We're in the Robert Pattinson Renaissance

I feel like this year has really shown that the movies have never been so back.

We're seeing the success of movies this year like The Odyssey, Michael, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and in all, it has just made going to the movie theatres feel like an event again.

When I went to go see The Odyssey a few weeks ago, I was going to see what Christopher Nolan gave us. And obviously, when Nolan is solely using IMAX cameras, that is always must-see.

Nolan could just be filming my neighbourhood with IMAX cameras, and I'd go watch it.Aside from everything that went into the movie, one performance (of the many that were great) that stood out is Robert Pattinson as the villain of the movie, Antinous.

It was just another one of his performances in what's been, when you really think about it, a generational run over the past few years.

Whether it's The Batman, Mickey 17, The Odyssey, or even the trailer for Primetime, which has come out and in which he looks unbelievable, Pattinson just keeps finding himself in these major projects. Dune: Part Three is coming out, where he'll be playing another villain, and he's filming The Batman: Part II right now.

The guy is just in the zone right now.

Even a smaller movie like The Drama, which came out earlier this year, was another fun movie featuring him and Zendaya. It's like, I can't even describe how well he's just either been picking his movies or just straight-up the performances he's giving in these.

And it's one of the greater career turnarounds we've seen in not just movies but in like any part of pop culture. Whether it be sports, music, movies, or TV, it's just been unbelievable to see play out in real time.

Is it kind of Sam Darnold-y?

People thought they were both good prospects (Darnold in the NFL, Pattinson in Hollywood), but they just became damaged goods after a franchise wasted their potential.

Then they took a few stops to try to regain their lost confidence and find their game, and now their cemented forever.

Pattinson was obviously a name and part of a big franchise when he was in Twilight, but I don't think anyone ever thought he could be the lead man in these big IPs or these big movies. And now, every year, like Darnold, he's just gotten consistently better.

Based on what we've seen this year, he is looking like he's going to be nominated for at least one Oscar, whether that be Best Male Lead or Best Supporting Actor. And it could be for so many different movies.

He's entered that rare spot, especially in today's days with movies, where I'm going to be watching anything he's in.

It doesn't matter what it is at this point.

I will be seated in a movie theatre for a Robert Pattinson movie. It doesn't matter which IP it is. It doesn't matter what genre it is.

He's kind of now become one of these actors who add instant credibility to another of his projects, and you have to give the credit.

To be fair though, I never had any real thoughts on him in past years.

This might be a shock to some people, but I've never seen the Twilight movies, so I don't really have an opinion on them. But I've seen his reputation from those movies, and people thought he wasn't that great in them.

I believe people don't think he was that great in it.

But my first exposure to him was in Tenet, which I didn't think was that good.

And then I didn't see him again until 2022 in The Batman, where he just instantly became my favourite Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Just the way he kind of modernized the character to this depressed yet kind of emo-y, but you can kind of relate to him in a weird way. He's brought like a new life to the character.

And that's what makes this current run even more impressive.

He's become an actor who doesn't feel like he's going to be typecast.

That's what's going to happen with Tom Holland, I think, after he's done these Spider-Man movies, where it's going to be difficult for him to leave the character behind or to not be seen as Spider-Man, kind of like Tobey Maguire.

Andrew Garfield's kind of transformed it in a way. He's been a really good actor ever since, and even before.

But Pattinson, I think, is going to fall more in line with Christian Bale, where he's an actor who played a superhero, but he won't be defined by that.

And I think that's a really important distinction.

When you look at Pattinson's career now, The Batman doesn't feel like the role that defines him. It's just another major performance in what has become a really impressive filmography.

He's played Batman. He's played a villain in The Odyssey. He's worked with Christopher Nolan. He's been in Mickey 17. He's going to be a key part in Dune: Part Three. And he's returning for The Batman Part II.

That's an unbelievable list of projects for an actor who, not that long ago, was primarily known as a vampire.

So I just wanted to write something on here because, in a time with not much sports going on, I'm catching up on a lot more movies that I've missed throughout the year.

I saw The Drama a few weeks ago. Pretty good.

I saw The Odyssey. Really good.

Then I saw the trailer for Primetime, which looked sick.

And then I've seen the promo starting to get rolling for The Batman Part II.

And we might be in like this Robert Pattinson renaissance going forward here.

And that's awesome to see.

Whatever happened between Twilight and where he is now, Pattinson has completely changed the way I look at him as an actor. He's gone from someone I didn't really have much of an opinion on to someone where, at this point, if I see Robert Pattinson's name attached to a movie, I'm probably going to watch it.

That's a pretty remarkable career turnaround.

So props to him, man.