12 Actors Who Were Brilliant In Utterly Sh*t Movies
5. Ewan McGregor - Angels & Demons
There wasnt really much need to follow up the first Da Vinci Code film adaptation which remains one of the only Tom Hanks performances you want to forget. Surprise, surprise Angels & Demons also makes this list. Professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) is called in to stop some dodgy goings on at the Vatican, his expertise in symbology apparently making him more qualified than the police investigate a string of murders.
After a series of predictable twists and turns its revealed that Ewan McGregors character, Camerlengo McKenna, has been behind the whole thing from the start. The only thing that may have wrong-footed people is the fact that the ginger heartthrob usually plays more virtuous characters (Trainspotting aside) so his transition from pious do-gooder to snarling baddie was quite the departure. Despite being signposted by clumsy plotting, McGregors performance ensures that you dont want to believe hes capable of such atrocious actions.
The one good choice the director made was casting such an innately likeable actor as the villain and luckily for them McGregor puts in more effort than the film deserves. He even manages to make the exchanges between himself and Hanks engaging despite Toms insistence on acting like Langdon is a big fan of tranquilizers. If it wasnt for McGregor, Angels & Demons would have been less enjoyable than being branded with a red hot poker by Stellan Skarsgård.