Once Avatar: The Way of Water releases in December 2022, it will mark Sam Worthington's return to the character of Jake Sully from Avatar for the first time in 13 years. While this role is undoubtedly Worthington's most famous in the cinematic realm, he's had plenty of movie hits over the years, many of which have floated under the radar.
Now that Worthington is about to have the blockbuster spotlight on him once more, it's time to take a look at his most praiseworthy performances, according to rating website Rotten Tomatoes.
Hart's War - 60%
A 2002 drama film about a World War II POW camp, Hart's War features a star-studded cast led by Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell, with it also serving as Sam Worthington's debut in American cinema, with the Avatar actor playing Corporal "Depot" Guidry in a minor role.
It isn't a well-remembered film today, especially when it comes to the canon of actors who starred in it, and because it bombed at the box office. It doesn't have any directing or writing that shakes viewers in their seats. The acting is what holds it together, especially from the two main stars. For Willis fans who haven't seen it but want to see him in his glory days, it's worth a watch.
Lansky - 61%
Led by an unsurprisingly great performance from Harvey Keitel, Lansky follows the life of mobster Meyer Lansky, with Sam Worthington playing a writer, David Stone, whose interviews with the famed criminal are the frame narrative for the film's story.
Far from the worst gangster movies ever made, Lansky shines the most not with Lansky's actions, which are pretty standard genre fare, but in the scenes where he's talking with Worthington's Stone. It's a hard job to portray that kind of character in scenes where restraint is required, and Keitel pulls it off. Worthington also shines as an intrepid reporter who goes up against Lansky to get his story for a book. Lanky may intimidate most, but not Stone, and that says a lot about the character.
Everest - 73%
"Climbing Mount Everest" is a common expression used when referring to an extremely difficult and/or complex task, because literally doing that is so treacherous, as 2015's intense survival movie Everest dramatizes. The film is inspired by the real-life 1996 event that inspired the movie, wherein a climbing group was caught in a deadly blizzard while descending the mountain after reaching the summit
In the film, Worthington plays Guy Cotter, a professional mountain guide who was part of the real-life expedition. As the movie is an ensemble piece, Worthington doesn't get as much play as a main character, but Worthington clearly put in the time to build up the physique needed to play him, and the actor's typecast as military men clearly helps him fit in as a grizzled climber.
The Keeping Room - 74%
That military typecasting also helped Worthington land the role of Moses, a Civil War soldier, in the 2014 Western The Keeping Room. The movie is about three women who defend their home against two scout soldiers, one of whom is Moses.
It's a violent and dark look at the war from the perspective of women, and while the story may on the surface appear sanitized (since one of the three is a slave who fights alongside the other two), the focus is on the brutality of war, and it makes that statement well. Worthington terrifies as his character, and is almost like a creature out of a horror movie, sent ahead of the destructive band to weed out the resistance.
The Debt - 77%
In 2010's The Debt, Sam Worthington plays the young version of fictional Mossad agent David Peretz, who in the 1960s was part of a team sent on a mission to capture a notorious Nazi war criminal. The film is framed by the team's experiences 32 years later, as the lies begun on that mission come back to haunt them.
What seems on the surface like a basic espionage film instead becomes about the psychological costs of the mission and the lie that originates from it, and then about how the remaining team members must go about making things right. Worthington's young David is the one who makes the lie necessary, and a violent character who flows right into the 1997 depiction, who is the catalyst for the story.
Avatar - 82%
Sam Worthington's most iconic role, though, is also one of his most acclaimed films, as Jake Sully in Avatar. A human soldier tasked with piloting a synthetic alien body to infiltrate the native Na'vi tribe, he slowly grows away from the mission as he falls in love with one of the aliens.
Sure, it's easy to dismiss Avatar as merely a sci-fi Dances with Wolves, and there's an open question about whether the franchise can last in the post-MCU media landscape. However, the film's effects were amazingly innovative for their time, and Worthington and Zoe Saldana sell the chemistry between their two characters well enough to overcome some of the narrative's weaker elements.
Somersault - 84%
Another notable role for Worthington was this 2004 Australian romance movie, Somersault, directed by Black Widow's Cate Shortland. Worthington plays Joe, a local farmer's son befriended by the main character, Heidi, also a teenager. The two of them form a close bond, but Joe not only struggles with understanding his feelings toward her, but his sexuality in general.
Worthington plays one of his most complex characters ever in this role, as even though he isn't the main character, Joe's struggles with his sexuality and masculinity make him an endearing, relatable, and three-dimensional character. It shares some superficial similarities with Brokeback Mountain if told from the perspective of one of the wives, but it's very much its own movie.
Hacksaw Ridge - 84%
Even though it's Andrew Garfield's second-best 2016 movie, Hacksaw Ridge was one of the most acclaimed films of that year, as well as perhaps the most searingly realistic World War II film since Saving Private Ryan two decades earlier.
Worthington plays Captain Glover, a man who initially tries to get Garfield's character, Doss, discharged because of his seeming cowardice, although the two's relationship shifts over the course of the film to the point where Glover sees Doss as an integral part of the team. Glover's antagonism acts as a good surrogate for the audience, to test Doss and thus show that Doss's conscientious objection is truly genuine.
Paper Planes - 85%
A great indie movie on Amazon Prime, Paper Planes is a 2015 Australian film where a young boy, Dylan, realizes a latent talent for making paper airplanes and thinks he can hone this skill to the point where he can compete in a national championship for it.
Sam Worthington plays Dylan's father, Jack, who fully supports his son's dreams to the point of letting him use old family relics to help with designing the paper planes, as well as showing him how to take design inspiration for nature. It's a wholesome performance that goes way against Worthington's typecast, but it pays off really well. Deadpool 2's Julian Dennison also notably stars as Dylan's friend, Kevin.
Rogue - 89%
Worthington's most acclaimed role for Rotten Tomatoes, though, is as a local man named Neil in the 2007 independent horror film Rogue. The premise and vibe feels straight out of Jurassic Park, with the predator in question being a 25-foot crocodile hungry for human flesh.
Rogue is, at its heart, a creature movie in the mold of some of cinema's best, like Jurassic Park, Jaws, and even Anaconda. The focus isn't on character depth, but each actor brings what's necessary to the role. If that's the kind of film you enjoy, Rogue is definitely right up your alley.