Underrated Leading Performances of 2011

Last weekend, I looked at the ten most underrated supporting performances from 2011. I couldn't really just give you that list and run away laughing, now could I? It is time to look at the leading performances that didn't get an adequate amount of attention. Here's my ten picks, ranked...

10. Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower

It pretty much sounds like an Oscar success story: an ever dependable actress playing the lead in a true story of a woman working against all odds. Alas, The Whistleblower wasn't received that well and hardly anyone saw it. Maybe the film is a little too dependent on Rachel Weisz being dependable, but she gives a wonderful lead performance that the film itself can never live up to. Her performance/character can be summed up by one line that she utters in the film: "I don't want a scandal, I just want to do my job." And what a brilliant job she does.

Another Gem from the 'Nic Cage Has Bills to Pay' Franchise

Film: Trespass
Year: 2011
Director: Joel Schumacher
Written by: Karl Gajdusek
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Ben Mendelsohn, Cam Gigandet, Jordana Spiro, Liana Liberato, Dash Mihok, Emily Meade. 
Running time: 86 min. 

Maybe we treat Nicolas Cage unfairly. Maybe, in some better world, his attempts at rebooting his career are actually good. Or maybe, Nicolas Cage is just messing with us and he's inventing a new form of comedy: where he tries too hard with so little. I think there is something that we can take away from the past few years of his career: he is a more is more kind of guy, and unfortunately that doesn't work when you are an Oscar winning actor. His recent effort, Trespass, is possibly his worst film to date. And that doesn't even have that much to do with him. His 'more is more' technique seemed to rub off on everyone else in the movie: everyone screamed at the top of their lungs even though no-one could hear them, the villains were so over-the-top they were measly caricatures, and then there was Jordana Spiro...but we'll get to her later. I don't know whether anyone was trying to compete with Nic to get the 'most over-the-top' award or something, but everyone managed to annoy me more than Nic's worse films and Cam Gigandet's entire filmography combined. It is the longest 86 minutes I've ever had to sit through in my life.

"We can't control what happens to us or our loved ones."

Film: Trust
Year: 2011
Director: David Schwimmer
Written by: Andy Bellin, Robert Festinger
Starring: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Liana Liberato, Jason Clarke, Viola Davis, Chris Henry Coffey, Spencer Curnutt, Aislinn DeButch, Noah Emmerich. 
Running time: 106 min.

Trust is a film which takes a look at something that is a very real and happening thing, but very few have dared to make a movie about it. Now, we are all on the internet (if you're reading this right now, I'd be highly worried if you weren't on the internet). Most of us don't physically know each other, but we still have nice conversations and stuff like that. Trust focuses on 15 year old Annie (Liana Liberato), who often chats to a guy named 'Charlie' online, who she thinks is similarly aged to her, and they are connected through their love for volleyball. They talk at every opportunity possible, and she often calls her beautiful and really boosts her self esteem. But then she finds out that he isn't really 16, he actually is 20. Turns out that was a lie too, because he then confesses that he is 25. Charlie and Annie decide that they should meet, and it's then that Annie discovers that this Charlie is really a man in his mid-30s (he is played by Chris Henry Coffey). While Annie is at first very disappointed and a little scared by this fact, she still hangs out with him, before he takes her back to his house and gets her to wear some lingerie that he bought her, before raping her.