Harrison Ford: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

1. Jock Goddard - Paranoia (2013)

Paranoia There's no real pleasure to be had in raking back over Ford's disappointing recent years, and it's personally depressing to consider that the work he did right before Ender's Game was something as crummy as Paranoia, a sloppy mess that could almost be a TV movie from the 90's if it wanted to. You can look up some clips of Ford's paper-thin schtick as grumpy CEO Goddard interacting with Gary Oldman's equally curmudgeonly Wyatt and find a few flashes of acting. Watching the whole film will only remind you that they aren't really the stars and that their performances cool considerably when each isn't around to play off the other. What really stings about Paranoia is that these actors, Ford especially, should be much smarter than this material and have reached a place in their lives where they needn't take roles that don't provide the slightest challenge or pleasure in performing them. There's a very vivid and obvious demarcation line between Ford's great performances and his bad ones; it's all about conviction and commitment. Like most of us, when he believes in and enjoys what he's doing, he's sublime to behold. When there's nothing more challenging at stake than a paycheck, he seems to conserve his energy and power down into resting mode. Paranoia doesn't even seem to care that the Ford they got their hands on is a wooden shell of the great actor; he's only there to play bookend with Oldman to the empty vessel that is Liam Hemsworth. Bad enough that the old guard are losing their spark, worse that the new guys don't have nearly enough presence to fill even one of their awfully big shoes.
Contributor
Contributor

Nathan Bartlebaugh hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.