For quite some time now Robert Downey Jr. has been most inextricably linked with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Iron Man. Even more than Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, or Scarlett Johansson, his is the face and name that pops up in people’s minds most often when they hear the acronym MCU. However, he has been acting ever since he was five years old, first in a trio of his father’s films before scoring a minor role in 1983’s Baby It’s You. But, as has been covered many times before, his struggles with drugs were known in the ’80s and ’90s, with him losing roles in major projects towards the end of that latter decade, most notably Ally McBeal.
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But be it before Hollywood saw him as a liability, while that was the case, or afterwards, Downey Jr. has never been anything short of a scene stealer. He even brought some class to 2006’s The Shaggy Dog. And throughout all three of those periods, he has delivered a handful or performances that genuinely give his Tony Stark a run for his money in the memorability department.
5) Harry Lockhart in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
No one is a better fit for a Shane Black script than Downey Jr. This has never been more evident than in Black’s directorial debut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, in which he plays thief turned accidental actor Harry Lockhart.
Unlike in Black’s Iron Man 3, Downey Jr. really gets to dive into a charismatic individual who nonetheless totally lacks confidence. He second guesses himself, stumbles on his words, and accidentally shoots a guy during an interrogation. Even when he’s a little bit rude (though not to the extent of Stark in Iron Man 3), we can’t help but love the guy. Not to mention, his chemistry with the late Val Kilmer sparkled, and it’s just as shame they didn’t get a chance to work with one another after this. This was a role that helped him nab the part of Stark, and while it’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see him play Parker in Black’s newest, Play Dirty, it only seems like a matter of time before the director and actor team once more.
4) Julian Wells in Less than Zero
Art has imitated life several times for Downey Jr. For instance, in A Scanner Darkly. But the better example, while not necessarily being a better movie, is Less Than Zero, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
Admittedly, Less Than Zero often feels like a weightless, melodramatic film that pulls its punches in adapting Ellis’ novel (though that was quite necessary to give the film any chance of being palatable to audiences on the macro scale). However, when Downey Jr. is on screen as the ill-fated Julian Wells, the movie gains considerable magnetism. It’s a performance that comes across as knowledgeable, where the character’s fears seem to genuinely come from somewhere inside the actor portraying the fictional individual.
3) Paul Avery in Zodiac
Paul Avery was a real-life American journalist known primarily for covering the Patty Hearst kidnapping and, yes, the Zodiac killer. However, David Fincher’s Zodiac shows him hide in a fear-constructed cocoon with booze lining the walls and that is not fully based in reality.
But it works like a charm for the movie. Downey Jr. does an amazing job of playing Avery as both the confident renegade reporter and the shaken near-victim. It says a lot that he can be in a movie alongside Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhaal, pretty much disappear in the second half, and still run away with the whole thing.
Stream Zodiac on Paramount+.
2) Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer
One of the best war movies to refrain from showing combat, Oppenheimer may very well be Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece. It was certainly every bit the event as The Dark Knight or Inception.
It’s also chock full of so many amazing performances that it’s not possible to say which is the best. Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, David Krumholtz, they’re all note-perfect. The same goes for Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, who he perfectly plays as a self-assured man who nonetheless lashes out when he knows he’s in a room with someone smarter and more driven than he.
Stream Oppenheimer for free with ads on The Roku Channel.
1) Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin
It may have been directed by Jurassic Park‘s Richard Attenborough and feature an all-star cast including Kevin Kline, Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Anthony Hopkins, Diane Lane, and James Woods, but Chaplin has mostly been forgotten. And that’s fair to a degree because, as a movie, Chaplin is hardly as effective as Attenborough’s other big biopic: Gandhi.
However, they are equals in one way, and that’s the caliber of performance that brings the title role to life. As brilliant as Ben Kingsley is in Gandhi, Downey Jr. is every bit as impressive playing Charlie Chaplin. It’s his best work, without a doubt.
Stream Chaplin on MGM+.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
