20 Incredible Film Performances That Didn't Get The Credit They Deserved

8. James McAvoy - Filth (2013)

After X-Men: First Class, James McAvoy didn't appear in another movie for two years. 2013 saw him return with a vengeance as he gave solid performances in Eran Creevy's Welcome to the Punch and Danny Boyle's Trance, before delivering a career-best turn as a thoroughly horrible Edinburgh detective in this adaptation of the Irvine Welsh novel. Usually a likeable presence onscreen, the Scottish actor threw his nice-guy reputation out of the window and packed on the pounds to play the morally bankrupt, misogynistic, cocaine-fueled, bipolar, borderline psychopath Bruce Robertson. McAvoy is nothing short of magnetic as the corrupt cop that can turn from sympathetic victim to raging monster at the flick of a switch, giving a performance that is excessive without being over-the-top, yet surprisingly complex. Made for just over $5m, Filth wasn't a financial success which prevented plenty of people from witnessing McAvoy's showstopping tour-de-force. The actor picked up several minor awards in the UK for his work, but his wonderfully unhinged performance remains sadly under-seen. Hopefully the May 30th video-on-demand release in the States will change that.