Ben Mendelsohn makes dangerous men feel uncomfortably at home. We value him most when a film lets that menace grow out of ordinary family life; casting him simply as the villain risks wasting what makes him frightening.
Fi1m perspective
Ben Mendelsohn’s Pope belongs in the family home in Animal Kingdom (2010), and that is what makes him hard to bear. Nothing in his performance lets us treat his instability as an interruption to otherwise ordinary domestic life. We were frightened of him because the household made room for him, and Mendelsohn made that acceptance feel plausible. David Michôd takes the family’s obligations seriously, allowing the threat to persist even when there is little action. Mendelsohn gives us scant opportunity to settle back and enjoy the company of a screen gangster.
The early prominence of The Year My Voice Broke (1987) was followed by years of Australian work before Animal Kingdom brought an international breakthrough. Major international supporting roles followed from 2012, including Daggett in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (2012). We found that film forceful and worth its long evening, though its surplus of characters and explanations is a drawback. Mendelsohn’s move into bigger ensembles also brought a familiar casting problem: films kept finding a use for him as someone unpleasant.
The prison drama Starred Up (2013) and the troubled family of Bloodline (2015–2017) offer useful routes beyond the blockbusters. His distinctive voice and physical presence make casting him as a threat understandable, but a part still needs to give him something to work with. As Orson Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), he occupies the more familiar position of a blockbuster antagonist. We have no objection to him playing dangerous men; the risk is that their danger becomes the only thing a film asks him to convey.
Michôd gives him more in Animal Kingdom, where belonging to the family is itself a source of unease. Alongside Jacki Weaver, Mendelsohn makes loyalty frightening, and the film avoids encouraging us to admire its criminals. The second half does slacken, and our admiration for the performances does not make every slow passage necessary. Start there, with the warning that the scenes at home may be the ones you most want to escape.
Biography
Ben Mendelsohn is an Australian actor. Born Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn on 3 April 1969 in Melbourne, he began his career as a teenager and rose to prominence in Australia with his role in The Year My Voice Broke (1987).
He gained wider recognition for his performance in the Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010). Mendelsohn has since appeared in films including The Dark Knight Rises (2012) as Daggett, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Orson Krennic, Darkest Hour (2017) as King George VI, Ready Player One (2018) as Sorrento, and Marvel Cinematic Universe entries such as Captain Marvel (2019) as Talos. He starred in the Netflix series Bloodline (2015–2017), winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2016.
