10 Amazing Acting Performances To Watch On Netflix

Ever the immersionist, Christian Bale went all the way with this performance of real-life boxer turned crack addict, Dicky Eklund, a man who once knocked Sugar Ray Leonard to the mat. The actor again lost a shedload of weight (something he did for Rescue Dawn and The Machinist prior), and also took to hanging around crack-houses and certain unsavoury characters to truly get a feel for the role.

Such Method paid off, with Bale winning a supporting actor Oscar and turning in the best work of his career. It’s a truly kinetic performance, and Bale is all ticks and neck jerks, constantly shadowboxing until it’s time to punch for real. Despite the subject matter, it’s also a frankly hilarious depiction, and Bale proves he has comedic chops to match his already established dramatic ones.

Playing off a subdued, solemn Mark Wahlberg performance (the best of his career, too) Bale is able to fully scene-steal, which he does at every opportunity. It’s in the scenes with the also Oscar-winning Melissa Leo (who plays Dicky’s firebrand mother) that he shines most though, and the passage in which they sing in the car after she hauls him out of his crack-house of choice is as charming as it is odd—not unlike Bale himself.