Mads Mikkelsen: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

5. Michael Kohlhaas - Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013)

Despite the fact that it was nominated for the Palme D'Or at Cannes, Michael Kohlhaas really doesn't live up to its billing, nor does it take advantage of its chief asset in Mikkelsen.

A 16th century epic, it is probably best thought of as a sort of contemplative Danish Braveheart, in which a hero is wronged by over-bearing Lords and eventually fights back. It's just that the confrontations take too much of a back seat, and Kohlhaas is anything like the man of action William Wallace was.

The film is way too distracted by the beauty of its own cinematography and its own fascination with quiet contemplation to ever really remember that it has some sort of agenda to entertain, and the result is a hollow experience that badly, unforgivably under-uses Mikkelsen.