Any proper movie star should be able to carry a film by themselves. With the exception of one charismatic volleyball, Tom Hanks did exactly that in 2000’s Cast Away. The film, another collaboration between the actor and director Robert Zemeckis (Forest Gump, Polar Express), mostly follows Hanks’s character as he struggles to survive alone on a deserted island for four years.

Films like this have a significant challenge in their creation, in addition to the practical decisions that characterize every production. Even if the audience is only watching one person, how do you hold their attention? This is when your performer enters the picture. You'll need an actor or actress who is proficient and fascinating enough to convince people totally on their own if you don't have anyone to speak to (sorry, Wilson). With Cast Away, Tom Hanks once again demonstrates why he is such a great asset to filmmakers. There are only a few actors who could bring this picture to life as well as Tom Hanks, and he may be the finest of them.

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Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Release date: December 22, 2000

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222

For the most of Captain Philips, Hanks is essentially the only known actor on film. He's surrounded by a great ensemble of unknowns playing Somali pirates, and he's a beacon of classic acting technique. Towards every way, his performance, particularly in the film's conclusion, is a triumph. Despite his support, he was not nominated in an acting category, demonstrating that viewers, as a movie-going society, probably take Tom Hanks for granted.

The picture keeps Philips in danger until the very end, a device amplified by both Hanks the actor and Hanks the person. Tom Hanks has become such a well-loved and identifiable figure on our screens after 30 years that, even when capably portraying someone else, his public image can't help but emerge on screen, like a vaguely recognizable shadow behind his character. That fact is exploited to great advantage in Captain Philips, as it is in many of his works.

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Directed by: Paul Greengrass

Release date: September 27, 2013

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109

Bridge of Spies should still be fresh in your mind; it was nominated for six Academy Awards last year, including Best Picture. It was the eighth nomination for a film starring Tom Hanks. Hanks' unusually sympathetic demeanor is exploited in Bridge, in which he portrays a lawyer entrusted with organizing a spy trade with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. Hanks' character has a great profession, but this degree of operation is completely foreign to him.

The film works so well because Hanks conveys the tension of the entire negotiation (in addition to excellent direction and supporting performances). Despite the fact that the film is ostensibly about two countries performing what should be a normal (albeit covert) transaction, Hanks' performance adds an extra element of risk and tension. His character has a sense of responsibility as a result of being assigned such a large task, yet he is hesitant and overmatched in the early scenes of the film. It isn't until you reach that conclusion that you realize how incredible the act you just watched was, and how concerned you were for Hanks the entire time.

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Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Release date: October 4, 2015

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3682448

Sully depicts the true story of Chelsey Sullenberger's brave crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River after the plane collided with a flock of geese and lost both engines. Sullenberger is depicted in the film as a quiet worker, if not a reluctant savior; an ordinary hero who never expected to be dubbed "Sully." Clint Eastwood, a quiet workman himself, directed the film, which stars Tom Hanks in the title character. Hanks himself is ideal for the job, famous enough to provide the film weight and grandeur while being subtle enough to blend into the role.

Sully premiered at the 43rd Annual Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2016, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. on September 9, 2016, in conventional and IMAX theaters. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $240 million worldwide, but created controversy with its fictionalized portrayal of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as "prosecutorial and closed-minded."

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Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Release date: September 2, 2016

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263904

Without a question, Catch Me If You Can is a Leo DiCaprio film. But without Hanks' dedicated, empathic FBI agent hunting him, DiCaprio's Frank Abagnale, a charismatic, lonely savant, would have been stranded on an island. The two are the film's heavyweights, supporting one other with performances that are both nuanced and complicated. Abagnale is an adolescent con artist in Catch Me If You Can who feeds his independence by faking cheques and credentials. Although he is legally a criminal, his crimes are victimless, or so the film presents them.

Hanks portrays Carl Hanratty (perhaps his finest character name), an FBI fraud detective who pursues Abagnale throughout the world while gaining a grudging respect and empathy for him. Because of its moral framework, Catch Me if You Can is akin to a nuclear launch. Two keys must be inserted and turned by two different individuals. Spielberg used Hanratty as an audience surrogate, instructing viewers to look at Abagnale via Hanratty's eyes in order to see him in the way he desires. Catch Me if You Can may be most regarded as a Leonardo DiCaprio classic, but it wouldn't have succeeded without Tom Hanks.

