Top 5 Performances: Russell Crowe

Hon. Mention: Gladiator

Crowe's performance in this as Maximus is straightforward, simple but quite brilliant. He's the perfect brooding, incredibly convicted badass, holds the epicness of the film together perfectly, and makes his performance in this resonate with the film resonate so powerfully in both action and powerful moments.

Have just seen The Nice Guys and while it has its fair share of minor problems - namely, excesive mood whiplash, messy plotting and not enough cleverness and subversion to make up for it unlike the earlier, superior similar buddy comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang -, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's very funny and entertaining throughout thanks to the sterling work of the two leads, Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe (as well as young actress Angourie Rice who's definitely going places). So for fun I thought I'd list these two actors' best performances, starting with Crowe:

Russell Crowe

Note: I really need to see Romper Stomper, Crowe's breakout Australian role

5. The Nice Guys/A Beautiful Mind

Crowe is fantastic in The Nice Guys and though I like him and Gosling on about the same level, if I had to pick a favourite between the two it'd be Crowe probably. He's firstly just excellent at being such a hulking, intimidating brute but brilliantly also adds a sly edge of good-natured humour that somehow makes him quite lovable, almost cuddly when he's not breaking your arm. He has fantastic chemistry and comic timing as the deadpan straight man to Gosling and Rice, and on the more dramatic side of things is quite tremendous as a violent man looking to find some direction in life. I hesitate to put him 5th though because here he's vying with his great Oscar-nominated performance as John Nash in A Beautiful Mind, a performance that if I were to pick a 2010s equivalent would be Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game: mannered, arguably overtly so, in his depiction of a genius mind plagued by paranoid schizophrenia, it's a very Oscar-baity role but he handles it extremely well, and I do think he should've won that year. 

4. 3:10 to Yuma

Oh do I love Crowe when he's let off the leash. You can tell the man's having a ball here as the showboating Western outlaw Ben Wade. Crowe's accent, mannerisms merged with his superstar presence make for a very memorable character here, and perfectly shows both the charismatic exterior of the man who wants to outdo everybody, and the darker edge of a vicious killer. He has great chemistry with his co-lead Christian Bale who is suitably brooding and understated, and subtly conveys Wade's growing kinship with the man and makes the ending of the film work as well as it does. 

3. The Insider

An astonishingly subtle performance by Crowe which is not my win for 1999 Lead Actor anymore (Richard Farnsworth for The Straight Story is my new winner), but there's a reason he was there in the first place. Crowe, playing a man around 20 year older than his actual age (so actually, around the same age of 2010's Crowe), disappears seamlessly into the role of tobacco firm whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand. The film is an amazing film based on a fantastic true story, and the whole cast is uniformly terrific in bringing to life the conspiracies and intrigue surrounding the scandals and deceit of tobacco companies that hide information about their products. So much of its success though hinges on Crowe's performances, who completely does justice to the complex, dual way the script takes with the character, never making him a hero but rather a man just struggling to do the right thing. Crowe never makes a misstep and plays Wigand masterfully in an underplayed, withdrawn way that makes the brief bursts of frustration and anger resonate all the more powerfully. 

2. L.A. Confidential

Nearly 20 years before starring in another film where he plays a rough badass and shares scenes with Kim Basinger, Crowe made his Hollywood breakout in this fantastic noir film depicting three detectives working at investigating a spree of murders, police corruption and Hollywood lifestyle. Kevin Spacey and Guy Pearce are also brilliant as respectively, a jaded self-hating superstar cop and a stubborn, by-the-books hotshot, but Crowe is the MVP of the film for me with his depiction of the brutal Officer Bud White who often uses violence as both a means to an end and an ends in itself. His performance is a constantly pulsating bowl of rage which is set to burst whenever action is needed, and Crowe is just brilliant in suggesting this dark edge to the man whatever he's up to, but also the proper control and incisive intelligence of a good cop sometimes masked by his rough edges. Crowe is a wonderful physical performer as is shown here, especially in his last scene where without saying a word he conveys a world of emotions. He also manages to strum up some fantastic chemistry with a decent Basinger, charismatic in a brilliantly old-school fashioned sort of way, and I have no hesitation in giving him my win for 1997 Lead Actor. 

1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

A performance I've always thought was great, but it's only recently I've begun to appreciate exactly how great it is. Crowe's depiction of a true man of the sea Captain Jack Aubrey evokes Robert Shaw in Jaws in the best possible way, as you don't even need the fantastic costume design by Wendy Stites or the brilliant adapted screenplay by director Peter Weir and John Collee to know the greatness of Aubrey and his seafaring exploits. Crowe exudes such grace and grandeur through every word he speaks in that curious but brilliant choice of RP accent and eloquent, musical sounding voice, and his whole manner of walking, that you know from the very beginning this is a man and ship not to be messed around with. Moreover he adds so much warmth and kindness to his portrayal too, showing that greatness doesn't necessarily have to come at the cost of humanity, as he shows such fatherly affection to Max Pirkis' Midshipman Blakeney, and marvelous chemistry with Paul Bettany's Dr Stephen Maturin. Crowe's performance is one that gets better every time I watch the film, and even every time I think about it. He could've been lost in the whole spectacle of the film's wavering focus and epic scope, but Crowe draws you in with each rousing speech he makes, each solemn invocation to the skies he states (I particularly love him asking the Lord for forgiveness on behalf of the crew for their mistreatment of Midshipman Hollom), each daring act of bravery he undertakes. He's brilliant at showing both the brilliance of Aubrey as a Captain and the toll it takes on him with the loss of each man, and it is certainly a performance that I just love the more and more I write about it. 

7. Gladiator

8. Cinderella Man

9. Man of Steel

10. The Next Three Days