The Best and Worst of Chris Pine

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 "Wonder Woman" star Chris Pine.

Film starring Chris Pine that I've seen:
Smokin' Aces
Star Trek
Unstoppable
This Means War
People Like Us
Star Trek Into Darkness
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 
Horrible Bosses 2
The Finest Hours
Star Trek Beyond
Hell or High Water 

Best Performance: Hell or High Water (2016)
With the Star Trek trilogy and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Pine has solidified himself as one of the most charismatic and magnetic action heroes of his generation. With Hell or High Water, he proved has the chops to be a serious, award-caliber dramatic actor. Pine's turn as Toby Howard, a poor Texas man that decides to commit a series of bank robberies in order to get the money to save his family farm from foreclosure, is a phenomenal, layered portrayal of an honest man that's forced into a life of crime to secure a brighter future for his family.

Worst Performance: This Means War (2012)
McG's (Terminator Salvation, Charlie's Angels) spy-based romantic comedy This Means War is one of the most anonymous movies I've seen in the past five years, so it's not a huge shock that Pine's performance in it was mediocre as hell. Like his similarly talented co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy, Pine's acting is competent enough to be deemed passable, but not committed enough to be overly funny or memorable. 

Best Film: Star Trek (2009) 
Can you tell that I love this movie? J.J. Abrams' reboot of Gene Roddenberry beloved television property is a clever, spellbinding blockbuster that holds up incredibly well on repeat viewings.

Worst Film: The Finest Hours (2016)
The Finest Hours is one of the rare movies that I found to be a legit chore to sit through. Despite its "based on a true story" label, The Finest Hours is full of so much nauseating, overly sentimental Hollywood bullshit that it feels more like an episode of a soap opera than real fucking life. On top of all of the schmaltzy, emotionally-manipulative trash that's scattered throughout the story, the film chugs along at such an agonizingly slow pace that it makes two hours feel like 10. I'd rather get a prostate exam every week for the rest of my life than be forced to watch this insufferable piece of tearjerker porn again.  


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 "It Comes at Night" star Joel Edgerton.