10 Awesome Performances In Otherwise Awful 2017 Movies

10. Shia LaBeouf – Man Down

Starring Shia LaBeouf as a PTSD-stricken US Marine who returns home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan only to find his hometown ravaged by some sort of apocalypse and his wife and son missing, director Dito Montiel’s latest effort Man Down attempts to offer thoughtful commentary about the traumas soldiers face both on the battlefield and back home through its blending of a smorgasbord of genres including war film, family drama, sci-fi dystopia and psychological study.

But like a poor man’s Jacob’s Ladder, Montiel goes about it rather cack-handedly focusing more on genre-bending and a multitude of muddled narratives than providing any meaningful messages about combat-induced PTSD and ending with a supposed twist that anyone with a few IQ points could see coming a mile off.

LaBeouf – who is prone to making some rather dubious career choices as Man Down shows – does the best he can despite the movie’s many flaws, giving a committed and emotional performance as his character’s mental state gradually deteriorates. Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t do his fine acting any justice