Colin Farrell is an underrated actor. It’s not that he doesn’t appear much and needs more roles; no, he’s underrated because he doesn’t come to mind quickly when listing off Holywood’s best. That’s a group to which he really does belong alongside people like Matt Damon and George Clooney among others. Colin Farrell has done numerous different and unique roles. This is a countdown of his top 5.
5: Lt. Thomas Hart (Harts War)
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Hart’s War, while a wonderfully unique and charming legal thriller, wasn’t big on complex or memorable characters save for Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell. Colin’s performance as the titular hero is notable mostly for his weakness. In fact Lt. Thomas Hart is meant to be a physically and mentally weak man compared to the more hardened soldiers around him without being a doormat. He can’t be a doormat because his ideals are stronger than theirs. That’s the movie and that’s hard. It’s simply a difficult person to try and get in touch with and Farrell did it wonderfully.
4. Detective Sonny Crockett (Miami Vice)
Miami Vice, the TV Show, is extremely iconic as are both the Sonny and Rico characters. Colin is not known for ‘bad boy’ action roles but his reimagining of Sonny Crockett was perfect for the film. He was equal parts classic cowboy police detective, (Dirty Harry/Martin Riggs) and believably complex human being. Not trying to make himself a carbon copy or an updated version of Don Johnson really helped make the movie and the character feel distinct and real, whether or not the actual film was any good and it was sadly mediocre.
3. Marty Faranan (Seven Psychopaths)
Colin’s role as troubled writer Marty will always be a very great use of Colin Farell for its complete irony. Farrell is mostly remembered for playing rather crazed characters, but he is not one of the psychopaths in a film called Seven Psychopaths. In fact he’s played as the straight man to Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken, both also known for playing crazy. Marty’s character makes the film with his combination ‘holier than thou writer’ and ‘overly done with this straight man’ while actually going through incredibly powerful character development.
2. Bullseye (Daredevil)
No one liked Daredevil, even the directors cut with the complete story was mediocre. The only good thing about the movie was Colin’s portrayl of an Irish version of infamous comic book villain Bullseye. Bullseye was the quintessential psycho assassin. He was over the top: he had jerky movement, killed people for minor infractions or for minor gain and simply emoted lunacy excellently. He was the perfect antagonist for Affleck’s slightly more crazed then brooding take on Matt Murdock. Colin will forever be the king of crazy because of this role.
1. Ray (In Bruges)
In Bruges is arguably Colin’s best movie as well as his more memorable role. Ray, an emotionally and mentally unstable hit man is a perfect role for Colin Farrell coming after Daredevil; except Ray is the good guy. He shot the wrong person and now he’s beating himself up for it. The film is Ray’s journey of working through his grief and deciding to move on, but along the way he’s a total wreck of a person with no idea of where his life is going or what to do. The role is acted perfectly and leaves a permanent impression of Colin’s ability as an actor.
