Don Cheadle: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

2. Miles Davis - Miles Ahead (2016)

All too often, actors like Cheadle are relegated to dependable supporting roles or interesting character performances and kept somewhat away from the leads for no fathomable reason. If there's to be a single lesson taken away from his exceptional performance as musical legend Miles Davis, it should be that that thinking needs to be addressed.

Cheadle is vastly better than the rest of the film, towering over the framing in a way that actually pulls the liberally fictional biopic away from Lifetime TV territory. He brings a surreal edge to the performance, which seems more invested with capturing the spirit of the man rather than capturing a wholly authentic picture of him.

His directing leaves a little to be desired, as he struggles to reconcile so many balls in the air, but as a performance, Cheadle's Davis is a tour de force, as unconventional as it is eminently watchable. And there is definitely something to be said of capturing the magic of a myth as well as simply mirroring the man.