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The Readers Spoke - Dissecting Halle

Okay, y'all. I get it. Looking at the comment threads from this series -- we have highlighted four films thus far -- I'm thinking folkses want me to talk about some of Halle Berry's more outstanding and credible work.

I had intended to do this, but I've been selecting films in no particular order.  Sooooooooooo...

Ima look at the pics in the pipeline and for the next few pics for the Dissecting Halle series, I will select pics which highlight some of Halle Berry's better work.

I already have GOTHIKA in the pipeline for the next article.

But after that article, we'll talk about Things We Lost in the Fire. And after that, I promise we'll talk about, say two more of her other critically-aclaimed pics, and then we'll go back to random selections.

A one-sided series (though this was not my intent) would get boring quickly (if it hasn't already), so we will mix it up a bit.

The HalleWOOD Award - Executive Decision

Ladies and Gentlemen: I’d like to introduce….   

Ms. Halle Berry… the latest winner of that award of dubious distinction… the WOOD AWARD for that certain scene… that certain overreaching, wooden scene.

The award is presented to Ms. Berry in large part, due to the failure to optimally and properly use her voice. This was due to lack of skill and/or lack of commitment to character. 

It was at the end (Chapter 34), when novice pilot Dr. Grant (Kurt Russell) was taking over piloting of the plane. He seeks assistance from our feisty flight attendant, Jean. Dr. Grant instructs Jean to locate the flight manual.

It is an emotional and riveting scene, since the plane is on the verge of crashing and Dr. Grant is desperately trying to gain control of the out-of-control aircraft. He is terrified. She is terrified.

So, she locates the book and she finds the pages he asks her to find and she reads the flight instructions to him.

I was just laughing. The problem with the scene was that I was acutely aware of the fact that Halle Berry was an actor playing a role, pretending to be a terrified flight attendant. Kurt Russell, on the other hand -– his performance was seamless since, for those moments, I really thought he was an airline pilot under duress, struggling to land a plane.

Berry’s voice and tone was without realism. The portrayal was not credible. Some of her lines and her facial expressions and physical movements -- these reactions were forced. They were fake.

How should she have done the scene? HelifIknow. She should have done it in a manner whereby anyone watching her could feel and believe that Jean was experiencing the fact that death was looming before her.

At the end of the day, I think it had to do with trust; I think Berry didn’t trust her character to experience this, and she didn’t allow Jean to experience this. Instead, she herself, decided how an audience expects to see fear. And she played the scene accordingly.

Congratulations, Hally Berry!

Dissecting Halle - Executive Decision

Executive Decision – released in 1996. In it, we see Halle Berry playing Jean, a flight attendant on a hijacked airliner. She surreptitiously assists American agents onboard the aircraft in their quest to overtake the middle eastern terrorists.

The role -- and it was a small role -- called for little more than two emotional responses from Berry. Be terrified. Be courageous.

And she did this.

Throw in a moment of grief; oh, and another beat down, but I’ll get to that.

I preferred Berry as defiant. The terrified thing didn’t work for me.

I got to wondering -- and it occurred to me that it must be really difficult to pretend to be terrified. Lots of actors do it but to do it successfully must require a certain level of skill, else you come out looking like an emotionally distorted caricature. It is easy to exaggerate terror or underplay it, I think.

I figure, as the moviegoer, I am to feel terrified right along with the actor -- if the actor does his job. 

In this film, I was highly aware of Berry’s characterization. It just didn’t work for me. One may argue that the scenes were short and quick and she didn’t have the time or momentum to execute terror.

Maybe. I’m not an actor, so I know little of these things.

Or maybe a skilled actor can give us terror when the script or director says, “Give me terror.”

Berry and the beat down. In Swordfish (2001), Stan (Hugh Jackman) pushed her out of his trailer and she hit the ground like a ragdoll. In Executive Decision, Nagi (David Suchet) knocked the hell out of her. He hit Jean so hard, he totally knocked her block off. 

Poor Halle. Now, I can’t wait to see her kick some azz. Does she do that in the X-Men series? I’ve not seen it. Ain’t that superheros and stuff? Since superheros kick azz, I expect she will. I saw Catwoman (2004), but barely remember it. I know she kicks some azz in that –- doesn’t she? Anyway, I’m rambling…

Finally, because of one particular scene in this film, Berry is the recipient… ta dum… of a WOOD AWARD! Halle Berry joins Beyonce as the second recipient of this not-so-prestigious award presented by THE BLACKACTOR.COM. See next post.

