1. Fight Club- Tyler Durden
Come on, could it have been anything else? It's simply Pitt's defining role. Back in the halcyon days of 1999, he was in the best possible condition for it, balancing of the physicality of youth with the gravitas of age. Such a balance would prove integral to the character of Tyler Durden. He's an impossibility- the manner of a charismatic preacher, the mind of a sly, dominating ubermensch and the body of a fighting Calvin Klein model. You wish you were this man. In fact, that's kind of the point. He's an ideal. He's everything you want to be- confident, talented, attractive, ferociously intelligent and I'm pretty sure he could whip you into next week. But shock horror, you realise that he isn't actually real. Again, he's an ideal, a fantasy- the fevered daydream of Ed Norton's Jack/Tyler Durden gone too far.But whilst Tyler the character is most definitely imaginary, it doesn't mean that Pitt's performance is illusory too. The mantle of such a dominating character needs an excellent actor to actually fill it. If an actor is not up to scratch, you could end up with something similar to every Nic Cage film ever. For every individual who can live up to the promise of the vivid characters screenwriters can put on screen, there are any number of bear-suited, women-punching, bee-screaming eejits. So it's very much a credit to Pitt that he can rein in something as obviously phantasmal as Tyler, whilst still keeping him with that consistently believable edge. This Tyler dances on the edge of what a person can be, clearly emanating an air of otherworldliness and sheer impressiveness, but still seeming, well... human. Whether asking you the age-old question of the ass or the crotch, doing unspeakable things in family cinemas or orchestrating a grand, anarchist/luddite conspiracy in order to regain a lost sense of manliness, it is clear that he is capable of great things, and can deliver upon them. Such a premise makes Pitt's performance the jolt that drives the film. This is in contrast to all the other male characters, who appear to have had the motor ripped out of them by modern life. Thanks to Pitt, you believe that this man can inspire others, and he does it without being at all hammy. In fact, he's quite the opposite. He's actually quite calm. The scaled back, wry persona Pitt cultivates makes Tyler seem all the more threatening, and the actor all the more impressive. Tyler's calm reflections upon the eroding of male masculinity (the duvet point being a particular highlight) are lent an even greater power when married to his occasional flair for the theatrical, but when he explains his ideology (...an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars) he never engages in polemics, instead forcing you see the emotive logic behind his lunatic plans thanks to his clear, logical delivery. He's rather understated and insidious, and it's all down to Pitt. His ability to establish in Tyler an unsettling air of authority often seen in cult leaders is mesmerising, and proves to be the film's animus, something the film's all too aware of; they even splice him into the film before his formal introduction, if only to make it clear that the film badly needs this spark. It takes an actor of special talent to be able to shoulder such a responsibility and Pitt pulls it off, making what could've easily been a caricature into a character that whilst not relatable (that's not really the point of him) is certainly believable. Thus he becomes even more compellingly watchable; witness when he burns Jack's hand with lye. He's never anything less than utterly calm whilst logically getting his point across as the situation/burn escalates. Again, whilst this is partly due to the character being a fantasy, at this point we aren't actually supposed to know that, and it is a credit to Pitt's performance that he can make you simultaneously believe in and be in awe of Tyler. That is how you create an immortal performance. Bravo, Brad Pitt.