7 Cats (2019) - 2.7
After the huge success that was Les Misérables, Hooper returned to the world musicals, only the choice may have been a little misguided and it was the worst career move he could have possibly made. Cats might have disappointed many, but most didn't have the highest expectations, and it was doomed from the very first trailer. It quickly became one of the most mocked movies ever, and though people had already made their minds up about the movie before even seeing it, the final result just proved everybody right.
The film was strongly criticized for the absurd and almost terrifying looks of the cats, as they had human facial features but the bodies of felines. The studio should have followed Sonic the Hedgehog's lead. When the character design in the trailer was ridiculed, months were spent redesigning the blue hedgehog, and it worked out for the best. Though some fans believe that Cats isn't as bad as fans think, it's hard to defend a movie with a score as low as 2.7.
6 Red Dust (2004) - 6.8
Where Hooper has become known for his movies having such epic scope, Red Dust is a surprisingly small scale for the director. However, it isn't all that hard to believe, as it was the filmmaker's directorial debut, and it's still epic narratively speaking. The film is set in South Africa in the aftermath of the apartheid, and it follows politician Alex Mpondo (Chiwetel Ejiofor,) who must confess to certain crimes while reliving the torture he suffered through the countries racial segregation.
Red Dust marks Ejiofor's first-ever leading performance, and though it wasn't exactly a breakout role, as few people have seen the movie, it's a clear display of how great of an actor he is. It's a surprisingly grueling movie for Hooper too, who has generally been a very "safe" director. And it's almost like a sordid version of Slumdog Millionaire, as Mpondo has to recount the events of his past under strict duress.
5 The Danish Girl (2015) - 7.1
At this point in his career, Hooper had cemented himself as being of the most meticulous directors at crafting period dramas. The director continued this trademark with the 1920s based The Danish Girl. The movie follows Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne,) a trans painter who was one of the first known patients to get sex reassignment surgery.
The film looks great, is well-acted, and is an emotional rollercoaster. But while the movie may have been rated higher when it was first released, it has since been criticized for contributing to harmful stereotypes. And even though he was nominated for Best Actor at The Academy Awards for the movie in 2016, Eddie Redmayne thinks it was a mistake to play Elbe. On top of that, there are a lot of liberties taken with the source material too. Though the movie is based on the real-life trans painter Lili Elbe, the love story between her and Gerda Wegener was largely fictitious.
4 The Damned United (2009) - 7.5
The Damned United was Tom Hooper's second theatrically-released movie, which came a whole five years after Red Dust. And in that time, he had honed in on his craft by directing police procedurals and HBO period dramas. The difference in quality between Red Dust and the 2009 movie is like night and day.
The movie follows the former Leeds United football manager as he haphazardly run the team in the early 1970s. It marks the first of many epics for the director, as The Damned United sports a huge cast, a period setting, and there are so many different things going on at any one time. Though it was a major box office bomb, that can only be attributed to the poor marketing of the film, as it's a fascinating and, at times, massively entertaining movie, and one of the best sports dramas.
3 Les Miserables (2012) - 7.6
Besides being one of the best musicals based on books, Les Misérables is the longest-running West End musical and the second longest-running in the world. It's an astounding achievement, and it's all thanks to the visual effects and the breathtaking songs. So it's almost as if a movie adaptation of the musical could even add anything new. And interestingly enough, 2012's Les Miserables doesn't try to add anything new at all.
However, the film is such a faithful adaption, and the bellowing performances from the A-list actors rival the Broadway and West End actors. Between Alicia Vikander's Best Actress win for The Danish Girl, Colin Firth's Best Actor win for The King's Speech, and Anne Hathaway winning for playing Fantine any actor who wants a statue should just work with Hooper. On top of that, with the sweeping tracking shots at the setting of the Paris Rebellion, the film has a sense of scale that the play never did.
2 Longford (2006) - 7.6
It's amazing that a TV movie is Hooper's second-best rated film on IMDb. It's almost as if, without the looming pressure of the box office, the more relaxed environment gets the best work out of people. That's certainly the case recently, as streaming services are putting out some of the best original films with terrific performances. But years before streaming platforms, HBO was the gold standard for television production, and Longford is one of the best HBO original movies.
The movie, originally released on Channel 4 in the UK, is about a British Lord who campaigned for the release of murderer Myra Hindley when she claimed she was reformed. In a lot of ways, it was the TV movie that established Hooper's style. Longford is heavy with British politics, focuses on personal conflicts in a grander narrative, and is a vehicle for a couple of Oscar-caliber performances.
1 The King's Speech (2010) - 8.0
Though Hooper had a couple of wins to his name beforehand, it was The King's Speech that really put him on the map. The movie follows King George VI as he tries to overcome his speech impediment, and while that doesn't exactly sound captivating, audiences fell in love with it. The movie was a shocking box office hit, as it made well over $400 million off a budget of a minuscule $15 million. That kind of success for a movie only happens once every 10 years or so.
What makes the movie more interesting is that, though The King's Speech one of the movies audiences forget was R-rated, it probably would have made less money if it was PG-13. Studios are always fighting to get the PG-13 rating for their movies because that means more people can see it and more tickets will be sold. However, many people paid to see The King's Speech for the one profanity-laden scene. When King George comes to the epiphany that he doesn't stutter when he swears, what follows is an orchestra of vulgar language.
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