The Best and Worst of Anthony Mackie (2019)

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Miss Bala” star Anthony Mackie.

Films starring Anthony Mackie that I've seen:
8 Mile
Million Dollar Baby
The Man
Freedomland
Half Nelson
Eagle Eye

Notorious
The Hurt Locker
Night Catches Us
The Adjustment Bureau 
What's Your Number?
Real Steel
Man on a Ledge
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Gangster Squad
Pain & Gain
Runner Runner
Captain America: The Winter Solider 
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
Our Brand is Crisis 
The Night Before
Triple 9
Captain America: Civil War
Detroit 
Avengers: Infinity War

Best Performance: Pain & Gain (2013) 
While Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg had more time to drive this morbidly hilarious bus, Mackie's turn as the third wheel in this bumbling band of meathead criminals was just an integral to Pain & Gain's unexpected brilliance. Thanks to his completely believable arrogance, naivety and bursts of steroid-fueled rage, Mackie makes Adrian Doorbal the king of incompetence in this American Dream-chasing band of con men.        

Worst Performance: Notorious (2009)
Mackie is about as reliable as an actor can possibly be. Even if the material is suspect (Our Brand is Crisis, Eagle Eye, Runner Runner), his natural charisma and refusal to slum it prevents him from stumbling. The closest he's come to making a true misstep came with his bit part as Tupac Shakur in the Biggie biopic Notorious. After Demterius Shipp Jr. turned in an electric performance that propped up the otherwise mediocre All Eyez on Me, it became even more evident that he didn't do a great job of capturing the blend of monk-like calmness and seemingly infinite wisdom that made Shakur such an icon.

Best Film: The Hurt Locker (2009)
Modern war flicks, particularly ones set in Afghanistan/Iraq, have a disturbing tendency to favor overwhelming flag-waving macho garbage over showing the true unspeakable horrors that occur and helping people who have never served in the military understand the experiences of the people that are putting their lives on the line. The Hurt Locker was a refreshingly grounded departure from these repulsive propaganda pieces. Kathryn Bigelow realistically portrays the environment in nightmarish detail as well as the variety of ways soldiers react to life on the frontlines without ever glamorizing combat or failing to treat its characters as anything less than fully-formed human beings.  

Worst Film: What's Your Number? (2011)
At this point, I should just ban What's Your Number? from this series. It features a gigantic ensemble cast (Anna Farris, Chris Evans, Mackie, Chris Pratt, Andy Samberg, roughly a dozen more prominent actors) that are among Hollywood's most steadily employed on-camera personnel, which has resulted in me writing about this several times a year since this weekly column began back in May 2015. That being said, this tedium doesn't change the fact this borderline historic lowpoint for the romantic comedy genre squanders an abundance of top-end talent on a monumental dud that is completely devoid of charm, laughs or anything that even resembles fun.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” star Allison Brie. 

The Best and Worst of Anthony Mackie

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 "Captain America: Civil War" star Anthony Mackie.

Film starring Anthony Mackie that I've seen:
8 Mile
Million Dollar Baby
The Man
Freedomland
Eagle Eye
The Hurt Locker
Notorious 
Night Catches Us
The Adjustment Bureau
What's Your Number?
Real Steel
Man on a Ledge
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Gangster Squad
Pain & Gain
Runner Runner
Captain America: The Winter Solider
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant-Man
The Night Before 

Best Performance: Pain & Gain (2013)
Up to this point in his career, Mackie had showed plenty of promise as a supporting actor, he just hadn't been given a substantial-enough role to showcase the full extent of his talents. That opportunity finally came in Michael Bay's twisted satire Pain & Gain. Alongside the equally brilliant Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, Mackie shines as a dim-witted, steroid-fueled weightlifter who aids in the kidnapping and extortion of a pompous, wealthy businessman (Tony Shaloub) who works out at the same gym as him. I sincerely hope that another opportunity arises for Mackie to play a hilarious, unhinged character like this because he's just too damn good at it.  

Worst Performance: N/A
Mackie becomes the second actor (Ironically, the other was his Triple 9 co-star Woody Harrelson) in the history of this series to not have a worst performance attached to their name. Mackie has been pretty good to downright excellent in every one of the films he's had a notable amount of screentime in and the handful of other films he's starred that don't fall under that umbrella he either wasn't in long enough to properly assess (8 Mile, What's Your Number?) or made the most out of his small role (Notorious, Real Steel). Mackie is one of the most gifted and versatile actors working today and if he continues to tackle his roles with the same level of passion and intensity he's shown throughout his first 15 years in Hollywood, he should be able to keep his perfect track record alive for the rest of his career. 

Best Film: The Hurt Locker (2009)
War films are very hit-or-miss for me. There are a fair number of classic films (Saving Private Ryan, Glory) that tell exceptional stories about heroism and bravery in the line of duty. However, I've found a lot of the recent war films (American Sniper, Act of Valor) to be more concerned with pushing a jingoist agenda than actually tackling the harsh realities of warfare and the psychological and emotional toll that it takes on the people involved. This recent wave of simplistic, lazy war films is why The Hurt Locker is such a refreshing and special film. The Hurt Locker has the courage to treat soldiers as human beings, not just faceless pawns in our government's foreign policy goals, by delving into why they chose to put their lives on the line for their country and what lasting effects combat can have on a human being without constantly ramming a political agenda down the audience's throat for two hours. We need more war films like this that tackle the human side of war and don't simply serve as mindless, masturbatory recruitment ad's for the United States Armed Forces.

Worst Film: What's Your Number? (2011)
This fucking movie man..... Aside from the completely torturous Sweet Home Alabama and Runaway Bride, I've never seen a more uninspired romantic comedy in my life than What's Your Number? This movie hits on an abundance of romcom cliches (woman awkwardly falls in front of her crush, central couple initially hates each other then falls in love after spending more time together, way too many other one's to name here) without having the clever humor or believable chemistry between the two leads (Anna Farris and Chris Evans) to offset the lack of creativity on display. Fortunately, none of the actors involved with this project had their career derailed because of it and they've collectively managed to avoid starring in films that are on this level of epic suckiness since this was released.

 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 "The Lobster" star Colin Farrell.