PEDRO PASCAL and his best roles. “The Last of Us” and what else?
This time only five, because Pedro Pascal’s portfolio is not large, and in fact it has only been a few years that he can be said to be a recognizable actor, fighting for the main roles, although there are still very few of them in his career. But who knows if he will succeed in this fight? He is an extremely characteristic artist and perhaps the whole artistry of his acting craft should be based on creating emblematic characters in the background, which sometimes save the main character in the plot from a complete qualitative collapse. Therefore, the top 5 key roles for the career, also played in films that are not necessarily considered masterpieces today.
Max, "Bloodsucking Bastards" (2015), dir. Brian James O'Connell
The undisputed first place, although this list is by no means a ranking of Pedro Pascal’s roles. The first place, however, matters, because the film is practically unknown to us, and it presents Pascal with all his abilities of a great acting character. He doesn’t even have to play the lead role there. It is enough for him to be a sales boss hated by employees, who has set unattainable goals for his subordinates. But would he have such a murderous effect on people if he was just a bad boss? I will not reveal this surprise.
Joel, "The Last of Us" (2023)
Maybe now what I write will put a stick in an anthill, but with such unambiguously assessed productions that were created on the basis of well-known books, games or other types of media other than film, it is worth asking whether their current quality, assessed by everyone as high, is not make the result of an assessment that has been in the minds of past audiences. I have no doubt that the role of Joel in the series is crucial for Pedro Pascal’s further career and very emotionally real, which draws the viewer into this post-apocalyptic journey. However, I have doubts whether the artistry in the art of film consists in copying shots from the game. Isn’t that taking the easy way out, since you basically already have all the material? Perhaps it’s a matter of assumptions, how to shoot a series based on such a well-known and appreciated game. However, it is worth being aware of what the evaluation of the final product consists of, and it certainly contains a lot of emotions related to the eager expectation of viewers to see something almost identical to what they saw on computer screens. So The Last of Us is a good series, and the role of Joel is an excellent creation, but not as idealized as it is said.
Maxwell Lord, "Wonder Woman" 1984 (2020), dir. Patty Jenkins
And this is an example of a movie that is not good at all, quite the opposite. For a superhero production, it is actually a nightmare example of wasted money and trying to cut coupons from a fairly decent first installment of Wonder Woman’s story. Maxwell Lord, however, turned out to be a salvation for the whole plot, because he escaped the standard image of the antagonist. He has no flashy superpowers, but plenty of weaknesses that ultimately turn out to be a salvation for his human character, and a curse for being an antagonist. Pedro Pascal develops surprisingly well in this role – from a typical corporate suit man to a crazy visionary who wants to change the world. How different he is from the predictable Cheetah.
Oberyn Martell, "Game of Thrones" (2011–2019)
Pedro Pascal came to play a character by all accounts amazing, although tragic. Oberyn Martel was an extraordinary maverick, a dangerous master of the poisoned blade, a personality difficult to classify on the side of good, but also on the side of evil. In the eyes of the viewer and the reader, he had a haze of uncertainty around him, but in general his figure was appreciated, especially against the backdrop of the Mountain. Pedro Pascal brilliantly captured Oberyn’s characteristic self-confidence that led to his death.
Tovar, "The Great Wall" (2016), dir. Yimou Zhang
On the web, we can read a lot of unfavorable opinions about the film, and even full of epithets, scathing statements, as if the appearance of this picture on the film market literally killed someone’s mother. Maybe it was Matt Damon? Actually, no one mentions Pedro Pascal, who in 2016 was still rather an unknown figure. In The Great Wall, he played the rather recalcitrant character of Tovar, a warrior with morals much more shaky than the flawless William. However, it provided him with a good background (as Willem Dafoe did in the role of Ballard) and provided the viewer with a solid dose of suspense while wondering who he really is: an additional, human antagonist (to make the monsters more excited) or maybe a lost man who will finally find his right way.
Odys Korczyński