Ever since his earliest appearances as soldiers in Ridley Scott’s “Blackhawk Down” and the miniseries “Band of Brothers” and as the villain in “Star Trek: Nemesis,” Tom Hardy has possessed a uniquely off-kilter screen presence (and a penchant for weird voices).
Although his career began when he won a modeling competition, Hardy has pursued challenging and even abrasive roles, playing shady characters with complex moral values.
He's led blockbuster franchises, including the questionable but popular “Venom” superhero movies, and he’s been Oscar-nominated for his intense role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s grueling drama “The Revenant.”
Hardy is currently appearing alongside Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren in the Paramount Plus crime drama series “MobLand,” and he stars in the upcoming Netflix action movie “Havoc." If you’re checking out Hardy’s latest projects, here are five of his best film roles to stream next.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
![Mad Max: Fury Road - Official Main Trailer [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hEJnMQG9ev8/maxresdefault.jpg)
Hardy faced massive expectations when taking over the iconic role of post-apocalyptic warrior Max Rockatansky from Mel Gibson, but he makes the part his own, while retaining the essence of the laconic antihero.
Although Max’s name is in the title, he often takes a backseat to Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, who becomes his mentor and ally in the battle against the warlord Immortan Joe.
Hardy provides a grim, grounded presence to anchor the chaos created by filmmaker George Miller, who stages some of the most astounding action sequences ever put onscreen. “Fury Road” is essentially one long chase, featuring giant rigs of interconnected vehicles, augmented with weapons and other contraptions.
Hardy never takes attention away from the spectacle, but he also conveys Max’s world-weary resignation as he fights yet another demented would-be ruler.
‘The Dark Knight Rises’
![The Dark Knight Rises - Official Trailer #2 [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7gFwvozMHR4/maxresdefault.jpg)
Although his role as Batman villain Bane has been extensively parodied — most notably in the version of Bane on the Max animated series “Harley Quinn” — Hardy brings both menace and anguish to the hulking, masked killer who takes over Gotham City in director Christopher Nolan’s third Batman movie.
Bane is just one of several threats faced by Christian Bale’s Batman in the epic finale to Nolan’s trilogy, which also features Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Marion Cotillard as a woman with mysterious ties to Batman’s past enemies.
Bane looms over all of them, a figure who is both cunning and brutal as he turns Gotham into a dystopian wasteland cut off from the rest of society. Hardy makes him one of the most distinctive villains in the entire Batman cinematic canon.
‘The Bikeriders’
![THE BIKERIDERS - Official Trailer 2 [HD] - Only In Theaters June 21 - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BrSaVt5pvPk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Hardy plays Johnny Davis, the leader of a Chicago motorcycle club in the 1960s and ’70s, in writer-director Jeff Nichols’ adaptation of the book by renowned photojournalist Danny Lyon.
Austin Butler co-stars as Johnny’s right-hand man, and Jodie Comer often carries the movie as an opinionated woman making her way among a bunch of macho jerks. Hardy doesn’t hold back on making Johnny one of those jerks, but he also shows the wounded pride under the violent posturing.
Nichols frames the story via interviews with Comer’s character Kathy, featuring Mike Faist as Danny Lyon. “The Bikeriders” is best when it focuses on an impressionistic series of vignettes and interviews in the club’s early days, before things turn sour. Hardy and Butler capture the bond of outsiders who find a purpose, even if it’s not meant to last.
Watch on Prime Video
‘The Drop’
Hardy takes on what may be his most sensitive role as a bartender working at a Brooklyn establishment controlled by the Chechen mafia. While his cousin Marv (James Gandolfini) collaborates with the mobsters, Hardy’s Bob Saginowski seems to prefer standing on the sidelines and staying out of the way as the gangsters use the bar as a drop site for their illicit transactions.
Bob even adopts an abused stray dog he finds in a trashcan, and he bonds with a local woman (Noomi Rapace) who helps him take care of the scared animal. Hardy’s own love of animals is well-documented, and he brings a quiet dignity to his role as a man trapped in a dangerous environment.
Bob turns out to be dangerous, too, but only to protect himself and what’s important to him from a cruel outside world.
‘Lawless’
Hardy’s accent in this Virginia-set period crime drama makes him sound a bit like Billy Bob Thornton in “Sling Blade,” but it fits with the Southern gothic vibe that director John Hillcoat is aiming for.
Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke play a trio of brothers in 1931 rural Virginia, who’ve built a small empire as bootleggers during Prohibition. They battle with a corrupt local U.S. marshal played by Guy Pearce, ultimately leading to a bloody confrontation.
Hardy’s Forrest is the most formidable but also the most tragic of the three brothers, engaging in a potentially doomed romance with a local waitress (Jessica Chastain). Like Hillcoat’s previous films “The Proposition” and “The Road,” “Lawless” is bleak and haunting, and Hardy fits right in.
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