Michael Fassbender is the best example of how, when you’re a great actor who chooses to do one movie for himself, and one for the studios, you can have an incredible career full of interesting characters. He is also known by large audiences, and has even played a comic book character. Here are Fassbender's 10 best movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes scores.
10 Steve Jobs (2015) - 85%
Legendary Pictures
Steve Jobs is a must-watch biopic, as audiences see Jobs’ life through three of the biggest presentations of Apple products. Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin, the film was the perfect place for Fassbender to prove how talented he is, and also that he has the movie star quality that makes audiences want to watch him talk for two hours, uninterrupted.
The actor portrays Jobs as both a genius, and a jerk; a creative mind who doesn’t value those around him, and Fassbender is able to strike that balance while also giving impressive, long, Sorkin-written monologues. It was all worth it, as Fassbender was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, his second ever, after12 Years a Slave.
9 Jane Eyre (2011) - 85%
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There have been many Jane Eyre adaptations over the years, but what makes this film different is its two lead performers. Mia Wasikowska plays the titular character, while Fassbender plays the reclusive Mr. Rochester, the master of the house where she works. Adapted from the Charlotte Brontë book, the actor proves he fits perfectly in the world of period pieces, and gives a great supporting performance as the romantic interest to Jane, being both hot and cold, loving, and mysterious with her.
8 X-Men: First Class (2011) - 86%
X-Men: First Class started the prequel trilogy where audiences met Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender) when they were young, and when their friendship started back in the ‘60s. It was at that time that they started teaching younger mutants how to use their powers and try to prevent the Americans and the Russians from killing each other. Fassbender plays a villain we can’t help but love, as his thirst for revenge is understandable given his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He also gives a charismatic, strong performance as the yet-to-be anti-hero.
7 Inglourious Basterds (2009) - 89%
Inglourious Basterds is still one of the weirdest and strangest films Quentin Tarantino has ever directed, as he goes full-on World War II, and even changes history, killing Hitler in the process, as a team of Jew soldiers goes into full destruction mode against the Nazis.
The production was disastrous, but the film still delivered, with a movie star performance by Brad Pitt, and introducing Christoph Waltz to bigger audiences, in his scariest role ever. Fassbender has a small role as Lt. Archie Hicox, an English soldier trying to pass as a Nazi soldier, in the best, most tense, most incredible scene in the film, where a hand gesture by Hicox changes everything for the worst.
6 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - 90%
X-Men: Days of Future Past is the second film from this prequel trilogy, in which Fassbender plays the anti-hero, Magneto. On this adventure, there’s some time travel involved, as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time from an apocalyptic future, to help change the past and save the mutant race. Fassbender had already proven how charismatic he was as the anti-hero in the first film, and here, audiences saw how his philosophy and way of life were getting closer and closer to the older, human-hating Magneto they had seen in the X-Men films of the 2000s.
5 Hunger (2008) - 90%
Hunger tells the real-life story of Bobby Sands, an IRA member who leads a hunger strike inside a Northern Ireland prison. This was Fassbender’s first collaboration with Steve McQueen (they’ve kept working together), and one of the roles that made Hollywood notice the Irish actor, as he gave a tour de force performance, that included transforming his body and losing a lot of weight to show what a hunger strike did to Sands' body.
About the actor’s fasting for the role, director Steve McQueen told Tate: “When we were shooting that period no one would normally speak to him apart from me. From 12 weeks he would be taken back to his room, and I would go back and have a conversation with him. (…). You get to a state where it is very inward looking, and I think it just helped the role, in a way and obviously him personally in order to direct his own emotion.“
4 Fish Tank (2009) - 91%
A poor, aggressive, not-sure-what-to-do-with-her-life teenager named Mia (Katie Jarvis) gets help from one of the most surprising places, her mom's (Kierston Wareing) new boyfriend, Connor (Fassbender), who encourages her to follow one of the things she loves doing the most, dancing.
Fassbender has always loved to mix some indie films with his more Hollywood movie star parts, and Fish Tank is proof of why, as in these smaller stories he gets to play much more unique characters, and show new colors of his actor palette, playing a supporting role and helping with his name to get more eyes on the project.
3 Slow West (2015) - 92%
Slow West tells the story of Scottish teenager, Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who, after just arriving in America as an immigrant, starts traveling and looking for his teenage love, Rose (Caren Pistorius). On his travels, he meets a possible new friend, an outlaw named Silas Selleck (Fassbender).
This is a unique view of the Western genre, one that allows for a much slower, and not as action-packed as most films in the genre, as this one has a bit more humor than Westerns usually have. It also allows Fassbender to play a man who is both good and bad, friend and foe, and who might be the best mentor for the young Jay.
2 Frank (2014) - 92%
A man who always wears a papier-mâché head named Frank (Fassbender), and his eccentric music band, add a new musician to their team, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson). That’s the premise for Frank, a surreal, funny, and weird movie, about their eccentric leader, being famous, and music in the 21st century.
Fassbender’s performance is much more human, strange, and raw than anyone with a paper mache head should give, and it also shows he’s having a blast hiding under the fake head. On why he took the role, Fassbender told Vanity Fair: “When I got it and read it, I was just like, what is this? It is just so strange and wonderful. It’s my kind of sense of humor, and it also had some really poignant and touching moments in there as well.”
1 12 Years a Slave (2013) - 95%
12 Years a Slave is one of the saddest movies ever made, as audiences follow the odyssey of Solomon Northup’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) life as he goes from a free Black man to being sold into slavery and ends up living at the home of the worst person ever, Edwin Epps (Fassbender).
One of Steve McQueen’s best films, this story of hardship and tragedy with great performances, gave Fassbender a vehicle to show how evil he could be, but even then, he’s able to show some humanity behind the character, and insinuate his insecurities, why he does what he does, and enjoys torturing and playing mental games with his slaves.
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