7. Captain Phillips in “Captain Phillips” (2013)
Given his tradition of Oscar success, the strength of the film and the quality of the performance, it’s almost unfathomable that Hanks was overlooked by the Academy Awards for “Captain Phillips” (it was, in fairness, a tough year, but this turn has certainly lingered longer than, say, Christian Bale in “American Hustle” or Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”). Paul Greengrass’s gripping docu-drama about the real-life hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates doesn’t give its title character much in the way of backstory or manufactured character arc: this is almost Hanks’ version of a Michael Mann character, albeit a little doughier and more middle-aged that you’d get with Mann, an ultra-professional whose capability and compassion (for both his crew and for the hijackers) is shown through his actions. Only at the end does the mask slip: being treated by a doctor after his rescue, Phillips, barely keeping his basic faculties going after his ordeal, crumbles into tears, the exhaustion and relief coming off him in waves. It’s as raw a picture of shock and trauma as we’ve seen in recent years, and makes a good argument for being the best single scene of Hanks’ career.
6. Michael Sullivan Sr. in “Road to Perdition” (2002)
With the film now over a decade old, it’s easy to forget how much of a game changer the role of Michael Sullivan was for Tom Hanks. While he’d long since shaken off his reputation as a sitcom star, “Road To Perdition” saw him play a darker and at times more unsympathetic character than he’d ever done before (and, really, has done since), subverting his family-man persona in a fascinating way. Based on a graphic novel and exquisitely directed by Sam Mendes, the film finds Hanks playing an enforcer on the run from the very crime family he works for with his young son in tow. As they spend six weeks on the lam in the Midwest, Hanks becomes more closely connected with his progeny than he ever had before and together they form a unique, though undeniably loving, bond. Hanks has to navigate a whirl of emotions here that are all contained in the poker face facade he needs to keep up in order for the both of them to survive. It’s one of Hanks’ best, and most underrated performances because much of what is transmitted between father and son (and between his own surrogate father, played extraordinarily by Paul Newman) are some tiny gestures, subtle changes in facial expressions and sudden acts of warmth. The role finds the actor challenging himself with a part that is all small moments, with no grand gestures or important speeches to fall back on and Hanks performs wonderfully in a minor key. It’s a cold, harsh world Michael Sullivan lives in, but in that strange, heightened, surreal time with his son, it might be the best time of his life.
5. Captain John H. Miller in “Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
When “Saving Private Ryan” hit theaters in 1998, both critics and audiences applauded director Steven Spielberg’s brutally realistic depiction of World War II. Tom Hanks’ quiet and imperturbable performance in the film as the enigmatic Capt. John H. Miller was seemingly the latest in his all-American run of heroes, it’s a turn that contains complexities not immediately apparent. While superficially, Hanks was portraying an American everyman and a beloved leader whom his soldiers had built up through varying mythologies, this is actually a dutiful man who is forced to put on a brave face. The character is exhausted, frustrated and resentful of his mission — risking his men’s lives for some random soldier he does not know. Expressing more through weary eyes than dialogue, there’s an almost anesthetized look that washes over his face every time a new obstacle arises. In one of the film’s more moving moments, Private Ryan (Matt Damon) has just shared the memory of his last night with his brothers before leaving for war and asks Capt. Miller to tell him about his wife and her rose bushes back home. He replies simply, “No. No, that one I save just for me.” We get the sense that he has been transported back home for just a brief moment, a temporary escape from the insanity that surrounds him. In ‘Private Ryan,’ Hanks is both the most callused of the men and also the most vulnerable, and in the depths of war, his truly heroic moment is urging his men to hold onto a sense of dignity and decency amidst it all. It’s no surprise that the film notched Hanks his fourth Best Actor nomination.4. Woody in “Toy Story” (1995)
Buzz might have been the toy phenomenon, but Woody is the heart of the “Toy Story” films. Correction: Tom Hanks is the heart of the “Toy Story” films. Coming off back-to-back Oscar wins (the first person to do so since Spencer Tracy), Hanks was the new Jimmy Stewart, a natural choice to play a simple wooden cowboy doll, an embodiment of classic American childhood. But Hanks, like the filmmakers, wasn’t tempted to go down the aw-shucks route, making Woody into a sort of middle-management figure, a kind of proto Michael Scott, and one capable not just of goodness but of deep envy and selfishness as well. Hanks finds every comic and dramatic beat (“You! Are! A! Toy!” reads as both a gag and a howl of existential despair in his hands), but also stops Woody from tipping too far into being unsympathetic. We have a tendency to underrate voice performances, perhaps because we’re used to the “Shark Tale” school of stars turning up and basically just being themselves. But Hanks, perhaps more than anything else, makes “Toy Story,” treating the role like a complex, living, breathing person, and one who, oddly, never quite sounds like Tom Hanks. He’s great across all three films, but it has to be the original that gives Woody his defining outing.
