Critics Club II: 21 - Mel Gibson

[Neon Ignition]

"This is my voting face, so don't screw with me!"


Mel Gibson




Vote for the movie you feel is their best whilst also discussing their other work, your reasons for voting and thoughts on what is their weakest.

Some will have very long lists so some trimming will be required to focus on the key entries but broadly the main selection will be available each time.

[Asura]

This is an interesting one. Personally as a kid I used to like Maverick. Lethal Weapon is great, but it's the double-act that makes those movies work. Maverick is a good example, I guess, because it's a character movie where Gibson is onscreen for nearly the entire run-time.

[Dogg Thang]

Went for Mad Max 2 because it's a great movie and he is still young enough that I don't just see crazy racist Mel Gibson. Even the Lethal Weapons now, I just see the actor. I don't see the characters any more. His real life antics overtook his movie roles and I can't look past that.

[Neon Ignition]

He is such a massive prat but I can't help but like him on screen, I even liked him in recent stuff like Ex3 and Blood Father. I'm not sure where I sit in terms of his best performance/film though. The Lethal Weapons feel like a natural go to as Braveheart was alright but it's shortfalls are pretty clear. I used to enjoy Forever Young too but it's another that's aged a lot

[Asura]

Went for Mad Max 2 because it's a great movie and he is still young enough that I don't just see crazy racist Mel Gibson. Even the Lethal Weapons now, I just see the actor. I don't see the characters any more. His real life antics overtook his movie roles and I can't look past that.

Is he racist as well? I always knew he was a religious nutter, but that was about it.

IIRC he follows a splinter offshoot of Catholocism that doesn't recognise the last Vatican Council, so he practices Catholicism like they did in the 50s.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah, he’s a racist too. It’s not too pretty either if you go a-googling.

[QualityChimp]

I like Mad Max 2 and Payback.

[Finsbury Girl]

Gallipoli hands down, Maverick, Mad Max 2 and Lethal Weapon equal second.

[dataDave]

I really wanted him in the new Mad Max film. That would have been immense. He could have pulled it off as well I reckon.

[Zaki]

Yeah, he’s a racist too. It’s not too pretty either if you go a-googling.

Wasn't he incredibly pissed?

[Dogg Thang]

Which time? The anti-semetic time or the n-word rant? I've managed to be very, very drunk and not come out with a racist slur. It will only come out when you're drunk if it's a part of your language and the drink takes the edge off your self-restraint.

Hands up who can drink without being racist?

[MartyG]

Gibson's portrayal of Hamlet was actually very good. I'd rate this above Lethal Weapon and Mad Max given these were mostly action based - but we have Shakespeare to thank for the material rather than Shane Black.

[Zaki]

Which time? The anti-semetic time or the n-word rant? I've managed to be very, very drunk and not come out with a racist slur. It will only come out when you're drunk if it's a part of your language and the drink takes the edge off your self-restraint.

Hands up who can drink without being racist?

I didn't realise he had that many rants (off to Google)

[Dogg Thang]

Yep. At least two that I know of (might be just the two). One was when he was arrested for drunk driving - that was the anti-semetic one and was definitely drunk for that one. The other one was a pretty awful one at his wife/ex-wife? on an answering machine, I think. That's where the n-word came out. It's not even just that word - it was in a very unpleasant context.

[Zen Monkey]

Despite his anti semetic remarks and using the word nigger, he might not necessarily be racist. But I think people have different definitions of racism is.

When I was around twenty years old I had two friends who regularly told racist jokes, regularly used the word nigger and, well, generally looked down on people of colour. The three of us would hang out at a video game shop which at some point, hired a fella called John who was of Indian ancestry. As we hung out in the game shop we became friendly with John, and after some time would go to his house to drink, play games and hang out with. Now my two friends would call him a 'Paki' behind his back and continued with their racist jokes but what I noticed is that they never actually treated him differently. They laughed at his jokes, they ate his food, they treated him like any other human being. It's as if their idea of people of colour (which for both my friends, was inherited from their racist fathers) didn't match up with their experience (ie the reality) of people of colour.

To me, those two friends weren't really racist. I believe they believed they were racist, and a lot of other people would regard them as racist too, but racism to me is action, it's not thoughts or opinions or words.