MovieChat Forums > Joseph Mazzello Discussion > My opinion of Mazzello's acting in 'The ...

My opinion of Mazzello's acting in 'The Pacific' was lukewarm at best...

posted 14 years ago by lvrepoman
1 reply | jump to latest

...until Episode 9 came out.

Having read the book written by the real Eugene Sledge, I think I had constructed a pretty good picture of the young Sledge and knew what Mazzello's task was as an actor for this series. In all honesty, the first few episodes he was in were somewhat of a disappointment for me.

Then came Episode 9. For whatever it is worth, I think Mazzello nailed the role of a decent man turned bloodthirsty killer. The Sledge in Episode 9 is a man who has truly learned the lesson that all the things he once held dear about humanity have absolutely no value is the sort of combat he in which he finds himself immersed. What is more, Mazzello does not appear to need any lines to communicate that he has entered an animalistic, kill-or-be-killed state of mind. One look at him and you know exactly what he is thinking.

For my money, the great performance of the series remain Malek's Snafu, but on the strength of Episode 9 alone, I believe Mazzello has earned a great deal of respect and I hope that we get to see a lot more of him in the future.

"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak

[–] pirouette028 14 years ago

While I agree that Episode 9 was his best performance of the series, I disagree that it was lukewarm overall. I thought he was consistently great thorughout the entire thing. In fact, I became a fan of the series because of his performance.

I was a casual viewer during the first few episodes. I would record it and watch it later in the week when I had time and didn't really pay much attention to it. Leckie and Basilone's stories were interesting, but I wasn't emotionally drawn to the characters. That changed when Eugene Sledge stepped foot on the beach at Peleliu. From that episode on, I was riveted to my couch every Sunday. There was just something intriguing and incredibly heartbreaking about watching Eugene go from an innocent kid who enjoyed war stories, to desperately clinging to the last thread of his sanity, to finally pulling himself back from the brink of losing his humanity. Joe breathed life into that character, and it was because of him that Sledge and his story were so compelling for me.

I do agree with you about Rami Malek though. He was fantastic as Snafu and if anyone is going to get nominated for an emmy from this series, it should be him. I am putting my money on both Malek and Mazzello getting recognized for this. The two of them ended up becoming the backbone of the entire series.