5. John Travolta in Pulp Fiction (1994)
When Quentin Tarantino saved John Travolta from a fourth Look Who's Talking movie, the standard for comeback roles was reset - suddenly anyone who might seem a bit naff had the potential to turn it all around with one role. And Travolta did just that, wisely building on the well-received performance as junkie hitman Vincent Vega in Tarantino's 1994 cultural phenomenon with similar roles in subsequent films like Get Shorty and Broken Arrow. Well, Get Shorty.
It shouldn't have been such a surprise - Travolta's deep talents were always apparent in Tarantino-cited movies like Blow Out and Urban Cowboy, he just got caught up in the whole "talking baby" thing. It was the 80s, we all did.
4. Mickey Rourke in Sin City (2005)
In the post-Pulp Fiction era, many tried to apply the John Travolta formula to has-beens of varying ignominy. It resulted in some interesting performances from some interesting actors, most of whom wholly deserved a comeback. Treat Williams went from peeing in a bottle in 1995's Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead to playing a neo-Ward Cleaver in noughties TV drama Everwood.
Robert Forster went from 1997's Jackie Brown to sustained, continued employment as a character actor. Burt Reynolds famously squandered his potentially career-rejuvenating role in 1997's Boogie Nights by distancing himself from the film, which he was convinced would be ridiculed. This, from the star of A Cop and a Half.
Anyway, the first post-Pulp Fiction movie to really pull a "Travolta" was 2005's Sin City, directed by QT's spiritual film-making brother, Robert Rodriguez. He cast the worringly approriate-for-the-role Mickey Rourke as Marv, the bruiser described in the film's dialogue as someone who would would "be right at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena, taking his sword to other gladiators like him."
Rourke's pugilism and plastic surgery-ravaged face proved the perfect match for Frank Miller's iconic character, and he lapped up the once-in-a-lifetime role. The rejuvenated buzz for Rourke led straight into 2008's The Wrestler, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Since then he hasn't done much to slow his inevitable decline back to pre-Sin City status, but his performance in that film will remain an absolute joy to behold forever.
3. Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Last Stand (2013)
I've written a lot about how adrift I felt when my all-time favourite movie star left movies behind for politics in 2004. For a time there, it seemed like he might never star in a movie again. And he hadn't exactly gone out on a high note with clunkers like End of Days, Collateral Damage and the James Cameron-less Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
By the time the registered Republican finished his reign as the Governor of California, Arnie had made little progress in lobbying for an amendment to the American constitution which would allow immigrants to run for President. So he cameoed in action throwback/Planet Hollywood investor reunion The Expendables.
His presence generated cheers in nostalgic audiences, which led to an expanded role in The Expendables 2, and the first indication that Arnie had appeared to forget any and all acting ability he may have accrued over the years. Painful memories of Raw Deal reared their head. I almost lost hope of Arnie ever really kicking ass in a movie again. Almost.
For his first proper leading role in the post-politics era, Arnie chose a very Clint Eastwood-esque tale. In 2013's The Last Stand, Arnie plays an slightly older, slightly tired Sheriff. The prospect did not excite me much ahead of time - I only wanted high octane everythingess for my Arnold - but then I saw The Last Stand and realised how shrewd Arnie had been in selecting the role. Credit must go to Korean director Kim Jee-woon aswell - with subsequent turds like Escape Plan and Sabotage making it increasingly apparent that a good performance must be coaxed from Arnie by the director.
The Last Stand proved unequivocally that Arnie can still deliver the goods, action movie-wise. Although very little since then has maintained that notion, it's nice to know the big guy's still got it in him.
N.B. I am dreading digital "young Arnie" in Terminator: Genisys.
2. Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet (1986)
A Hollywood pariah several times over by the early '80s, the final, most fruitful phase of Dennis Hopper's nutty acting career was kick-started by well-received roles in three very different 1986 films: Hoosiers, in which he played the town drunk; River's Edge, in which he played the town hermit; and David Lynch's Blue Velvet, in which he played the living incarnation of pure evil.
Hoosiers' Shooter and River's Edge's Feck were both conciliatory roles of sorts informed by Hopper's troubled history in the movie business. That troubled history also informed Blue Velvet's oxygen-huffing psychopath Frank Booth, but there is nothing conciliatory about Hopper's performance in Lynch's masterpiece - he's a raging sexual id monster who destroys anything he comes into contact with.
Hopper is utterly unapologetic in the role and you can't take your eyes off him - no character in movie history has ever been so vile and so captivating at the same time.
Hopper spent the next few decades watering down his Frank Booth goodwill with a string of "crazy villain for hire" roles spurred on by the success of 1994's Speed. There were good performances along the way (Red Rock West and True Romance, the underrated Boiling Point aka Money Men) but he would never again scale the heights of Frank Booth. Even in Waterworld.
1. Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man (2008)
The best comebacks are the ones you don't see coming and few people would've put money on Brat Pack drug casualty Robert Downey Jr (Less Than Zero, Weird Science) making one, let alone one as successful as his has been. But he did.
These days it seems like heresy to question Marvel Studios' decision-making, but when they announced Downey Jr as the star of their first proper movie in 2006, many eyebrows were raised.
But Marvel and director Jon Favreau had clearly seen Shane Black's 2005 action comedy Kiss, Kiss Bang Bang and so were acutely aware that Downey's talents as a performer were still very much intact, and in fact firing on all cylinders.
There is genuine joy in Downey's performance as Tony Stark - it's full of relish in a way that I was reminded of while watching Birdman. It's a performance that has gone on to anchor the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, and set a benchmark for inspired, unpredictable casting in really big movies.
And unlike the other four guys on this list, Downey is doing all the right things to keep his comeback on track. I mean, Travolta's had a pretty good second act, but he can't exactly open a movie anymore. And he was ridiculous in Killing Season, where he appeared to be wearing Robocop's chin-strap. Look Who's Talking 4 doesn't seem like such a crazy prospect anymore.
What are your favourite comeback performances? Who would you like to see make a glorious comeback? Comment below!
