He had some notable roles here and there, and he had a bit of a bad boy image in the public eye, but in 1995’s Dead Man Walking, Sean Penn finally got to show a serious amount of depth. He starts out early in the movie fairly subdued, acting tough and guarded. We’re used to seeing a fair amount of expression in his eyes, but here he’s got them lowered at all times, eyebrows in a perma-scowl and lip sneering without remorse. It’s a hardened exterior that Penn pulls out so magnificently that the transformation and eventual redemption of his character is that much more effective; we have to believe that he’s someone who has truly changed his ways, and so a contrast is essential between the Matthew Poncelet we meet at the beginning of the film and the one we see at the end.
By the film’s end, in the scene leading up to Poncelet’s execution, we see this change coming to fruition before our eyes. Penn’s eyes at this point have cast away all defenses and he’s fully engage with the Susan Sarandon character, accepting the philosophy she’s instilled in him and finally reaching out to the parents of his victims just moments before he’s lethally injected. It’s a big acting moment but Penn doesn’t take it too far. He keeps it real, restrained, refrains from speechifying too much, and delivers a final scene that brings the movie together emotionally in the end.
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