Jack O’Connell has been steadily climbing the Hollywood ladder for over a decade. In 2025, things kicked up a notch with two masterful villainous renditions. First, he captivated with Remmick in Sinners, then he made our skin crawl with Sir Jimmy Crystal in 28 Years Later.
Under the direction of Nia DaCosta, O’Connell stepped centre stage for increased villainy in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, another role cementing him as one of the greatest “bad guy” actors of today. But his flair for playing villains isn’t new – it’s been there from the beginning, hiding in plain sight. Long before Sinners or 28 Years Later, a little-seen 2009 British thriller called Harry Brown showcased not just his ability to terrify, but his talent for finding humanity in darkness. His brief but unforgettable role as Marky proves what many are only now discovering: O’Connell doesn’t just play evil – he plays complexity.
What Is Harry Brown About?
Harry Brown is the revenge movie time forgot. Just as Liam Neeson was reinventing himself as an action star abroad with Taken, Michael Caine was staying rooted to the UK and serving up his own slice of geriatric revenge. Directed by Daniel Barber, this 2009 British crime drama sees the knighted legendary actor play a retired Royal Marine who wages a one-man war against the gang terrorizing his London housing estate after they murder his best friend. Death Wish meets Gran Torino, but with that classic British bleak factor.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to modest buzz and earned respectable reviews, but it never achieved the cultural penetration of similar revenge thrillers. Maybe it was too grim, too regionally specific, or simply released at the wrong time. Whatever the reason, most audiences missed it – and with it, a scene that would prove prophetic for one young actor’s career.
Jack O’Connell: “Star of the Future”
A year before Harry Brown, Jack O’Connell portrayed a sadistic teenage murderer in Eden Lake. As Brett, he commanded the screen with a level of menace that was stomach-turning. No redeeming qualities, just pure evil. In Harry Brown, his character Marky is more well-rounded. While still a killer, we learn that he is a troubled young man who has suffered years of abuse. However, when Harry gets a hold of him, there’s no compassion, no reasoning.
While filming a scene where Harry tortures Marky to extract information about the rest of his despicable gang, O’Connell traversed a range of emotions in a matter of minutes. One second he is crying and pleading for his life, and the next minute he’s spitting in Caine’s face and hurling foul language at him. This impressive level of nuance blew Caine away, crowning him as the “star of the future”.
What makes this scene so hard to shake isn’t just O’Connell’s raw performance – it’s the timing. This interrogation marks the start of Harry’s descent into vigilantism, long before he systematically eliminates the gang in increasingly brutal ways. Although later sequences deliver the visceral thrills audiences expect from a revenge thriller, it’s the Marky scene that lingers. In this murky segment, we’re forced to witness not just violence, but vulnerability. We explore the journey of a broken young man caught between survival and defiance. O’Connell gives Marky a tragic dimension that the film’s other antagonists never receive, making this early encounter the movie’s most complex and haunting moment.
The Villain Renaissance
Early in his career, Jack O’Connell became conscious of the fact that if he wasn’t careful he could be typecast as a villain. His breakout role in Skins saw him portray a loveable bad boy which was followed by a string of delinquent roles. While many of these roles danced a fine line between villain and anti-hero, an aura was building and he was becoming known as the go to “thug” or “teenage psycho”. His first major break away from this came with a lead role as Olympic athlete and war hero Louis Zamperini in Unbroken.
Angelina Jolie‘s sweeping epic was followed by heroic parts in projects like ’71, Godless, Jungleland, and The North Water. After winning the EE Rising Star Award in 2015, O’Connell had now successfully showcased his versatility. Today, he’s not running from Marky anymore – he’s building on him. Sinners and 28 Years Later aren’t signs he’s been typecast; they’re proof he’s mastered the art of making evil enthralling.
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