Jim Sturgess is an actor you might not notice all the time but he makes a pretty good case for himself when he’s on screen and is performing. He’s a good actor but he does come off as kind of young for a few of his parts simply because he has that youthful look that makes him look like a fresh-faced kid when in fact he actually turned 40 just this year. His acting skills are easily on par with many other actors but quite often he’s given parts in movies that tend to go nowhere or are meant to be deep, thoughtful features that a lot of people don’t tend to fully understand and therefore might think are a little complicated for their liking. If he ever gets the chance to star in something a little more mainstream and less nuanced as some of his movies have been it might come as a revelation to people that he is in fact a very skilled man when allowed to have the spotlight.
Here are some of the best roles he’s been in thus far.
5. Across the Universe – Jude
Anyone that lived through the 60s already knows that it was a crazy and uncertain time for many people, no matter their station. For those that somehow got through the 60s without a bump, a scratch, or even a mild case of paranoia it usually means they kept their nose down and ignored a great deal of it. Jude didn’t have that luxury as he was right in the thick of it, from the moment he came to America to the moment he was deported back to England. And yet through all of it he somehow managed to keep a large part of who he was and didn’t allow the world to squash it as is so common in some cases.
4. Cloud Atlas – Adam Ewing
To many people Cloud Atlas was a very confusing movie as it’s narrative was told through several different stories and its recycling of its own actors was at times a little off-putting if only because you had to continually keep up with the changes and the plot devices that were used over and over. But if you did pay attention you might have found that the movie far surpassed the name and the mystique that so many affixed to it since there is a story within the film that is something unique, gloriously messy, and so gritty that you might have actually felt it in between your fingers, metaphorically-speaking, as you watched the movie. In a few words, it was a mind-trip like none other that somehow liberated viewers at the end.
3. Kidnapping Mr. Heineken – Cor Van Hout
If you’re going to commit a crime like kidnapping it usually helps to be somewhat experienced in criminal acts of some sort. The planning, the scope of the idea and its execution, and the response by the police are all just a few factors that need to be taken into account. Not letting the person know your identity is a good idea, and knowing when to talk to the police is another great idea. In fact it might have even been best if the kidnappers had known absolutely everything they could about Heineken before taking him if it had been possible. But as the movie’s featured in the 80s the internet wasn’t the thing it is now and finding out something about someone meant engaging them or someone that knew them. In other words, it would always be bound to get personal.
2. Geostorm – Max Lawson
Max and his brother don’t get along all that well but in some things they can’t help but agree. When Dutch Boy, the orbital station that controls the weather over the planet, is hijacked by someone that has began messing with the system, the people of earth suddenly find themselves in a very tenuous position as all types of weather begins to rain down upon them, covering sunny beaches in sudden and blinding sheets of ice, causing tsunamis to rise and overtake entire land masses, and in general wreaking havoc over the face of the earth. While his brother is up on the station, Max has to do whatever he can to find out just who is sabotaging the station earth-side, and there’s not much time until a global disaster is set to break out.
1. 21 – Ben
Las Vegas doesn’t like to lose, and while counting cards isn’t illegal they certainly won’t thank you for it. Whether or not they’ll take you in the back and have a ‘conversation’ is up to each individual to believe or not. But what Ben comes to realize is that a city that’s made to win as Vegas is doesn’t take kindly to people that know how to work and then beat the system. That’s just not how it’s supposed to work.
It’d be great to see Jim Sturgess headlining a major motion picture as the undisputed lead character.
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