Unlock the Untold Power Moves: Ranking Matt Damon’s Top 10 Movies That Fuel Your Mind and Hustle!
What can’t Matt Damon do? At 55, this Cambridge native has not only mastered the art of being a bona fide movie star but also the craft of a serious actor—a rare combo that’s becoming extinct in today’s whirlwind attention economy. Whether headlining blockbuster hits or slipping unnoticed into a nuanced role, Damon’s got that irreplaceable charm and intellect that just pulls you in. Sure, every career has its ups and downs—maybe The Great Wall or Elysium didn’t exactly blow up the box office—but Damon’s willingness to swing for the fences keeps him perpetually relevant. Now, with his upcoming portrayal of Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey, it’s worth taking a deep dive into the films that showcase the brilliance behind the name. Ready to explore the ten best Matt Damon movies that prove why he’s still one of Hollywood’s finest? Let’s get into it. LEARN MORE
7 min readWHAT CAN’T MATT Damon do? The 55-year-old is one of the few actors in Hollywood, of his generation, who is both a movie star and a top-flight actor all in one. Capable of opening big movies based on his name alone, or disappearing entirely into a role, it’s a rare skill set becoming all the more endangered as it becomes harder and harder to mint Movie Stars™ in our attention economy. No matter, Damon has long been one of the best to do it, and is still one of the best around.
Over his decades-long career, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, native isn’t afraid to take big swings. Sure, maybe The Great Wall or Elysium didn’t exactly play well, but then he’ll pop up for 10 minutes in a minor role for a Steven Soderbergh movie or suddenly command an entire Christopher Nolan movie out of seemingly nowhere. That’s to say nothing of the litany of cameos he’s made throughout the years, whether as a punk rocker or playing himself playing the God of Mischief. At the core of it all, however, is a natural charm and cerebral nature that makes Damon always interesting and compelling, no matter the role.
For an actor with a career so storied and long, it feels silly on its face to say that his turn as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming (and much anticipated) adaptation of The Odyssey might be his biggest yet. But everything about the film’s production and marketing seemingly gives that indication. That alone is as good a reason as any to take a look at Damon’s oeuvre ahead of what very well may be a career-defining role for him. Ahead of The Odyssey’s release this Friday, we’re ranking the ten best Matt Damon movies. A few points of order: we wanted to spotlight films in which Damon is either the outright lead of the movie or a prominently featured player. Here’s our list.
10. Rounders (1998)
Every few decades, audiences get a really stellar poker film. While most of them live in the shadow of Robert Altman’s California Split, Rounders gets credit for looping Damon and Ed Norton into its cast, elevating strong material into an endlessly rewatchable movie. Norton’s role is far and away the broader part, sure, but the fact that the movie works as well as it does rests on Damon’s shoulders; he grounds the movie with a welcome sense of reality—and, most importantly, an understanding as to why he and Norton would continue to be friends after all these years (and all the bullshit) he’s experienced.
9. Oppenheimer (2023)
Damon’s second outing with Nolan is an upgrade over what’s ostensibly a cameo in Interstellar. As General Leslie Groves, Damon provides Oppenheimer with a real presence. His portrayal is a series of compelling conditions: gruff yet warm, a military man who doubles as the audience surrogate, and comedic relief despite being a reluctant partner to Cillian Murphy’s titular role. It’s the kind of role that in the hands of a lesser actor would be forgettable, and yet, Damon brings the character off the screen, stealing the movie anytime he’s around.
8. Behind the Candelabra
Another Soderbergh project, Behind the Candelabra is one of the few biopics that transcends the trappings of its narrative device to become something special. While the film orients itself around Liberace (Michael Douglas, in a late-career best), the emotional core of the film is Damon’s performance as Scott Thorson. Damon portrays Thorson as someone who stumbles as he attempts to parse staying himself while getting swept up in the experience of Liberace. Damon sells the descent into deep insecurity with grace and poise.
7. The Informant! (2009)
Much of Damon’s career orbits around the notion that he’s exceedingly smart—which is why it’s such a blast to see him turn that idea on its head in The Informant! Working with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh, Damon’s portrayal of Mark Whitacre, a real-life whistleblower responsible for helping the FBI crack the case on the mid-1990s lysine price-fixing scandal, is anything but brainy. Instead, Damon’s version of Whitacre is an absolute oaf who thinks he’s smart enough to embezzle money right under the nose of the FBI. Once more, it deals with Damon playing a character who has a dual personality. That’s something Whitacre keyed into himself, telling his local paper, “It’s like I was two people. I assume that’s why they chose Matt Damon for the movie, because he plays those roles that have such psychological intensity.” Well stated.
