Denzel Washington absolutely runs off with “Gladiator II” as scheming Roman power broker Macrinus, a former slave whose end game is to become the new emperor.
It’s one of the two-time Oscar winner’s best performances in his nearly 40-year career and one where he gets a chance to go as big as he did in “Training Day.” The way he puts a spin on the words “politicssss” and “too much!” is the actor having possibly the best time of his life with a role.
As “Gladiator II” producer Douglas Wick told TheWrap at the film’s Los Angeles premiere, the actor’s riffs and unexpected line deliveries are like jazz. “I think of him as a jazz musician the melody is psychological truth. It’s an amazing thing to watch. He’ll keep the psychological truth, but he’ll play with it this way and he’ll play with it that way, but never lose the melody. It’s like watching a great artist,” said Wick.
Here are some of the other brilliant Washington roles you absolutely must watch after soaking in the glory (ahem) of his “Gladiator II” villain.
Training Day
“King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me!” Crooked L.A. cop Alonzo Harris and his iconic speech earned the actor his first (and, to date, only) Best Actor Oscar. It’s a joy to watch him cook as the character, who alternately charms and intimidates rookie partner Jake (an also nominated Ethan Hawke). We don’t really want to root for him since he’s the bad guy after all, but we just can’t help it. It’s Denzel at, arguably, his best.
Glory
Washington won his first Oscar for his searing performance as Private Silas Trip in Edward Zwick’s 1989 Civil War drama. The character is whipped in front of the entire company after he leaves camp without permission and he never once flinches as the lashes are delivered. Instead, he levels a death glare at the commanding officer who ordered the punishment (Matthew Broderick) and never once looks away as a lone tear runs down his cheek. The way he shrugs off his shirt to reveal a lifetime’s worth of whipping scars from his time as a slave says more than than words in this powerful scene. He had previously been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as as South African activist Steve Biko, but this was the moment when he arrived.
Malcolm X
Other actors have played the slain Civil Rights leader before and since, but Washington brings everything he has, the rage, the intensity and the laser-like focus to the role, which earned him another Oscar Best Actor nod. (He lost to Al Pacino, who finally won the category with “Scent of a Woman.”) It’s a perfect combination of director — frequent collaborator Spike Lee — the weight of history and the power of the moment as he stepped up as a leading man and major movie star.
Fences
Washington directs himself in the adaptation of the August Wilson play, a role that had already earned him a Tony Award. Here, he reprises his performance as Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh garbage collector who might have made it to the big leagues as a baseball player — if not for the color barrier that still existed in the 1950s.
Much Ado About Nothing
Washington is in charming manipulator mode as dashing Don Pedro in Kenneth Branagh’s extremely enjoyable adaptation of the Shakespeare play that more than set the stage for his eventual turn as Macbeth nearly 20 years later.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
When silent film star Greta Garbo made her first sound film, the advertising tagline was, naturally, “Garbo Speaks!” a phrase that comes to mind since all you need to know about this Joel Coen-directed drama is “Denzel Does Shakespeare!” Here, opposite three-time Oscar winer Frances McDormand, he brings one of the most complex and coveted stage roles to life with gravitas, pride and, of course, all-too-human hubris.
American Gangster
The actor’s first team-up with “Gladiator II” director Ridley Scott also had him playing a larger-than-life villain, in this case, real-life Harlem drug dealer Frank Lucas. Right before shooting down a man who owes him money (Idris Elba) in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of the day, he tells his crew, “Either you’re somebody or you’re nobody.”
