Watching Christopher Nolan’s sweeping new epic odyssey Last week, a strange thought occurred to me. Is Matt Damon really underrated? I know, I know — at first glance, it seems like a reach for a guy who’s been nominated for three acting Oscars, who is basically the American Bond by being Jason Bourne, and who has consumed no end of modern Hollywood staples. good will Hunting To heavenly resident. There’s clearly some consensus that the 55-year-old is very good at what he does. And yet, it feels as if they’ve been strangely overlooked compared to the widely acknowledged goats of their generational group: the Leos, the Belles, the Joaquin Phoenixes.
Maybe that’s because, despite three tries, he has yet to receive a single acting nomination. (Sadly for him, he’s had to make do with minor screenwriting Oscars for the past three decades.) Perhaps it’s the fact that he looks so ordinary – a quality he’s often weaponized to great success. Maybe my skull is full of parasitic brain worms and I’ve missed the fact that everyone thinks he’s the second coming of James Stewart.
Whatever the case may be, with odysseyWe continue to ignore Hollywood’s everyman excellence at our peril. He brings this to life perfectly as King Odysseus of Ithaca, a character from legend whom Damon portrays as clearly extraordinary – a deeply human man full of flaws and more war trauma than his character suggests. saving Private Ryan-Beyond the tight muscles and impressive beard. This is possibly his best work to date: a fourth acting Oscar nomination is a lock, and this might be the one that gets him over the line. It made me think: Hey, I’m actually a big Damon fan. And you should be too. But where to start? Well, for my money, these films are his best.
good will Hunting (1997)
