There’s a reason Tom Holland won the coveted part of Spider-Man while competing with countless other actors, and that’s because he was already a hugely promising young star. Fans of the Brit may know that he’d been a success on the stage since childhood, but his first breakout movie role came in acclaimed biopic/disaster flick The Impossible.
The film landed on Netflix at the start of the month, and it’s now found its way into the streamer’s Top 10 most-watched movies chart, currently sitting in ninth place. If you’ve yet to give it a go, you need to put that right to not only see Holland turn in a great performance, but also to enjoy what’s just an all-round stellar piece of filmmaking.
Directed by J.A. Bayona (who went on to helm Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), The Impossible is based on the experience of a vacationing family who were caught up in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star as two parents who are separated from each other by the flood and have to fight to protect themselves and their children as they attempt to reunite.
The moving drama received widespread acclaim, earning Watts an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. It sports an 81% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well, with the critical consensus reading: “The screenplay isn’t quite as powerful as the direction or the acting, but with such an astonishing real-life story at its center, The Impossible is never less than compelling.”
Despite its success upon its release in 2012 (it was filmed in 2010, which is why Holland looks much younger), though, it’s somewhat slipped off the radar lately. Thanks to its arrival on Netflix, however, it’s finally getting a boost in visibility again. And if you haven’t seen it yet, why not watch it as part of a double bill with The Devil All The Time to remind yourself what a versatile performer Tom Holland is?