Summary

• Outstanding acting performances can save a movie from being a big mess, even if the overall film isn't a success.
• Chloe Grace Moretz's performance as Hit-Girl saved "Kick-Ass 2" from being an awful mess with its dark humor and tasteless jokes.
• Tom Hardy's surprising performance brought action and comedy to "Venom," saving the messy plot and incoherent tone of the film.

While many movies are elevated by the performances of their cast with the help of a good story, there are many cases where one single acting performance saves a whole movie that would otherwise be a big mess. Movies are praised for different elements, but the combination of a good director, an engaging story, and outstanding acting performances is a guaranteed win, and when one fails, the movie is at risk of being labeled a failure.

However, there have been many cases when the acting performance of one cast member, whether a main character or a secondary one, has been so great that it saves the entire movie. Surely, many of these movies are not considered big successes, especially with critics, but these performances are outstanding enough to save the movie from becoming forgettable and being an overall mess. Here are 10 examples of great acting performances that saved the whole movie.

10 Chloe Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass 2

One of Chloë Grace Moretz’s best-known movie roles is Hit-Girl in the Kick-Ass movies, and her performance in the second movie is what saved what would have otherwise been an awful mess. Kick-Ass 2 saw Dave Lizewski a.k.a. Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) ing a vigilante tram called “Justice Forever”, while Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) becomes The Motherf***er and forms a supervillain team to go against Kick-Ass. Hit-Girl, on the other hand, attempts to live a normal life, but she always goes back to being an antihero. Unfortunately, Kick-Ass 2 couldn’t replicate the formula that made the first movie so great and entertaining, and instead, it relied too much on dark humor, ultra-violence, and tasteless jokes, with some truly controversial and disgusting scenes.

However, Moretz’s Hit-Girl is the biggest strength of Kick-Ass 2, as this time, Hit-Girl is not solely focused on training and fighting crime with Big Daddy, but she’s also dealing with grief and everything that comes with being a teenager. Moretz brought a perfect balance between drama, comedy, and action, making Hit-Girl the most interesting and exciting character in Kick-Ass 2, way more than the title hero.

9 Tom Hardy in Venom

After its not-so-great big-screen debut in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, Venom got a new chance to shine in Sony’s movie of the same name. Venom introduced journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who becomes the host of an alien symbiote named Venom, manifesting around his body as a monstrous creature and giving him superstrength, among other abilities and powers. Venom was a critical failure but a box office success, making way for two sequels. Venom was criticized for its messy plot, and incoherent tone (as many critics found the comedy not fitting with the character), and even labeled it as “dull”. Hardy’s performance also received mixed reactions, but it stands as the element that saved Venom.

Before Venom, Tom Hardy was best known for playing tough characters in drama and action movies, so he was expected to bring that tone to Eddie Brock and Venom. Instead, Hardy brought action and comedy, and Eddie’s relationship with Venom was one of the strengths of his performance, so much so that viewers came up with the “Symbrock” ship. Hardy brought a buddy-movie-type-of dynamic between these two characters, and his performance was the biggest and most pleasant surprise in Venom.

8 Hugh Jackman in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the fourth installment in the X-Men movie series and the one that kicked off the Wolverine trilogy. As the title says, X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores the origin story of James Howlett a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), from his childhood to his time with Team X, his bonding with Adamantium during the Weapon X program, and more. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was such a mess that Hugh Jackman himself expressed his unhappiness with the final product, and his performance happens to be the best part of the movie.

Even with a story that didn’t do anything to make viewers truly care for Wolverine, Hugh Jackman managed to carry the entire movie by bringing depth to the character in every stage of his life and through his chemistry with other cast , particularly Liev Schreiber. Jackman’s performance as Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is what allowed the trilogy to continue, culminating with the critically acclaimed Logan.

7 Florence Pugh in Don’t Worry Darling

Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller that follows Alice (Florence Pugh), a housewife living in an idyllic company town in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Alice begins to suspect something sinister is going on with the residents and the town itself, and makes an unsettling discovery. Don’t Worry Darling got mixed reviews from critics, but most of them agreed that Pugh’s performance was what kept the movie afloat. Pugh brought depth to an otherwise flat and void story and character and made the best out of what she was given to work with, including a not-so-great partner (Harry Styles). In a movie that favored style over substance, Pugh was able to bring a compelling performance that made viewers care for Alice and root for her.