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Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Release date: December 18, 2002

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464

Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, an assassin who works for John Rooney (Paul Newman), an Irish mob boss in Illinois, in the film Road to Perdition. Rooney adopted Sullivan as a youngster and treats him like a son, preferring him over his own son, Daniel Craig's sociopath. The storyline of the film is propelled by the actions of Daniel Craig's character after he wrongs Sullivan and goes into hiding. Sullivan attempts furiously to exact vengeance, but he is unable to find supporters among the merchants, who, although sympathetic to his cause, largely regard him as an unlucky loose end who must be removed.

At the risk of sounding corny, Road to Perdition is as much a film about the bonds of parenthood as it is about the constraints of omerta, and as such, pathos-infused performances are required. Although Hanks plays a villain in the film, his acting renders him an indisputably sympathetic character. It's a tribute to the actor's most valuable skill: the exceptional ability to perform while maintaining whatever natural, recognized characteristic makes Tom Hanks Tom Hanks.

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Directed by: Sam Mendes

Release date: July 12, 2002

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257044

Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 American biographical comedy-drama film, based on the story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrakotos, whose efforts led to Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979-89).

Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks, receives some atonement in the film. This atonement comes more from his decision to do anything other than drink and philander than from what he accomplishes. Nonetheless, it's a story of redemption. Wilson makes it his duty (the film is set in the 1980s) to properly arm Afghani guerillas against the Soviet Union, an endeavor that becomes a part of the Reagan Doctrine.

The film deftly avoids any link between this weaponry and the future development of armed radicals who would threaten this country years later, focusing instead on Hank's character throughout. With ease and brilliance, Hanks portrays both sides of Wilson — the charming partygoer and the dedicated politician – making this one of his most underappreciated portrayals.

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Directed by: Mike Nichols

Release date: December 21, 2007

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472062

Cloud Atlas is a 2012 epic science fiction film written and directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. Based on the 2004 novel by David Mitchell, the film has multiple plots occurring during six different eras in time, with the cast members performing multiple roles.

Cloud Atlas, as you already know, is a hugely ambitious look at six tales set over millennia and starring actors who play various characters in each plot. It's a film that should be seen twice to get a good sense of it, and then revisited every 10 years or so. Because only time will reveal which of the camps is correct.

This is, in many respects, the most distinctive job in Hanks' whole career. It's ambitious in ways that even big films like Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13 aren't, and it's a very difficult role for an actor to play. Naturally, Hanks' performance in the picture received virtually unanimous acclaim.

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Directed by: Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

Release date: 8 September 2012

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371111

Saving Mr. Banks is a biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and based on a script by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. It was released in 2013. The film stars Emma Thompson as novelist P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as film producer Walt Disney, with supporting performances by Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, and Colin Farrell. It is based on the 1964 film Mary Poppins. Saving Mr. Banks takes its title from the father in Travers' narrative and shows the author's traumatic beginnings in rural Queensland in 1906, as well as two weeks of talks in Los Angeles in 1961, during which Disney attempted to acquire the cinematic rights to her novels.

Tom Hanks is the only actor who could accurately portray Walt Disney the guy. In Saving Mr. Banks, a film about the making of Mary Poppins, the main character is Walt Disney, a man who was not without flaws in real life. In it, Disney buys the rights to Mary Poppins from the original author and helps to heal some of the author's scars from a difficult childhood. Disney is both a clever businessman and a sincere imagineer in Saving Mr. Banks.

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Directed by: John Lee Hancock

Release date: October 20, 2013
Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140373

A Hologram for the King is a 2016 comedy-drama film written, directed and co-scored by Tom Tykwer, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Dave Eggers, and starring Tom Hanks as a washed-up corporate salesman, who goes to Saudi Arabia to propose a business deal.

This film is representative of a subtle trend in Hanks' career, in addition to being a strong Hanks performance. He is unquestionably a mass-market monster, consistently delivering amazing performances in major blockbusters. A Hologram for the King, on the other hand, stands with The Ladykillers as a showcase of Hanks' audacity. As previously stated, Hanks may never be a provocateur, but he takes calculated chances by picking smaller films that highlight his artistry and craftsmanship.

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Directed by: Tom Tykwer

Release date: April 20, 2016

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210