[ad_1]
Since we’ve grown accustomed to seeing Tom Holland as the plucky Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it can be easy to forget that he has an extensive resume of other acting roles that show off his impressive range. While his roles in the Spider-Man franchise and Uncharted, for example, have shown off Holland’s effortless gift for comedy, the young star really comes alive when he gets to disappear into the roles of traumatized and tormented characters. In films like The Lost City of Z, Last Call, The Impossible, Cherry, and The Devil All the Time, Tom Holland proves that he might be at his best playing haunted young men grappling with terrifying circumstances. As we anxiously await his performance as a young criminal struggling with dissociative identity disorder in The Crowded Room, let’s take a look back on some other times that Tom Holland stole the show with dramatic roles.
‘The Impossible’ Gave Us an Intense Teen Tom
Starting when he was only 14 years old in 2012’s The Impossible, Holland dazzled us with a serious acting ability that was way beyond his years. The survival film, which is based on true events, follows a family struggling to survive the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami while on vacation in Thailand. The young Tom Holland, in his movie debut, plays Lucas, the eldest of the family’s three young sons. Lucas spends the better part of the film screaming, crying, and being bombarded by waves and debris, and Holland is fully committed at all times in what was no doubt an exhausting shoot. As Lucas has to not only fight to survive but take on the burden of keeping his injured mother (Naomi Watts) safe, Holland’s performance artfully shows his transition from a little boy on vacation to a young man horrified by tragedy who is also determined to rescue his family.
In ‘The Devil All the Time,’ Tom Holland Makes the Movie’s Violent Protagonist Sympathetic
Next, if there is a movie that is the opposite of a feel-good flick, it would probably be 2020’s The Devil All the Time. In this slow-burn thriller, Holland plays Arvin Russell, a jaded young man forced to perpetuate a generational cycle of trauma after being orphaned by his parents and sent to live with family in a town dominated by a new, malicious reverend (Robert Pattinson). The story contains a multitude of murders, suicides, and vicious assaults, and Tom Holland is at the center of everything as he grapples with the loss of everyone he loves and tries to seek justice in the only way his father taught him — through violence. Delivering venomous lines in a slow, southern drawl and beating his way through a town of wicked bullies and religious fanatics, Holland’s performance is something of a saving grace in an otherwise exhausting watch.
Holding his own against fellow Marvel star Sebastian Stan’s crooked cop and Robert Pattinson’s perverse pastor, Holland manages to be one of the few sympathetic characters in a movie full of morally corrupt people. Arvin spends most of the movie with a sad, simmering anger that only explodes a handful of times, which makes Holland’s performance of built-up rage all the more impressive. While you should probably steer clear of this movie if you love dogs, hate spiders, or just generally don’t want to feel super bummed out, Tom Holland’s heart-wrenching yet subdued performance makes this melancholy drama worth watching.
Tom Holland Plays an Addict With PTSD in ‘Cherry’
Teaming up with MCU directors Joe and Anthony Russo, Tom Holland goes dark once again as the titular character in the 2021 crime drama, Cherry. Cherry is a young war veteran struggling with PTSD, addicted to drugs and robbing banks in order to feed his habit and salvage a life with his similarly-afflicted wife (Ciara Bravo). As we watch Cherry go from a promising college student to a traumatized soldier struggling to see the point in anything he does, Holland shows this transformation both emotionally and physically. In one of the movie’s most tragic moments, Cherry demonstrates Holland’s ability to convey both outright horror and quiet devastation as he helps haul his friend’s charred body out of an exploded truck, then is forced to identify him to his superiors.
Truly embodying the character, Tom Holland becomes unrecognizable as we watch Cherry devolve into a shell of his former self as the weight of his disease forces him to go to unspeakable lengths in order to achieve his next high. When he surrenders to the police at the end of the film, Tom Holland doesn’t say a word, but we can see the morbid relief that courses through him as he finally gives up. He fires a few gunshots in the air, plunks himself dejectedly on the curb, and administers one last fix as he waits for the authorities to cart him off to jail. While Cherry is released 14 years later with his wife waiting for him, which offers some relief at the end of an emotionally turbulent movie, Holland’s lowest points in the film remain the most compelling.
Tom Holland Embraces Spider-Man’s Emotional Side
If you’re looking for a slightly lighter dose of Tom Holland’s dramatic acting chops, look no further than his work in the MCU. While Holland has taken up the Spider-Man mantle with a youthful exuberance and persistent joy, he has also shown that the young hero is often at his most interesting when faced with his greatest obstacles. Particularly in the acclaimed Spider-Man: No Way Home, when faced with the death of his beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Holland taps into a devastating darkness, sobbing and horrified at the loss of his only remaining family. While his display of grief proves that the actor is always willing to get vulnerable, his later display of rage as he takes his anger out on the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) shows us a side of MCU Spidey that we hadn’t yet seen. With untapped fury funneling out through his angry spider-fists, Holland leaves it all on the field as he beats the villain within an inch of his life on his desperate quest for retribution.
Through all of these performances and more, Tom Holland proves that he isn’t afraid to go there, with “there” being a desolate emotional landscape where any semblance of levity has been all but beaten out of him. While he bounces seamlessly between action, comedy, drama, and even voice acting, Holland consistently proves that his most serious roles might be his most impressive. Even when put up against big names like Naomi Watts, the flourishing actor has always been able to hold his own against screen legends, and his willingness to take on different personas has prevented him from becoming trapped in the MCU bubble bursting with Spider-Man movies. Tom Holland has a knack for making us sympathize with complicated men and has the capacity to break our hearts as much as he can lift our spirits, so we can only imagine how his tormented performance in The Crowded Room will leave us feeling.
[ad_2]
Source link
Armessa Movie News