The seminal post-apocalyptic game of the generation, The Last of Us was always made famous by its moving narrative - one which was grounded by the remarkable performances of Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. Baker's role as Joel cemented the tone, leading to themes of release and grief, and in doing so created one of the most memorable and gut-wrenching openings to a title in recent memory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DidjobKweCs Baker's performance only gets better from there, but that opening scene contained some absolutely phenomenal acting that immediately informed its audience just how mature and emotionally challenging the title was going to be. The character certainly has some more weighty moments across the game's substantial runtime, but it's the introductory moments that you could show to anyone and watch their jaw hit the floor. Were there any performances that we missed? Post a comment below and let us know!
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
