The greatness of
Samuel L. Jackson is the best (expletive deleted) actor working today.
Most critics and moviegoers would probably put several names ahead of him - Meryl Streep or Mahershala Ali or Michael Fassbender or Amy Adams or… blah blah blah. They’re all wrong.
Jackson is cool and charismatic, they’ll at least concede. His appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the “Star Wars” franchise and two mega-successful “Incredibles” movies helped Jackson become the most successful box office performer of all-time. Yet haters like to hate, claiming “Oh, he has tiny parts in big movies that help pad his numbers.” That’s called playing it smart, dummies. Work a little in a bunch of movies and reap the rewards across the board. You wish you thought of it.
In between his high-profile blockbuster appearances, Jackson brings his A-game to projects big and small. Even in trash, Sam Jack delivers. Case in point: His recent appearance in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Glass,” where Jackson reprises one of his most nuanced and compelling performances - Elijah Price, a.k.a. Mr. Glass from 2000’s “Unbreakable.”
While “Glass” is a spectacularly uneven film, Jackson’s performance carries it through one of the more baffling cinematic climaxes of recent memory. It’s bug-nuts even for Shyamalan, but you can’t help but marvel at how Jackson makes Mr. Glass both a riveting, mustache-twirling villain and a soulful tragic figure.
Megafans (like me) often cite Jackson’s 1990s-era performances in “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown” and “Jungle Fever” as his most acclaimed, and look, those are terrific roles. But if you need any evidence that the Oscars are totally worthless, consider the fact that Samuel L. didn’t win an Oscar for “Pulp Fiction” and hasn’t been nominated since. Hogwash. Even by their boring, “Oscar-bait” standards, Jackson should have netted at least six nominations (by my completely objective count) after “Pulp Fiction,” a few of which we’ll cover in a bit.
In the 19 years between “Unbreakable” and “Glass,” Jackson has been seen by audiences more than anyone else working, thanks again to those mega-franchise appearances. In between those big movies though, Jackson filled his schedule working across all genres. He yells in some of them, sure, but in others, he brings a quiet, surprising intensity that people take for granted.
Chances are you missed a few of these movies. Chances are you think a few are bad but forgot that Jackson himself was still pretty good in them.
In celebration of the incomparable Samuel L. Jackson’s huge 2019 (he appears in “Glass,” “Captain Marvel,” a long-awaited “Shaft” sequel, “Spider-man: Far from Home” and MORE), this Jackson super-fan submits to you 10 great performances outside of his franchise work, from 2001 to present.
Romulus Ledbetter, “The Caveman’s Valentine” (2001)
A Juilliard-trained pianist and family man with paranoid schizophrenia winds up living in a cave at Inwood Hill Park in New York City, where one day he discovers the body of a young man. Even despite his unstable mind, Romulus begins to believe the man’s death is connected to the work of a famous photographer.
This type of role could have been a disaster in the hands of a performer looking to pad an Oscar-reel with an all-caps, MENTAL ILLNESS performance, but Jackson keeps the lid from blowing off the top, depicting the illness with sensitivity and restraint. The movie itself struggles to retain its own ambition, but Jackson’s a marvel here, even if only for his “caveman” appearance.
Doyle Gipson, “Changing Lanes” (2002)
The trailers for this movie made it look so ridiculous. It pitched handsome Ben Affleck in “Road Rage: The Movie,” pitting Mr. Gigli as a smug lawyer who winds up in a freeway fender-bender with Jackson, a struggling family man seemingly on the edge of a “Falling Down” type explosion.
The actual movie, directed by Roger Michell (“Notting Hill”) is much more introspective, giving both Affleck and Jackson the opportunity to play flawed characters who struggle to maintain their own core sense of morality. Despite the marketing, Jackson plays his character’s desperation on a much smaller scale. Also, Affleck is a totally underrated actor, even during this rugged period of his career. Come and fight me!
Coach Ken Carter, “Coach Carter” (2005)
A fact-based basketball drama about a coach who benched an undefeated high school team because of poor grades, “Coach Carter” was the MTV-produced, feel-good star vehicle Jackson definitely deserved more of in this period of his career. He’s a hardass coach who cares about his kids getting a proper education. He yells because he cares!
