What Is Matt Damon's Best Movie Role?

Matt Damon is hard - working , conscientious , whip - smart , and soundly - looking for – in other words , he ’s pretty much perfect . While other motion-picture show whizz of his caliber seem to repair only to starring in vacuous megahit , Damon incline to seek out daring and challenging roles .

This weekend , the 45 - yr - old will revisit his most iconic character inJason Bourne . But it ’s deserving call for : is the tops - undercover agent really hisbestrole ? permit ’s take a look through Damon ’s credits and decide that , shall we ?

Before we begin , here are a few ground rules : no cameos ( sorry , Mystic Pizza , EuroTrip , andThe Zero Theorem ) , no interpreter work ( too bad , Spirit : Stallion of the Cimarron , Titan A.E. , orHappy Feet Two ) , and no video movies ( even one as singular asBehind the Candelabra ) . Sifting through it all , we have one major takeaway : Damon has appeared in his share of duds over the years , buthehas never been bad in a film . consider it .

Best Matt Damon movies ranked

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

37. Britton Davis (Geronimo: An American Legend, 1993)

Director Walter Hill made some great movie in his bloom ( see : The Warriors,48 Hrs.).Geronimo : An American Legendis not one of them . Yet Damon , who plays the virtuously conflicted second lieutenant in this Western about the enslavement of the infamous Apache kindred leader , leaves the nearly two - time of day movie unharmed . His functioning shows the potential drop of an histrion with a bunch more to offer under better circumstances .

36. James Granger (The Monuments Men,2014)

World War II soldiers become improbable art collectors ( retriever , rather ) in George Clooney ’s outsized dullard of a picture show . debate the talent involve ( John Goodman , Bill Murray , Cate Blanchett ) it ’s moderately remarkable that this one did n’t amount to much . Damon , as always , turns in passable employment as a museum curator turn protector of some of the most breathless works of art ever created . The movie ultimately proves that perhaps not all artwork is worth saving , though .

35. Gerry (Gerry, 2003)

ImagineWaiting for Godot , but without the profoundness . That’sGerry , a picture about two dudes name Gerry ( Damon and Casey Affleck ) who mosey through the desert and get lost . That ’s somewhat much all that happens in the first entranceway of director Gus Van Sant’s"death trilogy . “It ’s sluggish , dull , and alienating . Given the semi - improvisational nature of the shoot , Damon does what he can with the material at paw .

34. Wilhelm Grimm (The Brothers Grimm, 2005)

Terry Gilliam ’s visually and sonically attacking illusion jams about 9,000 ideas into two hours . One of its few redeemable concepts is the pairing of Damon and Heath Ledger as brothers Will and Jacob Grimm , cursed con creative person who go from township to town stage fake exorcisms . The chemistry between the two is so electric that it almost awakens a stock movie .

33. Charlie Dillon (School Ties, 1992)

This was the start of Damon and Ben Affleck ’s originative collaborations in Hollywood , in which Damon play an loaded , anti - Semitic New England prep - school day scholarly person . Damon drew inspiration from his then - classmates at Harvard , who were thrilled to influence his performance . At 22 , he demonstrate his ability to carry the darkness of a character , even if doing so invite the scorn of audiences .

32. John Grady Cole (All the Pretty Horses, 2000)

There is smart as a whip a variant of this picture somewhere . At least that ’s what Damon and theatre director Billy Bob Thornton think . " You ca n’t cut 35 % of the movie and anticipate it to be the same movie , " Damonsaid toEntertainment Weekly . Regardless , the net cut hurl him into a disjointed adjustment of Cormac McCarthy ’s venerate novel . At least he does attend pretty .

31. Rannulph Junuh (The Legend of Bagger Vance, 2000)

Look , the turn of the C was rough for our son . How was he supposed to fuck that a Robert Redford - directed flow fantasy / drama about a struggling linksman and his mystical tea caddy would n’t be good ? Even so , Damon assumes the role of Mr. Junuh with confidence . He ’s ambitious , but not chesty , magnetic , but not cloy . A few year afterBagger Vance , Damon went on to master this type of role in good film .

