MovieChat Forums > Michael Kelly Discussion > House of Card's strongest character.

House of Card's strongest character.


I swear fo' Jeebus I haven't seen such a ruthless 'human' character in a series in all my life. Kelly takes understatement to its next natural plateau in this role. His ruthlessness as a Hatchet Man contrasted against his interactions with Rachel the Hooker are sublimely balanced. Every other character in this show pigeon-holes themselves to one degree or another, (even his in the first few episodes) but as soon as we see his AA monologue this character shows more depth than the rest of the show combined. The intensity of his performance is worth a long career.

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I couldn't agree more! I came here to see if anybody else felt the same.

His presence is so powerful, he manages to draw a considerable amount of focus without even being around all that much and doing this with Kevin Spacey around isn't a small feat. I think one of the things that done it for me though is how Underwood succumbed to Doug's will on a few occasions, as though there is implicit trust and respect from Underwood towards Doug. Having a powerful man like that listening to you means you've gotta be pretty *beep* hot.

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I agree, he is mesmerizing to watch.

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Perfectly summed up by the first two posters, he was great in Person of Interest but he is fantastic in House of Cards, I agree about the level of respect between Underwood and Stamper. Underwood who is a powerful no nonsense guy trusts Stamper to do his bidding. Great performance by Michael Kelly in this and I hope to see him in bigger roles in the future!

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He is really good. Such a d*ck on this show too but he's always done it well. Season 2 he was more of a nut than usual, great acting.


Nothing is as it seems so I wouldn't judge by what you think you see.

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I just started watching HOC a couple weeks ago, so it's all fresh to me. His character doesn't seem nearly as ruthless at Frank. Seems like Stamper was dispatched to silence (kill?) Rachel, but just couldn't find it in himself to kill her. Stamper actually seems like he has jut a bit of empathy--unlike Frank.

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