Ranking Christian Bale’s Best Movies
Christian Bale is currently on a press tour to Promote his upcoming movie Amsterdam and The Pale Blue Eye. For a guy that isn’t very public and doesn’t talk much with the media, this is a really cool breakdown and worth the watch:
I’ve been a Christian Bale fan since watching him as the emotionless killing machine in Equilibrium and then again as the emotionless killing machine in American Psycho. “Emotionless killing machine” also happens to be what people call me when I’m on the ping-pong table.
For these rankings it’s not about his actual performance, but instead where the movies as a whole rank (which he obviously plays a huge role in). The Machinist could be argued as his best acting performance, but I don’t think most people consider that one of his best films. Without further ado, here are the rankings:
Christian Bale’s Top 10 Movies
10. American Psycho
Lot of great scenes in this movie, but overall probably not the greatest movie. Once you realize it’s really supposed to be a dark comedy, and a satirical story about Wall Street/Capitalisms in the 80’s (as Bale points out in the video above), you appreciate it a bit more. Book wise I’ve heard this is one you can pass on, as it’s quite repetitive and just a much longer drawn out version of the movie.
Award: Most Realistic Psychopath – There isn’t a single moment in this film that you don’t believe Christian Bale is a full on psychopath. He really did embody that character. I remember the first time I saw him do an interview I was shocked that he didn’t have an American accent and wasn’t a clean cut Wall Street guy.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Lot of great scenes, this one pretty much summarizes the whole movie, plus is pretty funny.
9. Vice
I’m not the biggest fan of movies based on real people, I think they’re usually pretty formulaic, generally some sort of rags to riches storyline. They’re usually entertaining enough as they have a high floor but have a limited ceiling. Bale no doubt carries Vice by nailing Dick Cheney. Interesting movie but not one that is super rewatchable or memorable.
Award: Identity Theft is Not a Joke Jim – A lot of people go all out to recreate real people in history, but Bale may be the best to ever do it. I think that a lot of people were disappointed in the movie because they were expecting such amazing things after seeing Bale’s character.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Another scene that really sums up the whole movie:
8. American Hustle
Solid movie, with a really strong cast, but one that I think critics liked more than the average folk (92% vs 74% on RT). The acting and overall star power is better than the overall plot, but still an enjoyable watch.
Award: Fully Committing to Looking Ugly for No Reason – I think it was funny that he gained all that weight and looked like a mess, but similar to Mac in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it wasn’t exactly necessary to the plot of the movie. Yes, he was based on con man Mel Weinberg, but it wasn’t like Mel was that super overweight. Plus, they definitely could have found other ways to make him look sloppy and fake.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Not many famous actors, who look like Batman and Patrick Bateman would gain weight and look like this for a movie role:
7. Equilibrium
One that the BBC crew has a disagreement on, but I’ll always go to bat for Equilibrium. The first Rotten Tomatoes Variance blogs were inspired by Equilibrium because it’s a movie that critics will hate, but people that want a action packed dystopian movie can appreciate.
Award: The Best Matrix Sequel– Did the movie kind of rip from the Matrix… perhaps. But it certainly was better (and made more sense) than any of The Matrix sequels. So if you’re looking for a movie similar, check it out.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Christian Bale saving puppies, by killing a lot of bad guys? Will always be a great scene.
6. Ford vs. Ferrari
This was just an all-around fun solid movie. I think it’s one that you could recommend to anyone and they would like (not surprisingly it has a 92% critic & 98% audience score). The story isn’t overly complex, but it’s still a fun ride (pun intended).
Award: Best Star Movie Chemistry – The reason this movie has was liked by pretty much everyone is it’s hard to not like Christian Bale and Matt Damon anytime they are on screen. Which is why they were able to pull off a funny/but real looking fight:
Best Christian Bale Scene: Hard to pull off a scene like this but these two stars make it possible:
5. 3:10 to Yuma
I’ve never been a big western fan, but this one is an exception. It’s got a great characters, story, adventure, acting, and action. Just a great overall film and one of Russell Crowe’s best films as well (Gladiator #1 obviously).
