Brad Pitt: 5 More Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

And 5 More That Sucked...

5. Bass - 12 Years A Slave

One of the many aspects of 12 Years a Slave was the powerhouse performances throughout - from leading man Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, the free man working as a violinist who finds himself kidnapped and sold into slavery to Benedict Cumberpatch and Michael Fassbinder as respectively benevolent and cruel slave owners, it's a showcase of acting at the top of the game. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Brad Pitt's small contribution as Samuel Bass, the Canadian laborer with whom Northup confesses his kidnapped status and begs to deliver a message for him. It's perhaps as much down to the convenient, deus ex machina-like intervention his character seems to stand for - more than a few critics agreed that it came across as false and even perhaps a little patronising. Still, Pitt himself feels a little like he's operating on autopilot, and his portrayal bears the aura of caricature. But then, since he did produce 12 Years a Slave he has as much a right as anyone to cast himself in a small (yet significant) role.