30. Bob Tenor (Stuck on You, 2003)

Does any other motion-picture show in Damon ’s filmography vex out more thanStuck on You ? take by the Farrelly brothers ( Dumb and Dumber ) , it ’s the story of conjoined twins ( Damon and Greg Kinnear ) who move to Hollywood for one of them to start a career in show business . Whether you find it suspect or obnoxious ( or both ) , there ’s something to admire in Damon ’s willingness to be goofy and crass . After all , how could you take yourself seriously when you ’re getting give to say the short letter , " We ’re not Thai , we ’re American ! "

29. Steve Butler (Promised Land, 2012)

No director lie with how to both utilisation and abuse Matt Damon quite like longtime collaborator Gus Van Sant . Here Damon act a likable salesman for a grown natural - accelerator pedal tummy , give way door to door in humble - town in Pennsylvania . The picture reveals itself to be passing political , attempting to make grand statements on red-hot - button issues like the get-up-and-go crisis , fracking , and lobbyists . The best scenes include Damon and Alice ( Rosemarie DeWitt ) fall for each other as the human race around them grows corrupt .

28. Max (Elysium, 2013)

address of politics , this film exemplify the " message before nontextual matter " era of Damon ’s vocation . He has never been shy about expressing his socioeconomic and political views , and it shows in Neill Blomkamp ’s dystopic follow - up toDistrict 9 : in the year 2154 , the celluloid ’s world , save for the top 1 % , resides in arrant confusion . Max ( Damon ) embarks on a dangerous missionary post to close up the gap between the very rich and the very poor . It ’s an activity sci - fi about income inequality that could ’ve worked in the hand of a dissimilar director .

27. Miller (Green Zone,2010)

Arguably the start of Damon ’s overtly political chapter , Paul Greengrass ' fast - talking , nail - biting thriller revolves around an enlightened U.S. Army officer who last rogue after discovering authorities deceit . Damon often selects roles like this one , where he can inhabit the headspace of an solid citizen . Green Zonemay not consistently nurse , but it does make you contemplate the morality of the the great unwashed who haphazardly catapulted us into the Middle East .

26. SPC Ilario (Courage Under Fire, 1996)

star alongside ' XC powerhouses Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan , this is the first role for which Damon received critical and public recognition . To play the part of the pinched Specialist Ilario , he shed 40 pounds through rigorous dieting and workouts . The character is bruise and scale - shocked from the war , with heroin do as his only refuge . In a supporting role , Damon commands the filmdom without showboating or manducate up the scenery . The painfulness of his traumatized soldier is palpable , proving Damon as a force to be think with .

25. Rudy Baylor (The Rainmaker, 1997)

AfterCourage Under Fire , Francis Ford Coppola offered Damon the persona of a young and inexperient attorney who fearlessly challenge a fallacious insurance company in court . All great actors have a lawyer motion-picture show , in which they are the arbiters of reason , the incorruptible truth - vote counter . Plus , if you ’re in a John Grisham adaptation , you ’re vouch a luck to deliver a rousing monologue about liberty and justice for all . The Rainmakerwas a square show window for an emerging Damon .

24. Mann (Interstellar, 2014)

looter warning signal : Matt Damon ’s coming into court as a NASA pilot pioneering a frosty satellite in another Galax urceolata is one of the few genuine surprises of Christopher Nolan ’s bloated smash hit . However , Damon shows up at the point in whichInterstellartakes a left turning in the untimely guidance . Still , there are few affair more baffling ( or comedic ) than the wide shot of Mann and Cooper ( Matthew McConaughey ) scrap on frigid terrain , jillion of miles away from civilization . From a character viewpoint , Damon perfects the act of being a menace . commiseration that the end product is n’t stronger .

23. Loki (Dogma, 1999)

Dogmais likely the last timeKevin Smithgave a shit behind the camera . In this one , Damon gets to play the part of a lifetime : Loki , the Angel of Death , who ’s part Norse god , part fallen angel . Smith ’s casting of Damon proved he interpret the actor ’s comedic chopper before anyone else in Hollywood did . The outcome is one longsighted and rackety midway finger to the Catholic Church .

22. Benjamin Mee (We Bought a Zoo, 2011)

It ’s not a masterpiece , but if you’reon a planeand reckon option are limited , you could do speculative thanWe Bought a Zoo . Yes , the idea that anyone – let alone a father and his family – would corrupt a flounder menagerie in the hopes of reviving it is stupidly far - fetched . But you live why it kind of act upon ? Because at a sure point in time you give into Damon and director Cameron Crowe ’s bluff optimism and sentimentality . It ’s well - done , absolutely calibrated schmaltz .

