(Photo by Netflix/ Courtesy Everett Collection. ADOLESCENCE.)
Looking at esteemed British character actor Stephen Graham’s career arc as a whole, he’s portrayed many villains, sidekicks and antiheroes (including Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, through Gangs of New York, This Is England, Public Enemies) early on, and as more leading roles have come into the picture, he’s taken on more detective and paternal roles. This includes his heavy involvement in Adolescence (Certified Fresh and on Netflix) as co-creator, co-writer, and co-executive producer, in addition to co-star. Graham plays the grieving father of the titular adolescent Jamie Miller, played by Owen Cooper, who’s drawn in by online “manosphere” influencers and as a result, is arrested for murder of another teenager. Adolescence shows Graham’s deep concern for Internet culture and its effect on men specifically.
And now we look at Stephen Graham’s best movies and shows, ranked below by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first.
Cast into the early Guy Ritchie vehicle Snatch as the lunkheaded sidekick Tommy to Jason Statham’s crooked boxing promoter Turkish, Graham is extraordinary from jump, as his character may not be as dull as he appears.
CNN‘s Paul Tatara on Snatch: “[Jason] Statham and Graham are especially amusing as the quibbling fight promoters.”
After Snatch, Graham kicked off a career of playing morally questionable characters from then onward, never more apparent than the ten-times-Oscar-nominated Gangs of New York, which won Martin Scorsese a Golden Globe for Best Director. In that ensemble film, Graham plays Shang, the young leader of the Dead Rabbits gang, which specializes in thievery. Other than his memorable scenes, Graham is best remembered during filming for nearly breaking Leonardo DiCaprio’s leg with a golf cart.
Graham’s next memorable and critically acclaimed role was Combo, the skinhead antagonist in This is England, who draws his working-class gang further into the far-right, National Front politics of the time, but comes to regret his actions. This film made numerous lists as one of the best of 2007, and was followed up by a trio of miniseries where Graham reprised his role.
John Hartl on This Is England: “Graham gives the kind of scary yet strangely sympathetic performance that transcends arguments about nature vs. nurture. He simply is what he is: a human black hole who threatens to obliterate everything that comes into contact with him.”
After that, Graham ate up the screen in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies as George “Baby Face” Nelson, a sociopathic lieutenant in John Dillinger’s (Johnny Depp’s) bank-robbing gang. Additional meaty roles followed soon after, including one of his first leading roles, the Fresh thriller A Patch of Fog, as an obsessive, stalking security guard, and his turn as Al Capone on the long-running HBO show Boardwalk Empire.
More recently, Graham starred in the intense kitchen workplace thriller Boiling Point, an expansion of a short film also starring Graham, where he plays a hard-driving head chef with alcohol and drug issues, presaging shows like The Bear that covered similar subject matter. He returned to reprise this role in the follow-up four-part TV miniseries.
Christina Newland on Boiling Point: “At the centre of it all is Graham, one of Britain’s finest actors, piercingly compelling as Andy. He summons all his lumpen bulldog ferocity and startling vulnerability for the part of a man fraying at the edges.”
Graham also played a leading role as a detective in Little Boy Blue, a dramatized true crime miniseries about the death of a schoolboy in Liverpool. And he portrayed another detective in the second and third Venom movies, the latter of which sees him taken over by one of many symbiotes.
And now ABC News‘ Peter Travers calls Adolescence “[an] emotional powerhouse that sneaks up and floors you. The young TV season sets a new gold standard with a series sure to rank with the year’s very best. Polish up Emmys for Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper as the father and son at the heart of the tale.” (Steve Horton)
#1
Critics Consensus: Gripping from start to finish, Boiling Point uses its bold formal approach to support a thrilling tightrope of a tale.
#2
Critics Consensus: An epic gangster drama that earns its extended runtime, The Irishman finds Martin Scorsese revisiting familiar themes to poignant, funny, and profound effect.
#3
Critics Consensus: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical brings the classic story back to the screen with a delightful Emma Thompson, dazzling dancing, and a suitably irascible take on the source material.
#4
Critics Consensus: A moving coming-of-age tale that captures the despair among England’s working-class youth in the 1980s.
#5
Critics Consensus: Better than your average football pic, Damned United is carried by another star turn from Michael Sheen as Brian Clough.
