One of the many viral sensations to emerge in the aftermath of The Batman was the widespread praise for Robert Pattinson‘s eye acting.
Basically, thanks to the Dark Knight’s cowl hiding most of his visage, coupled with his decision to portray the most introverted and insular Bruce Wayne yet, the leading man largely relied on a pair of peepers to do the emotional talking on his behalf. If you think that sounds like we’re making it up, then you can check out exhibits A and B below to see what we mean.
Eye acting is a real thing, and there’s an entire discourse surrounding it if you’re either interested or willing to head down that highly specific rabbit hole. However, another pretender to the throne has emerged, with Marvel Cinematic Universe supporters in awe of the ocular awesomeness delivered by Tobey Maguire’s returning Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Indeed, that is some stupendous eye acting. They are the windows into the soul, as you may have heard, and a very underrated aspect of any self-respecting thespian’s onscreen arsenal.
The best way to put it is to compare real actors to the dead-eyed digital creations that haunted Robert Zemeckis’ early performance capture escapades; it was impossible to invest or buy into the emotions being created on the rest of the face during The Polar Express and Beouwulf, because the uncanny valley made it feel as though the characters were staring right through your soul, and into a dimension that still hasn’t been discovered.
The Marvel vs. DC debate will run in perpetuity, but now we can add eye acting to the many subplots bubbling on the back burner.
Published: Jul 2, 2022 11:50 am