An elderly, forgotten actor with an estranged family discovers he has a terminal illness and begins making changes to his remaining life. The twist? There isn’t any—it’s a fairly standard story told many times before…but it does star Sam Elliott, and there lies the film’s success. Sam Elliott is the type of actor who can entertain solely with his deep, smooth voice, a factor The Hero is well aware of. The opening segment is a humorous bit involving Elliott’s character repeating the same voice-over for a barbecue brand commercial. The scene is both amusing and captivating, the latter largely to do with the actor’s resonant voice. The Hero was made for Sam Elliott, and it’s Sam Elliott who keeps The Hero engaging—without him, the film would have most likely been a fairly standard, fairly awkward experience.
There’s something very…off with the chemistry between Sam Elliott and Laura Prepon (who plays the protagonist’s far younger girlfriend). The character interactions are fine, but the actors simply don’t mesh well together. On the other hand, Elliott’s interactions with Nick Offerman as his friendly drug dealer is quite entertaining—the two actors bounce off each other with high energy and humorous banter. With all said and done, however, it’s Elliott’s charismatic performance, along with the film’s beautiful settings and scenery, that allows The Hero to succeed. Plus, I may be giving the film a few brownie points for its clear affection towards Buster Keaton (an affection that’s more than mutual).
The Unknown Girl:
This just wasn’t a good combination.
A murder mystery requires certain qualities to work: tension, suspense, some thrills here and there—essentially an air for the theatrical. A down-to-earth French drama is quite the opposite of such approach. The Unknown Girl’s slow pacing, drawn-out scenes, no soundtrack whatsoever, and low-key acting (in particular, from its lead actress’s deadpan performance) turns what could have been an exciting murder mystery into a really dull experience.
There’s also the whole “protagonist out of her element” issue with the film’s story. The Unknown Girl’s protagonist is a doctor, not a cop, not a detective, and it shows as she’s thrown time and time again into damsel in distress situations (there are five separate occasions where she’s confronted by assertive/aggressive people). After so many attacks, it’s baffling she isn’t carrying some sort of legal weapon/protection around by the finale. There is a time and place for grounded stories, and there is a time and place for Hollywood theatrics, and The Unknown Girl could have really used with some effective theatrics.