MovieChat Forums > The Shadow Line (2012) Discussion > Rafe Spall

Rafe Spall

posted 14 years ago by Batsu73
25 replies | jump to latest

I've noticed Rafe Spall in a bunch of things over the years - Shaun of the Dead, Green Street, Hot Fuzz etc but this has to be his best role to date.

His character, Jay, is a truly memorable pyscho. He is somehow likeable in a boyish way but terrifying underneath. The two scenes in episode 2 with the garage owner and then Andy's pregnant girlfriend were genuinely unsettling.

Someone else mentioned The Killing and Spiral and I think Shadow Line is proving we that UK TV can produce that sort of quality crime drama with a strong cast delivering great performances.

I am a big fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Christopher Ecclestone but I think it is going to be Rafe Spall that gets noticed here.

[–] oakcourt 14 years ago

Totally agree Batsu without disrespecting Chiwetel and Chris, Rafe is just marvellous. I am not a woman who is intimitdated much but wow does he do a good take!

[–] bradjanet 13 years ago

Rafe spall is mesmerising in this,

But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.

[–] MrJohn 14 years ago

Rafe seems to be a subject of contention to a lot of the reviewers.

I think he's brilliantly menacing as Jay; however, we've discussed in my office how close he rides the line between truely scary, and panto villain, (where quite a few people have put him).

But as you say, the scene with Andy's girlfriend was terrifying, I paused it and came back to it - as I honestly believed his character was capable of killing her child.

That's a feeling you don't get with many "bad guy" characters these days, rarely do you find one where you firmly believe that they are capable of doing seriosu harm, or evil to others.

www.strangerinastrangeland.co.uk

[–] oakcourt 14 years ago

Panto villan no. I had occasion to call the police about two weeks ago about what seemed to be rowdy party. To cut a long story short I got some k...b trying to put the frighteners on me whilst I was waiting for the police to arrive (I only called them as it seemed some children were getting upset). This pillock threatened to put my windows and marched right up to me and did his hardman bit by blowing smoke in face. However as the police liaison said people can be more unpredictable these days. In my day it was a good honest fight with hands and a bit of effing and jeffing and the ladies would be left alone not so in this world so I tend to agree and I thought he would hit Andy's partner and cause her to lose the baby too. He's very, very good in this and will make a big name for himself. If you think about it then we have age 40's 30's and 20's actors to watch closely.

[–] Batsu73 14 years ago

Exactly Mr John! When Jay was with Andy's girlfriend I almost wanted to turn over because I really believed he was capable of hitting her to kill the baby and I wasn't keen to see it. I kept watching though but I think I breathed a sigh of relief when that scene finished.

I think the almost cheerful panto villain delivery works well because it strikes such a discordant note with his actions and that incongruity is what makes him a memorable psycho rather than another guy doing his take on Hannibal Lecter.

[–] minifie-1 14 years ago

Rafe over-acts horribly. Could take lessons in true menace from Sam Spruell in 'London to Brighton'. Mr. Rea provides the real chills.

[–] MrJohn 14 years ago

Rea is sinister to be sure and very chilling; however Spall's Jay seems very unhinged and is a genuinely scary character.

I totally get why people think of him as overacting - but having lived through a friend of mine sectioning a (very) violent room mate I can categorically state that characters such as him exist, certainly when there are drugs invovled.

This person went from childlike happiness to trying to throw a breeze block at a pensioner and waking people up in the middle of the night because the TV had told him a band was playing in the local pub, (to name a few incidents).

Spall's mannerisms and speech pattern really remind me of this person and how he could be totally fine, (if a little loopy), one moment and then at your throat the next.

I've yet to see episode 3 - but I would imagine Rea's character comes more into play and perhaps I'll change my mind.

But that wont happen until the weekend.

www.strangerinastrangeland.co.uk

[–] oakcourt 14 years ago

Well seems he's more of a pussy cat than Gatehouse!

[–] Prismark10 14 years ago

Well he has played him broad but Stephen Rea seems to be the standout at the moment.

Its that man again!!

[–] paulwitham 14 years ago

Sorry I think Rafe Spall is a laughable villain, complete with a voice that makes him sound like Bluebottle from the Goons.
It's the quiet ones like Stephen Rea's Gatehouse who you need to be more afraid of,calm on the outside but capable of shocking violence when needed.

[–] bilko-1 14 years ago

Spall's performance is astonishing. Having said that, Stephen Rea is equally good and proves to be as frightening in a completely different way. Excellent series.

