20 Actors Who Just Had Awesome Comebacks

Though there isn't really any doubt about the acting prowess of two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn, it's fair to say that he's fallen off pretty hard over the past decade.

Penn's recent career has been defined by swiftly forgotten vehicles like The Gunman, three flop directorial efforts in a row, and two widely panned novels published in 2018 and 2019.

So what a damn relief it is to see him sink his teeth into one of his best, if not his outright greatest, roles to date in Paul Thomas Anderson's mesmerising new film One Battle After Another.

Penn's performance in the blackly comedic action thriller as villain Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw is a monumental feat of acting, one which paradoxically renders Lockjaw as both a terrifying force of nature and laughably pathetic.

Penn gets the balance just right, and so it won't surprise too many if he ends up scooping a third Oscar for his efforts, in turn reminding everyone of just how brilliant he can be when the right material lands in his lap.