Tom Holland may only be twenty-five, dating Zendaya, and have six appearances as Spiderman under his belt, but he also has a decent career in the entertainment industry outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland was originally a dancer born and raised in a London borough, Kingston upon Thames. He was first cast in a West End musical, and he began to progress from musicals, television, and then movies. Before his Spider-Man debut in Captain America: Civil War, he was known internationally for appearing in The Impossible, a movie starring Naomi Watts as a mother who has to protect her son (Holland) after being caught in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.
Then, on June 23, 2015, nineteen-year-old Holland’s life completely changed when he was publicly announced as the new Spider-Man. There’s an infinite number of possibilities about what Marvel could do with him as Spider-Man because he started so young in the role, but Holland seems uncertain about if he’d continue to reprise the role. For now, viewers can expect to see him in the movies Spiderman: No Way Homeand an action-adventure film titled Uncharted. Just in case the world needs to get used to him not as Spider-Man, here is a ranking of his best movies outside of the MCU.
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6 Cherry
AGBO
Released first in theaters and then on Apple TV+, Cherry has Tom Holland reuniting with Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo and playing an army veteran suffering from PTSD. He initially becomes addicted to OxyContin to numb the pain of what he experienced, but then his wife, frustrated with his behavior, begins using the drug too. They then spiral into addictions that lead to heroin and a life filled with crime. This haunting and harrowing movie represents the situations that many veterans and addicts succumb to. Cherry can be a lackluster film at the time as it relies too heavily on exposition and explanations by the characters to move the content further. It doesn’t allow the audience to think for themselves, thus undermining its themes and motifs. Cherry, however, stands out because of the performance of its actors. Holland and Ciara Bravo salvage the film with some of their best performances to date.
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5 The Current War
Bazelevs Company, Film Rites, Thunder Road Pictures, Fourth Floor Productions, Lantern Entertainment,The Weinstein Company
The Current War has an all-star cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Nicholas Hoult, and Michael Shannon. Ironically, for a movie about American-based scientists, almost all the main actors are English. It dramatizes the late 1800s conflict between Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla determining which system (AC or DC) will be the electricity transmission system in the United States. The movie was stuck in purgatory for years due to its involvement with The Weinstein Company; it was originally due to be released when the allegations against Harvey Weinstein came out. The Current War is an electrifying period film, but it, too, relies too heavily on exposition to move the plot forward.
4 How I Live Now
Film4 Productions, British Film Institute
How I Live Now is one of those movies many people don’t know exists. It was one of Holland’s earliest appearances in a film, but it also had powerhouse actors Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay in their leading roles. The apocalypse and nuclear war have set in, but one American teenager (Ronan) is sent to the English countryside to live with her cousins (MacKay, Holland, and Harley Bird). How I Live Now came out in a film arena dominated by The Hunger Games series, giving audiences another young woman dealing with personal relationships when the world around her seems to fall apart. It doesn’t fail to restrain itself in the typical tropes of Young Adult novels and movies, but instead depicts the realities of the harsh new world. Holland plays Ronan’s younger cousin in the film who has his childlike innocence ripped away.
3 The Devil All the Time
Nine Stories Production, Bronx Moving Company
The Devil All the Time is impressive: almost all of its cast, composed mainly of British and Australian actors, managed to pull off convincing, thick Southern and Appalachian accents. The story is split into thirds, continuing the legacy created by the characters in the first act. In the first two storylines, a preacher (Harry Melling) goes mad and believes he has visions from God, while a World War II veteran’s (Bill Skarsgård) wife dies of cancer, and he can’t continue anymore. The second arc of the film follows their children (Tom Holland and Eliza Scanlen) as they attempt to navigate their trauma. Holland then takes on the mantle of being the main protagonist for the final, gritty arc of the movie. He exposes the darkness that follows him and embraces it, leading to the film’s existentialist questions about fate and how one can control their future.
2 The Impossible
Apaches Entertainment, Telecinco Cinema
The Impossible is the Tom Holland disaster movie that most people have probably never heard of. It was released in 2012 and utilizes the tragedy of the 2003 tsunami to drive the plot forward. Holland plays the son of a doctor (Naomi Watts). They’ve separated from his father and two brothers when the tsunami hit. Watts and Holland take up most screen time in this movie as they attempt to navigate the wreckage left behind and reunite with their family, giving excellent performances that tug at heartstrings. While this is a well-done movie with solid performances, it is important to note how it structures itself around a lens of white European tourists during the disaster. Viewers see the kindness of a local Thai community, but the narrative frames itself as solely impacting tourists when the opposite was reality. While it is valid to depict this experience, especially in an artistic manner, it excludes voices already missing on the global stage.
1 The Lost City of Z
Plan B Entertainment
