Tom Hardy, The Toughest Actor Ever?

The man of 1000 grunts

If we were doing a draft and I had to pick one human being dead or alive to be on my side in a fight, I would pick Tom Hardy without a second thought. Not only is he one of the best actors in the world, but he just radiates toughness and like in another life he could’ve been one hell of a fighter. There is fake movie tough, like I love Tom Cruise and Vin Diesel is kinda an actor I guess, but it seems put on for the camera. Where as Tom Hardy just seems like someone who is actually that tough guy he is portraying. Maybe it is the voices he does and basically in the last few years just grunting his way through the dialogue, but the guy plays that certain character to a T. But we aren’t really here to talk about Tom Hardy as a tough guy, we are here to take a look at the highs and lows of a pretty cool career, in honor of him finally(!) finishing his obligation to play the character Venom, in Venom: The Last Dance.

Hardy really got his start around the same time as a lot of his Band of Brothers cast-mates. Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and even Simon Pegg got some of their first roles in the HBO series. Whoever the casting director was for that show, take a bow! From there he went on to have a lot of supporting roles in mid-size movies at best or lead roles in some pretty low budget (but still somewhat acclaimed) movies like Bronson. But I think his big breakout is when Christoper Nolan, the same Christopher Nolan that gave Cillian Murphy and Christian Bale their big breaks in blockbuster filmmaking, “discovered” Tom Hardy and cast him in Inception. This might be sacrilege to some out there, and I do like Inception, but I would rank it in the bottom half of Nolan filmography (maybe a list for another day!). But Hardy is the scene stealer in the movie who you can’t really take your eyes off of. In a scene with Leonardo frickin’ DiCaprio and he is the one who is stealing the scene away. You know Nolan must’ve liked what he saw because they would go on to work together two more times to date (more on that later).

Then post Inception looking at the wiki filmography, Hardy’s career just takes off. Starring in Warrior (my favorite Tom Hardy movie), Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, and Lawless before re-teaming with Nolan in the Dark Knight Rises as Bane. And I mean the Bane voice has become iconic at this point, it honestly could be in contention for the highlight of his career. It is probably the weakest film of that trilogy, but Hardy like the other villains in the series brings it and gives Christian Bale’s Batman a worthy adversary. Then gets the lead in Mad Max: Fury Road which is praised as one of the greatest action movies of this century, and an Oscar nomination in The Revenant. Before reuniting with Nolan again in Dunkirk, which is my favorite collaboration between the two of them.

I think this is where I will cut off part of the article and talk just about the high point of Tom Hardy’s career. Inception was 2010 and Dunkirk being 2017, that is 8 years of solid work and I didn’t even list everything he was in either. I think it would be just outright wrong to not say his meeting and working with Christopher Nolan as the highpoint of his career. Like with Bale before him, it cast him to producers in a different light post Inception. It was like ok people like this guy and will pay to see him in a movie to some extent, so we can start casting him in lead roles. And while Hardy might not be the box office draw of someone like Tom Cruise or Will Smith, he still is able to draw a crowd in due to his rather rare on screen persona in my opinion. Because in a lot of those movies listed above, he doesn’t speak much or just kind of grunts through his lines. When Vin Diesel does it I (along with every other person with ears) go deaf, but when Hardy does it, somehow it really worked during this portion of his career. Like I said though, Warrior is my personal favorite of his filmography and would definitely recommend it to any readers out there who haven’t seen it, especially if you have a brother.

Tom Hardy is also an actor who is viewed as someone who is incredibly picky in which roles he picks. Maybe not as much as someone like Daniel Day-Lewis or Kevin Kline, but Hardy is someone who from his perspective needs to believe in the work and not someone who just takes a paycheck gig. Which does make his post Dunkirk (2017) career choices a little strange, or just one role/franchise in particular. That would be the role of Venom in Sony’s great Spider-Man villain franchise that doesn’t feature Spider-Man. The first Venom movie is bad, but it is at least a fun bad, the same can’t be said for the second, and by the trailers looks like the third isn’t getting much better. But these movies do make a lot of money and have a mass appeal so what do I know I guess. But I would still say that this is the low point of his career just from anyone who is a fan of his work standpoint.

Because like I said, he is very picky in which parts he plays, and the fact that Tom Hardy has only released 5 movies since 2018 with the upcoming Venom trilogy caper this Friday and 3 of the are Venom movies is just disappointing. It is the same reason I think James Cameron spending 25 years or however long it will be on just Avatar movies as disappointing. These people are great artists and as an audience member I want to see them do all sorts of things. It is why when I talked about Cate Blanchett, I (as well as everyone else) view her in such high praise, she is always taking chances and mixing it up, never really getting stuck. The other two movies Tom Hardy released in the past 6 years were Capone (which is just the most awful thing) and The Bikeriders (which was one of the more disappointing films this year). On paper maybe those look like good career moves, but as someone who has seen both, I can tell you didn’t care for one (Bikeriders) and the other (Capone) might be one of the worst movies of this decade.

He does have an upcoming movie from Gareth Evans (director of The Raid) in the can, but who knows when that will finally be released (filmed in 2021!). So the big question that remains, is where can I see Tom Hardy’s career going from here? I think a reunion with Nolan is something that if I were him, I would be calling about. Tom Holland and Matt Damon are currently the only two stars attached, and while I like both of those actors, they are also kind of “plain” to be leading a Nolan film. I think it would also be nice to see him take a spin on the masculine persona he has become famous for and work with a female director. Tom Hardy in a Greta Gerwig movie would just be absolutely wild to see and in a way even possibly reinvent his career in a new way. You never want to typecast yourself in a corner as an actor, so go out and do something with Gerwig. Or if Todd Phillips is licking his wounds post Joker 2, and does indeed go back to his comedy roots for a hit, go do that. Try something outside your comfort zone from a premier director who is going to get the best out of you. It is what gave you the movie star career with Christoper Nolan, and it is what could open a new door of possibility.

THANK YOU if you are still reading to this point, and let me know down in the comments what your favorite part of Tom Hardy’s career is, or what you want to see him do next! Hope to be back later this week to discuss the budget issue in Hollywood, but until then, have yourself a great day!