[–] Daphnaae 14 years ago

I think the reason Rafe comes across as more frightening is that he's so unpredictable. He's the type that would gladly beat you into a coma just because he thinks you looked at him funny. Reasoning with him would be like trying to reason with a rabid pitbull. Gatehouse, on the other hand, hides his menace under a veneer of civility. It's still there, but at least it comes across as having a sane mind behind it. You might not understand the logic of his actions but there will be some sort of logic to it.

Jay would do it just because it's a day that ends in "y" or some such.

I'd rather be a smartass than a dumb one!

[–] moiness 14 years ago

Exactly! I find his character terrifying because of that unpredictability and the switching between menace and childlike behaviour (and I have worked with young thugs rather like that).

If anything, Gatehouse is more of the Angel of Death - you see him and you know it is game up. I wouldn't want to be Glickman's daughter in law...

One thing I cannot stand is intolerance.

[–] TrevorAclea 14 years ago

Spall's cartoonish turn is the worst thing in the show. While he's not as bad as he was in He Kills Coppers, it's an unconvincing and comic performance that just reminds me of Alan Partridge after he'd been hypnotised into thinking he was a tiger or David Walliams doing his Dennis Waterman shtick in Little Britain ("Wryte thah feme choone, sing thah feme choone..."). He's about as threatening as a packet of Maltesers, which is a huge problem when he's supposed to be the big, bad off-his-rocker loose cannon that has everybody scared. It's also so wildly OTT compared to Ejiofor, Eccleston and Malcolm Storry's performances that it's like they edited in an old Harry Enfield and Chums sketch and hoped nobody would notice. He's not quite bad enough to cripple the show, which has other problems beside his miscasting, , but he does replace the intended sense of danger his character is supposed to represent with (presumably) unintentional comedy every time he reappears.

"Security - release the badgers."

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ThePosterWasMeanToMe 14 years ago

I preferred him in Pete vs Life. I can't see him as a villian at all.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035369/

[–] Squeeth2 14 years ago

I think we'll have to wait for the fourth episode before Spall's character (like the plot) shows his mettle. I'm not surprised that he seems like a pantomime villain to some and as an embodiment of the frighteners to others, since that's what some people are like - a mass of anachronistic body-language (like a visual word-salad). Notice also that Stephen Rea's character is more convincing to the Spall sceptics, a bit like Teddy Bass versus Don Logan or the Minister versus Alex's droogs (once they're in the police). The thing to do is look for the official analogue of Rea's villain; is it Ejiofor's boss, the muckraker's boss or someone yet to appear...?

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] minifie-1 14 years ago

The most amazing thing about Spall's performance is....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................the fact that he hasn't got his kit off. Wide Sargasso Sea, The Chatterley Affair,A Room With a View, time was he was perpetually flashing his knob. Even in Pete Versus Life he normally got stripped off. A Rafe Spall show with no nudity. Harder to accept than his OTT acting or the fact,unless I missed something, that Gatehouse knew how to follow McGovern the journalist. (Actually one of these statements may be more tongue in cheek than the other.)

[–] TrevorAclea 14 years ago

Notice also that Stephen Rea's character is more convincing to the Spall sceptics

No, the character's just as unconvincing - it's just that Rea is a better actor than Spall and can sell it better while Spall is stuck in sitcom territory. As the show progresses he's mutating from David Walliams doing Dennis Waterman to a hideous mutation of Reg Varney and Blakey from On the Buses. If he starts whining "Oi'll get you, Glickman, I'll get you for this!" that'll just seal the deal. The guy's had four episodes and he's still just a bad joke.

"Security - release the badgers."

[–] oakcourt 14 years ago

I'm beginning to think Chris Eccleston's character is a lot darker than we have seen - he has the most to lose in many respects.

[–] twelvepointnine 14 years ago

Spall's character reminds me of Clockwork Orange's Alex. A true psychopath.

Chaos reigns

[–] nooyster 14 years ago

Yes a snickering,leering, mercurial playground bully, who will cruelly mimic your entreaties and trip you up with your own words. Gatehouse will conduct business as efficiently as he sees necessary, but Wratten will humiliate you for as long as his attention span is gratified like a bored cat with a mouse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aObZJN9zDtA&feature=related

[–] the_dirty_bandage 13 years ago

I don't remember Rafe Spall in either of Pegg's films, but I remember him being mentioned alongside Jaime Winstone as two people whose careers were "handed to them."

Oddly enough, while Winstone never really got a chance to shine yet (I don't know if she ever will), Spall has shown, in this programme, the ability to be both subtle and over-the-top, and I think he managed to pull off what he was given wonderfully.

"I rode into town on an ass... yo mama's ass!"

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]