Viggo Mortensen is most well known for his role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings, that was the first time I became aware of him, but he had a pretty interesting before LOTR and since. I’ve tried to keep up on his films since 2001 and if you missed out on his work with David Cronenberg then you really should change that. A History of Violence is a shocking crime film, Eastern Promises is a masterpiece in my eyes, but I just wish I could have connected with A Dangerous Method more than I did. John Hillcoat’s The Road is also not to be missed as the intense tale of survival (from the book by Cormac McCarthy) features some of the most unsettling scenes I have seen in a theater in recent memory. Appaloosa is also an extremely underrated western by my count, even with an over the top Renée Zellweger .
Carlito’s Way is the only pre-LOTR film that I think I have ever seen Viggo Mortensen in, but he is great and almost unrecognizable as a slimy figure from Carlito’s past life. Mortensen is an excellent shape shifter, diving head first into every role, and he is clearly an actor’s actor doing whatever it takes to get into the part. If you dig into his back catalog, Mortensen makes appearances in films like 28 Days, G.I. Jane, and The Hunt for Red October, but it’s some of his hard to find films that caught my interest when reviewing his filmography. Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer, Everybody Has a Plan, and Good were all films released in the last few years that barely, if ever, saw a US theatrical release. Mortensen’s desire to just do what he wants to do is no surprise if you’ve ever heard/read an interview with the guy, but part of me wishes we had gotten more films from him ever since he entered the mainstream consciousness. Maybe I will use his birthday to try and finally watch some of his films that eluded me.
Watch The Road, Psycho and A Walk on the Moon on Netflix now.
