There are only a few celebrity deaths that have truly
affected me. These deaths come in the
form of people that I not only respect, but people who feel like they have been
a part of my life through my formative years and into these early years of my adulthood. It is as though they have always been there
for me. When they pass away, there is a
hole left behind in my heart.
This whole thought process was brought on by the passing of
one Paul Walker. He passed away on
November 30th, 2013 at the age of 40. He was the passenger in a car on leaving a
charity event when he was killed in an accident. He left behind a daughter.
You might be thinking that I’m overreacting by saying that
I’m torn up by the death of Paul Walker, but I am. As I alluded to, he was practically a part of
my life from a young age. I grew up on
his movies. I remember being thirteen or
so, and my parents let me pick a few DVDs to buy one day while we were
out. The three that I remember getting
were Red Dragon, Final Destination, and Joy Ride. Joy Ride quickly became one of my most
watched movies. The story of two
brothers riding the highway and being terrorized by a truck driver entertained
me to no end. My obsession with the
movie as a teenager may have spawned my interest in other Paul Walker
movies. This is not to say that the DVD
was the first time that I had seen the movie.
I watched it whenever it was on one of the movie channels.
Anyway, I also watched The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2
Furious, and Varsity Blues a lot at that age.
Maybe not so much 2 Fast 2 Furious, but I enjoy the other two quite a
lot. The Fast and the Furious is the
movie that people most associate Paul Walker with. Well, the entire franchise, I guess. He’s the main character of the first two, and
the second lead of four through six. His
character is/was integral to the series and it’ll be hard to imagine it
continuing without him. Sure, Tokyo
Drift didn’t have him, but after Fast Five and Furious Six, it’s hard to think
that they can possibly do the movies without him any longer.
As I went through my teen years, I saw some of the other
Paul Walker movies such as Pleasantville, The Skulls, She’s All That, Into the
Blue, and Running Scared. Running Scared
was one of the first times that I borrowed a movie from a friend in order to
watch it. That’s a memory that cannot be
changed. It’s a big moment in the life
of a movie fan. There are moments like
discovering a great director/actor, first movie memory, first theater memory,
the first movie you bought yourself, the first movie you borrowed… Running
Scared got to be one of those milestones in my movie watching life.
Ever since my puberty years, Paul Walker has been a part of
my life. I’ve watched most of his
movies. I’ve enjoyed most of those
movies. I’ve enjoyed Paul Walker in all
of the movies. The guy looked like he
was enjoying his time on screen as much as I was. He took so much pleasure in being in
movies. He was so excited to make
entertainment for people to watch. This
excitement bled through the screen and touched the audience. Anyone who saw a Paul Walker movie became
more energized thanks to Paul Walker’s on screen personality. He was a joy to watch and will be greatly
missed.
In honor of Paul Walker, I sat down and watched his first
movie. The movie was called Monster in
the Closet. It was released in 1985 by
Troma. I’m not going to review the movie
because that’s not necessary. I just
want to say that it was a delight to see Paul Walker as a child. He still looked like the Paul Walker that we
knew and loved. He had that smile that
lit up the screen at his young age. His
performance was pretty good. It’s easy
to see how he went on to have a successful future.
Paul Walker was one of those people who could lift anything
he was in from the low level that it could have been. It was due to the energy he brought into
whatever movie he was starring in. If
you’ve ever seen a Paul Walker movie, you know what I’m talking about. He might not have been the greatest actor, but
he always seemed to be having fun and we would have fun watching it. The loss of Paul Walker is a loss to the
overall joy of cinema. I’ll miss his
smile and his eagerness. I’ll miss Paul
Walker.
There are a few quick notes I’m going to put in here:
- One of the actors in Monster in the Closet was Ritchie Montgomery, who was also in Playing for Keeps.
- Monster in the Closet was added as a second movie for this week. The other movie that is scheduled this week is The Christmas Consultant.
- If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments or tell me on Twitter. I know nobody ever does this, but I feel the need to repeat it every post anyway. Or just leave a comment. I like comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment