Some time ago, someone wondered here why Sean Bean had been so roundly ignored
by the critics. I did recall that he had NOT been ignored, so over the past
couple of weeks I've been perusing Rottentomatoes.com for comments on our
erstwhile Gondorian captain. To wit:
"Sean Bean deftly portrays the conflicted Boromir, the weak link of the
fellowship who lusts for the ring’s power yet courageously defends his allies.
After McKellen, Bean’s is the most complex and noteworthy performance."
"...and two are humans, played by Viggo Mortensen (“A Perfect Murder”) and Sean
Bean (“GoldenEye”), breaking out of their bad-guy typecasting to provide their
heroes with heart and palpable internal strife."
"...and as for Boromir (Sean Bean), let’s just say that I had never felt the
pathos in his situation before seeing this movie."
"The exchanges among the loyal band —hobbits, dwarves, elves, even men — that
cleaves to Frodo on his voyage to the Land of Shadow are by necessity terse,
but Sean Bean manages to make Boromir a febrile, movingly conflicted warrior.
He thinks he can harness the power of the ring to save his benighted kingdom —
and it’s in his shifty yet longing eyes that its powerful allure is most
clearly reflected."
"Two of the most passionate performances come from Viggo Mortensen as the
courageous Aragorn and Sean Bean as the conflicted warrior Boromir."
"Sean Bean (Don’t Say a Word; GoldenEye) is dead-on as Boromir, noble but
flawed."
"Viggo Mortensen brings the magnetism of an anti-hero to Aragorn, the wandering
outcast king. Like Sean Bean, who is equally impressive as Boromir, Mortensen
gives the sense of a great man in reduced times."
"Aragorn’s conflict with Boromir, given haunting complexity by Bean, strikes at
the essence of brotherhood and roots the film in emotion. It’s emotion that
makes Fellowship stick hard in the memory."
"The death of Boromir, in particular, packs an unexpected wallop; an
apocalyptic event made all the more affecting by Sean Bean’s quietly inspired
performance."
"Sean Bean makes an appropriately virile Boromir."
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"I do like a pretty man with a sword." - Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in
Amber
