Joey Magidson
Matt Damon has had one hell of an interesting career so far. After winning the Academy Award in the Best Original Screenplay category with Ben Affleck for Good Will Hunting, he’s gone on to be one of the more reliable leading men in Hollywood. He’s worked with never every A-list filmmaker, led both franchises and independent films, all while being a certified movie star. Simply put, Damon can pretty much do it all. With his turn in Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey drawing heavy praise as the flick begins its theatrical run, a look at Damon’s career was in order. So, that’s exactly what I’m doing today…
In my rave review here of The Odyssey, I spoke of Damon’s performance like so:
Matt Damon leads an all-star cast without a weak link in the chain. His depiction of a clever, largely kind, and wily politician/soldier who slowly comes to be haunted by his actions is quite compelling. The toll that war takes on him, be it the savagery he sees or the men he loses, just becomes more fuel for him to get home to his family. It’s an incredibly strong performance, though it’s a matter of personal preference who winds up as best in show for you.
Below, you can see how Damon stacks up for me. Narrowing things down proved quite impossible, as you can see by the ample honorable mentions. Tops here, at least for yours truly, is Good Will Hunting, but The Departed and The Martian are not far behind. Then, it’s Air and The Odyssey for me, though you can find slightly more off the beaten path picks like The Adjustment Bureau and The Rainmaker. When it comes to Damon, there’s pretty much something for everyone, film and performance wise. While he’s yet to win an Oscar for acting, that will undoubtedly change. The movies he chooses to be in are just to awards-friendly, beyond just being good as well. Whether it happens for The Odyssey or not remains to be seen, but it’s going to happen eventually.
Here now is my ranking of the best performances to date from Matt Damon. Behold:
Honorable Mention: Contagion, Gerry, The Good Shepherd, The Informant!, Invictus, Ocean’s Eleven, Oppenheimer, Promised Land, The Rip, Stillwater, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and We Bought a Zoo
10. Saving Private Ryan
9. The Rainmaker
8. Ford v Ferrari
7. True Grit
6. The Adjustment Bureau
5. Air
4. The Odyssey
3. The Martian
2. The Departed
1. Good Will Hunting
What are your favorite performances from Matt Damon? Let us know!
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