Watch any episode of the original series of The Office, where Freeman starred as affable audience surrogate Tim Canterbury; then plonk on any one of The Hobbit movies (if you can stomach it). What you will find is a lot of the same character tics that consistently define Freeman's roles. Ditto his role as Dr Watson in Sherlock, and his turn in the first season of Fargo. The annoying part is that you arguably couldn't get a more diverse array of roles than an office schlub from Slough, a Hobbit from Middle Earth, a war veteran turned sleuth, or a cowardly Minnesota man who suddenly finds himself a murderer - but Freeman more or less just feels like Freeman in all of them. It's those damn tics that stick out - the way he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, a perplexed impression on his face. Or the way he'll begin to say something, usually a "wh-" sound, whilst shaking his head. He uses the same techniques again and again, and it becomes laughably obvious the more he appears on our screens. And all the Hobbit feet and Minnesotan accents in the world can't hide them.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
