Tom Hardy: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

5 Awesome Performances

5. Eames - Inception

It may have been Bronson that marked Hardy out as a talent to keep an eye on, but it was Inception that served as an introduction to the actor to mainstream. Effortlessly cool, Eames is ostensibly in the film to serve as the forger in Dom Cobb's ambitious mind heist, pretending to be various people in the dreamworld, but his real purpose is to add a bit of humour and British class to proceedings - a more important job than you'd first think. His jabs are funny and suave in equal measure, but they also punctuate the exposition doled out by Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Arthur, making the dumps feel like anything but. Hardy's not stretched massively with the role, but that he still sticks out amongst such an impressive and distinct example is testament to how well he manages to embody his roles, something we'll see a lot of as we work our way down the list. Given Christopher Nolan's predisposition to homaging James Bond in his movies, it's not hard to see the inspiration for Eames. Heck, his mind even hosted a skiing scene lifted from On Her Majesty's Secret Service during the level-jumping climax. And while the talk at the moment may be all about Idris Elba and Damien Lewis to be the next 007, if the fan mood continues this could wind up being some pretty prophetic casting.