#6
Critics Consensus: Journey’s End brings R.C. Sherriff’s 90-year-old play to the screen with thrilling power, thanks to director Saul Dibb’s hard-hitting urgency and brilliant work from a talented cast.
#7
Critics Consensus: It’s going to be a long, long time before a rock biopic manages to capture the highs and lows of an artist’s life like Rocketman.
#8
Critics Consensus: Buoyed by Daisy Ridley’s radiant star power and the remarkable trajectory of Gertrude Ederle’s life story, Young Woman and the Sea is an old-fashioned sports movie that harkens back to the classics in the best way.
#9
Critics Consensus: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a dense puzzle of anxiety, paranoia, and espionage that director Tomas Alfredson pieces together with utmost skill.
#10
Critics Consensus: A tale of survival from director Steve McQueen, Blitz‘s examination of British society under wartime is given a beating heart by Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan’s lovely performances.
#11
Critics Consensus: Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool showcases brilliant work from Annette Bening, whose performance is more than enough to outweigh this biopic’s basic narrative.
#12
Critics Consensus: Funny Cow rests almost entirely on Maxine Peake’s performance — which proves more than capable of shouldering the weight of this affecting period drama.
#13
Critics Consensus: Greyhound‘s characters aren’t as robust as its action sequences, but this fast-paced World War II thriller benefits from its efficiently economical approach.
#14
Critics Consensus: Sinking in with as much baleful bite as its namesake, Hyena offers a dark, stylish, and impressively gritty addition to the British crime genre.
#15
Critics Consensus: Though flawed, the sprawling, messy Gangs of New York is redeemed by impressive production design and Day-Lewis’s electrifying performance.
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#24
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#25
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#28
Critics Consensus: With a bombastic performance from Jim Broadbent, Get Santa brilliantly captures the joys of the Christmas holiday.
#29
#30
Critics Consensus: Though perhaps a case of style over substance, Guy Ritchie’s second crime caper is full of snappy dialogue, dark comedy, and interesting characters.
#31
Critics Consensus: Michael Mann’s latest is a competent and technically impressive gangster flick with charismatic lead performances, but some may find the film lacks truly compelling drama.
#32
Critics Consensus: A sequel aimed squarely at fans of the original’s odd couple chemistry, Venom: Let There Be Carnage eagerly embraces the franchise’s sillier side.
#33
Critics Consensus: Yardie proves debuting director Idris Elba has a distinctive eye that benefits from a strong personal connection to his material, even if the end results are somewhat uneven.
#34
Critics Consensus: While well-acted and skillfully directed, Blood never quite manages to draw its themes and characters into a coherent, compelling whole.
#35
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#36
Critics Consensus: An amateurish, unfunny and unscary British horror-comedy that could be accused of misogyny.
#37
Critics Consensus: Impressive sports action sequences are the highlight, as the run-of the-mill story invokes every known sports movie cliche.
#38
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#39
Critics Consensus: The always watchable Tom Hardy injects ample charisma into Venom: The Last Dance, but the offering buckles under its convoluted tonal ambitions.
#40
Critics Consensus: Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn’t quite get off the ground.
#41
Critics Consensus: Texas Killing Fields is a competent boilerplate crime thriller, brewing up characters and plots used in better films.
#42
Critics Consensus: Awaydays is an overwrought coming-of-age drama that romanticizes the violence of 1970s street culture in Liverpool and neglects the requisites of a good script.
#43
Critics Consensus: In spite of its spotless pedigree and a strong sense of visual style, London Boulevard stumbles over its frenetic pace and crowded, clichéd plot.
#44
Critics Consensus: It’s shorter and leaner than the previous sequel, but this Pirates runs aground on a disjointed plot and a non-stop barrage of noisy action sequences.
#45
Critics Consensus: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales proves that neither a change in directors nor an undead Javier Bardem is enough to drain this sinking franchise’s murky bilge.
#46
Critics Consensus: That The Good Night is the work of a first-time writer/director is apparent, as the story feels disjointed and never connects with the audience.
#47
Critics Consensus: Filth and Wisdom, while certainly ambitious, is mostly unconvincing and incoherent.
#48
Critics Consensus: Bereft of the imaginative flair that made earlier Hellboys so enjoyable, this soulless reboot suggests Dante may have left a tenth circle out of his Inferno.
#49
Critics Consensus: Slow, cheap-looking, and dull, Season of the Witch fails even as unintentional comedy.
#50
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.