Sam Neill RIP

Sam Neill could add class and gravitas to just about anything, while also maintaining a wry sense of humor in even the most serious roles. I don’t think that Jurassic Park works without his “are you fucking kidding me?” attitude towards the whole experience. He brings the same kind of energy to The Hunt for Red October, which is my favorite among all of his performances. Ramius’ plan to defect is genuinely insane by any standard of mental soundness, but Neill’s Borodin manages to leaven that insanity enough to make the audience feel that it just might work. It’s a nice parallel to Scott Glenn’s performance in the same film. He was great in a host of other things, some of which are quite unwatchable except for him (Omen III, Event Horizon). He will be missed.

Photo Credit: By sean.koo – Sam Neill, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37893590