21. Bryan Woodman (Syriana, 2005)

I ’ve seenSyriana , and I still can’treallytell you what the hell is going on or what it ’s about . It ’s one of those twisty geopolitical thrillers where no one has all the answers , not even Damon ’s vigour psychoanalyst , an elaborate game of tie in - the - dose where everyone ’s dot is on a different weather sheet of paper . Still , despite the concentration of the subject issue ( the intimate workings of the fossil oil industry ) , Damon is engrossing , adequate to of inviting the interview into this confusing world .

20. Francois Pienaar (Invictus, 2009)

When it came out , Clint Eastwood ’s dramatic biopic of revolutionary South African loss leader Nelson Mandela was deemed a slog , airless and overlong without any clear impulse . Okay , fine . That ’s not entirely false . But Damon delivers a low - key good performance as the captain of the national rugger squad tasked with uniting a continent in risk by bring home the bacon the World Cup . He work past the clichés and comes out the other side as downright inspirational , which realise him a well - merit Oscar nom .

19. David Norris (The Adjustment Bureau, 2011)

Damon has the rugged magic spell and charisma of a man who might trench acting for politics someday . For now , we have George Nolfi’sThe Adjustment Bureauto hold up out the fancy of Damon execute for office . The movie is a cocktail of suspense , sci - fi , and romance , as his Norris run away through teleporting doorway scattered across New York City . Neil deGrasse Tyson would probably have some questions about the skill of it all , but if you give in to the phantasy you ’ll be won over by Damon ’s simultaneous playfulness and seriousness . Just look at thatfedora ! He ’s wearing it without irony , which is kind of the same means you have to approach this moving picture .

18. Mitch Emhoff (Contagion, 2011)

Contagion , otherwise make love asA Germaphobe ’s unfit Nightmare , is about a quickly disperse virus with no remedy single - handedly wiping out the earth . It ’s a truly frightful motion picture in which Damon playact an everyman whose wife is patient zero of the malady ( Gwyneth Paltrow ) . He could ’ve played a impersonation of a widower , but he plunk deeper , into the recesses of a man just trying to lay aside the remain class he has .

17-15. Linus Caldwell (Ocean’s Eleven, 2001;Ocean’s Twelve, 2004;Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007)

Shout out to Damon for taking the uncool character in a series of very coolheaded movies . Thanks to Steven Soderbergh ’s exact direction , Damon resist out from the multitude as a good - natured , disciplined , and ambitious stealer who tries just a little spot too hard . There ’s a lot of laughingat(not with ) Caldwell , and Damon invites the mockery . Of all the characters in theOcean’suniverse , Caldwell is the only one who has a true arc : who he is in the first motion picture is not who he is by the third . What other actor could pull that off within the rigidness of a tentpole serial ?

14. George Lonegan (Hereafter, 2010)

Some Clint Eastwood melodrama are insupportable ( rememberJ. Edgar?).Hereafter– despite a negative reception from critic – is not one of them . How can we take a flick severely when one of its agonist is a retired professional psychic ? Because Damon is that emotionally bruised psychic , and he turns him into a three - dimensional person . It ’s a testament to Damon ’s talents that this picture is worth enduring .

13. Mark Watney (The Martian, 2015)

While Ridley Scott ’s blank space epic is n’t filled with wall - to - wall jape , the only reasonThe Martianis a pleasure to watch is because Damon – with the helper of clever screenwriter Drew Goddard ( Cabin in the Woods ) – is pure comic relief . He ’s an astronautstranded on Marswith little but a sensory faculty of wit to keep him afloat . At a certain full stop , you forget about his quest to return to Earth and just accept the movie as an chance for Damon to flex his comedic muscleman .

12. Edward Wilson (The Good Shepherd, 2006)

Although it ’s nearly three hours long , Robert De Niro ’s stirring second directorial travail is watchable ( tempting , even ) because of Damon ’s layered turn as a CIA agent . Over the class of the movie , Damon is give room to ping - pong across emotions , acting taciturn one moment , then forceful the next , as a devout married man and worried father who ’s also in possession of some of America ’s great secret . A decade later , this lesser - look out gem is a secret in and of itself .

11. Mr. Aaron (Margaret, 2011)

It may be Anna Paquin ’s pic , but Damon plays a pivotal part in author / director Kenneth Lonergan ’s formidable tragedy about a teenager who witnesses ( perhaps even kick in to ) vehicular manslaughter . As Lisa ’s ( Paquin ’s ) professor , Damon is there to console her while her life-time goes to damn . Until he ’s not . Until he want somethingmore . Damon can go dark , and this persona prove he can also live the moral greyish area of a someone .

