The Best and Worst of Liam Nesson

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 "A Monster Calls" and "Silence" star Liam Nesson.

Films starring Liam Nesson that I've seen:
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Love Actually
Batman Begins
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
Taken
Clash of the Titans
The A-Team
Unknown
The Grey
Wrath of the Titans
Taken 2
The Lego Movie
Non-Stop
A Million Ways to Die in the West
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Run All Night

Best Performance: The Grey (2012)
Nesson has spent much of the past decade morphing into one of the most reliable action badasses in Hollywood, but his finest work as an actor came when he returned to his dramatic roots in the minimalist survival thriller The Grey. It was awesome to see Nesson give a commanding performance in a well-written, emotionally-dense film after watching him pretty much exclusively crack skulls since he underwent his career renaissance following the breakout success of Taken in 2009.   

Worst Performance: A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
Nesson is more than capable of handling comedy (see The Lego Movie and his PHENOMENAL cameo in Ted 2), but holy hell did he miss the mark in Seth McFarlane's A Million Days to Die in the West. His flat performance as the film's stereotypical tough guy villain was the only thing that really didn't work for me in an otherwise amusing parody of the western genre. 

Best Film: Batman Begins (2005)
In the vast sea of superhero films, no film is more overlooked than Batman Begins. Not only did Batman Begins atone for the sins of Joel Schumacher's horrifically cheesy Batman & Robin, it redefined what superhero movies could be in terms of tone and narrative scope. I understand all of the admiration for its sequel The Dark Knight, I just feel like Batman Begins is a more important, well-crafted and rewatchable film.  

Worst Film: Taken 2 (2012)
I can't think of a more inept, pathetic or shameless cash-grab sequel than Taken 2. It's basically an exact blueprint of the original except the intensity and brilliant action sequences were swapped out for non-stop unintentional comedy and amateur porn-level acting. Without question, one of the worst movies I've ever see in theaters.

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 "Sleepless" star Jamie Foxx.