6. The Departed (2006)
Evil Damon is a side we don’t get to see that often, but when he leans into it, it’s quite a feat. What’s great about The Departed is that, based on looks, Sullivan would appear to be the good guy. There’s something WASP-y or upper crusty here, which he’s leveraged for other roles, that makes him seem like the good guy from the outside looking in (especially compared to how much of an exposed nerve Leonardo DiCaprio is throughout the film). And yet, the character is a nasty piece of work, who absolutely gets what’s coming to him by the film’s conclusion. It’s a good example of how effective Damon can be by just being selective about when he turns heel.
5. The Martian (2015)
It’s still kind of wild to me that Damon didn’t win an Oscar for this. Of the two one-man survival films that came out in 2015, I far prefer The Martian to The Revenant, as the latter (even in the theater) felt like a slog. The Martian, however, doesn’t work without someone as charismatic and charming as Damon at its center. He’s smart, but the environment is challenging enough that the audience gets to see him problem-solve and put that intellect to work. It’s hard work for an actor to command the screen almost entirely by themselves, but Damon makes it look exceedingly easy in a movie that’s a blast to revisit due to the strength of his work alone.
4. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Good Will Hunting will almost always be the first movie mentioned in Damon’s obit—and for good reason. Even now, almost thirty years later, the film (famously co-written by Damon and his lifelong pal Ben Affleck and directed by Gus Van Sant) looms large in the actor’s career. Who could have imagined landing an Oscar nomination, let alone a win, for a screenplay right out of the chute? Damon’s performance as Will Hunting set the template for how audiences would perceive the actor. But the brainy, smart-as-a-whip persona cultivated here has served Damon well, and is an interesting Rosetta Stone for how he’d either lean into or subvert those expectations throughout the rest of his career.
3. The Ocean’s Trilogy (2001, 2004, 2007)
Yes, we’re cheating slightly by lumping all of these together, but Soderbergh’s beloved heist trilogy is as masterfully plotted, considered, and executed as the heists at the center of each film. What these movies do best is allow each member of its supporting ensemble a moment to shine, and when Damon gets put at the center, the respective movie often becomes the best version of itself. Personally, I’m higher on Ocean’s Twelve than most, due in part to how absurdly fun Damon is in the third act as the crew trots out the ‘Julia Roberts’ gag (“Glen Snackwell, publicity” and “I wasn’t in Four Weddings and a Funeral!” are frequent quotes in the Goodman household). Oh, and the nose does play. There’s certainly a halo effect around how entertaining these movies are to watch that elevates them, but Damon’s an essential part of making them all sing.
Buy the Ocean’s Trilogy on 4K UHD/Blu-ray Here
2. The Bourne Trilogy (2002, 2004, 2007)
There’s a case to be made for the Bourne films as the things that made Matt Damon a household name. Sure, the Oscar for Good Will Hunting put him on the map in a major way, but the darkness and intensity of Bourne—and Damon’s performance as the character—shifted audience expectations around what they wanted from their spy stories; there’s a pretty apparent throughline from the intensity that directors Doug Limon and Paul Greengrass bring to these three films that caused the Brocolli family to reevaluate how they approached Bond, particularly under the Daniel Craig tenure. The fact that you can mention Jason Bourne in the same sentence as James Bond, or even Ethan Hunt, is a testament to how Damon made the character his own, infusing the role with the more cerebral nature he brings to all his roles while ensuring he nailed the necessary physicality.
Watch The Bourne Identity Here
Watch The Bourne Supremacy Here
Watch The Bourne Ultimatum Here
Buy The Bourne Collection on 4K UHD/Blu-ray Here
1. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
There’s something particularly delicious about Damon, two years after Good Will Hunting, turning in a performance this layered. As the titular Ripley, Damon’s never better; he enters the film as a canvas—made literal by the fact Dickie calls him “white” in their first meeting—only for Damon to layer one compelling coat of characterization after another on him throughout Anthony Minghella’s film. Damon’s Ripley exists as a perpetually nervy person, one who is only comfortable when he’s annihilating something, whether it be parts of himself or the others who stand to get in his way. Yet, below it all, there’s a deeply tragic core that elevates this performance above all others. It’s raw, real, and Damon’s absolute best.
William Goodman is a freelancer writer, focused on all things pop culture, tech, gadgets, and style. He’s based in Washington, DC and his work can also be found at Robb Report, Complex, and GQ. He’s yet to meet a jacket or cardigan he didn’t love. In his free time, he’s probably on Twitter (@goodmanw) or at the movies.
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