So, you should know the story of Mel Gibson by now, and if not, there’s always Wikipedia for all the ins and outs, but basically he went from being one of the biggest actor/writer/director/producer on the planet to a pariah. A nasty divorce fueled by tabloid leaks, and not helped by his own behaviour found him exiled in Hollywood thanks to his sexist remarks and perceived anti-Semitism. He’s tried to quietly re-establish his name in the uneven dramedy “The Beaver” and the straight-to-VOD actioner “Get The Gringo,” but audiences and critics resisted, and that’s not to mention the near full cast revolt that happened when Todd Phillips cast the actor in “The Hangover Part II” (he was replaced by Nick Cassavetes). But could his career be back on track by embracing the fact that people generally aren’t in love with him anymore?
It may seem so. The actor is already going to appear as the bad guy in this fall’s “Machete Kills,” and now it looks like he’s going to exercise his unlikeable quality once again, as Showbiz 411 reports he’ll be villain in “The Expendables 3.” It sorta makes sense for Gibson to roll with Sylvester Stallone and his buds, since he came to fame in the same era as those guys, breaking out with “Mad Max.” And again, it’s a clever way to play on his public persona for a quick “ha ha look Mel Gibson is the bad guy” and then have some schadenfreude as we watch him get wasted.
But is this truly the start of a career comeback? Somehow we doubt it. Even audiences will tire of Gibson stunt casting, which already feels played out to some degree, even though “Machete Kills” and “The Expendables 3” are yet to hit screens. A full career rehab is going to require a bit more than sneer-smirking through some action movie sequels, but they’ll be minor pleasures to witness on the big screen for now.