6 Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is an action-adventure movie based on the classic folk tale of Robin Hood. It follows Robin Hood (Kevin Costner), who decides to avenge his father, who was murdered by Sheriff Nottingham (Alan Rickman), so he s forces with Little John’s band of thieves to confront the evils of the sheriff. Although Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a box office hit, it got mixed reviews, with most criticism aimed at Costner’s performance and the story, but Rickman’s performance received a lot of praise. Rickman is ed for the unique charm he brought to every one of his performances, whether heroes or villains, and that’s definitely what saved Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Rickman brought the right amount of drama, intensity, charm, villainy, and comedy to his performance as Sheriff Nottingham, making up for the lack of charisma in Costner’s performance. Rickman’s Sheriff Nottingham ended up becoming the most memorable thing about Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and it’s regarded as one of his best performances.

5 Jessica Rothe in Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day is a black comedy slasher movie that follows Theresa “Tree” Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a college student who is murdered on the night of her birthday, but she’s forced to relieve that day repeatedly. Although Happy Death Day did well with critics and viewers, Jessica Rothe’s performance was widely praised, and in the end, it’s a big part of what made the movie a success.

With her performance as Tree, Jessica Rothe took the audience on a wild ride of comedy (the more fed-up Tree becomes with the loop, the funnier she gets), drama (Tree’s struggles with grief), and scares – after all, Tree is being murdered every day. Tree might not be the deepest, most complex character in horror, but Jessica Rothe turned her into one that viewers will definitely root for.

4 Matthew Lillard in Scooby-Doo

Back in 2002, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang made the jump to the big screen in a live-action movie (with a CGI Scooby-Doo, of course). Simply titled Scooby-Doo, it followed the Mystery Inc. group as they reunite after a two-year disbandment to investigate a mystery at a horror-themed tropical island resort owned and run by Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson). Although it was a box office success, Scooby-Doo was a big critical failure, but there’s one thing most critics easily agreed on: Matthew Lillard’s performance as Shaggy was spot-on and the best thing of the movie.

While some of his fellow cast did a good job as of the Mystery Inc. gang, Lillard perfectly embodied Shaggy and everything that makes this character so loved by Scooby-Doo fans. Lillard’s charm shone through in his performance as Shaggy, and he had excellent chemistry with every character he interacted with, including CGI Scooby-Doo. Lillard’s performance as Shaggy was so good and beloved by the audience that he continued voicing the character in other media.

3 Ewan McGregor in Attack of the Clones

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is the second installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and sees Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) investigating an assassination attempt on Senator Pé Amidala, while his apprentice Anakin Skywalker was assigned to protect her. Attack of the Clones is often regarded as the weakest entry in the prequel trilogy, but Ewan McGregor was able to bring a charming and exciting performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi even with a messy plot and infamously bad dialogues. McGregor is one of few actors from the Star Wars prequels that consistently delivered a great performance, so much so that he reprised his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi years later in the Disney+ TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

2 Octavia Spencer in Ma

Ma is a psychological horror movie that follows a group of teenagers who befriend a lonely, middle-aged woman named Sue Ann “Ma” (Octavia Spencer). Ma lets them and other teenagers party in her basement, becoming quite popular among high school students, but as she begins to harass them to spend time with her, they end up being terrorized by her. Ma received mixed reviews and did quite well at the box office, gaining a cult following online. Ma has many flaws, but Octavia Spencer’s performance isn’t one of them.

Ma doesn’t reach its full potential, but Octavia Spencer gave her all as the title character. Spencer’s acting range shines in Ma’s sudden mood swings, and she perfectly brings that feeling of wanting to trust the character while there’s something deeply unsettling about her. Ma is proof that Octavia Spencer can play pretty much any character in any genre and be outstanding at it.

1 Jim Carrey in Batman Forever

Batman Forever is the third installment in Warner Bros’ initial Batman movie series, and the first to be directed by Joel Schumacher. Batman Forever followed Batman as he tried to stop Two-Face and the Riddler (Jim Carrey) from creating chaos across Gotham City as they planned to extract information from the minds of every Gotham resident. Batman Forever is a lot campier than the previous movies and the story can be boring at times, and though Val Kilmer’s performance as Batman wasn’t bad, what truly carries the movie is Jim Carrey’s over-the-top performance as The Riddler.

Carrey definitely embraced the campiness of Batman Forever and brought an intense, comedic, and insane Riddler that is impossible to ignore and forget. Carrey used his mastery in physical comedy to play a unique take on this classic Batman villain, overshadowing the performances of Tommy Lee-Jones as Two-Face and Kilmer’s Batman. Although Carrey’s performance has been pointed out as one of the reasons Batman Forever didn’t succeed as expected, the truth is that, without him, Batman Forever would have been a very boring and forgettable movie.