It's the classic story, really. You get your script, your director, your crew, your big star...and the rest is forgotten in the blink of an eye. Never mind the little people, the sorties, the technicals....and the actors who actually deliver a masterstroke you miss.
Or perhaps the other classic story. Lead actor comes good, but nobody expects or wants it. Either way, a film's nature or build can eclipse the truly wonderful work going on in front of it. I've picked out ten performances that deserve some real due despite being either overshadowed or dismissed by soundbite at the sound of.
10. Sylvester Stallone in Cop Land
In 1996 a little known police crime thriller came out and moderately amused the critics who said they liked the idea. Sure, it had a decent script, good director and excellent premise. Not to mention a supporting cast that included Robert De Niro, Harvey Kietel and Ray Liotta. But it also had Stallone as the lead, so it could never be accepted.
What did Stallone do for this role, after all? He was the figurehead of a half dozen Rocky's and a bunch of Rambo's. What does he know about acting?
Well, in fact he put on weight, dropped his action man stances and played to a tee a half deaf, naive sheriff who is brushed off by being posted to a village lived in by real NYPD cops, who befriend but never respect him.
But, being who he is, he obviously tried hard but failed to carry the picture? After all, he's since stated he regrets doing the film.
No. Stallone demonstrates the skill and passion he showed in the first Rocky (which he wrote) back in 79, throwing himself into a slightly pathetic character with good intentions but easily swayed, until it matters. It sounds like the classic drunk Sheriff in the old Westerns, but he manages to mutate his amiability so you route for Freddy Heflin, not Sly, and end up despising the ovetures of Harvey and his pack.
It's easy to say this is just Stallone acting, nothing more, but he's bloody good at it too. His conversation with Annabella Sciorra about marriage is in itself a demonstration of the Stallion's chops.
More than an action hero? Perhaps not. Capable of more? Absolutely. When Stallone regretted Cop Land, it wasn't because he was bad. It was because he didn't sell. Depressing alot?
9. Tom Cruise in Valkyrie
In 2008, the Razzers, aka The Golden Raspberry awards, handed crazy scientologist Tom Cruise a nomination for worst actor for an apparently self riteous film, and we all laughed. At this point, one time Golden Boy was at his most crazy with his religion and stuff!
After all, despite it being over twenty years since his big break, he couldn't act because of his religion, and on top of that he was in a self-riteous film and all was terrible and worthy of scorn...
Once again, I side with the underdog due to evidence. I reserve my personal opinion of Cruise and Scientology, because I judge an actor on his peformance. And if we are to trust the Razzies, just remember they handed a Worst Director nom to Kubrick for The Shining. That's self explanatory.
In a film where an ensemble cast bare their best, Cruise proves that he isn't just the Hollywood leading man. He tops an unfashionable film and delivers a silent intergrity, an unspoken confidence true of a man like Von Stauffenberg, Teutonic by descent and honourable by nature.
Whereas in Magnolia, his best performance, he is loud and arrogant, here his greatest moments are quiet ones, building the legacy on screen of a real life man who deserves massive respect. Over the top off screen he may be, but on it he is still a performer who can hit the mark. And in this case, more so than expected.
8. Gabriel Byrne in End of Days
For all we love the Terminators and Predators, we all secretly acknowledge that Schwarzenegger will be little good. Which sometimes is a shame.
After all, Total Recall raised ambiguity, and James Caan showed up in one of the crappiest nineties actioners. But by far the worst crime is against Gabriel Byrne, best known to audiences as Dean Keaton in The Usual Suspects. A serious, intense, versatile and talented actor, Byrne's main claim is Bryan Singer's spawn of brilliance and some Daniel Day-Lewis filn.
In End of Days, a proper horror flick until Arnie became involved, there's an intriguing story of Satan's urge to procreate and corruption within the church, and the millenium and blah blah blah. Point is, a vaguely intresting premise led by a Hollywood actioner looking old.
The one silver lining is Byrne, who delivers possibly the most authentic devil in film history. He's dark, charming and ruthless and also talkative, seemingly reasoning and very nearly sympathetic.
For an actor to play the part of evil incarnate and somehow encourage routing, victory is insured. Plus he looks the part.
7. Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight
When you consider The Dark Knight, you think of Heath Ledger's Joker, and the coughy Christian Bale's performance. But at the heart, serving the whole point is an honest but vulnerable D.A, Harvey Dent.
While Tim Burton's Batman showed the politician, and Batman Forever the recast end results, The Dark Knight charts his downfall from excellent, smart and motivated power man to revenge seeker, injured and with two faces, feeding off his pain, both physical and emotional as a result of his lover's death.
While the accolades and attention went elsewhere, Eckhart delivers a superb transfortmation, going from likeable lawman to angry justice seeker in natural seamlesness.
Even in the end scene, with Harvey placed as the ultimate evil, you still sympathise with his human turned chaotic plight, and the foreshadowed Roman tragedy piece is best represented by his anguish at the failure of his efforts and the corruption of those he took on. It's a truly heartbreaking conclusion.
6. Brad Pitt in Se7en
It's hard to imagine Brad Pitt as anything other than a hearthrob (hence the awful movies) but at one point he was a serious actor, delivering very serious matter in Twelve Monkeys and A River Runs Through It, and comedic stuff in True Romance and An Interview with a Vampire. And he actually got an Oscar nom during this phase (more on that later...).
In 1995 he starred in a distasteful masterpiece named Seven, or Se7en, where he understood an amazing project, to the point where he fought to maintain the vision of Fincher and writer Andrew Kevin Walker, threatening to quit if a happy ending was slapped on.
He plays a cocky, ignorant but also idealistic newcomer detective in the film, willing to challenge the older and long suffering Morgan Freeman. And he hits each mark to the key you want for.
Arrogant? Yes. Ignorant? A little. The transition? Absolutely.
And Pitt played an unsympathetic character right down to the labels, an attempted miltant next generation in control and with empathy by his side, feeding off his emotions and occasionally displaying an immaturity not befitting his skills as a detective.
But ultimately he is an idealist in a far from ideal world, with views that will be altered by real and offical exchange. But he's the perfect foil for Somerset's cynical outlook.
Good choices, particularly Tom Cruise who as you say everyone likes to ridicule but in the right role brings an intensity to his portrayal that is hard to compare. He's also excellent in A Few Good Men.
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