Though Reynolds is famously known for his sarcastic, comedic roles, he has also played some impressive serious characters. These are the best.
Ryan Reynolds's newest film is a Netflix Original, The Adam Project, which follows a time-traveling man who crashes back into 2022 and enlists the help of his 12-year-old self to save the future.
His newest role is a perfect combination of his seriousness in an action-packed adventure mixed with the comedic relief he's so well known for. Though Reynolds is famously known for his sarcastic, comedic roles, he has also played some impressive serious characters and had some intense roles in a variety of thriller, sci-fi adventure, and horror films.
This exciting science fiction horror movie centers around a six-member crew at the International Space Station who receive groundbreaking evidence that there could be life on Mars. Reynolds plays a role with great chemistry with the rest of the crew, as the engineer.
While the usually humorous actor has played in other sci-fi films, his portrayal of someone trapped on a space station with a dangerous and mysterious life form is one of his most intense roles.
In this highly suspenseful film, Reynolds plays a man that falls victim to a band of insurgents while driving a civilian truck. He awakes in a coffin with a lighter and a cellphone, uncertain if rescue will come in time.
If Life is his most intense role, Buried rivals that role with its anxiety-ridden suspense factor. As the driver Paul, Reynolds portrays someone near death, fighting off his fears and ever-growing anxiety.
In this romantic comedy, Reynolds plays the recently divorced father of a younger daughter, Maya. The story follows him telling her stories about his love life before marriage and having her guess which one is her mother.
Though this role is more similar to Reynolds's overly humorous, far less serious roles, he portrays this loving, dedicated father with all the vigor of a caring father who is trying to take part in raising his daughter and getting through the divorce with his wife.
Smokin' Aces is an action-packed thriller about a man being targeted by a mafia gang after he gives evidence to the state and agrees to testify in court. Predictably, the FBI then has to fight off a wave of hitmen.
Ryan Reynolds gives one of his best performances as one of the FBI agents. Though there's some comedic relief in this film, Reynolds plays a seriously dedicated, tough agent who is fighting at every turn to keep their witness alive.
The Nines is a psychological thriller broken up into three chapters about three different men who begin uncovering the reasons behind strange happenings in their lives, which occasionally overlap.
Even more complicated, all three of these men are played by Reynolds. He plays the trifecta of a troubled actor under house arrest, a television writer who recently got his exciting pilot produced, and a videogame designer who leaves his wife and daughter after a car breakdown. His portrayal of these roles is filled with the seriousness of those stuck in confusing, shocking situations.
This action-thriller follows six individuals as they fake their own deaths and then group up to overthrow a ruthless dictator. 6 Underground is arguably one of Ryan Reynolds's best movies, as he takes the role of the leader of this group.
In the movie, Reynolds plays a billionaire philanthropist who, though being a successful inventor of rare-earth magnet, fakes his own death in order to form this team of vigilantes.
This romantic comedy is about a successful editor who is getting deported from the U.S. back to Canada and so she swindles her assistant into marrying her so she can stay.
While this is still a comedic role that captures Ryan Reynolds's normal persona, his role is far more serious than his usual humorous parts. In his portrayal of the assistant forced into the circumstance, Reynolds tackles the emotions of a young man struggling to be successful in his competitive field and overcome his father's judgment.
In this remake of a supernatural horror movie, a family begins experiencing strange occurrences in their new home where a man murdered his entire family.
Reynolds's portrayal of George Lutz, possessed by the same voices that supposedly told the murderer to kill his family, is horrifically convincing. There's no comedy involved in this role, as Lutz seems to slowly lose his grip on reality and eventually tries to kill his wife and step-children.
In this suspenseful thriller, a detective gets a new lead in an eight-year-old case following the disappearance of a young girl. Reynolds plays the father of the missing girl, who left his daughter in his truck for minutes before returning to find her missing.
His portrayal of a distraught, angry father who never gave up hope on his lost daughter is endearing and heartbreaking, making the audience believe the tragedy that has completely altered his life.
In this biographical drama based on a true story, an elderly Jewish immigrant from Vienna living in L.A. enlists the help of a young lawyer (Reynolds). He helps her fight the Austrian government to retrieve a painting of her aunt that was seized by the Nazis.
Reynolds plays the role of the serious, hard-working lawyer. Throughout the movie, he is convincing as a man growing increasingly dedicated to helping this woman fight the Austrian government for what rightfully belonged to her family.