Award: Best Western – Unlike the hotel, this movie is super underrated and one of the best modern day western movies (Django and Hell or Highwater probably have it beat).
Best Christian Bale Scene: This movie has a lot of layers, it’s strange to see Christian Bale being the weaker, non-super-hero-like character. But he shows his acting range and pulls it off:
4. The Big Short
Remember how I said I don’t like movies based on real people? Well you can just throw out for the next two movies. The Big Short is an ensemble cast, and Christian Bale isn’t really asked to carry it, but he leaves his mark on the movie for sure. Overall, it’s a smart, funny movie that really makes you hate everyone involved in the 2008 crash. Definitely worth the watch.
Award: Best Movie to Binge YouTube Clips – Because there are so many great actors and scenes in this movie, it’s a great YouTube clip binge movie. Tons of great breakdowns of complicated ideas, and a lot of scenes talking about economics and financial jargon, that should be boring, that are somehow funny and/or entertaining.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Hard to choose just one scene from this movie, but this one includes Margot Robbie, so this is the one:
3. The Fighter
Let’s be honest if we can be for a second. Movies made about people from Massachusetts are the best. You got Good Will Hunting, The Town, The Departed, Manchester by the Sea, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island and so on and so on. Add The Fighter to that list. It’s one of the best boxing movies ever (and there are a lot of them). It is a biographical movie, but there is so much going on it seems like fiction.
Award: Best Crackhead Interpretation – I know Christian Bale is known to be a method actor, so I’m not sure if he actually partook in any illicit drug use or not but he has an incredible take on the well worn ‘addict’ role.
Best Christian Bale Scene: All of his interactions with Amy Adams in this movie are great, this clip cuts off right before that, but still shows just how committed he is to the role.
2. The Batman Series
I am one of those old curmudgeons that hates that fact that everything today is super hero based. If you’ve seen our book selections you know we love fantasy, we love adventure, but at this point the super hero stuff is played out and super predictable. Christian Bale and Nolan’s Batman did it right. Super hero movies today lean entirely into the lore and comic books, but take out the super hero element and there isn’t much substance. These movies were so well written and acted on their own. You didn’t need to know anything about batman or even like comics and still enjoy these.
Award: Best Super Hero Movie – As mentioned above, no super hero movie will ever touch this series in my opinion, it’s dark, it’s real and it isn’t Disney-fied.
Best Christian Bale Scene: The Dark Knight was clearly the best movie of the trilogy and nothing was better than this scene:
1. The Prestige
A movie about two rival magicians doesn’t seem like it would be all that great, but this is a terrific story, that keeps you guessing the whole time. Super rewatchable, and would make for a great RT Variance (only a 76% critic score), but I don’t think it is one that most normal people under rate.
Award: Best Twist & Turns – You like thrillers, like being at the edge of your seat and constantly guessing? Than this is the movie for you.
Best Christian Bale Scene: Can’t use too many scenes without giving away the movie, just go watch it if you haven’t already.
Bonus Worst Movie – Rescue Dawn
I know this is a bit controversial as even the BBC members had argument about it, but I couldn’t not mention Rescue Dawn. Bale crushes his role, naturally but the tone of this movie made zero sense. Everything felt off, the audio seemed weird, how things were shot felt weird, the tone seemed all wrong.
Award: Best Disney Movie Made About Prisoners of War – The tone felt closer to a Disney Original Movie at times. There was comedy in weird places, the characters seemed aloof and nonsensical. Maybe it just went above my head, but it seemed like a story that didn’t have any direction and wasn’t very well produced.
Worst Christian Bale Scene: The ending of this movie really explains what I’m talking about, this is a gritty movie about a POW… why does it end like it’s Remember the Titans?
