Renaissance Man Essay

759 Words2 Pages

Throughout the Renaissance Man movie, Mark Wahlberg’s character is criticized for having a total lack of rhythm and as a consequence to this he is left without a part in the rap about Hamlet. Ironically, Wahlberg was, at one point in time, a popular hip hop rapper. This just serves as one oddity to the film. Although this is not a critical detail to the plot of the movie, it begs the question as to why Wahlberg plays the character he does. The film’s casting agents must have thought he would work well playing a defensive yet goofy young soldier that joins the Army to escape small town U.S.A. for a chance to protect his country. Wahlberg's character is only one unique part of the film, there are many other factors that went into the making …show more content…

The movie has a star studded cast with actors and actresses like Danny DeVito, Mark Wahlberg, Stacey Dash, James Remar, Gregory Hines, and Richard T. Jones. Playing a tired, divorced, and jobless middle aged man, Danny DeVito, adds a comical twist to a seemingly boring character named Bill Rago. After some time of living off his unemployment checks, Rago finds himself on a local military base working to improve the intelligence of nine young recruits. At first, the class appears to be a lost cause until he stumbles into teaching them the Shakespearean classic Hamlet. As his students start to develop into what Bill knows they can become, he encounters multiple obstacles in the form of student mistakes and a drill sergeant’s …show more content…

Bill Rago begins the film as a grumpy, lonely, and unemployed man that has a bad relationship with his only daughter, Emily and has no passion for anything in his miserable life. By the end of the story, Rago has completely turned his life around with a group of friends, passion for his job, renewed relationship with his daughter, and potential girlfriend. Next, we move on to the antagonistic figure in the film, Sergeant First Class Lou Cass. He starts off as a stereotypical stern Army figure that has no respect for what Bill Rago is trying to teach his students, through them studying Shakespeare. Rago and Cass are not shy with expressing their dislike for each other but over the course of the film they develop a mutual respect for each other and eventually a friendship. Lastly, the group of students Bill is tasked with teaching basic comprehension shows the most dramatic change over the course of the movie. They start off as a ragtag group of recruits from an assortment of backgrounds, each of them looking to escape their past or gain a meaning future. By the end of the movie the the pupils have gained a new sense of pride, initiative, and determination. Overall, the film displays an array of characters that change their ways to improve their lives and ways. Although the film tells a heartwarming story, my only criticism is how the it jumps from

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