12 Best Performances In 2017 Films (So Far)
Oscar bait season isn’t quite yet upon us, but in the meantime these performances blew us away.
It’s not quite Oscar bait season just yet so we’ve got a while to go before we see the glut of award-worthy, method-driven performances fit to rival Academy darling Daniel Day Lewis’s that we’re usually bombarded with come wintertime.
But that doesn’t mean that 2017 hasn’t already seen its fair share of great movie performances and, as we’re only halfway through the year and firmly in the summer blockbuster season, the crop has been more heavily focused on fun. The majority of them have been more purely entertaining in contrast to the more scenery-chewing roles and pretentious, awards-oriented films we get later in the year.
Though the actors coming up might not qualify as Oscar contenders, these performances – from grizzled, fallen hero to charismatic comic book villain and subversive horror protagonist to a surprisingly brilliant performance from a former tween idol – have definitely been 2017’s most memorable so far.
12. Kurt Russell – Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Kurt Russell seems to be enjoying something of a career
renaissance at the moment. From acclaimed performances in Quentin Tarantino’s
The Hateful Eight and horror western Bone Tomahawk to his recurring role as Mr
Nobody in the Fast and the Furious franchise, he’s treated us moviegoers to
some brilliant performances of late and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is no
different.
He plays Peter ‘Star-Lord’ Quill’s bio dad Ego – an ancient god and living planet who manifests in human form as Kurt Russell to seduce women and have them bear his celestial progeny. He shares great chemistry with his onscreen offspring Chris Pratt and they’re a believable father-son duo, but it’s Russell’s transformation from charismatic, twinkly-eyed charmer to omnicidal maniac that makes for the best part of his performance.
After the disappointment that was Ronan the Accuser, Kurt Russell’s Ego gives the GOTG franchise a worthy villain and the wider MCU one of the best villains we’ve seen in a while.