It is a shocking and saddening to lose another young and talented actor but Anton Yelchin, at the age of 27, has passed away. Looking at his filmography, he has a very versatile resume from some indies to blockbusters. Based on a few interviews I have watched on YouTube, he looked like a normal laid-back guy. Remembering his roles, he is actually such a good and underrated actor and looking at the movies, I did have enough roles to mention that will certainly have a place in my 5 favorite performances from him. Again, it is very unfortunate to lose another young talent.
Alpha Dog
From one of his earlier movies, we mostly follow the gang who kidnapped him with their salacious activities and ruthless plans on how to handle Yelchin's character since he was the victim throughout the movie. But, focusing on him, he is naive and knows he may be all right after all of the threat towards him. The core and heart of the movie is the friendship between his character and Justin Timberlake's character. You can tell they have some brotherly love going on a bit but then, when we get to the *spoilers* scene in which the victim is killed by Shawn Hatosy's character. It's truly sad but it was a very good movie by Nick Cassavetes.
Charlie Bartlett
This is a movie that I re-watched a few years ago but I was not as fond with the movie as with the solid performances because the movie lacked disciplined storytelling and some humor. However, Yelchin gave a very interesting performance as a rebellious teenage trying to find a great path in his high school/college life and his future. It is a standard coming-of-age story but what I liked positively about this movie was Yelchin's interaction with Kat Dennings, who I am not a big fan of, and has some nice dialogue exchange with Robert Downey Jr. as the principal. The movie is not as good, but I would say re-visit it for his performance alone.
Star Trek franchise
I hope we see more of his performance in the next Star Trek movie because he had a spark of charisma and confidence in the younger character of Pavel Chekov than Walter Koenig in the original Trek movies. But, in a scene in which he tries to transport both Sulu and Kirk aboard in the first reboot by J.J. Abrams, he runs to the transporter room and tries to lock on both officers in free-fall outside in space, and you buy his confidence and the scene's tension simultaneously. Even though he plays a minor character in the rebooted and successful franchise, Yelchin is major player on the Enterprise.
Like Crazy
It is a mature film that explores the challenges of a long-distance loving relationship that violates some natures of life whether the audience likes it or not. Yelchin plays an American student that falls in love with a British student (Felicity Jones) that is attending college in Los Angeles with a student visa. The movie is painfully relatable to some younger moviegoers as its story paints a portrait of love that nobody wants to ever end because of its consequential rules. But, it's a focused movie that has some moments of empathy and sympathy towards the couple and we want them to find the positive light at the end of the tunnel.
Green Room
Director Jeremy Saulnier captures the grim and nasty scum out of the situation in which punk-rock musicians are being held hostage in the green room because of a haunting discovery. Yelchin's performance is one of his best because he has some honest humanity and humor that undermines the situation. There are glimpses of grisly violence, musical artistry and some humor that captures not just Yelchin's persona but everybody else's. It is probably one of the best movies of 2016...so far. We'll see.
I want to give a shout-out to Hearts in Atlantis, a very underrated movie that is marginally good but it is his and Anthony Hopkins' chemistry that sold it. Fright Night is an underrated remake that was fun. But, unfortunately, we lost another incredible young talent but re-visit some of his great work from some of his underrated movies.
RIP Anton Yelchin. I'll finish it off with some clips.
Alpha Dog trailer
Star Trek Into Darkness
Green Room trailer
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