The 9 Best Robert Pattinson Movies, From Good Time To The Batman

One of the good things that came out of 9/11 was Twilight, probably. Because how do you explain the comical levels of hate its male lead had for the show, and the lengths to which he has gone for us to stop associating him with it?

Robert Pattinson would probably rather disappear into thin air than be remembered for being Edward Cullen. And the generational movie run that he has given us in his quest to overcome the Stephanie Myers book adaptations is as hilarious as it is awe-inspiring. He is more or less a Nolan regular now. AND he's out there being his own Batman. Plus, within the span of time between these two Batman movies, did a slew of movies that have already marked him as one of the leading men in Hollywood. Now that the Oscars have removed the rule barring actors from being nominated in only one film per category, we aren't far from the day it will be a Robert Pattinson vs Robert Pattinson fight in the Oscars. And we're not complaining.

So, while he prepares for his next Oscar run playing Chris Hanson in Primetime, let's revisit some of his best performances in recent years.

Matt Reeves reimagined Bruce Wayne as a grieving emo detective instead of your Tony Stark-esque billionaire playboy. His Batman mutters and broods for the first hour, barely speaking in full sentences, and actually applies kohl in his eyes (because what do you mean every Batman has black eyes under the hood but not without it). Paired with Zoë Kravitz's Catwoman and a nearly unrecognisable Colin Farrell as the Penguin, it's one of the best Batman adaptations out there.
Where to watch: JioHotstar

The Safdie brothers cast Pattinson as Connie Nikas, a small-time crook dragging his brother through one disastrous night in New York, and the result stripped away every trace of movie-star polish. Sweaty and constantly improvising his way out of trouble, Pattinson disappears into the role so completely that critics who had written him off after Twilight had to eat their words. We are so happy though that he didn't just stop here.

Where to watch: Prime Video (rent)

Robert Eggers locked Pattinson and Willem Dafoe on a remote island for a black-and-white descent into madness, and somehow made it one of the decade's most quoted films. Pattinson plays Ephraim Winslow, a junior lighthouse keeper slowly losing his grip on reality under Dafoe's tyrannical watch, and the two actors spark off each other like flint. It's unsettling and occasionally very funny, shot in a square aspect ratio that makes the claustrophobia feel physical.
Where to watch: Prime Video

Christopher Nolan's time-inversion thriller confused half the planet on release, but Pattinson's Neil, the Protagonist's unflappable handler, has a dry wit that cuts through Nolan's exposition-heavy dialogue. Neil's final scenes recontextualise everything that came before, so watch the movie it twice if you haven't: once for the plot, once to notice how much Pattinson was signalling all along.
Where to watch: Prime Video

Pattinson's run as Reverend Preston Teagardin steals every scene he's handed in Antonio Campos adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock's Southern gothic novel of the same name. Playing a predatory preacher with a syrupy Southern drawl, he turns up an hour into the film and immediately becomes the character audiences love to despise. Before you had Antiochus' "somebody get these BEGGARS out of here", you had the Reverend's "DELUSIONS!"

Where to watch: Netflix

Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to Parasite cast Pattinson as an "expendable" space colonist who gets cloned and killed on repeat, and he responded by playing two versions of the same man with distinct voices, postures, and neuroses. It's a great satire, maybe not as good as Parasite, but Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo are a treat to watch.
Where to watch: JioHotstar

Lynne Ramsay's first film in eight years paired Pattinson with Jennifer Lawrence as a couple unravelling after the birth of their child, and it earned an extended standing ovation at its Cannes premiere. Pattinson plays a husband who is frequently absent. Martin Scorsese produced, Ramsay directed with her usual unflinching eye, and the result was one of the most talked-about films at the festival.
Where to watch: MUBI

David Cronenberg cast Pattinson as a 28-year-old billionaire riding out one catastrophic day in a stretch limousine, and the film split critics right down the middle. Detractors called it cold and airless; admirers saw a precise satire of finance-bro nihilism years before finance-bro nihilism became a genre. Either way, it gave us that iconic Robb Patt-in-9/11 meme that's going everywhere now.

Where to watch: Prime Video (rent)

Kristoffer Borgli's dark romantic comedy puts Robert Pattinson and Zendaya together as Charlie and Emma, a happily engaged couple whose relationship begins to unravel after Emma reveals a deeply disturbing secret just days before their wedding. Pattinson plays Charlie as a man trying to reconcile the person he thought he knew with what he has just learned, and the emotional rabbit hole it leads him down into forms a bulk of the film.

Where to watch: Prime Video