Dissecting Halle - Swordfish

Swordfish, released in 2001, is the third installment in the Dissecting Halle series. Halle Berry is the same as she was in the previous two films highlighted for this series, Die Another Day (2002) and Perfect Stranger (2007). The films selected for the Halle Berry highlight have been selected completely at random. Turns out, the first three are the same pic, featuring Halle Berry in the same role. LOL. I had seen Die Another Day before I began this series, but I had not seen Perfect Stranger or Swordfish. So, this is all unraveling for me for the first time. Damn, I picked probably three of her worst –- one after the next. I know y’all done wit me. LOL.

The good news?

We know Halle Berry is better than what we’ve seen so far. This means, the better stuff is yet to come. That’s good. Thank God, cuz I’m bout done with this bi---.  Oops. Halle, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t.

Commonalities of the first three pics

In all three pics, we have:

     Halle – the sex kitten – focus on her as sexual, hotness
     Halle – sex or other physical intimacy with white men – three pics – four men
           Pierce Brosnan, Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Hugh Jackman
     Halle – hot dresses, often red, always fitting

In two of the pics, we have:

     Halle – driving a red (or variation of red) sexy, shiny, perfect car
     Halle – mouth open, so she can be sexaaaaaaaaaay for us (tee hee hee)
     Halle – unmistakable camera focus on her azz
     Halle – black lingerie – black thongs, black panty/black bra

{sigh}

Anyhoo, lemme get this out of the way before I go any further…

Halle Berry’s performance…  Halle Berry didn’t have a whole lot of screen time.  Nevertheless, I thought she was just fine in the pic.

There are two things I want to point out in Swordfish.

The Azz… again

The first time we meet our sexiness, we hear vrrrrrrrroooooooom, as she is driving that fast, red convertible leaving a trail of dust behind her. Ginger (Halle Berry) exits the car -– wearing a salacious, fitting, red mini-dress (and high heels) and approaches a ratty old trailer occupied by Stan (Hugh Jackman). Our goddess delivers beautifully sculpted, bronze legs and a perfectly made up face, the open mouth and the perfect hair.

I liked her hair in this pic. I really, really liked her hair in this pic. I prefer her with short hair. I –- Oops. I digress.

Moments later, our flirty sex kitten proves to us that she can swing a golf club. So she sets the golf ball on the tee. Of course she had to bend over to do this and it was at that moment -- though we couldn’t see her azz -- we could imagine its presence, since the dress was a mini-dress and when she bent over we were only an inch or two away from what was under the dress. And so she steps up to the tee, assumes her golfer’s stance, shakes and wiggles her azz for us as she gets into position and prepares to make the shot. Then she swings the golf club and hits the ball… um, somewhere far.  This shot, served no cinematic purpose whatsoever and does nothing to move the story forward.

The purpose of the scene -– for us to want look at her azz.

{Yawn. Tired; tired of seeing this.}

There was something noteworthy, however, about Swordfish.  Y’all know what it was.

I suppose the industry decided Halle Berry wasn’t quite legit -- since she hadn’t yet shown tit. So, in order to be initiated into the A-list club, she needed to show us her ta tas. I figure white men wanted to see them and the industry, one way or another, demanded this of her. I figure she went along with it to secure her place as an A-lister. She definitely ain’t the only one. Many top actresses expose their breasts.  Hell, they all do. It’s hardly a big deal anymore.

I remember when the film was released. I didn’t really know what it was about or even who was in it. All I remember was the yapping and buzz about the film -– that it would feature Halle Berry baring her breasts.

And so she did. And it was really kind of interesting, the way it happened and all. I just had to chuckle. I found the scene pretty comical because, all of a sudden -– there they were -– out of nowhere. BOOBS!!! Poof! BOOBS!! ROTFLMAO.

Her boobies were shown to us for no other reason than for us to gaze upon them.  There was absolutely no cinematic reason for us to see them. The scene was so bogus. It was crystal clear that the shot was contrived -– and completely disconnected from the story’s needs or dictates. And so it is interesting to note that when Halle Berry ultimately decided to give the world tit, the scene –- its very existence driven by shock value –- was cheapened. If she were going to expose her breasts, it would have been nice if it had happened some other way. Oh well.

