Top 5 Russell Crowe Films

Something new I'm gonna try to do is make a Top Five list relevant to a specific movie or theme during the week of a movie I review. So this time around, it was Noah, which got me thinking of Russell Crowe's best movies. He's a phenomenal actor, and has produced a couple of my favourite movies, as well a wholly consistent repertoire of roles.

5. American Gangster (2007)
I'm a huge fan of mobster/gangster films, so what better way to start off this list than with American Gangster. This is the most recent movie on this list, and barely edged out Man of Steel, which I thought Crowe was amazing in but didn't choose it due to how small his role was. Here, he plays a detective who's out to bring down the drug empire of Denzel Washington's character, Frank Lucas. It's a big and intense American crime movie which sort of the closest in style to that of The Godfather and Goodfellas because it just had that feel to it. The writing was brilliant and the characters were so complex that it grips your attention for its long runtime. As well as being legitimately dramatic with an intense climax, American Gangster shows that Russell Crowe's still got it.

4. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

In relation to his just released film, Noah, this movie also chronicles Russell Crowe on an epic adventure in the seas. Master & Commander is an intense period piece about a British captain that pushes his crew to the limits. The direction and technical aspects of this movie are spectacular: amazing sound editing and realistic ship; as well as the Oscar-winning cinematography. The director and cast did their jobs excellently. But Russell Crowe's performance as the weathered captain who's got so much on his plate but keeps on going; that was awesome. It's great to see when an epic adventure with great sound and scale can be capitalized on by a great performance.

3. L.A. Confidential (1997)
It could be argued that this is the movie that put Crowe on the movie star map. L.A. Confidential is one of the best written films of all time, conveying an intricate story that weaves together three different cops: Guy Pearce as the boy scout-type cop, Kevin Spacey as the corrupt Vice cop, and Russell Crowe as the gruffy roughed up badass cop; as they investigate a series of murders. The back-and-forth and the realistic dialogue could be argued to be the stellar aspect of this movie. But Russell Crowe really sells it in this movie, and you can tell that it seriously jumpstarted his career, showing the complexity and seriousness he could put into a character.

2. Gladiator (2000)

"Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next." I can't talk about this movie without mentioning that quote. Gladiator is one of the most epic films of all time, as well as probably the best display of downright vengeance I've ever seen in a movie. Everything about this movie just screams epicness: the production value, the huge scope, the realistic set design, the absolutely intense action sequences, and even the conversations that are had between characters. This is the movie that won Crowe his Oscar for Best Actor, and it was so well deserved because he was so amazing in this role as Maximus Decimus Meridius. You really saw the devotion in him and we were all behind him throughout the entire film. I can't speak enough about how much I love Gladiator, because it's one of the greatest movies of all time to me. But there is one more that places higher:

1. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Right after he wins Best Actor and his movie wins Best Picture, he gives another stellar performance in another Best Picture winning movie the subsequent year. A Beautiful Mind is my favourite Russell Crowe movie and also, in my opinion, his best performance. He plays the real-life mathematician John Nash, an absolutely brilliant man who thought he was working in secret service cryptography but instead sees his life spiral downward into basically a nightmare. Keep in mind, that this film was a true story, and never before have I seen a real person so convincingly portrayed. A Beautiful Mind was the first time I ever saw a character in a movie and think, "Wow he's actually genuinely a genius;" not like Doc Brown from Back to the Future who's a wacky genius, but actually a realistic prodigy. And the way Crowe did every single mannerism, the way he spoke every single word, and the way he showed his emotions were so compelling, that this is not only the best Russell Crowe movie, but also one of my favourite films of all time.