20 Great Horror Roles Ruined By Terrible Acting
17. mother! - Him
mother! is a much-underappreciated biblical horror flick from the terrific Darren Aronofsky, one which rises high on its thought-provoking symbolism, potent visuals, and mostly terrific performances. Mostly.
Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding in the lead role, and the movie also features many stupendous supporting turns from the likes of Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Brian and Domhnall Gleeson. Nevertheless, there is one actor who lets the side down, and that's Javier Bardem, making this one of the very few times casting Bardem in something has been a mistake.
As brilliant an actor as Javier Bardem is, he's strangely bland in mother!, where he plays Him, a character apparently supposed to symbolize God. It's arguable that this role needed more of a charismatic, larger-than-life performance; unfortunately, Bardem plays it all far too low-key and doesn't have any chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence either.
As it goes without saying, Bardem being nominated for a joint Razzie for his work in this, as well as his actually rather entertaining performance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was completely unfair. Still, even if it wasn't one of the worst performances of the year, it really wasn't very good at all, and it remains one of the few weak performances Javier Bardem has given.