There are those actors that can level you with a look, and then there are those that need to talk but when they do so can send a shudder down your spine or warm your heart without fail. Christoph Waltz is one of the latter since just his look his enough to tell that he’s skilled, but when he starts to talk he’s the kind of guy that can really make you feel warm and tingly inside or make you wonder if he’s going to be choking you to death in the next few seconds. He’s playful yet stern, wise yet creepy, and above all he’s one of those folks that can turn it on and off like a switch, becoming either the most companionable person you’d ever want to meet, or the last person you’d want to cross. To be honest it’s not hard to see how he’s an award-winning actor that seems to fade into the background since when he’s on, he’s on, but when he just needs to be there and not be the center of attention then he easily sidles back and does his part.
Here are five of his best movies.
5. Alita: Battle Angel
The only reason this one makes it to the bottom of the list is that it’s not yet a proven performance no matter that Christoph is one of the best in the business. But many people likely rolled their eyes when they first saw the trailer for this one came out. In truth though it looks like a rather nice blend of special effects coupled with a story that could be something that runs along the same moral lines of many stories that have been coming out for years. After all the knowledge of who a person really is and what they’re capable of is the kind of tale that gets a lot of people fired up and willing to watch movies like this.
4. Big Eyes
Remember how I said he could be despicable? Well this movie kind of takes the cake when he meets up with a divorcee that has a child and a unique talent for painting figures with eyes that are inordinately large and depict a great deal of meaning to those that look into them, particularly the artist. But when they get married and he starts to take credit for her work things start to hit the skids as you might imagine since no self-respecting artist lets anyone take credit for their work without feeling lost in some fundamental way. As thing begin to heat up though she starts trying to take her life, and her art back as is right.
3. Spectre
It seems the longer the Bond movies go on the more dangerous his enemies need to become as Blofeld/Oberhauser is someone that seems to have a serious dislike of Bond since he believes that the agent supplanted him as a son long ago. While it seems that Bond has never been his only objective it’s obvious that Blofeld went from dislike to intense hatred over the years as he did everything he could to insure that he would achieve the kind of domination he wanted so badly. In the end however Bond does manage to get the bad guy and make him pay, though this time he leaves Blofeld to be locked up, foregoing killing him.
2. Django Unchained
Dr. Schultz is a curious character but one that most can agree is deadly but still friendly and engaging. His main motive for taking Django from bondage was to find three brothers that he had a bounty on, but eventually he came to value Django’s company. He even taught Django how to shoot and how to hunt, teaching him that the life of a bounty hunter wasn’t exactly fair or glorious, but it was in its own way necessary. His death at the hands of Candy’s henchman was regrettable but you can at least admit that he went out on his terms and no one else’s since Candy would have humiliated him, whereas Schultz simply wanted to leave.
1. Inglorious Basterds
Hans Landa is perhaps the most devious character on this list since he’s friendly, polite, companionable in his own way, and will even smile and joke around with you. But then, moments later, he’ll likely have his hands at your throat or be ordering a bunch of soldiers to shoot at your family through the floorboards, all while smoking his pipe and acting as though nothing untoward is going on. That makes him perhaps one of the most dangerous people in cinema since he’s so cavalier about it, and yet at the end he’s ready to betray the entire German high command just to make a deal that will allow him to live out the rest of his life in comfort.
Like I said, he can be great, but he can be scary.
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