12 Awesome Performances In Otherwise Awful 2016 Movies

12. Mark Rylance – The BFG

Steven Spielberg’s big budget take on the Roald Dahl book of the same name tells the tale of young orphan girl Sophie and her adventures in Giant Country with the eponymous Big Friendly Giant. Roald Dahl movie adaptations can be decidedly hit or miss: we’ve seen great films like Nicolas Roeg’s The Witches and not so great movies like Tim Burton’s take on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and unfortunately The BFG is more on the miss side of things.

It’s not necessarily terrible, but the movie definitely suffers from a distinct lack of Dahl’s signature quirky, dark humour which seems to have been swapped up for Spielberg’s syrupy sentimentality instead. What saves it from utter mawkishness, however, is Oscar winner Mark Rylance’s performance as the Big Friendly Giant. Though there’s something very ‘uncanny valley’ about his CGI giant, he gives the film much-needed lovability and delivers Dahl’s quirky, made-up vocabulary with aplomb.