The scene opened with Stan (Hugh Jackman) walking up to Ginger, who was sunning.  He approaches her as she is reclining in a beach chair, clad in bikini bottoms, reading a book, which is up against her chest. Stan calls her name, she lowers the book, and BAM! There they were. LOL. I was like, “Oh.” I  mean, they totally came out of nowhere. LOL. The previous scene ended. And then this, the boob scene -- which lasted less than one minute -- it was so… so… sudden. Boom. Breasteses. LMAO. 

And I watched the scene, absurd as it was. I watched her say her lines. I watched him say his lines. It was idiotic and juvenile; he -- like a boy, gazing upon his first boobies. And she, unsuccessfully going against the grain, coy and nonchalant, masquerading as if she were not topless, and conversing with a man who was startled to see her bare breasts before him. In the end though, she grinned -– as if triumphant -– as if pleased, pleased that she moved him (caused him to bump into a chair, like a boy might) by showing him some tit.

I guess there’s a third thing I wanted to mention. There was the scene where we see her disrobing down to matching black panties and bra. (See photo on post). This scene was cinematically relevant. But still. Nevertheless, it is a scene showing Halle Berry stripping taking off her clothes. The viewer could have gotten the relevant information out of the scene in any number of ways. But... oh well. I’m just sayin’.

And yes, one other thing about the boobies. It is interesting to note that the first time she showed us boob, the person who was "treated" to the boobs was a white man... not a black man. I’m just sayin’.

Q:  For Goddsakes, theblackactor.com, WHAT IS THE NEXT HALLE BERRY film you will be highlighting?

A:  theblackactor.com:  HelifIknow; whatever is next in the Netflix queue, I suppose. I’m not sure yet. I haven’t looked. I hope it’s one of those that show her as a woman –- and not as a gotdam slab of sex.

Geez!

Well, with the first three pics highlighted, I’m sounding like a broken record broken record broken record broken record; I mean, skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped CD skipped

It’s not my fault. It’s Halle Berry’s!

And my last two cents...

Yes; I get the notion, if you got it, flaunt it. I also understand that Halle Berry is beautiful and sexy and all those things and why not get paid for it. Okay. I suppose my personal viewpoint is that a woman's sex appeal is often -- if not always -- limited when it is so obviously contrived. It's not really sexy, but instead, clown-like. I do believe the most compelling manifestation of a woman’s sexual persona calls for some modesty. After all... it’s far more sexier; is it not? I think so. And I’m not talking about prudes... or homely, matronly women, cuz that ain’t cute. I… Anyhoo, I'll refrain from burdening readers with my personal musings about things not related to the blog. LOL.

Dissecting Halle - Perfect Stranger

Overall, I thought Halle Berry was pretty good in Perfect Stranger, which was released last year, in 2007.

In contrast to Die Another Day (2002), I suppose Halle Berry was a little older and a little wiser for this role. She was much, much better in this pic. I thought Berry gave a smarter, more reliable performance.

I thought her portrayal of journalist Rowena Price was credible. Oh, I can’t really think of any glaring missteps. I could nitpick about wooden moments. Why nitpick into nonsense, or split hairs unnecessarily? I liked her enough in the pic.

Sometimes a performance is poor. Sometimes it is adequate. Sometimes it is good.  Sometimes it is great. Sometimes it is beyond great.

I just wanna ask one question…

Did the following serve any cinematic purpose whatsoever? Did the scene move the story forward in any meaningful way? In the scene, the following happens:

The camera reveals Rowena’s naked back. She’s rifling through a “lingerie drawer” filled with panties and bras.

Okay.

Tonight’s selection? The obligatory black thong. And so we watch as the thong rises up above her legs on their way to their final destination, her lady spot.

Immediately, the camera pans to her azz. She’s dressed now, bending down -- reaching for her shoes. So we see her azz -– which is prominent in the frame – poking through that snugly, fitted, pretty red dress.

Oooooooooh. Sexay.

The scene ends with Rowena spraying perfume on her inner thighs... left thigh -- right thigh.

End of scene.

Then there’s the next scene –- when, now all dolled up, she enters a room wearing the pretty red dress, on her way out for her date with Cameron (Gary Dourdan).  We see Rowena talking with Miles (Giovoanni Ribisi) and the camera pans to her azz not one time, but two times while she is talking to him.

