WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
OK, so technically LL Cool J was a rapper not a singer but I need to keep some consistency between my articles. I say this a lot but I genuinely wasn’t that into LL’s music growing up – apart from Control Myself which he performed with J.Lo.
Last Holiday
I’ll be honest, the fact that LL Cool J plays the love interest in this film I slightly expected him to play a larger part, however, what I find refreshing about this is that instead of it being Georgia chasing him because she’s interested – like the usual romantic comedy style – it is his character of Shaun chasing her, asking her on a date. I find it beautiful, even if a little predictable, that he follows her to the Grandhotel Pupp, in the Czech Republic, because again, a lot of the time it is the woman that follows the man instead of the other way around. I actually love the fact that when he is carrying Georgia (played by Queen Latifah), after she knocks herself unconscious, he actually has the decency to stop and lean on something like he’s struggling – not that I don’t believe for a minute that he wouldn’t actually be able to carry her!
Slow Burn
I don’t know if this is weird or not but I actually recognised LL Cool J the moment he came on the screen by his walk! The shot is from behind as he walks upstairs into the police station and I automatically knew it was him. What I find brilliant about his role is that, truthfully, he is only thrown into the mix to put doubt in Ford Cole’s mind over Nora’s story of being raped. The power he holds in that interrogation room is something else because Chet Price gives him everything he wants. OK, it is revealed that he used to be a cop so that could be why he knows how to work the room. Also, he’s no Morgan Freeman but he does pretty good voiceovers. I’ll say this much though, I was just as fooled as they were – thinking LL was actually Danny.
Deep Blue Sea
I’m not even going to hide it, I absolutely love this film. It’s one of those films I can watch again and again without getting bored. More importantly, LL Cool J, probably has the best role as Preacher – especially when it comes to his interactions with the parrot. They’ve even given some of the best lines in the whole film “Like black men don’t have enough ways to get killed without climbing up some stupid ass mountain in the middle of God’s nowhere! You leave that to the white folks! Brother!” or “You ate my bird!” – the second one is so simple and it is one of those action one-liners that people expect to be super cool and can be pretty cheesy, but it’s neither of those. Preacher definitely adds comedy to this film.
Honorary Mentions
I’m sure he hasn’t become best known for this, but a large part of LL’s acting career has been playing Sam Hanna in NCIS: Los Angeles (and cameos in Hawaii 5.0). Early in his career, he also starred alongside one of the comedy greats, Robin Williams, in Toys. He has turned up as minor characters in an episode of House MD and 30 Rock – the latter I expected him be playing himself instead of a rapper named Ridikolus.
