Nick Nolte - No Middle Ground

After revisiting this movie after not having seen it in its entirety in a number of years - possibly more than a decade - one of the things that really stood out to me was the fact that there was just no middle ground to Nick Nolte's acting - he'd go from calm to a temper tantrum in nothing flat, and then he'd chill out in nothing flat. I found that to be a bit disconcerting.

A prime example of this is at the hospital where he comes out of Savannah's room outraged that she's in restraints as well as the fact that she's heavily seadated. Lowenstein meets force with force....and then all of a sudden he's all chill, like he hadn't just made a big scene. This is a pattern that happens throughout the movie.

I don't know if it's because Nolte couldn't crecendo and decreceno, or if he purposefully did it that way to show that underneath Tom's mostly calm exterior, there was great turmoil underneath, just threatening to explode at the least provocation.

Thoughts?

"My name is Gladiator"