Underrated Performances from the OG Avengers

Ahead of Avengers: Endgame, I thought I'd look back at the past performance of our original Avengers line up. I almost went with my favorite non-Marvel performances, but then I decided I'd rather talk about some of their films that are more on the underrated side. 



Robert Downey Jr -  I've got go with his very understated performance in Fur. You don't see his face for most of the movie so it's his voice and his eyes that are conveying everything, and I think it's a wonderful performance of his. I really liked this movie although I know plenty did not. 


Chris Evans - I feel like early Chris Evans didn't take a lot of roles that let him flex his acting skills, but that changed with Puncture. This was the first film of his I saw that I felt like he stepped out of his comfort zone. It was very meaty. 


Chris Hemsworth - I have to cheat a bit here. Hemsworth does a lot of bigger budget action movies and that's essentially all I've seen from him. That said, I think his best performance is in Rush. People tend to talk about Daniel Bruhl the most in reference to that movie, but Hemsworth was good too.


Scarlett Johansson - Johansson's always had a very mature career. She never had to play a high schooler well into her 20's, she always seemed to grab interesting roles even when she was young. One that I don't think gets talked about enough is more recent, and it's her turn as a romance movie loving woman in Don Jon. I don't think she gets enough credit for how funny she was in this and her accent was absolutely perfect. 


Mark Ruffalo - Funny thing about Ruffalo, he was not an actor I liked at all until around 2010. He did the McConaughey thing for me. There just came a point where I started enjoying him and his movies more. One movie he never seems to get enough attention for is Infinitely Polar Bear. Sure, he got a Globe nomination but he should've gotten more. That was such a lovely film.


Jeremy Renner - I haven't seen a lot of Renner's movies to be honest, at least not a lot of his smaller ones. He played that pervert in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which I saw, but a lot of his early work has escaped me. Because of that, I'm going to go with Wind River. Sure, this is recent and popular with Film Twitter but it doesn't appear to be popular anywhere else and it should've been for how important it was. 

Comments

  1. I've seen Don Jon years ago so I don't remember Johansson's performance that well but I loved her in Lost in Translation and Match Point. I wish she was that good in the Marvel movies too. She looks so bored and uninterested in those.

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    1. The only one I felt like she was phoning in was Infinity War so hopefully she makes up for it in Endgame. Otherwise I usually love her work.

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  2. I'd say practically everything RDJ has done prior to Iron Man is underrated, Fur in its entirety is so ridiculously underseen.

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    1. Fur for some reason was really poorly reviewed which I don't get.

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  3. I do need to see Rush. That flick looks awesome. My favorite underseen performance from RDJ is Two Girls and a Guy and from ScarJo it's either Ghost World or Under The Skin

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    1. I love Two Girls and a Guy! I almost went with that. Ghost World is great too.

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  4. Scarlett still has great glutes 🖤

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  5. I wasn't enamored with Fur as I found it to be disappointing overall as a film but Downey was great in it. I think Chris Evans doesn't get enough love as an actor as he definitely prove to have chops as I will cite films like Gifted and Playing It Cool as key examples. Chris Hemsworth is also someone that is coming to his own as I will totally agree with you on Rush as he was awesome in that.

    I've said so much about Scar-Jo 3:16 as there's just a lot of films she's done that warrants her as one of the best working today. Mark Ruffalo is so fun as I'm really hoping he gets into a rom-com soon with Reese Witherspoon as her ex-husband who becomes an unlikely best friend to her new husband in Paul Rudd. I smell $$$$$$ with that project. Jeremy Renner is great as I would put Arrival as a performance of his where I think he definitely showed his chops.

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    1. Renner was great in Arrival too, I think Wind River is less talked about though outside of the internet.

      I liked Evans in Gifted too. I haven't seen Playing It Cool.

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    2. Playing It Cool is a rom-com but kind of funny. Especially for a scene where he and Michelle Monaghan switch genders in one scene as well as the fact that Monaghan is dating Evan's former co-star from the Fantastic 4 movies in Mr. Fantastic in that film.

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  6. Great work here. I agree that Mark is so good in Infinitely Polar Bear. Wish more people talked about him in that. And if you want to see a very different side of Renner, check him out in Dahmer. He plays such a believable creep.

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    1. I've heard that and have always meant to look for that one. I need to throw it in my Netflix queue.

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  7. This post is great, but um, "It was very meaty" made me almost spit out my drink.

    Renner f--king owns in Wind River. I used to doubt that guy. Never again.

    Oh, and I gotta check out Infinitely Polar Bear. Love me some Ruffalo (Begin Again is too new, but my favorite MR work hands down). Rush, too.

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    1. "meaty" is a nice word lol.

      I LOVE Begin Again! I almost went with that too but I think more people saw that than Infinitely Polar Bear.

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  8. Great picks! Fur is so criminally underrated. It was a decent biopic for how interesting the topic was for Diane. Nicole and Robert had great chemistry. Since Captain America is ending, I think Chris will surprise a lot of people if his next acting picks turn out well. Loved him in Puncture. Snowpiercer is one of my favorite non-Marvel movies of his too. I haven't seen the other ones though and will have to check 'em out.

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    1. Same, i adore Snowpiercer. I can't wait to see what he does next.

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  9. Yes! To Wind River which is an excellent film and got snubbed in so many ways. I Love Jeremy Renner. Scarlett was great in The Horse Whisperer which was done when she was a kid. Robert Downey Jnr. is great as Chaplin, Sherlock Holmes and The Judge. I have not seen too much of Chris Hemsworth of Chris Evans so they still need to prove themselves to me...how sad a statement is that...hahahaaa

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