Colin Farrell could have got by on his matinee-idol looks, churning out action movies and romantic comedies and enjoying a pleasantly lucrative cinema career. Actors like that tend to toss in the odd arthouse hit or experimental cameo role to see off accusations of typecasting. In the case of Colin Farrell, the interesting films have gradually replaced the mainstream ones, but he has a knack for starring in boundary-pushing movies that still do well at the box office. See below for our pick of the ten best Colin Farrell films, and where to stream them.
Colin Farrell’s best early work was in collaboration with the director Joel Schumacher. In Tigerland, Farrell is a man of contrasts as an anti-war protestor who is drafted to fight in Vietnam and finds, at the training camp that gives the film its name, that he is a gifted soldier and leader of men. Farrell and Schumacher reunited for Phone Booth, a high-concept thriller that relies on Farrell constantly being on screen as an adulterous man threatened by an unseen sniper. In between those, Farrell cemented his Hollywood status with a crucial supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report.
Now in the big time, Farrell took a while to find his rhythm as a proper film star: the blockbusters he appeared in during the early 2000s are hit and miss. Signs of a more interesting actor started to emerge in Oliver Stone’s historical epic Alexander, and when Farrell took a lead role in provocative romantic drama The New World, directed by arthouse legend Terrence Malick, as a colonial settler helping to establish Jamestown, Virginia. Then he shone in Michael Mann’s successful reboot of the cult TV series Miami Vice, before finding the director with whom Farrell would do his best work: Martin McDonagh.
McDonagh’s first movie was In Bruges, a fantastic thriller soaked in the blackest comedy. As a hitman riven with guilt at a job gone wrong, Farrell gives his definitive performance: funny and sexy when required, but with a dark vulnerability. Those qualities had been present before but the acclaim for In Bruges crystallised what sort of actor Farrell could be - he’s never looked back.
Collaborations with daring Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos were fruitful, notably The Lobster, in which Farrell’s alpha-male urges are curbed entirely as he plays a cuckolded man sent to a hotel where singletons are forced to pair up. Farrell also stuck with Martin McDonagh and In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson, scoring a huge critical hit with the deceptively simple comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, with Farrell as a naive man who cannot understand why his best friend has tired of him.
Even his superhero movies are a cut above: Colin Farrell is now starring in the TV series The Penguin, having revealed the damaged man inside the Gotham City villain in the 2022 movie The Batman.
Where to watch the best Colin Farrell movies online
As The Penguin reaches the small screen, you’ll want to stream The Batman to remind yourself of how Farrell got started in the role. For those wanting to find out where to watch the other movies on our list of Colin Farrell’s ten best, see below.
