Top 5 – Michael Fassbender Movies

Michael Fassbender is a cinematic treasure.  In such a short amount of time, he has become one of the most prolific and best actors working in Hollywood today.  He can make a big budget comic book movie and follow it up with an Oscar film or a small budget indie.  This weekend, Fassbender stars in The Snowman, a film I am incredibly excited for.  So in honor of that, here’s a look at my favorite Michael Fassbender movies.

5 – LT. ARCHIE HICOX in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

This is the performance where I first took notice of Fassbender.  In Quentin Tarantino’s insanely brilliant World War II, he appears in only one scene, but it is arguably the film’s best scene.  He plays Lt. Archie Hicox, a British Army Officer who joins the Basterds, during Operation Kino, in order to wipe out the Germans.  When meeting with a few of the Basterds and other members of Operation Kino in a poorly located bar basement, things don’t go according to plan when Hicox’s German accent slips and he gets in game with a high ranking German.  Fassbender owns this scene.  He recites Tarantino’s dialog beautifully and gives Hicox a full character, going from confident to defeat in a matter of minutes.  This was just a glimpse of what Fassbender was capable of.

4 – MAGNETO in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, APOCALYPSE (Matthew Vaughn/Bryan Singer, 2011, 2013, 2016)

Easily the biggest movie Fassbender has ever, his interpretation of Magneto has become one of the most complex and best comic book villains ever to grace the screen.  Magneto has always been an interesting character, as he tries to balance his friendship with Professor Xavier and with his ideals about the humans and mutants.  Fassbender is given the opportunity to really flesh this character out over three movies.  We see Magneto grow from being an original member of the X-Men and going to battle with them, to going to battle against them.  We also see Magneto quit the mutant game and attempt to have a normal life, which ends in tragedy.  It is an incredibly tough task to play a character that was originally played by the legendary Sir Ian McKellen, but Fassbender does it and does it even better.

3 – EDWIN EPPS 12 YEARS A SLAVE (Steve McQueen, 2013)

12 Years a Slave is probably the best movie I never want to watch again.  Steve McQueen’s unflinching look at Solomon Northup (the extraordinary Chewitel Ejiofor), a free man who gets kidnapped and turned into a slave for twelve years.  Fassbender plays Northup’s slave owner, Edwin Epps, and my God, is he horrifying.  Fassbender goes to another level of terror and intensity for this role.  Epps is despicable.  He is a man so full of hate, you despise every move he makes and everything he says.  And yet, Fassbender makes him so fascinating to watch.  It takes a special actor to play this kind of character and make him compelling, and Fassbender is that actor.  This was his first Oscar nomination and it was well deserved.

2 – BRANDON in SHAME (Steve McQueen, 2011)

This was the performance that solidified Fassbender’s greatness for me.  Earlier in 2011, he came out with X-Men: First Class, which I already gushed about at number four.  Later that year, he was in Steve McQueen’s Shame, where he plays a sex addict who’s life is disrupted when his sister shows up unexpectedly.  Once again, McQueen does not shy away from the darkness of sex addiction and he, once again, gets a committed performance from Fassbender.  Fassbender has never been so raw and vulnerable on screen.  His character, Brandon, seems to have his life in order, with a nice job, great apartment, and a social life.  But deep down, he is a tortured soul and we watch his issues take over his life.  This is a tough movie to watch, but one you need to see for Fassbender’s barebones performance and to really understand his diversity in roles.

1 – STEVE JOBS in STEVE JOBS (Danny Boyle, 2015)

I have always said that to read Aaron Sorkin dialog is like reading Shakespeare.  There is a certain way you say it and certain way you act with it and not many actors can do it to perfection.  As Apple founder Steve Jobs, Fassbender spits Sorkin’s dialog better than anyone I’ve heard before.  The screenplay is simply brilliant and is only elevated by the performance from our leading man.  Jobs was a very polarizing character and a man who’s ego was as big as brilliance, and Fassbender plays both sides of the coin, making us hate Jobs as he neglects friends and colleagues, but also making us sympathize with him and his relationship with his daughter.  This is a complex, electric performance that carries the entire movie.  Robbed of an Oscar, this is a legendary performance that will be remembered for years to come.

What are you favorite Michael Fassbender movies?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix.  And make sure to LIKE Kevflix on Facebook!