Anton Yelchin brings eager intelligence and an unforced vulnerability to roles that might otherwise settle for being likeable. We value him most in company, where his boyish presence gives us someone to care about.
Fi1m perspective
In Star Trek (2009), Anton Yelchin gives Ensign Pavel Chekov the sort of eager intelligence that makes youth seem an advantage. We warmed to him because his enthusiasm makes the crew feel like people worth spending time with. J.J. Abrams keeps the adventure brisk, and Yelchin fits the humour without making Chekov seem incapable of doing his job. The action sometimes works too hard, but we would happily stay with this crew.
That ease was apparent opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), an early leading role as Bobby Garfield. His breakthrough year also brought Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation (2009). He kept independent films alongside the franchises, including Like Crazy (2011), with its romantic role as Jacob. The romantic chemistry there is a quieter use of the same approachable presence.
His Ian in Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) offers another pleasure within an ensemble. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston carry the vampire romance, but Yelchin’s unforced presence is well suited to a film this patient. We recommend it with a reservation about the cultural name-dropping, which can grow tiresome. It is worth seeing him in such different company from Abrams’s crew, without mistaking a memorable supporting turn for the film’s chief attraction.
In Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (2016), he plays Pat, a punk bassist in a siege thriller. The intensity of the part makes useful sense of his vulnerability. His boyishness can make a character look ill-equipped for danger, even when he is intelligent enough to recognise it.
We would not dismiss the franchise work as the easy option. Chekov needs to register quickly among a busy ensemble, and Yelchin makes him worth having around. Begin with Star Trek, then try Green Room before deciding he was simply charming.
Biography
Anton Yelchin was an American actor. Born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union, he moved to the United States as an infant with his parents.
He began acting in the late 1990s and appeared in films including Along Came a Spider (2001) and Hearts in Atlantis (2001). Yelchin portrayed Ensign Pavel Chekov in Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). Other credits include Terminator Salvation (2009), Fright Night (2011), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and Green Room (2016). He also voiced Clumsy Smurf in the Smurfs films (2011–2013).
Yelchin died in an accident in Los Angeles in 2016.