10-8. Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity, 2002;The Bourne Supremacy, 2004;The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007)

The define feature of Bourne is that he lacks defining characteristics . How can an actor play an amorphous human being ? We edge closer and closer to an reply with each pulse - lumber installing . That watch these flick has yet to finger like a chore must mean Damon is doing something right . Bourne is an enigma , yet we ’re always indue in the character because Damon manages not to distance himself too much from the audience , always leave us need more .

7. Private Ryan (Saving Private Ryan, 1998)

6. LaBoeuf (True Grit, 2010)

Some picture sensation are always themselves – whether he ’s a love consultant or a man in black , Will Smith is always Will Smith , for deterrent example . Yet when Damon first appears inJoel and Ethan Coen ’s masterful neo - westerly , you blank out who you ’re looking at . He sinks into the function of a hard - nosed Texas ranger who connect forces with Rooster Cogburn ( Jeff Bridges ) and Mattie Ross ( Hailee Steinfeld ) to track down Mattie ’s Fatherhood ’s murderer . Again , Damon bear witness attainment as a jaded law hatchet man who delights in verbally spar with Mattie . Watching the two bicker is the unavowed joy on their journeying to redemption .

5. Colin Sullivan (The Departed, 2006)

You ’ve realize the picture show . You know what it ’s about . You do n’t need a plot verbal description , or even a love letter to Damon ’s work as a sneaky jetty inside the Massachusetts State Police department . What ’s deserving revisiting is that Damon ’s Sullivan demo the danger of allegiances , whether they ’re to God or love pursuit or family . That ’s especially reliable if the household phallus in inquiry is a gangster who jerks off in porn theaters . Masturbation and syndicate ties aside , The Departedis everything you want in a gangster moving picture : profane , bloody , and shocking .

4. Tom Ripley, (The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999)

Layabout 20 - something Tom Ripley ( Damon ) is offered $ 1,000 to retrieve a dash playboy named Dickie Greenleaf ( Jude Law ) from Italy . To put it mildly , this does not go quite as planned . Instead , Tom – like any large chameleon – becomes Dickie . He walks like Dickie . He sing like Dickie . He likes the same woman as Dickie . Damon ’s ghostliness and desperation are unsettling to watch as he slips deeper and deeply into the creative thinker of a man run crazy . Yet somehow , Ripley earns our sympathy . You feel regretful for the poor guy who is ruin the lives of others . How does that work ?

3. Mike McDermott (Rounders, 1998)

The movie that spawned a generation of good but mostly big Texas Hold ' Em players who think wearing sunglasses inside a gambling casino is the Francis Scott Key to success . Yes , Roundersis a slick and revealing film about poster sharks and hush-hush poker game house , but it ’s the nugget of soundness that Damon and companionship interlard throughout that make the movie . Anyone can tell a fascinating story about the highs and lows of poker actor . But what about the reality of a thespian like Mike , who is so addicted to the game that he chooses circuit board over lover and forfeit his burgeoning career in police to sit in a way with a cluster of unknown for hours on end?Roundersneither disses nor praise gambling . It just lays it all out and get the chip fall as they may .

2. Will Hunting (Good Will Hunting, 1997)

Each wake of Gus Van Sant ’s chef-d’oeuvre is just another monitor of how spellbindingly earnest this motion picture is . Damon , who won an Academy Award for co - write the movie with Ben Affleck , speaks from the substance in every single scene . Even as he ’s pushing away Robin Williams ’s bearded and bespectacled healer , you understand the gut reaction , the inherent aptitude to escape botheration , to run away and pretend like it does n’t be . Will Hunting is a secret genius , but he ’s also just another insecure and afraid 20 - something who desperately wants to be happy .

1. Mark Whitacre (The Informant!, 2009)

get wind us out : Damon sincerely delivers the most active execution of his calling in this Steven Soderbergh seriocomedy . Mark serves as an FBI informant , leak out his company ’s illegal activity to the government . Through his voice - over , the pic overwhelms TV audience with comic observations about the mundane . There are more laughs inThe Informantthan 99 % of all American comedies made these daytime , and its dramatic undertones work , too : watching Mark unravel as his lies heap up is difficult to put up . Once again , Damon turns a criminal – a mankind causing harm to his fellow citizen – into a sympathetic hero . He ’s a pathologic liar , yet you still want to believe everything he says .

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