Willem Dafoe: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

... And 5 They Sucked...

5. Lord Cob - Tales From Earthsea (2006)

When I reviewed Patrick Stewart's filmography last month, I received a comment that his voice work on The Pagemaster shouldn't count because "they hired Patrick to speak, and he delivered." I replied that there is a world of difference between turning up to speak into a microphone and actually creating a rounded vocal performance for a character. It's a distinction that's just as clear there as it is in Dafoe's performance in Tales From Earthsea, which is every bit as flat the film itself. Tales From Earthsea is an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea stories, drawing its plot from elements of the four main novels and a collection of short stories. It takes place in a fantasy world where the elements have been thrown out of balance and dragons are fighting and killing each other. Prince Arren (Matt Levin) and the wizard Sparrowhawk (Timothy Dalton) travel the world searching for answers, eventually discovering that the problem comes from Lord Cob (Dafoe) attempting to gain eternal life. Tales From Earthsea was directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of Spirited Away director Hayao, and it's clear that he hasn't inherited his father's touch. The film is a sluggishy-paced, convoluted and derivative offering which lacks the crucial sense of magic and wonder that has been present in all of Studio Ghibli's best work. Dafoe isn't the film's biggest problem, but he fails to make Cob convincing as a character. He delivers his lines in a manner which suggests he didn't understand the material; his performance is confused and disinterested, resulting in a pretty poor villain. And speaking of poor villains...