Matt Damon’s 12 best films

One of the more relatable and likable actors in Hollywood, Matt Damon has found consistent success since his career began in the mid-‘90s. I’ll watch pretty much any movie he’s in, and lucky for me (and all of us!) he’s been in some damn good ones. He’s got another potential winner on his hands with the new sci-fi flick Elysium, so to prepare here’s my list of the best movies of Matt Damon’s career!

The Bourne Trilogy

There was a time when audiences were doubtful that Matt Damon could handle the duties of an action hero. Looking back, particularly at the Bourne trilogy, that was pretty stupid of us. Damon proved to be supremely capable as the amnesiac super spy, pulling off the brutal, frenetic hand-to-hand fight scenes easily. His bad-ass presence in Identity solidified Jason Bourne as an unstoppable action hero to rival the best the ‘80s ever produced. Credit goes to Supremacy and Ultimatum for developing the mystery of Bourne’s past (and for diverging from the novels, creating in my opinion a much more interesting saga than seeing Bourne married with children by the end, as happened in Ludlum’s Ultimatum).

Contagion

It took me a while to see Contagion because I figured, “hey, I’ve seen Outbreak, what could possibly be different about this movie?” Steven Soderbergh certainly proved me wrong with a tension-filled examination not of the disease itself, but what would happen to society after a huge percentage of the world’s population had been exposed. Having such a large ensemble cast allows the movie to show various aspects of the epidemic, from Jude Law’s conspiracy-theorist blogger, to Matt Damon’s average Joe, to Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet’s CDC doctors investigating the cause and cure.

The Departed

Easily one of my favorite movies of the last decade, and right up there as one of Martin Scorsese’s best, The Departed is everything you could want in a crime drama. There is intensity and humor from the opening credits, and the cast is superb from A to Z, with strong, charismatic performances coming from Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson in particular. I love the parallels Scorsese draws between Damon’s and DiCaprio’s characters, with each going through the Police Academy at the same time but walking very different paths as cops. The mole hunt that drives the plot is unique because the audience sees both sides, but the conclusion is guaranteed to catch you by surprise.

Dogma

Some people prefer Clerks, but I’ve always thought that Dogma is Kevin Smith’s best movie. It’s an extremely fun commentary on religion, with the kind of witty dialogue and pop culture references Kevin Smith is known for. Damon and Ben Affleck’s fallen angels are of course a highlight, but my personal favorites are Chris Rock’s 13^th Apostle, Rufus, and George Carlin’s Cardinal Glick, along with his attempt to revitalize the image of the Catholic Church, The Buddy Christ. Classic.

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting is a smart and touching drama, and it’s no wonder that it’s the film that officially put Damon and Ben Affleck on the map. Underachieving genius Will Hunting is an easy guy to get behind – his abusive past causes him to keep people at arm’s length, and all you want is for him to get out of his own way and let himself find success. Damon and Affleck’s script is excellent, creating rich and layered characters in Will, his therapist Sean Maguire (the role that got Robin Williams an Oscar) and his mentor Professor Lambeau, played by Stellan Skarsgard. Each man is troubled in his own way, but being brought together allows each to confront and conquer his regrets, providing a complete arc for each and a satisfying conclusion for the audience.

Ocean’s Eleven

Steven Soderbergh’s reboot of Ocean’s Eleven is arguably the most enjoyable caper movie of all time. The heist of three Vegas casinos is wonderfully complex, with bits and pieces slowly revealed throughout, but obviously the best thing about the movie is the ensemble cast. The chemistry between George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Damon in particular is simply phenomenal, but the entire group handles the razor-sharp script with ease and impeccable comedic timing. Few movies make it quite as easy to root for the bad guys and have so much fun doing it.

The Rainmaker

This is probably my favorite John Grisham film adaptation, and a lot of that has to do with Damon’s performance. There are a lot of familiar elements that every Grisham fan – or in fact anyone who has ever seen any kind of courtroom drama – has seen before, but Damon’s performance as an idealist young lawyer sets it apart from the rest. Rudy Baylor is intensely likable as he takes on battles seemingly too big for him, from a woman’s abusive husband to a shady insurance company. The Rainmaker doesn’t do anything new for the genre, but it’s a very enjoyable film.

Rounders

Anyone who’s ever watched the World Series of Poker on ESPN knows how much drama is inherent in the game from hand to hand. Rounders capitalizes on that drama and adds to it with two charismatic leads in Damon and Edward Norton. Damon’s Mike comes back to the card table after being out of the game for a couple years to help his buddy Worm clear his debts, eventually going head to head with John Malkovich’s wonderfully over-the-top Russian KGB. Rounders is an incredibly entertaining film that maintains its sense of humor – largely thanks to the two leads – even as the stakes are raised again and again.

Saving Private Ryan

Arguably the World War II movie of this generation, Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece about a mission behind enemy lines to rescue the sole surviving son of the Ryan family is a clinic in filmmaking. The opening sequence of the Allies storming the beaches of Normandy is gruesome and brilliant, and the dynamics between the members of the unit add layers to an already stressful situation. It’s a travesty that Saving Private Ryan didn’t win the Best Picture Oscar, but that takes nothing away from the film’s legacy.

Syriana

Writer/director Stephen Gaghn uses separate-but-related storylines to create an engrossing thriller dealing with the various global, personal, and political shockwaves created by the omnipresence of the oil industry. These multiple tracts make Syriana feel a lot like Stephen Gaghan’s most famous film, Traffic, and events are similarly heavy. Though the political and economic plot can be a little dense and hard to follow at points, this is a relevant film that deserves a watch.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Matt Damon and Jude Law both give highly complex performances in this film about a young man who cons his way into a friendship with a wealthy Princeton grad. Damon’s Ripley eventually finds himself dangerously enamored with both Law’s Dickie and the lifestyle he lives, leading Ripley to make some tragic, life-changing decisions. The Talented Mr. Ripley is an engaging and well-acted psychological thriller that provides a disturbing look at just how much a desperate person can be capable of.

True Grit

Several friends and I read the novel True Grit the year the movie came out, and I think we were all very impressed with how seamlessly the Coen brothers translated the original text to the big screen. Obviously that is the goal of any film adaptation, but the Coens were able to capture every aspect of the story without changing much from the source material. It helps that the casting is spot-on without exception, and the movie has the feel of all of the best classic Westerns.