Thanks to acting as Poe Dameron in the new Star Wars and several other high-profile and well-regarded performances, Isaac’s star is on the rise. Acting as the titular villain in one of the latest “X-Men” movies did nothing to further his career, however. Isaac has acted as both chilling villains and energetic good guys, but a superpowered world-ender just didn’t seem to be within his range.
You might not have even known it was Isaac underneath all that makeup, which leads to another problem – Apocalypse, while powerful and important, was not the best villain. The writing was poor, something that the “X-Men” films have had to deal with for a while.
David Thewlis as Ares in Wonder Woman
“Wonder Woman” is by far the best movie in the DC Cinematic Universe, though that's not very tough to do. However, it's a genuinely good film (the first one, at least) with its fair share of issues. One of them is distinguished British actor David Thewlis as Ares, the God of War.
While the point was to obscure Thewlis's true identity, it still looks strange watching a woman in peak physical fitness and wearing CGI armor battle a fifty-year-old man. Thewlis did well in the role, and the movie didn't suffer too much, but it's one of those things that should have been given more thought before filming began.
Jai Courtney in Everything
We don't want to blast this guy – he seems nice. But no project he's been in has done well, and part of it has been his fault. His forgettable appearances in “A Good Day to Die Hard” and “Terminator: Genisys” kept his star stuck on the ground, and appearing in the massive pile that was “Suicide Squad” didn't help.
His acting skills are moderate if nothing special, and most of the time, any other handsome white guy could have stepped in to take his place in almost any of his roles, and the filming wouldn't have missed a beat. There's still a chance for him, but he has a long way to go.
Christian Bale as Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings
Well, blow us down. We'd entirely forgotten about this stinker. There were problems abound during the writing, filming, and production of this “Biblical” movie. One of the major ones to critics was casting predominantly white actors and actresses for a movie set in Africa – Egypt, specifically.
While Joel Edgerton at least made his character, Ramesses II, fun, Bale as a grim and gruff Moses impressed no one. You'd think the man who led the Israelites to freedom and was Yahweh's chosen arbiter on Earth for almost forty years would have a little more charisma.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford Brody in Godzilla
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has put together some great roles – you will likely remember him as Quicksilver in the “Avengers” movies – but “Godzilla” wasn't one of them. The movie is good, but the king of monsters didn't get as much screen time compared to the human characters, and ATJ just couldn't hold the movie up when the camera was on him.
He's likable enough and didn't do a bad job, but he's a little too milquetoast to handle the dramatic weight of being the principal actor in a dramatic film. However, that might have been the intention in order to keep viewers clamoring for more Godzilla.