In praise of Robert Patrick
An Unlikely Heartthrob
OK, he can be a little scary-looking, and tends to play unsympathetic murderers, angry fathers, and killer robots from the future. An icy-blue death stare is usually not what I look for in a man. His ears are a little bit demonic. When he was in his early 40s, his face was already super-wrinkly (is THAT what a man without plastic surgery looks like?) He has gone on record admitting that the vast majority of the movies he’s been in are total crap. But Robert Patrick is dreamy!
I’ve been watching The X-Files in order for the first time since the show was on the air. I finally made it to the eighth season, and it’s even better than I remembered. A lot of people got disgusted by the show’s 7th season and stopped watching. The easiest way for a great TV show to turn into a terrible parody of its former self is to lose one of its main characters, and the loss of a lead as charismatic and good-looking as David Duchovny should have put The X-Files in its grave once and for all. But the show’s writers created a new male character that was a stark contrast to Agent Mulder. Robert Patrick plays John Doggett, an ex-Marine and former New York City cop. He’s full of no-nonsense advice and dry one-liners. It only took about three shows of the 8th season for me to be totally won over by him.
I think the exact moment when I fell in love with him was when Scully is trapped in a bedroom by the crazy cult members, and the prophet slug is crawling up her spine and trying to get in her brain, and Doggett busts the door down and grabs Scully around the waist (all semi-conscious and sweaty) and carries her out. That’s such a softcore romance cliché, but sometimes that stuff works.
I can’t really recommend any of Robert Patrick’s films. He turns up as a character actor in small roles constantly, but is never the lead in anything good. Actually he played the lead in “The Cool Surface,” which is pretty decent in spite of being a total B-movie. He’s a good actor and has really great range, which is probably why nobody quite remembers who he is or even recognizes him half the time. I’d love to run into him on the street – he’s in solid “Hey, it’s that guy” territory and would probably be terribly impressed that I know him by name.
OK, he can be a little scary-looking, and tends to play unsympathetic murderers, angry fathers, and killer robots from the future. An icy-blue death stare is usually not what I look for in a man. His ears are a little bit demonic. When he was in his early 40s, his face was already super-wrinkly (is THAT what a man without plastic surgery looks like?) He has gone on record admitting that the vast majority of the movies he’s been in are total crap. But Robert Patrick is dreamy!
I’ve been watching The X-Files in order for the first time since the show was on the air. I finally made it to the eighth season, and it’s even better than I remembered. A lot of people got disgusted by the show’s 7th season and stopped watching. The easiest way for a great TV show to turn into a terrible parody of its former self is to lose one of its main characters, and the loss of a lead as charismatic and good-looking as David Duchovny should have put The X-Files in its grave once and for all. But the show’s writers created a new male character that was a stark contrast to Agent Mulder. Robert Patrick plays John Doggett, an ex-Marine and former New York City cop. He’s full of no-nonsense advice and dry one-liners. It only took about three shows of the 8th season for me to be totally won over by him.
I think the exact moment when I fell in love with him was when Scully is trapped in a bedroom by the crazy cult members, and the prophet slug is crawling up her spine and trying to get in her brain, and Doggett busts the door down and grabs Scully around the waist (all semi-conscious and sweaty) and carries her out. That’s such a softcore romance cliché, but sometimes that stuff works.
I can’t really recommend any of Robert Patrick’s films. He turns up as a character actor in small roles constantly, but is never the lead in anything good. Actually he played the lead in “The Cool Surface,” which is pretty decent in spite of being a total B-movie. He’s a good actor and has really great range, which is probably why nobody quite remembers who he is or even recognizes him half the time. I’d love to run into him on the street – he’s in solid “Hey, it’s that guy” territory and would probably be terribly impressed that I know him by name.
posted by ginsoakedgirl at 1:56 PM
2 Comments:
I love R.P. too! In fact, towards the end of my chronological X-Files watching phase, I would've taken his side in a Doggett vs. Mulder death match. Mulder was kind of a pussy after he came back from the dead. The best Doggett episode is the one where he gets shot by that guy who's able to traverse dimensions. And I can semi-recommend two of Robert's movies: Terminator 2 and CopLand. Oh, and Walk the Line! Go Robert Patrick!!!
Hilarious, you're absolutely right about the death match! I was all into Mulder & Scully hooking up, but by the time Doggett rolls around I stopped caring whether Mulder would even show up. It's weird, I forgot how much I was into R.P. back when The X-Files was on the air. He even occupied several pages of my celebrity mantra flipbook. Where the heck is that thing anyway?
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