10 Actors Who Clearly Didn't Learn Anything From Past Mistakes

8. Robert De Niro

In 2008, with the release of Righteous Kill, De Niro had irrefutably reached a critical nadir. Yes, he had made terrible movies before this, some arguably worse than John Avent's derivative snoozer, but there was something about this hammy trash that indicated how far the Raging Bull had fallen. Whatever the reason behind its poor quality, Righteous Kill proved to be a disturbing spectacle, and one that illustrated the upsetting truth that the lean, powerful force of nature who starred in Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, The Deer Hunter, and The Godfather: Part II left the building long ago. In fact, to locate a truly divine De Niro performance one would probably have to go back nearly 20 years, to the double whammy of Casino and Heat in 1995. Since then, barring a few exceptions (Flawless and Silver Linings Playbook gave us a flash of the old magic), De Niro has largely relegated himself to tired action, listless drama, and comedy that can best be described as forced. Not to say there haven't been a few good moments here and there, but for the most part the later sections of De Niro's career will (more than likely) end up being remembered for something like the Meet The Parents franchise, which he is seemingly damned to repeat forever. The once great, unpredictable actor is now little more than a harmless old crackpot, shoring up capital for his Tribeca empire.