Top Ten Tuesday: The Best of Robert Downey, Jr.

What is arguably the best super-hero movie ever made is finally about to unveil it’s sequel, which is looking just as awesome! IRON MAN 2 opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, May 7 starring Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell as Tony Stark’s enemies. Returning to the role of brilliant billionaire Tony Stark is Robert Downey, Jr. An actor without any formal training, RDJ has made quite an impressive career for himself with numerous memorable roles. So, this week the Movie Geeks have compiled our favorite performances from Robert Downey, Jr.

Honorable Mention: WEIRD SCIENCE

This classic 80s-era John Hughes flick, inspired by the 1950’s era comic of the same title, hilariously captures the wonder and wild imagination of growing up boys, and not necessarily the coolest, most popular boys either. Granted, Robert Downey, Jr. plays Ian, one of the more popular kids, his somewhat limited role in WEIRD SCIENCE (1985) is still memorable and perhaps his first recognizable role, one year after playing Stewart in John Sayles’ BABY IT’S YOU.

10. KISS KISS BANG BANG

“My name is Harry Lockhart, and I’ll be your narrator,” Robert Downey, Jr says at the beginning of KISS KISS BANG BANG, “I don’t see another God damn narrator, so pipe down!”. The plot of KISS KISS BANG BANG has something to do with the murder of the estranged daughter of a tycoon, but plot here takes a backseat to style and a playful script that is complex and full of surprises. With its self-conscious satire, Writer-director Shane Black works the same side of the street as Tarantino, but clings tighter to hard-boiled noir narrative. Black tweaks the buddy cop formula he once owned (LETHAL WEAPON, etc) with creative flair (one guy’s gay, the other’s not even a cop) and KISS KISS BANG BANG was one of the best films of 2005. As for Downey, he is the most dexterous actor in American movies and the reports of his 90’s off screen screw-ups (which almost destroyed him but now seem like ancient history) seem to feed his life onscreen. Harry Lockhart is a sad and twitchy failed thief and the fact that he becomes an actor without realizing, or knowing why, or even particularly wanting to be an actor, is an ironic comment on Downey’s earlier predicaments.

09. BACK TO SCHOOL

How can you not completely love a movie where Robert Downey Jr. gets to play a weird, smart mouthed college kid named Derek that hangs out with Rodney Danger field! This movie is an all time classic! Although Downey Jr. is not the lead actor, he adds to the laugh factor of the movie with his crazy hair and snappy one liners.For example, when talking about a pep rally, Derek says “Violent ground acquisition games such as football is in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war.”… I think I like this guy! I think it’s a great example of where Downey Jr. came from, and how much he has accomplished!

08. NATURAL BORN KILLERS

Robert Downey, Jr. maintains his unique tongue and personality in Oliver Stone’s ultra-violent crime spree film NATURAL BORN KILLERS, based on a screenplay from Quentin Tarantino, but in this role he’s not in control. Downey plays Wayne Gale, an Australian reporter who hosts a sensationalist show called American Maniacs. His show profiles murderers, so Gale is all over following Mickey and Mallory, the modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, with full intent of publicizing them to the fullest extent of his own benefit. Gale is a weasle of a man, manipulative and cunning, but ultimately blinded by his need for fame and fortune. Downey manages to show a slightly different side of his abilities in NBK, eventually becoming a victim like any other, his own game of manipulation turned against himself in the end. Downey embodied the media shark we all love to hate.

07. CHARLIE BARTLETT

Charlie Bartlett is the story of a rich kid who was thrown out of his wealthy, private school and forced to attend public school. While at his new public school, Bartlett meets Principle Nathan Gardner (Downey Jr.), an alcoholic who really hates Bartlett. Downey Jr. plays the part of a concerned father, who is fighting with his inner demons rather well… especially when Bartlett starts dating his daughter. Downey Jr. is a great asset to this film and the young actors in it!

