Why I can’t watch Al Pacino

There’s only one Al Pacino.

There’s no one like him. I have the feeling that his best movies are behind him now, but he’s very special.

I personally do not really enjoy watching him. His performances are just that, they stand out, they are larger than life and they draw the attention of the viewer away from the story to focus upon his histrionics.

I know he’s deeply watchable, he’s almost unfathomably alive on the screen. But I am always troubled by two things.

1) his performance seems unrelated to the script.

2) despite people telling me that he plays a wide range of characters. I don’t personally see it. I see the same high energy, erratic, random shouting guy that he has always been.

I am not slagging Pacino, he’s is very entertaining but I barely notice anything but him in his movies.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire him. I wish you all a career like his. But I don’t enjoy watching him, I feel like I have seen it all before.

Still, Any Given Sunday is one of my favourite films.

Life and acting is contradiction.