The Best and Worst of Jude Law

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 "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" star Jude Law.

Films starring Jude Law that I've seen:
Road to Perdition
I Heart Huckabees
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 
The Aviator 
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Sherlock Holmes
Repo Men
Contagion
Hugo
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Side Effects
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dom Hemingway
Spy 

Best Performance: Dom Hemingway (2014)
When it comes to the most underappreciated performances of the 2010's, this one tops my list. Law's electric, hysterical performance as a cocky safecracker trying to collect the money his former boss owes him (Demian Bichir) after his 12-year stint in prison made Dom Hemingway one of the most spellbinding films of 2014.

Worst Performance: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
This is the rare piece of acting that is so dull that I honestly forgot Law was in the movie, which is really bad considering that he plays the MAIN CHARACTER. In a film that's stuffed to the brim with gratuitous overacting, Law's stoneface robot routine is out of place and thoroughly painful to watch.

Best Film: Dom Hemingway (2014)
Projects like Dom Hemingway that come out of nowhere and impress the hell out of you are the best kind of surprises the movie industry offers up. A dark comedy about a wise-cracking British safecracker headlined by an actor that I'm pretty indifferent towards didn't really sell me on paper, but Richard Shepard's clever script, Law's knockout performance and the surprising amount of sweetness  in the final act caused me to fall in love with this film. A truly underrated gem and one of the best films of the excellent cinematic year that was 2014. 

Worst Film: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is one of those movies that can only be described as a noble missed opportunity. It had a top-notch cast (Law, Gwenyth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi), an original premise and groundbreaking visual effects, but its incoherent script and overly serious tone ended up overshadowing the tremendous amount of creativity writer/director Kerry Conran brought to this film. 

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 "Alien: Covenant" star Danny McBride.