I Want More Morgan Freeman

Do you remember when Morgan Freeman had starring roles in movies? When he wasn't just lending stellar support, but inhabited complex, well-written, leading characters?

Perhaps I'm exaggerating; he did win an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby in 2004 - that was only 4 years ago. And that was a great role. But his most recent starring role was in The Bucket List. Granted, I didn't see this - I flat out refuse to until it premiere's on TNT in 3 years - but I don't think I need to in order to infer that it sucked. Or at least that it wasn't a worthy vehicle for the talents of either Morgan Freeman or Jack Nicholson.

Remember in the '80's and '90's when he was awesome? Got Oscar nominations for Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption? Displayed impressive gravitas in Lean on Me, Glory, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (call me crazy, but I will always love this one), and Unforgiven? His presence is so effective and subtle in Se7en, Kiss the Girls, Amistad, and Nurse Betty. Even a smattering of his supporting roles smack of genius casting: God in Bruce Almighty, Robert Redford's friend in An Unfinished Life; a troubled police chief in the recent Gone Baby Gone; even the President of the United States in Deep Impact (one of the only good things about this flick).

But in the past 10 years he's also struggled valiantly in supporting roles in Chain Reaction, Hard Rain, Dreamcatcher (this was a HUGE miscalculation - nothing could save this one), Batman Begins (and it's sequel), Lucky Number Slevin, Feast of Love, and Wanted. I haven't hated many of these films, but the characters Freeman has played in them are hardly interesting apart from what Freeman brings to them. This makes his participation a huge coup for the filmmakers, a chance to take advantage of Freeman's talents and elevate rather stock characters into a more stable presence, but I so want to see him in something GREAT!


In a lot of his press for Wanted, James McAvoy talked reverentially of Freeman's ability to take crap dialogue and read it as if it was Shakespeare. The words on the page were slightly ridiculous, but Freeman made them sound credible. I'd agree that this is well within Freeman's greatest gifts; we believe him in almost anything. In his review for Kiss the Girls, Roger Ebert wrote:

"'Is there a better actor in America than Morgan Freeman?' Pauline Kael once asked, to which one could add, is there one with more authority? Freeman has a rare presence on the screen, a specific gravity that persuades us. He never seems to be making things up. He never seems shallow, facile, or unconvinced, and even in unsuccessful films like Chain Reaction, he doesn't go down with the ship: You feel he's authentic even as the film sinks around him."

I can't say anything more insightful; in fact I've probably unintentionally plagiarized part of this quote without meaning to in the comments I wrote above, before I looked up this quote. Go me! Now you all know how unoriginal I really am!

So while I appreciate Freeman for soldiering on in supporting roles, for lending his unique genius to roles that would otherwise remain unremarkable, I'm ready for Morgan Freeman to go back to kicking ass and taking names! I want to see him star in a movie where he is front and center and gets to really act! According to IMDb he's got 6 films in the works - plenty of opportunities to really shine!