that, I think Thornton does more than an admirable job of not overplaying the moment, finding the needed venom in his delivery, the disdain in his eyes, and his “what the hell” moment of accepting his demise to make it work as well as he can. And while in a way I think it is his least interesting scene, as he more so becomes part of the rest of the film so to speak, he in no way gives a bad performance in the scene. Thornton’s work and the character of Crockett however is a testament to the potential of the film, because he does offer a complex and more subtle depiction of the historical figure. Given how good Thornton is here working with the imperfect material, I would say if the film had maybe stuck closer to these ideas, we might’ve had a truly great historical epic and I think Thornton could’ve gone even further in the role. Having said that, even existing in a flawed film, Thornton does his best to elevate what he has and is by the far the most worthwhile element of the film.