Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the kind of guy that seems like he was fast-tracked into fame when he was still a kid and if you manage to find a lot of his old ads and commercials you might agree since he was caught up in the business when he was still pretty young. Then if you can recall moments such as his role in Angels in the Outfield or on Third Rock from the Sun you’ll see that he’s been in show business for quite some time. The fact that he grew up to be a star isn’t a surprise at all, it’s that he’s managed to stay the course and just get better as he’s aged since a lot of actors have either needed to take a break or have gone on their way entirely. There are various ways that a person can maintain a career such as this and still retain their sense of self and not get burned out, but Joseph has no doubt had to step away now and again or at least take lesser roles in order to make his eventual comebacks when he’s been truly great.
Here are some of the best movies from his career at this point.
5. Brick
Brick is either a very horrifying or very eye-rolling movie depending on your point of view since high school-age kids don’t seem to make the best drug lords and their ‘wars’ tend to seem a bit juvenile. But if you let yourself slip back into high school mode and thereby realize just how important things are to members of this age group then you might see the inherent danger in this as Brendan goes about trying to solve the mystery of a young woman’s murder and how it’s related to a brick worth of stolen heroin. Then you might even forget to ask where in the world a high school kid could procure ten bricks of heroin and with what funds.
4. 500 Days of Summer
When you meet someone you think is THE ONE you tend to act differently, talk differently, and even believe that this could be the moment you didn’t know you were waiting for. When that person decides that they like you well enough to hang around you for a while it makes everything perfect for a time, until it isn’t. When Summer and Tom split up he’s obviously devastated and things go downhill quickly, at least until he quits his job and dedicates himself to his passion, architecture. When they finally make amends and go their separate ways it isn’t too much longer before he meets the next woman, Autumn, who becomes another love interest.
3. A River Runs Through It
He plays a fairly short role in this but it’s important enough as it sets up the dynamic between Norman and Paul, showing just who they are and who they’re bound to be as they grow up. Norman is the straight-laced young man that wants everything to make sense and is bound to do what he feels is right and what his parents will approve of, while Paul is the wild card of the family that will do just about anything once and seek to find the newest and most exciting bit of fun he can no matter if it’s dangerous or not. Throughout the movie it’s shown that the two brothers are inherently different but are always there for each other, well, Norman is there for Paul more often than not.
2. Inception
How deep can the subconscious go? In this psychological thriller Cobb and Arthur are two main parts of a team that conduct espionage on a very different level as they seek to find the secrets they need from others buried deep within their minds. The only problem with this is that an invasion into a person’s mind is almost like an invasion of a foreign substance into the body, there are natural safeguards put into place that will automatically attack and seek to drive them out. Only by utilizing the imaginative and very crucial abilities they have do Cobb and his team stand any chance of success.
1. The Dark Knight Rises
Some would argue that this was the least popular of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy but in truth it was perhaps second best since The Dark Knight was undoubtedly number one. But Joseph’s role in this as a police officer was only a clever front that was real for the character but was revealed to be something that wouldn’t last once the film reached its end. Whether he became the new Batman, Robin, or even Nightwing never did get revealed since Nolan had already deduced that this would be final Batman movie. If anyone’s brave enough to take up the reins it would be interesting to see what might happen.
He’s come a long way from Angels in the Outfield.
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