When you’re the brother of a man that plays the Norse god of thunder you might think that someone like Liam Hemsworth might get overlooked just a tad bit. But in reality he’s made his own way into show business and has been doing fairly well ever since. It’s true that he doesn’t get quite as much notice as others but he does still get noticed and is someone that draws a crowd when he goes out. When he grows a beard and a mustache he looks enough like his brother Chris that he gets mistaken for him rather often it would seem, but their acting styles are quite different and it shows in their movies. Liam is what you might call the working man actor while his brother has gone for the ‘guts and glory’ roles that put him in the forefront when it comes to who’s the more popular. But never let it be said that Liam isn’t a star, because he’s earned his spot.
Here are five of the best movies from his career so far.
5. Empire State
This is one way to know if you can stand up to critics, star in a movie with Dwayne Johnson. While the film wasn’t really that well received, in fact it seemed to have hit Netflix fairly recently after being released, it was still enough to show that Liam is a serious actor and can still attract notice when he’s paired up with one of the hottest actors that’s been coming up through the ranks in the last decade and more. Playing the role of an armored car driver he has to contend with a dedicated detective that’s out to find out just who made off with $11 million dollars and the mob, who wants the head of whoever was dumb enough to steal on their turf.
4. The Expendables 2
He doesn’t have the biggest role in this movie but when you look at the lineup you can hardly argue as to why. Liam is great as an action star but nearly every person on this roster has earned that spot a few times over and the fact that he was involved at all says a lot about the regard he was given. Plus, being granted a spot on the team as a sniper is something that you don’t entrust to just anyone, even if they’re just playing the role. Unfortunately his character gets killed not too far into the movie, but his death does give added momentum to the revenge that Barney eventually gets on the bad guy.
3. Independence Day: Resurgence
This was one of his moments to really shine and the critics kind of ruined it for a lot of people when they decided to dump on the movie and announce that it really wasn’t worth anything. The whole idea was actually pretty sound since one could hopefully see that an alien species would likely send and advance force to wipe out their intended enemies and then send the rest of the armada. The only thing they didn’t count on was that humans are tenacious when it comes to survival, and are anything but pushovers when everything is on the line. If nothing else, the aliens in this movie forgot the one lesson in dealing with humans: just don’t do it.
2. Paranoia
When you walk with giants it’s way too easy to be stepped on if you’re not looking out. Adam is just a low-level inventor looking for a shot at doing something special to help out his father and to make something of himself. When he finally gets that shot it turns out to be espionage on a level that can either get him thrown in prison or killed depending on who catches him. But when he decides to put his skills to the test and turn the tables on both of the men that are trying to use him against each other he reminds them that giants should watch where they step as well, lest they trip and make that long fall to the bottom.
1. The Hunger Games
Liam almost feels like a ‘here and gone’ person in this one, someone that Katniss has deep feelings for but is somehow disposable. He does show up more and more as the movies roll on, but at the same time his presence doesn’t really seem to change much except that he’s fully invested in the war that’s come as a result of the districts finally having had enough of the hierarchy that rules over them. A government can only push so much before the people it resides over either break or turn on them, and in many cases there will be those that will attack in a way that wasn’t expected by anyone, least of all the system that thought it was safe.
He’s earned his spot in show business, no doubts.
