With The Martian landing to glowing reviews, we take a look at the best and worst of the Boston actor’s career so far.
How do you like these apples?
The five best:
The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum
We’re throwing these three in together because they’re each of a similar, brilliant standard. If anything the Bourne series got better as it went along (until the stuttering Legacy, anyway, but Damon had nothing to do with that).
Damon’s haunted portrayal of the central character, as well as Paul Greengrass’s direction, redefined the action genre and without Bourne we would probably not have Daniel Craig’s current incarnation of a grittier, more vulnerable James Bond.
The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio got the show pony role and he’s excellent in Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller, but Damon – as a villain among villains – more than holds his own with the less sympathetic of the two central snitches.
Not his most memorable performance by any stretch, but he anchors the film as Colin Sullivan and plays off Jack Nicholson psychopathic mob boss perfectly.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Anthony Minghella’s stylish drama about deception, forgery and murder gave us Damon as a macabre, two-faced dilettante – as far away from Will Hunting as it was possible to get – and a man who would do anything to climb the social ladder.
Damon’s performance nearly, but not quite, makes us want him to get away with the crimes he commits.
“Damon is at once an obvious choice for the part and a hard sell to audiences soothed by his amiable boyishness… the facade works surprisingly well when Damon holds that gleaming smile just a few seconds too long, his Eagle Scout eyes fixed just a blink more than the calm gaze of any non-murdering young man. And in that opacity we see horror,” was Entertainment Weekly’s take when the film was released in 1999.
True Grit
The best Coen Brothers film since The Big Lebowski, and Damon’s funniest performance as a Texas ranger with something of a speech impediment.
That’s a massive call, given the brilliance of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and No Country For Old Men, but we’re sticking to it.
Good Will Hunting
Somehow we’re staring down the barrel of this film’s 20th anniversary. Written by Damon and Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting is one of the best films of the 1990s and also features the standout performance of Robin Williams’ career.
Damon’s tortured genius is one of the most layered roles in recent cinema and the movie itself escapes every opportunity to fall into cliché.
Oh, and how do you them apples?
The five worst:
The Monuments Men
Like Saving Private Ryan (also starring Damon, coincidentally) with a walking stick, a great cast couldn’t make up for the lack of mobility in George Clooney’s flop.
Such a shame, given the cast of Clooney, Damon, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman and Bob Balaban. Could have been around 173 times better.
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Described as flawed and racially insensitive, this bogey of a golf film at least has the best character name of Damon’s career. He plays Rannulph Junuh, a former golf prodigy haunted by yadda yadda yadda and helped by Will Smith’s something something yeah yeah yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwDlnZM3R9o
Not even good for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Promised Land
A recent misfire, along with We Bought A Zoo, that can thankfully now be consigned to cinematic history given the success of The Martian. Damon plays a corporate lackey who is gradually won over by a plucky townspeople determined to stop their land from falling into the hands of ‘the man.’
Watch the trailer and rest assured that it’s just a rehash of Erin Brockovich without an ounce of that film’s verve.
“We’re not fighting for land, Steve, we’re fighting for PEOPLE!”
Ah, g’way out of that. Fight harder to make a decent film.
We Bought A Zoo
Cameron Crowe made Say Anything, Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire. He also made Elizabethtown, Aloha and We Bought A Zoo, which we forgot we had seen around 25 minutes after leaving the cinema.
It’s not terrible, it’s just so bloody tedious, saccharine and inevitable. Like much of its director’s latter day output.
Ocean’s Twelve
More is less. Much less. We still get the night terrors thinking about Julia Roberts’ meta moment and most of the cast, including Damon, look embarrassed to be there.
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