Okay; so, we know she has a fit figure and a panty drawer. We know she wears thongs, has a shapely azz, and sprays perfume onto her inner thighs in preparation for a date (or an up-against-the-wall sexual liaison; but whatever).

And…

Had we not known these things could we still have understood her character and her character’s place and motivation in the story?

I’m just askin’.

The year? -- 2007
Oscar winner
Golden Globe winner
Emmy Award winner
SAG Award winner (two times, at that)
Large body of work
Net worth in the tens of millions of dollars (isn’t it?)
Over 40

… and she stiiiiiiiiilllll poking her azz out?

Still? Now?

Some may cry for her, citing that this is what Hollywood gives her. Not me. Not at all. Not Halle Berry. Not now. Sorry.

SMH.

Sass fo yo Azz - My girl, Regina

My girl, Regina King -- the sassiest sass that ever was. LOL.

I’m just yappin’. I expect to profile her on the site one day. I can’t really speak intelligently about her, since I’ve only seen about a half dozen of her movies. So, I’m just speaking from what I’ve seen.

Oddly, I like her. Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t dig what she often does. Yet, there is something about her that’s endearing to me. 

I still try to figure out why I like her.

Is she an attractive person and so all is forgiven? I’m sure the sociologists and the psychologists have shown that people who are perceived as attractive get better treatment by the world. Do I perceive her as attractive and so forgive her transgression?

The answer is no. At least not consciously. I mean, yes; she is attractive but this acknowledgement doesn't make her sassiness forgivable.

Then I asked if she does sass better than some others do sass. Is there a good way, a bad way, a better way or a worse way to do sass? Does she do it well –- better than others? Is that why I like her?

Maybe.

Could it be that in her sass I see my friends, acquaintances, cousins and co-workers -- pieces of me, even? Is it that her sass is not contrived or over the top -- but really is a part of her real life persona, and so, being a black woman, I see some kind of parallels between us?

I think this is a strong possibility.

Does her sass make me laugh, I asked?

Yes; very often it does.

I liked her in Ray (2004). Did that showing make all her sass forgivable? 

Hmmmm. Maybe.

Maybe it’s a combination of all of the above. Maybe it’s something else.

Though there are other sasstahgirls, I think my favorite sasstahgirl is Regina King. Yup. I think I want her to be my friend.

See the Sass article, y’all.

Dissecting Halle - Die Another Day

It was disappointing. And sad. And Berry Berry bad.

Halle Berry’s role in Die Another Day, released in 2002, was particularly disappointing, in large part because it was Berry’s very next film role following the Oscar winner’s Academy Award winning work in Monster’s Ball (2001).

At 35 minutes, 52 seconds into the film, the Oscar winning temptress makes her grand appearance, accompanied by a dramatic musical score which rises to crescendo as Jinx (Halle Berry), our sizzling seductress, emerges -- open-mouthed -- from the seas of Havana, sexily clad in a come-hither orange bikini. The Oscar winner enchantress revealed. Her purpose: to entice. And who knew, as we watched her pat herself dry, that the white man would have her -- in less than three minutes?

When Berry surfaced I said to myself the obvious: “Wow, what a true, genuine beauty.” That passing thought was quickly replaced by another, more lingering thought -– embarrassment for her.

Halle Berry, working those hips, saunters up the beachside steps… stops and then turns around… so he can see her… so he can get a full backside view. And there he was… Bond… James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), sipping on a Mojito, watching the siren. And then, the contrived double entendre. He quips, “Magnificent view.”

Poor Halle… reduced to a white man’s magnificent view. And she pats dry her open mouth. I figure her mouth is eternally open throughout much of the film because the filmmakers want us to want to imagine something in it -- Bond’s dick, no doubt -- and/or his tongue. Was that the director’s doing? Perhaps. Or was that Halle Berry’s doing -- believing it would stamp her as the fiery sexpot that a James Bond girl is supposed to be?

In that scene, she sips the Mojito -- the Mojito of a stranger. James Bond is a complete stranger -- a white, tall, dark-haired, handsome, aging, sun-spotted, cool-as-a-mof*cka, stranger. Ooooooooh. Sexy. In this same meet and greet scene, Berry spoke her lines with a manufactured swagger that made them shallow and often ridiculous. The scene ends with her open mouth and fades into the next scene... to her open legs -- presumably. We never see her spread legs but can assume they must be since she is sexing him. Jinx is in bed with the whitis malis having sex with Bond at 38:24 -- not three minutes after we first meet her during their ridiculously juvenile meet-and-greet scene, which was marked by dreadful dialog).

