Tom Hardy Greatest Hollywood Actror
No, I don’t believe we can call Tom Hardy an “underrated” actor.
Being “underrated” specifically means the quality of someone’s talents is not properly appreciated, and usually also means they don’t receive adequate attention or accolades for their work.
Tom Hardy absolutely and demonstrably is considered — by his peers, by award agencies, by the media, and by audiences — to be a great performer. He has received numerous prestigious award nominations, including four British Independent Film Award nominations for Best Actor (two of which he won), an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and a host of others. He is regularly named as among the best performers of his generation.
Hardy’s last three films (Venom, Dunkirk, and The Revenant) have grossed nearly $1.6 billion in combined global box office so far (Venom will wind up adding an additional $150+ million by the end of its run). The vast majority of his films received “fresh” scores at Rotten Tomatoes, and Hardy himself typically receives rave reviews for his performances.
So he’s famous, he’s a multi-millionaire who commands large salaries for his film projects, he has been in numerous big-branded blockbuster films as well as several Oscar-nominated pictures, he has earned lots of acclaim and award nominations, and he is a popular performer among audiences, the press, and Hollywood professionals. Those aren’t descriptions of someone suffering from lack of adequate recognition and appreciation of their talents.
I think a lot of people simply misunderstand and misuse the term “underrated,” as if it is a more general term that means “not enough other people like this actor or this actor’s films as much as I do.” Or even “I like this person/thing a lot, but sometimes I see other people say they don’t like it.”
The impression that any existence of negativity or dislike for a person or film equates to the person/thing being “underrated” is something I see frequently in conversations about films — right here on Quora, there are questions asking for underrated film recommendations, and some users will list films like The Godfather or other widely acclaimed popular iconic films, and their explanation is typically “oh yeah I know people do like it, I just think it’s so great it’s even better than anybody realizes,” even when common opinion is that it’s among the greatest films ever made.
I am a fan of Tom Hardy’s work, including some of his lesser-seen stuff like The Drop and Bronson. I consider him a marvelous performer, and some of his TV work — such as Taboo and Peaky Blinders — is absolutely brilliant. But I don’t think there’s a general lack of appreciation and recognition of the quality of his talents or of his films.
Tom Hardy is one of my favourite actors, alongside Daniel Day Lewis and Joaquin Phoenix. I personally feel that he is one of the greatest actors of our time, and only time will tell if he's the one of the greatest of all time. Here is why I think he’s the greatest actor of our time.
I first noticed him in Inception, where I felt that he overshadowed DiCaprio whenever they were together in a scene. Since then, I’ve watched all of his films, and I have to say his best role is Bob Saginowski from The Drop. It's perfectly balanced, not too over the top and not too restrained.
The reason Hardy is different from the other actors working today is that Tom Hardy’s acting feels effortless - it's as if he truly is that character and isn't acting. This effortlessness is comparable to the kind of acting that Marlon Brando used to do, which used to feel grounded and real, and not overly dramatic. Sometimes actors like DiCaprio, and even Day-Lewis feel like they're acting, Hardy has never felt that way. He plays his role with ease which feels like the character exists and isn't just being acted, you'll notice this especially in his performance from The Drop.
Another reason is that Hardy completely transforms into the role. He understands the power of nuances. For every role I’ve seen him in since Inception, he alters his voice subtley or dramatically for that character. Therefore each one of his characters or performances have their own distinct voice literally. He also changes physical expressions for characters. Hardy’s expressions for Bob in The Drop are very lifelike in comparison to the disgusted and overly hyper expressions for Fitzgerald in The Revenant. DiCaprio, his contemporary in The Revenant has been using the same voice and same expressions for almost all of his career and at this point I can almost guess his expression based on the circumstance the character is in.
Adding further onto transformation is that Hardy physically transforms for his roles as well. He bulks up or cuts down depending on the demands of the role. In this respect I would say he is very similar to Christian Bale. By altering his body size, he also alters posture, gait, expressions and voice that all lead to a completely new character.
I just hope he doesn't dabble too much into blockbuster commercial cinema (as he previously has done with Star Trek and The Dark Knight Rises) and instead focuses on smaller projects that allow him to exercise his acting abilities.
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