The Best and Worst of Christian Bale

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "The Big Short" star Christian Bale.

Films starring Christian Bale that I've seen:
Pocahontas 
American Psycho
Batman Begins
The Prestige
3:10 to Yuma
The Dark Knight 
Terminator Salvation
Public Enemies
The Fighter
The Dark Knight Rises
Out of the Furnace
American Hustle
Exodus: Gods and Kings 

Best Performance: American Psycho (2000)
Bale's performance as yuppie businessman/serial killer Patrick Bateman is firmly in my top 10 performances of all-time. Bale is a deranged, hilarious force of nature every time he's on screen and is the primary reason this film's pitch-black comedy is so effective.

Worst Performance: Public Enemies (2009)
There's no other celebrated actor in Hollywood right now that turns in more crappy performances than Bale. Of these duds, his performance as FBI agent Melvin Purvis in the John Dillinger docudrama Public Enemies is by far his most underwhelming. Armed with a god awful Southern accent and not even a hint of conviction, Bale turns in a wildly over-the-top performance in an otherwise slow-burning, subtle film.

Best Film: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Westerns have made a serious resurgence in the past decade with the release of brilliant films like True Grit, Django Unchained and Meek's Cutoff. I believe that this resurgence of quality westerns can be tied back to James Mangold's near-perfect remake of 3:10 to Yuma. Thanks to a great script from Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Halston Welles and a pair of award-worthy leading performances from Bale and Russell Crowe, 3:10 to Yuma is able to a create an engrossing, stunning film that forges its own path while also honoring the legacy of the 1957 original 

Worst Film: Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Ridley Scott finally put an end to a nearly decade-long cold streak earlier this year with the release of the widely-acclaimed sci-fi flick The Martian. The high quality of The Martian is particularly surprising because at this time last year when Scott released Exodus: Gods and Kings, it seemed like the 78-year old film icon was never going to make a worthwhile film again. Exodus: Gods and Kings had noble ambitions as a dark Biblical epic, but ended up a boring, poorly-acted and often unintentionally hilarious film that was a nightmare to sit through.

 Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star Harrison Ford.