Cinematic Thieves

Name an actor's performance that completely stole a film; a performance which is really the only reason to see the film and/or the only thing you remember about the film.

This Must Be The Place with Sean Penn. Not the greatest film ever, but he hogs it for sure

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Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor in the Star Wars prequels
Christopher Walken in Envy
Jeremy Irons in Eragon
Christpher Reeve in Superman 3
Aaron Eckhart in Battle: Los Angeles

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Steve Stifler in American Pie 3:American Wedding

Hannibal Lector in Silence of The Lambs

Joker in Dark Knight

Magneto in First Class

In Everything Is Illuminated, the movie would have been a fairly dreary, depressing film in which the billed star Elijah Wood is an introverted guy searching in Ukraine for traces of a family lost in the WW II/Holocaust chaos. Instead, "Jonathan" needs a driver and guide and meets Alex. Alex was played by Eugene Hutz, who is not an actor, but a "gypsy-punk" rocker front man for Gogol Bordello (and a real-life Chernobyl refugee) and possibly one of the most energetic and positive guys you will ever encounter. In the movie Hutz was fairly laid back compared to his on-stage persona but his energy and humor completely rescued this movie and really is the only reason to watch it. This trailer has the real Eugene.



Ironically another actor plays a character modeled after Hutz in the excellently quirky Wristcutters, A Love Story. The acted version of Eugene is a low key substitute for the real one. The movie, however, is a delight.



In Wristcutters, a minor job of theft is done by Tom Waits (another eccentric musician, who has stolen parts of many movies) who is an enigmatic God/St Peter sort of character in a strange desert community full of suicides.

I have never heard of this film.

Heath Ledger DEFINITELY stole THE DARK KNIGHT.

The only thing I remember about that movie is Sammy Davis Jr., Jr.

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I think SOAPDISH and HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS were both stolen by Robert Downey Jr. I also think Sean Penn stole FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH and THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN.

These are just off the top of my head. All of these movies are great, but these guys heavily contributed to it.

Heath Ledger as the Joker - The Dark Knight
Ledger completely owned this movie, a tough task against Christian Bale.


Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman - American Psycho
The movie relied on Bale's ability to play bipolar roles, and he did it perfectly.


Christoph Waltz as Dr. Schultz - Django Unchained
I loved Jamie Foxx as Django, but Waltz put so much charm into his role. DiCaprio and Jackson are runners up here.



Ryan Gosling as Driver - Drive
This role demand an actor who could speak with his eyes, and Gosling nailed it.


Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance - The Shining
It's Jack Nicholson - enough said. Props to the child actor as well.

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Denis Leary in Judgment Night.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight is an easy one though.

Robert De Niro in This Boy's Life.

Alan Rickman in Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves.

Robert Picardo in Legend.
Also Tim Curry in Legend. But I'd have to go with Picardo's 25 seconds of pure genius.

Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element.

Andy Serkis portrayal of Gollum.

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Unfortunately, it's not on Netflix any more, but Red Box has it sometimes. It's an odd indie movie that isn't for everybody, but there's a weird humor in the fantasy of a dried up wreck of a desert town/pugatory where people go when they off themselves. Full of misfits with things like gaping shotgun wounds and little emotion, ultimately it's a romantic comedy.

I always thought that the whole movie was built around him.

Tommy Lee Jones - The Fugitive




Robert Patrick - T2 He didn't so much steal the movie, but is the only reason I rewatch this.

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No argument regarding Bale and AMERICAN PSYCHO...I have to actually scratch my head to remember the name of any of the other actors in the movie because Bale so completely owned it.

I am probably the only person who doesn't think The Dark Knight was a one-man show(Joker).I think Harvey Dent rivalled Joker in that movie.Plus the transformation in his character was amazing

Then why list The Joker in the first place? Make your mind up, mate.

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No argument that Aaron Ackhart gave one of his best performances in THE DARK KNIGHT, but Ledger still owned the film.

My bad.I meant Joker in Batman(1989).

Had Heath Ledger not died,I think Aaron would have been greatly praised as well

Heath is a great actor, I remember him from Candy, an astonishing performance...

That being said I must mention the almighty David Thewlis in Naked. I'm surprised he wasn't mentioned before.