06. ZODIAC

While ZODIAC, David Fincher 2 ½ hour true crime epic, has its terrifying moments, it’s less a thriller than a thoroughly engrossing police procedural. It’s also a meticulous re-creation of the early ‘70’s, an era that Hollywood almost always gets wrong. Robert Downey Jr. played Paul Avery, a cynical and self-destructive star crime reporter who was one of three men who doggedly pursued the Zodiac killer for many years (Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo round out the trio). With his affected mannerisms, goatee, and scarves, Downey plays Avery as a dapper inquisitor, a dark forerunner to the Sherlock Holmes he would play over two years later. An arrogant boozer, Avery was clearly a difficult personality to work with and Downey skillfully shows how the grind of the Zodiac investigation unraveled him and drove him to an early grave. ZODIAC doesn’t have the neatly resolved ending required of Hollywood movies for, as in real life, the Zodiac case remains unsolved.

05. SHERLOCK HOLMES

Robert Downey, Jr. can’t play a Brit.  Surprisingly enough, this was an argument we weren’t hearing too much about in the month leading up to SHERLOCK HOLMES’ release late last year.  It probably had something to do with Downey’s incredible performance in TROPIC THUNDER the year before (see #4 for a little more on that).  Doubters or not, everyone was convinced once the film was released, and another, successful franchise had begun for the man who was persona non grata in Hollywood not all that long ago.  He brought an overpowering sense of cool to the Holmes character, but the sophistication and intelligence of the man was never in question.  To that end, Downey was the perfect choice for a Sherlock Holmes that was more adventurous than elementary.  Of course, the elementary didn’t seem to take a backseat on this one, either.  SHERLOCK HOLMES was an extremely enjoyable film, and, accent or not, it featured the perfect man for the job.

04. TROPIC THUNDER

“I know what dude I am. I’m the dude playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude!” That quote pretty much says it all. TROPIC THUNDER was a hilarious comedy with tons of great dialogue across the board, but Robert Downey, jr. stole the show… well, him and Tom Cruise (of all people) as Les Grossman. Robert Downey, Jr. takes a chance playing a white actor, playing a black actor in a movie about making an action-war movie. once you get that all untangled, let me know… or, you could just enjoy it. Downey was so good, he managed to pull off the seemingly impossible and earned himself an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, despite the historical snubbing of comedic actors.

03. LESS THAN ZERO

Of Robert Downey, Jr.’s performance, Roger Ebert remarked, “flawless… Robert Downey, Jr’s acting here is so real, so subtle and so observant that it’s scary…” This was the performance that really made Hollywood stand up and take notice of just how good an actor he was. Pretty amazing, considering his 3 previous movies at the time were silly comedies, AND he had just been fired from the cast of Saturday Night Live. And sadly eerie that it was practically foreshadowing his own drug addiction in the years that followed. If for some reason you have never seen this movie, I got one word for you: Netflix.

02. CHAPLIN

His star turning performances in CHANCES ARE, AIR AMERICA and the hilarious SOAPDISH are what led to his leading role in the biopic CHAPLIN. As the title character, Downey’s portrayal of the Little Tramp is told through flashbacks. While the movie plays like an Access Hollywood story, it’s the small nuances of Downey’s performances that are striking. His uncanny performance was so impressionable that director Richard Attenborough added footage to the end of the film of the real Chaplin himself. Downey’s performance won rave reviews across the board and he received an Academy Award nod for Best Actor. Unfortunately, he lost the Oscar to Al Pacino, but won the BAFTA for Best Actor.

01. IRON MAN

Given IRON MAN 2 opens in theaters a mere three days from now, it may seem trendy to position IRON MAN in the #1 spot, but truth be told… Robert Downey, Jr. earned this spot. A great deal of the film’s success is owed to Downey and a great deal of Downey’s success in this role is owed to the fact that he was the perfect casting choice. It’s almost as though, when the Tony Stark character was created, the writers and artists traveled to the future, met Robert Downey, Jr. and said… HIM! That’s the guy! That IS Tony Stark! Perhaps they knew it would one day become a motion picture? Anyway, Downey’s uncanny natural coolness and cocky swagger is fully embodied in Tony Stark, making the role and the film incredibly enjoyable. Downey manages to nail that fine line between an egotistical, arrogant jerk that people hate and a brilliant, adventurous good guy we can’t help but love. As if struck from a mold sculpted decades before… could anyone else have possibly pulled off this role so perfectly?