Tom Hanks is one of only a few actors who has delivered so many amazing, iconic and memorable performances that it’s likely if you ask someone what their favourite Tom Hanks movie is, you’ll get a different answer each and every time. Indeed, his career has been so far reaching and varied, the man has his own Wikipedia pages titled, “List of awards and nominations received by Tom Hanks.”
Of course, it’s not all about the awards, but you’d struggle to find anyone who would say that Hanks hasn’t deserved each and every nomination and win. When it comes to his best performances, that’s a list which could go on and on, so narrowing it down to six proved to be extremely difficult. For that reason, it’s easy to imagine you having your own favourites, and we’d love to hear them in the comment section below!
6. Captain Phillips
It seems appropriate to kick this list off with one of Tom Hanks’ most recent movies, and arguably also one of his best performances to date. In Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips, the titular Captain is kidnapped by Somali pirates and then put through an ordeal so utterly awful that it’s more likely to give you nightmares than the recent Evil Dead remake! The movie surprisingly does away with Hanks’ familiar likeable everyman persona, but it’s to the actor’s credit that we’re still able to sympathise with him.
Trapped inside the claustrophobic lifeboat, Phillips does all he can to survive being in such close quarters with his unpredictable captors in a situation which could turn deadly for him at any moment. However, it’s not until the final few minutes – when Phillps is rescued and breaks down – that we too feel the same sort of relief in a moving and hard to watch sequence. It’s this which stands as testament to Hank’s incredible acting ability, and few other movies take us so fully into them quite as much as Captain Phillips.
Captain Phillips is out on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday the 10th of February.