Look, it’s your standard inspirational sports drama, but it’s got a charismatic Jackson metaphorically dunking on jerk teenagers. What’s not to love?
Lazarus, “Black Snake Moan” (2006)
Writer/director Craig Brewer followed his breakout “Hustle & Flow” with a story about a former blues guitarist-turned farmer who chains a promiscuous young woman (Christina Ricci) to his radiator in an effort to “save her soul.” From an optics standpoint, the premise (and marketing) didn’t make sense in 2006, and it especially feels icky in 2019, but the movie isn’t as outlandish as it suggests, and Jackson and Ricci develop a sweet (?) father-daughter-type relationship.
Moreover, the movie is a showcase for Jackson as a singer. He’s a more-than-believable bluesman, and the music in the movie in general is terrific.
Champ, “Resurrecting the Champ” (2007)
Before a certain someone started ranting about fake news, this humdrum drama, about a reporter (Josh Hartnett) who writes a story about a former boxing champ (Jackson), explores the fallout of what happens when a journalist gets it wrong. The movie is a little heavy-handed, but both Hartnett and Jackson give earnest, convincing performances, with Jackson again zagging on big MENTAL ILLNESS tropes when most everyone else would zig.
Louis Hinds, “Soul Men” (2008)
Pitched mostly as a comedy, “Soul Men” suffers a bit from some strained conflict between soul singers played by Jackson and Bernie Mac, but, again, just marvel at how comfortable and charismatic Jackson is as a musician. Side note: I miss Bernie Mac, so the movie plays better now as well because it’s one of his final performances.
Black, “The Sunset Limited” (2011)
An adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy play of the same name and made for HBO, “The Sunset Limited” is an intense showcase for Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, who also directed the film. It all takes place in a single room, where the two men debate the fallout of Jones’ character’s attempted suicide. Bleak stuff, sure, but it’s a marvelous two-man show.
Stephen, “Django Unchained” (2012)
Arriving late in the picture alongside a particularly showy Leonardo DiCaprio, Jackson all but steals Quentin Tarantino’s wild, messy and spectacular Western away from Jamie Foxx, DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for his performance in the film. A house slave to DiCaprio’s blustering plantation owner, Stephen ultimately becomes the film’s secret big bad, playing against Foxx’s hero to brilliant genre-subverting effect. Jackson was so stealthily good in this movie, the Academy predictably settled most of its blanket praise on the showier, less interesting performances in the movie. Go back and reassess.
President William Alan Moore, “Big Game” (2014)
This one’s just fun, and not enough people have seen Jackson play the President of the United States beat up bad guys alongside a bow-and-arrow wielding kid in the Finnish wilderness. Smarter and more entertaining than “Snakes on a Plane” (although I’d defend that movie too), much of the movie actually plays against the “Sam Jack is a bad (expletive deleted) trope, letting the kid do the majority of the cool stuff. Until, of course, Jackson gets to bust into his signature mode near the end.
Valentine, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2015)
Jackson chose to utilize a lisp to play the supergenius big bad of Matthew Vaughn’s explicit, adventurous take on the spy genre, and, look, I can totally see that choice being a distraction for a lot of viewers. It’s a bold choice but ultimately a pivotal one in shaping Valentine as a believably terrifying 21st-century supervillain. The movie’s big surprise (you know the one involving Colin Firth) works in large part because Jackson deflated the villain’s stereotypical menace.
Major Marquis Warren, “The Hateful Eight” (2015)
Leave it to Quentin Tarantino to deliver Jackson one of his meatiest, and wordiest, characters in years. “The Hateful Eight” divided audiences maybe more than any other Tarantino movie before it, but Jackson sits at the core of the movie’s challenging ideas on post Civil War race and gender politics. Plus no other actor could believably sell the blistering and profane monologue he delivers before the film’s intermission.
Oh, in case you’re wondering, Jackson should have Oscar nominations for the following movies (in addition to his sole nom in “Pulp Fiction”): “Jungle Fever” (1991), “A Time to Kill” (1996), “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Unbreakable” (2000), “Black Snake Moan” (2006), “The Sunset Limited” (2011, and okay, technically an Emmy), “Django Unchained” (2012), and “The Hateful Eight” (2015).
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com