WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
OK, before anyone decides to mention it – I know that War Machine was originally played by Terrence Howard in Iron Man but he was never actually credited as such like Don Cheadle is for the second film. Additionally, Don is the one that continued the role through the MCU. And before anyone asks…no I have no idea why they decided to go with a different actor after the first film…
Swordfish
Unfortunately, I think the audience are lead to believe that Don Cheadle’s character in this film is meant to be more important than he turns out to be. You think he’s going to be a hero and the cop that saves the day – however, this isn’t the case. There is no hero, and I’ll be honest this fact and the opening are the only things I quite liked about the film. If anything, Hugh Jackman’s character of Stanley is closer to being that character than Cheadle is but his acting credentials are being covered in a different article. When I think about it, it reminds me a little of that The Big Bang Theory episode when they realise that Indiana Jones has absolutely no influence over the outcome of Raiders of the Lost Ark because that’s the exact same situation here.
Hotel For Dogs
This… This is my type of feel good film because I absolutely love animals. Anyway, Cheadle’s character of Bernie isn’t that intrinsic to the main plot but the underlying one – now that’s a different story altogether – he’s the hero in that one. Before the ultimate resolution, which I guess is a little predictable, Bernie seems to be the only person that has any faith in Andy and Bruce, doing whatever he can as their social worker to keep them together as well as keeping them out of serious trouble. I guess you could say he is slightly a hero for the dogs too because it is he that speaks up for them at the end, helping to win the hearts of the public. Outside of that, he’s pretty ancillary.
Hotel Rwanda
I want to start this off with a warning – be prepared to cry if you decide to watch this film. It’s heart-breaking to think that this genuinely went on in Rwanda. Part of me thought that the character Don Cheadle plays was created for the film, almost as a safe way for them to be able to tell story without having to pick which side they wanted to focus on. However, it turns out Paul Rusesabagina is a real person and is as much of a Rwandan hero as he is portrayed in the film. Even more so, as according to the film, there were only 100 staff and 800 refugees hiding out in the hotel when in actual fact he was protecting 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees.
Honorary Mentions
Honestly, there were so many films I could have used for this article. From Ocean’s Eleven (which he is surprisingly uncredited) and its two sequels to Crash (which is an amazing film, so if anyone has not seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it) along with the variety of genres featured above, you can see that Don is happy to turn his hand to most things. Interestingly, he is even uncredited for his role in Rush Hour 2.
