Scottish actor Brian Cox has been a veteran of stage and screen for close to sixty years. He is a man with over two hundred credits and has appeared in several iconic movies over the decades. As is often the way with character actors, Cox is undoubtedly talented, but his career has involved a lot of significant but smaller roles.
However, as is also the way with character actors, he has made quite a few appearances in films that leave a lot to be desired.
Worst: Pixels (2015) - 17%
Adam Sandler comedies often take quite a beating from the critics but Pixels, in particular, did not fare well. Earth is invaded by sentient video games, sent by aliens seeking world domination. Brian Cox plays Admiral Porter, who's team of navy seals have to be taught how to play Pacman by Sandler and his fellow video game champions. The film is pretty nonsensical and full of jokes that never really land. As the straight man Cox does a good job, the film itself is a bit forgettable.
Best: Adaptation (2002) - 91%
Perhaps writer Charlie Kauffman's most meta work to date. After failing to successfully write an adaptation of a book Kauffman instead wrote about failing to write about a book. Along the way he melds and bends reality; Nicholas Cage plays Kauffman and his fictional twin brother, for example. Cox appears as real-life author and lecturer Robert Mckee, who gives Kauffman some well-needed perspective about the world of writing.
Worst: Chain Reaction (1996) - 16%
Post Speed, but pre The Matrix, Keanu Reeves made a couple of action thrillers that just came and went. Chain Reaction was among them. Reeves plays a scientist who discovers a new form of renewable energy, only to get caught up in a plot to destroy it. Brain Cox plays Lyman Earl Collier (in a role very reminiscent of his part in the Jason Bourne series), a CIA operative who is determined to see the end of the project. Ultimately forgettable, but another example of Cox's great ability to be a threatening presence.
Best: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - 92%
A fairly small part in a film full of celebrity cameos. Fantastic Mr. Fox has long been a fan favorite and is a great example of multi-generational animation that doesn't come from Pixar. While Cox has a bigger role in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, his cameo as a TV News Reporter is a welcome addition to this particular cast of quirky characters.
He isn't present for long but he still manages to get a couple of laughs and proves how iconic his voice is. Raising the question, why hasn't he done more animation?
Worst: The Affair of the Necklace (2001) - 15%
Cox plays yet another sycophantic villain in this poorly rated pre-Revolution, French period drama. It received poor reviews on release, with more praise given to the production design in the back of the shot than the action happening in the front. A story of court intrigue and betrayal, Hilary Swank plays an aristocrat seeking revenge on the French nobility. Cox's role is significant but small, and the film itself gets lost among the many, many similar period films made following the success of Shakespeare in Love.
Best: Manhunter (1986) - 92%
Interestingly, despite Manhunter being the film that gave Cox his big break, many people forget that he was the first to play the iconic villain Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. Cox only has a few scenes in the film (Michael Mann's adaptation of Red Dragon) but they remain, by far, the scariest sequences.
Cox is constantly behind bars meaning he is never clearly seen, yet he still manages to drip menace and threat into every word. Whether his Hannibal is better than Anthony Hopkins' is up for debate, but apparently the two actors have a rule never to talk about it.
Worst: The Glimmer Man (1996) - 12%
Steven Seagal may be an action icon, but unfortunately, his films don't always share the same reputation. The Glimmer Man is an odd-couple buddy cop movie where two men have to go on the hunt for a serial killer.
Brian Cox plays Mr. Smith in a role that is almost identical to his one in Chain Reaction; a CIA operative who may or may not be involved in the killings. An action-comedy that lacks in the action and the comedy, completely interchangeable with any other 1996 Brain Cox movie!
Best: Succession (2018 - present) - 92%
Cox's most highly rated television performance, and it's not hard to see why. As Logan Roy (a billionaire media mogul) Cox is at his most menacing. Yet, there's more nuance to this performance than other roles; at times he can be funny, even sympathetic. But, nonetheless, domineering in his attempts to remain in control of his business and his insidious family. Rightly winning him a Golden Globe, it is likely that Roy will become one of Cox's most iconic performances; very few characters as awful as this can so completely hold the audience's attention.
Worst: The Anomaly (2014) - 0%
With a score that low there are very few things to say that can redeem this film. Written and directed by Noel Clarke (who has produced great work in the past) this British Sci-Fi thriller was universally panned by critics. The general consensus being the film couldn't keep on top of its own plot and ended up an incoherent mess. It is yet another villain role for Cox, and while he has had great success in that department, his role in this becomes so convoluted it risks being ridiculous.
Best: Her (2013) - 95%
This is Cox's second collaboration with Spike Jonze and while his part is relatively small (he appears only as a voice) it speaks to the measure of the man himself that several high profile directors want to re-hire him. Her is a fantastic sci-fi film that is romantic, even as it seeks to deconstruct romance. Cox voices the real-life Alan Watts, a British philosopher greatly inspired by Buddhism, who ultimately inspires the AI Samantha to go her own way. Another small but significant role in an illustrious career.