To tide you over
I’ve got a long post percolating, but for now, just this screencap I love. Yes, thanks again to my generous friend, I’ve now seen the end of Strike Back. She really did me a huge, huge favor.
During a study session for his forthcoming cover as weapons dealer, Porter (Richard Armitage) reacts to Danni’s insistence that he will need to be careful on his next assignment. Strike Back 1.5. Source: Richard Armitage Central Gallery
Screencaps starting here reveal a number of microexpressions that range from frustration to surprise to uncertainty. You can imagine I am having a field day!
Long post to appear tomorrow.
Me + Richard Armitage 
Nice to hear that you could see Strike Back. I also think that it was a great acting performance by Mr. Armitage. He shows such a large range in Strike Back, many did not expect. He has the class to unite acting skills and physical abilities. Keep up the good work with your blog. Greetings from Germany.
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Thanks for your kind words!
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I loved the final episodes. Brilliant acting and touching moments. I like your “I’ll be careful” cap above.
Have a great weekend!
MG
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Still fuming over that Times Online critic stigmatizing Mr. Armitage as “wooden”, or was it “blank”? What – the once-esteemed Times requires panto-performers?
It would be interesting to see Mr. A on stage, where voice and body-language would perhaps supercede micro-expressions. Doubt that it would be a “bridge too far”, but an excellent way of returning to classic acting and re-flexing the acting (not Porter) muscles.
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This is a really interesting question, fitzg. I said in one of my obsession update posts that after seeing Shakespeare Retold, I could see why Mr. Armitage would want to get back on stage as these TV roles don’t really test his acting chops that much. He’s good in them, but a lot is conveyed in closeup of his faces. In stage acting, as you rightly note, voice and body language are more important, and he’s got to want to keep those skills up to date, right?
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I think one reason I like this moment so much is that it’s clearly a place where Armitage’s acting leaves a bunch of interpretations open. They are on a bed, studying, which everyone who went to college knows is not especially practical if you want to actual study something. So the viewer is set up for some kind of emotional/romantic/sexual payoff. We’re expecting to get it, but Armitage prevents us from coming to a definite conclusion. He kisses her quite gently, but at this moment in the scene his eyes move at least three times across her face, and it’s not clear if he’s (a) touched or grateful that she cares; (b) worried that she cares; (c) surprised that someone who knows what he does would be making such demands; (d) something else.
Just fantastic acting.
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[…] see the episodes on the days they appeared but just slightly afterwards. I got them from a friend whom I am sure still prefers to remain nameless. I wasn’t technologically adept enough at that point to find them myself, nor to make […]
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The first time ever I saw John Porter | Me + Richard Armitage said this on October 24, 2013 at 7:49 pm |