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Garlanddeliberately obfuscatesthepoliticsshaping his near-future America, so what something has to do with anything else is usually vague.
One things for sure, though: Plemons is bad news.
Its one of several provocative visuals thatCivil Warconjures throughout its road trip.
But the mass-grave scene stands apart, a feat owing in no small part to Plemonss effortlessly terrifying performance.
Were Americans, Joel pleads after the ultranationalist casually executes one of the Asian journalists.
Plemonss response is him at his most frightening: Hes calm, quiet, thoroughly unpredictable.
Well, what kind of American are you?
Now, Im a huge Plemons-head.
Traditionally, these traits have made him an ideal fit for characters who are fundamentally sweet and sincere.
Scary Jesse Plemons is a dude who immediately puts you on edge.
Of course, Scary Jesse Plemons has quite a history.
The horror of Todd is not entirely dissimilar to the horror of Plemonss ultranationalist inCivil War.
Both draw from the same vein of political horror symbolized by the white American male.
But the likening isnt quite right.
Scary Philip Seymour Hoffman characters can clearly outthink you, but theyre not altogether unreasonable.
In many respects, Plemonss onscreen energy seems to come from the opposite direction.
Its not that he plays men who arent thinkers; theyre just unmovable.
To be in the crosshairs of Scary Jesse Plemons is to be in the radius of a geological disaster.
Game Night(2018) may well be the film that understands this most acutely.
How could that possibly be profitable for Frito-Lay?
The line delivery is perfect.
Once again, Plemonss affect is flat, a little slow, somewhere above a mumble.
He often sounds as if hes eating his words.
In more personable contexts, that speech cadence projects a shy, charming boyishness.
There can also be a certain unreadability to Plemonss face that amps up his more unsettling characters.
Here, the actors inscrutable quality plugs directly into the surreal nature of the work.
That all creates an air of ambient horror, but the films most destabilizing layer is Jake himself.
Hes awkward, quiet, extremely inward-folding.
Whats going on with him?
Whats going on behind those red college-bro sunglasses?
Well, let me tell ya: You probably dont want to know.
This, perhaps, is the molten heart of Scary Jesse Plemons characters.
When they appear, what you see is a kind of all-American horror.
