Let's start first with Bryan Cranston's performance. When watching this movie, I think it would be easy for someone to overlook just how good he is. 85% of the movie is Cranston sitting in a room talking to himself, and yet he is able to bring such dimension and drama to it. He makes it look so easy and natural, and that's why it would be easy to overlook his performance. He absolutely carries the film, and it does not work without his ability as an actor. Jennifer Garner is also really good in this movie, however she is absolutely outshined by how brilliant Cranston is. Her role was also minute enough that really anyone could have played her character, whereas I don't think just anyone could have played Howard Wakefield. What struck me most about Wakefield was how much of a character study it was. It was actually more of a situational study. What does an average human being reduce themselves to when stripped of all their possessions? When they become entirely deprogrammed from society? This idea has been explored before, in films like Cast Away, but never quite in this way...