Next, we see Jinx engage in a mind-boggling display of sensational secret agent maneuvers. These would include: murder, arson, breaking into a computer to uncover information about a secret DNA transformation procedure, hotwiring a bomb using a cell phone, sprinting barefoot up hills, shooting at helicopters, and jumping off cliffs.

After a long absence in the film and in a strangely hysterical shot, Jinx reappears in Iceland, emerging from a red Thunderbird, with her mouth open… again. Later, Jinx attends a gala event at the Iceland Ice Palace, where she delivers more silly one-liners. In keeping with her undercover status, Jinx is now Miss Swift, a journalist at Space and Technology magazine.

Miss Swift does her secret agent stuff and descends into the Iceland compound of adversary, Gustav Graves. Captured immediately, and with her forced agent-face on, she responds to the electrical charges of the taser-like device her torturer uses. Zap! Scream (or squawk...  or coo...  whatever). Zap! Scream. Zap! Jinx’s captor demands to know, “Who sent you?” to which she responds, “Yo mama. And she told me to tell you she’s really disappointed in you.”

{I damn near died when she said this.}

{I cringed in embarrassment.}

Eventually, James Bond saves Jinx. And we officially learn that she, herself, is an NSA agent and that she and Bond are hunting the same thing. Later on, Jinx, on the verge of drowning, is again saved by Bond –- via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, of course. Cough. Cough. She’s okay.

Further along in the film, aboard a cargo plane Jinx busies herself by running, sliding down ropes and chutes, punching, shooting; yet she is still the hotness. Face still on. Hair still good. No sweating. And at one point Jinx pilots the plane! On what eventually becomes an out-of-control disintegrating aircraft, Jinx ends up in a catfight with nemesis, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). In the scene, which features Berry’s quintessential peculiar and contrived facial expressions Jinx, skilled in the martial arts, eventually murders Frost.

And the love scene at the end…

Off-screen we hear our beguiling vamp whisper, “Wait. Don’t pull it out. I’m not finished with it yet.” And then the camera pans to Jinx and Bond, with James Bond atop her, and we see that what Jinx is referring to is not a penis, but an exquisite, flawless diamond resting inside her navel. 

White man’s fantasy. Sorry, white males, but it is for this reason and this reason only that we heard those words. The strength, need and demands of the fantasy superseded logic, reason and creativity and surrendered to the idiocy of that dialog. So there she was… the Oscar winner… churning out yet another juvenile, asinine one-liner –- as she had throughout the film.

Oscar Winner.  Eye Candy. Oscar Winner.  Eye Candy. Oscar Winner.  Eye Candy.

Halle Berry was dreadful in the film. Not all of it. Not every moment. But most of it. Just bad acting. Of course, it wasn’t the world’s greatest role. She was a Bond girl, after all. But I firmly believe another actress – more skilled – could have done the role more justice.

I actually enjoyed Rosamund Pike’s performance far more than Berry’s. [Oops, sorry; no need to compare and contrast here – but since I’m on the subject, I think Pike had better lines, but she was the better actress, too.]

I was saddened for Berry, since just months before the release of Die Another Day Berry stood before us on that Oscar stage and received the highest honor any motion picture actor could ever receive.

And then to be reduced to this.

Though she was perfectly awful in this movie, she sho looked good. That’s certainly all anybody else involved in the film cared about. Maybe that’s all Halle Berry cared about. I thought Halle Berry's decision to accept this role was unwise. It could’ve been worse, though. It could’ve been Catwoman (released in 2004). Yikes!

The End.

P.S. -- And if anybody is wondering -- I know Halle Berry is bi-racial. But I think -- and I could be wrong -- I think Halle Berry identifies as a woman of color; a black woman.
*********************************************************************************************************
Oh, there are other questions we can ask, y’all.  But the article is not about these things:

• This is what she was offered. It wasn’t her fault.
• She should not have accepted this role.
• She should have accepted this role. It’s work.
• The industry made her do this.
• James Bond films are big deals. She would have been a fool to turn it down.
• She had to continue to ride her Oscar wave.
• She should have exercised restraint, carefully picking proper vehicles for herself.
• She had free will. She chose to do this. She wanted to do this.
• This was all that was available to her.

Etc. etc.

Perhaps these things merit discussion. Perhaps not.