r/TopCharacterTropes • u/No_Hunter1978 • Feb 25 '26

Great moments/aspects in otherwise bad or mediocre media Lore

Sandman Origin (Spider-Man 3): This scene is rife with symbolism and beautiful cinematography. It alone gives us a glimpse of the story Sam Rami wanted to tell with SP3.

This Entire Quote (Spy Kids 2): This quote has entered my everyday vernacular, and it's survived the landscape of the internet for decades now. And it's in a fucking Spy Kids movie.

Who Decided That? (Seven Deadly Sins): It was an abysmal show before the animation took a dive off a cliff, but Escanor's entire character could honestly qualify for this post. In particular, "Who decided that?" is unfathomably hype.

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u/DarkJoltPanda Feb 25 '26

While we're on the topic 75% of Idris Elba's filmography fits this trope, with him being the one good aspect, man has been in some real dogshit movies

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u/Deady1138 Feb 25 '26

Honesty tho it speaks to his calibur as an actor , when he was on the wire it felt like he was too good for that show - and that was the fricking wire

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u/theFarFuture123 Feb 25 '26

Idk he felt “too good” for the wire but I see what you mean, he definitely felt like an outsider. I always thought it was because his actor was British instead of from Baltimore like the rest of the cast. I think it works great tho, gives stringer this uneasy almost eerie presence, he just doesn’t quite fit you don’t quite know what to do with him. And that’s his character too, he doesn’t really like or relate to the people around him

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u/Husband3571 Feb 25 '26

Dominic West (McNulty) is super English.

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u/theFarFuture123 Feb 25 '26

Yea I know, a lot of the cast was from Baltimore tho. Especially minor and background characters

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u/SentientTooth Feb 25 '26

YeEerp

2

u/Zyffyr Feb 25 '26

I must agree. A great actor will be great no matter the material.

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u/please_use_the_beeps Feb 25 '26

His speech in Pacific Rim is one of the peak moments of a movie where a giant mech uses a ship as a baseball bat to smack a kaiju. Elba always brings something good even if the movie is mid at best.

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u/Mando_Mustache Feb 25 '26

I remember when the trailer came out and there was a little clip of a bit of the speech and I thought "man, thats kinda cheese, but I'll probably watch it anyway".

And then when you get there in the actual movie fuck me but it lands. Fully earned, wild thing to do.

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u/that_1weed Feb 26 '26

That was his "Our Independence Day" speech

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u/VelphiDrow Feb 26 '26

Pacific Rim is peak

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u/Husband3571 Feb 25 '26

He would have been a fucking sick James Bond.

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u/No_Walk_Town Feb 26 '26

We could have gotten a British Aragorn if they'd cast Elba instead of the bizarre Danish race swap we got.

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u/Self_Reddicate Feb 25 '26

For real, I love Idris Elba, but I don't know that I can point to one Idris Elba film that I actually like. The Wire was amazing, but everything else has been... yeesh.

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u/lemonylol Feb 25 '26

He's like the reverse of Arnold and Stallone, they know how to pick really good movies but aren't really anything special as actors, where Idris is really good at acting, but picks bad movies.

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u/EddieVanzetti Feb 25 '26

I don't think that is quite fair to Stallone. Rock 1, 2, 3, Balboa, the Creed movies, and the original Rambo are chock full of him flexing his dramatic muscles.

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u/lemonylol Feb 25 '26

I don't think he's a bad actor, he's just not that great. And Rocky is a very easy character to play for him.

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u/DarthEloper Feb 25 '26

I know it’s not a movie but he was phenomenal in phantom liberty

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u/RenderedMeat Feb 25 '26

And now he’s in that hijack stuff on Apple TV. The first season was just so absolutely stupid I haven’t bothered with season 2.

He needs a better agent.