13 Incredible Performances By Otherwise Terrible Actors

4. Vince Vaughn - Brawl in Cell Block 99

When he first burst onto the scene, Vince Vaughn was not a bad actor. He is sublime in Swingers, for instance, and he's genuinely not that awful in the misguided Psycho remake. The problems started to come when he ended up being repeatedly cast to play Hollywood's idea of what Vince Vaughn is.

He often turned up in romantic comedies or as the manchild sidekick to more functioning straight men, and whispers of him being difficult to work with added something of a (possibly unearned) black mark in perceptions. Worryingly, his career choices seemed to suggest he was happy with his lot.

But then came Brawl In Cell 99, an under-the-radar actioner from Bone Tomahawk director S. Craig Zahler, who guided Vaughn towards a towering performance that transcends the traditional grindhouse limits of the story. He is so intimidating and so imposing that you wonder why nobody thought to put him in this sort of role before. There's intelligence behind the violence too, which definitely makes it stand apart.