10 More Great Actors Who Played The Worst Versions Of Characters
9. Jason Clarke - John Connor
You need only look so far as last year's Oppenheimer to see that Jason Clarke is a mightily compelling acting talent, but amid the surprisingly large pantheon of actors who've portrayed Terminator's resistance leader John Connor, he comes persuasively dead last.
Granted, it's hardly Clarke's fault. In the fifth Terminator movie Terminator Genisys, he happened to be saddled with the worst on-paper rendition of Connor to date, and so couldn't do much to elevate the rancid material.
His Connor stumbles right out of the gate through the bold-if-misguided decision to have him be attacked and transformed into a villainous Terminator - a crime only slightly less offensive than sequel Dark Fate's choice to kill Connor off altogether.
Looking back at all the main John Connor actors, Edward Furlong was the classic original, Nick Stahl and Thomas Dekker did solid work playing him in Terminator 3 and the Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series respectively, and then there's the whole Christian Bale debacle.
Though Bale was ultimately a fair letdown in the role - again, due more to the material than his work - he at least brought a visceral intensity to the part that Clarke categorically didn't.
Even prior to being turned, Clarke's riff on the character lacked the gravitas of someone who could actually lead the world against Skynet.