10.17.2015

Marvel Inhumans: Vin Diesel as Black Bolt?

     Am I the only person that thinks that Diesel is completely wrong for the role?  I've been reading the Inhumans for a very long time, before the exceedingly well done Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee series, which is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the Inhumans.

"..." - Black Bolt.
     The way I figure it, Black Bolt needs to be a regal and imposing figure, he is the King of the Inhumans after all.  Diesel can do imposing but I don't think he can do the regal.  I have extremely large doubts that Diesel could portray someone with as much aristocratic ability as Blackagar Boltagon.  Besides, if you've seen any films he's acted in, not just voiced, his physical acting is too clunky.  He comes across as a slab of beef that clobbers his way through life.  It'd be akin to using a machete when a scalpel is the far more appropriate tool.  Black Bolt is a very complex character, one that needs acting skills much keener than Diesel's awful display of pantomime from IGN's "Black Bolt Audition" video below.


     This is a case where Marvel should go a different route.  I think they should make him very alien in his look, like the Black Bolt of the Earth X Universe (pictured below), and make him a CG character that is motion captured by an actor of Andy Serkis' caliber, or even someone like insanely talented actor Doug Jones.  Jones once said about working in heavy suits, prosthetics, and makeup, "I have to make that a part of my being and my physicality and again, acting is a full body experience and that's a part of it when you're doing a costumed character."
     This is where Diesel has, so far, failed quite spectacularly.  He has never shown the subtlety or nuance necessary for a role without speaking like this.  Black Bolt is a role that absolutely requires a perfect capture of someone that can emote with only the most minute facial expressions and body language.  It's a character we must believe can inspire his people just by being there and sending them a message with the merest nod.  Diesel's ham-handed skills have never given the impression that he can handle such delicate work like this.  Granted, I could be wrong, and Diesel may have gotten much, much better as an actor, but we'll have to wait and see.

     Inhumans is slated for a July 12th, 2019 release.

1 comment: