Sean Penn makes stubbornness unusually watchable. We rate him most highly opposite an actor who makes him work; when every movement announces the character, as in One Battle After Another, the comedy can overwhelm the menace.
Fi1m perspective
Sean Penn gives Colonel Lockjaw an exaggerated jaw and a walk so awkward that it is hard to take the man seriously. In Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another (2025), Colleen Atwood's rigidly starched uniform makes the joke still broader. We enjoy the performance, but Anderson also needs Lockjaw to frighten us, and Penn's exaggerated movement makes that difficult. It is a conspicuous weakness in a film we otherwise recommend warmly.
His breakthrough as Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) is worth remembering before reducing him to a specialist in troubled men. The 1990s established him as a leading actor, with roles in Carlito's Way (1993) and Dead Man Walking (1995). The emotional acting in Mystic River (2003) shows how emphatic he can become, while Milk (2008) makes use of his physical and vocal transformation. We are more interested in what happens when another performer makes him listen.
Tim Robbins gets more from him in Dead Man Walking by giving him Susan Sarandon to resist. Penn's Matthew Poncelet is unpleasant without becoming a set of nasty habits, while Sarandon makes Sister Helen Prejean's willingness to listen look like hard work. We were moved by their encounters because neither actor makes the effort of staying in the conversation seem easy. Roger Deakins's cinematography concentrates on the performers without making them look grand, allowing Penn's stubbornness to register without turning each exchange into a demonstration of acting.
Robbins's screenplay occasionally arranges its opposing views too neatly, and the performances do not make that weakness disappear. Penn and Sarandon do make the meetings awkward enough to prevent the discussion becoming merely an exercise. By comparison, Florencia Martin's empty office for Lockjaw and Penn's rigid uniform keep reinforcing a joke we have already understood. We would like more directors to trust him in a difficult conversation before adding another conspicuous character habit. Start with Dead Man Walking, and give Sarandon an equal share of the attention.
Biography
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor and filmmaker. He made his feature film debut in Taps (1981) and appeared in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Bad Boys (1983) and At Close Range (1986).
Penn won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008). He received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another (2025). He made his directorial debut with The Indian Runner (1991) and later directed Into the Wild (2007).
He has also appeared in The Game (1997), 21 Grams (2003) and Licorice Pizza (2021).
