Of all the people on this list, Christopher Walken might be the only person who is somehow more entertaining when he's just going through the motions. Well, okay, at the very least he's a different kind of entertaining. Early in his career, he was the type of character actor that brought an unmatched level of deranged eccentricity to his roles, imbuing his roles with varying amounts of peculiarity depending on the tone of the film. He's given iconic performances in dramas (The Deer Hunter, Poolhall Junkies, Man on Fire), thrillers (The Dead Zone, King of New York, Suicide Kings), and more recently, comedies (Joe Dirt, Click). And while he used to adjust the levels of his - for lack of a better word - "Walken-ness" to craft unique, layered performances, he now seems content to just show up and read through the lines with an odd sense of detachment, throw in a few bizarre mannerisms, and call it a day. Walken is the first to admit that his characters are all just variations of himself, and that he's always been unable to "transform himself" for roles. In that regard, it makes sense that all of his characters would now be without that famous edge that made him such an oddly terrifying presence in films like True Romance. In its stead is a mellower, affably quirky old guy without the need to impress. Still, you can't watch one of his earlier films and not pine just a little for the obvious zeal Walken used to have. He's still a treat to watch, even if he is just going through the motions, but it'd be nice to see some of that exuberance again.
