Robert Pattinson Has Gone From Sparkly Vampire To One Of The Best Actors In Hollywood

I'm about to say something that will probably surprise people and may even make me more unpopular than I already am, but I never saw "Twilight." I've seen many of the clips. I know how stilted and awful some of the acting is. In hindsight, I'm surprised no one ever dragged me to any of those movies. This may be the advantage of not having a vast social circle growing up, but all I ever heard was that the "Twilight" movies were god-awful, so I never sought them out. This enhances how I feel about Robert Pattinson as an actor, but it was widely accepted, even by people who hadn't seen his movies, that he was a terrible actor at one point. Kristen Stewart, Anna Kendrick, and others have gone on to have outstanding careers in Hollywood, proving themselves to be excellent actors in their own right. But Pattinson was hated, which is why I find his last seven years as an actor to be one of the greatest "fuck you" tours of any Hollywood celebrity of recent memory.

I can already hear the excess number of people slamming their keyboards, claiming that I'm full of shit. I can also guarantee that 95% of those people haven't watched anything that Robert Pattinson's been in since "Twilight." Pattinson could've taken every strong-jawed, leading men role that he wanted to after "Twilight," but he went to the indie route for a while, and I think we're all the better for it. He did a few smaller movies like "The Rover" and "The Lost City Of Z." I heard he gave good performances in both those films, but the first time I remember being blown away by his talents was when I saw the Safdie Brother's film "Good Time." That's a really good movie, but his performance is seriously outstanding. He plays such a despicable douchebag. Nothing is redeeming about him whatsoever, and yet you get a kick out of watching this guy fuck up his own life again and again. He's such an arrogant prick. Pattinson did a masterful job in the role and was robbed of an Oscar nomination. 

It feels like his official heater started right after "Good Time." Did you ever see Robert Eggers's movie "The Lighthouse?" That's a good film, but the two lead performances carried the entire thing. Pattinson went toe to toe with the always-excellent Willem Dafoe. He also held that Boston accent the whole time. I don't understand how American actors struggle so much with other people's accents, but British actors can do any accent in the world and make it sound perfect. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes may be the only exception to that rule I can think of.

Do y'all need more convincing? OK sure. One of the more overlooked movies of the last few years was "The Devil All The Time." It dropped on Netflix during the heart of Covid. Due to its seriously depressing subject matter, many people weren't inclined to watch it. Pattinson was once again robbed of an Oscar nomination as the creepiest preacher who ever lived (And that's really saying something). I appreciate something about a leading man who chooses to play assholes. Actors have big egos, and there are a lot of A-list stars who wouldn't be willing to take on roles like what Pattinson took on in "The Devil All The Time" because they would worry that it would tarnish their brand.

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After paying his dues, Pattinson returned to mainstream roles with Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" in 2020. As much as I worship Christopher Nolan, I wasn't really into "Tenet." But once again, Pattinson lifted the material. I should go back and revisit this movie soon. It was such a mindfuck, and even Nolan was open about the fact that it's a movie that probably works best with repeat viewings. Then, of course, you have "The Batman." I've written enough about this movie, and I will probably write more about it in the foreseeable future as sequels and spin-offs continue to come out of the woodwork. I'm excited to see how Pattinson's Bruce Wayne grows as a character, but his Batman is fucking perfect. The costume, the demeanor, the look, and the suit are all fantastic, and he is a massive reason for that. His opening monologue is one of my five favorite scenes ever in a comic book movie. It's so goddamn cool. 

The most incredible quality that any actor can have is versatility. There are a lot of movie stars out there that we like, but many of them tend to play the same role in every movie. We may enjoy that version of them, but it doesn't mean they can stretch themselves the way that someone like Pattinson can. I firmly believe that, like athletes, actors can have primes. If we're talking overall résumé, Robert Pattinson has a long way to go before he's considered one of the all-time greats, but if we're looking at his recent résumé as of 2023, he is easily one of the best actors working. You may not share that opinion, but you probably haven't watched his movies.