Woody Harrelson Enters the Oscar Race in a Big Way with Rampart

For the first time, I’ve seen a performance that has to be considered one of the strongest contenders to win Best Actor so far this year.  George Clooney, Jean DuJardin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt all are in contention to win.  The other notable performance is Michael Fassbender in Shame.  Somewhere in there room might have to be made for Woody Harrelson’s bad cop in Oren Moverman’s exceptional film, Rampart.  His follow-up to The Messenger, which also starred Harrelson, is filled with strong supporting characters, like Sigourney Weaver, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon, Steve Buscemi, Audra McDonald, Robin Wright Penn, Ned Beatty, Ice Cube and Ben Foster, nearly unrecognizable as a homeless man who gets too close to Harrselson’s character.

While Harrelson is one of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood, who has been known to go deep and dark before, as well as light and humorous, is at his absolute best here.  He bobs in and out of various states of being – cocksure one minute, sweating and frantic the next as his rogue cop’s ways start to catch up with him.  All the while, delivering one zinger after another, James Ellroy style.

Kris Tapley at In Contention says Harrelson delivers “a firehouse performance of subtle strokes and vivid internalizations.”

I was reminded of Michael Fassbender’s work in “Shame” if only because both performances so wonderfully offer a master class in clenched but emotive power. It’s Harrelson’s best work in a good long while, including his Oscar-nominated performance in “The Messenger” two years ago.

Like Fassbender’s performance in Shame, Harrelson’s cop is one of the best of the year — it stayed with me long after the film ended.  Part of that is that Moverman tells the story mostly from Harrelson’s unreliable point of view.  So we never really know if he’s telling us the truth or not.  You can’t take your eyes off of him – he burns through the screen with an intensity I’ve never seen him show without his cup totally spilling over.

I’m not yet sure how far Rampart will go – but screenplay seems a certainty.  Will there be any supporting nominations? Robin Wright Penn is a standout as the high-heeled lawyer who can’t resist Harrelson’s charms.  And of course, Ben Foster, whose moments on screen do this promising actor justice, though might be too small a part for a nod.  But this is a brilliant ensemble piece, like Drive, like The Descendants, like the Ides of March, like Moneyball.  So far.  More to come, Oscar watchers.  Stay frosty.