[NOTE: The criticism is pretty much confined to Scott/Moriarty in S.1 Ep. 3 and S.2 Ep. 1. In the S.2 finale, he's more enjoyable -- or at least, tolerable -- for the reasons opposite to/from the ones stated below]


I'm going to get heat for this, but....

In my humble opinion, Scott tried a little too hard at times, so hard that it makes it very clear that it's a guy acting out a part, rather than a an actor portraying a character.  It's one thing to play an over-the-top character (see Joker in the Dark Knight). 

It's a totally different thing to use an over-the-top effort to play an over-the-top character. 

Moriarty's written to be psychotic.  If anything, in terms of acting, that requires less thinking or effort and more instinct.  At times, it felt like Scott was trying to think of how a psycho would act, and then try really hard to act out that thought.  I think he would have achieved better results if he acted more instinctually.  Who knows?  Maybe he did act instinctually, but I, for one, didn't receive it as that.

For example, it appeared to me that Andrew Scott intentionally added random vocal inflection changes to force upon the audience this psycho "tic," to try really hard to convince us that he's psycho. 

I'm not saying that there are no psychos who have random pitch changes.  I'm saying that Scott's pitch change felt measured/calculated, forced, disingenuous. 

Basically, there are many times that I am very aware I'm watching an actor try to act like Jim Moriarty, as written -- and it takes me out of the show. 

A well-directed, well-acted movie/film/TV show leaves you immersed into that world, and you forget that these are actors playing parts, and you really feel, believe that this is Sherlock Holmes.  Or, when Martin Freeman pleads with Holmes' gravestone to "please, don't be dead" -- I forget that these were actually written script lines recited by an actor; I really felt it in my bones that this man just lost his best man.

But when Scott fleetingly delivers that high-pitched, "byyyyeeee!", it goes down like fake sprayed-on whipped topping to cap a dessert.  Like, "how would a psycho say 'bye'? Oh, like this, bbbbyyyyeeee!" Just too much effort everywhere in a part that requires more instinct than effort.

And the pool-side "I will buuurn you" threat -- I just did not feel it. 

The harder he tried, the less afraid I felt for our heroes.  Why?   Well, it felt like a calculated synchronization of facial movements (especially the eyebrows), rather than feeling like this man really wants another man burned.  I cringe at that scene, but I feel like Scott is trying sooooo hard to be menacing, but with diminishing results.  Raising your eyebrows and widening your face, by themselves, do not constitute acting. 

And as he walks away (talking to Adler via phone), his "I'll turn you into shoes" line was presumably supposed to come off as haunting/chilling deadpan -- but it was anything BUT haunting or chilling.

A deadpan, monotonous threat can be scary.  Liam Neeson saying "I will find you. And I will kill you" in Taken was chilling -- especially because of Neeson's delivery.

Moriarty's casual "I will turn you into shoes"? Not the same.  Scott was trying too hard to come off as not trying too hard.  It was an unintentionally funny scene to me.

And that's the problem with the early portrayal of Jim Moriarty in Sherlock; the way that Moriarty is portrayed, he's more funny than menacing, he's more of a flat character than a 3-dimensional, fleshed-out character. 

He's basically a combination of random, irregular verbal and physical "tics" that virtually constitute his psychotic-ness -- rather than a flesh n' blood psychotic villain.   The "random" dragging of vowels, the "random" changing of pitches, the "random" facial expressions.  These are character decorations and embellishments, these are NOT character. 


The Joker in The Dark Knight is a perfect example for contrasting and comparing.

It never seemed like Heath Ledger was trying to convince the audience that his character was a psycho.  But everyone left the theater believing that the Joker was nothing but psychotic.

Ledger focused on his character and his character's motivations and reactions, which were of the psychotic variety; but he did NOT focus on verbal or physical tics, or how to "act" psychotic.

We watched a madman focusing on destroying a city and its hero, and Ledger/Joker's psycho character naturally availed itself without extra effort.  Basically, Ledger proved the Joker was psycho without trying to prove he was psycho. 

You portray the character, the audience will believe the character is "real."  You focus on the small things, like how a psycho would say "bbyyyyyyeeeee," you lose sight of your character, and you're instead wrapped up in a caricature.

And yeah, Ledger/Joker had "tics", as well.  The tics (lip licking, hyena-like grinning, random bursts of tantrum) seemed instinctual, natural, and unforced.  It naturally flowed from Ledger's portrayal of a haunted and haunting character. 

Back to Moriarty and Andrew Scott....

When I watch the pool scene, it makes me feel like Andrew Scott is putting on his best impersonation (not portrayal) of a psycho.  I'm not there, immersed in the scene and at the pool; I'm fully aware I'm watching a TV show and an actor.

The eyebrow movements, the vocal inflections, the brooding stare at the beginning, the sheepish grinning.....these are perfectly fine psycho tics, but they require an actor who can portray them as tics merely incidental to the character, rather than a composition of the character itself.  Scott's reliance on these tics made Moriarty a caricature and not a character.

  Andrew Scott basically played Moriarty as a caricature of an insane criminal, rather than portraying Moriarty as a character first and then letting the insane aspects naturally avail themselves.  It's subtle, but it's a significant difference between the two. 




P.S. Again, I'm speaking more about his earliest appearances.  His last appearance was fine for me, mostly because I felt like I was truly watching a mad man, rather than watching someone desperately trying to act as a mad man would.


 

Last edited by BlinkULDHC (January 31, 2013 12:27 pm)