14 great movies where one talented actor is worth hundreds

To make a masterpiece, you don’t need a cast of hundreds. Sometimes, just one talented actor is enough.

To prove this, we put together 14 of the best movies where one actor alone helped to make them perfect pieces of cinema.

Life of Pi

The family of a boy named Pi is forced to emigrate, but halfway through their journey their boat experiences an accident. Pi survives, but finds himself on a lifeboat together with a tiger, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan. All around there is nothing but water; alongside only danger, and ahead the unknown.

Brake

Secret agent Jeremy Reins is kidnapped, and not only he but his entire family is in danger. Every passing minute leaves him with less time, and he is faced with a choice: reveal some highly sensitive information, or die.

All Is Lost

A man, tall and attractive despite his years, travels around the Indian Ocean on a luxurious yacht. But in one moment everything changes, and he finds himself alone in the abyss. For the sake of himself and those left ashore, he will have to struggle against the raging elements.

Buried

Paul is a contract worker in Iraq. During an ambush, he loses consciousness, and later comes to inside a wooden coffin. He has to face an unimaginable number of psychological horrors and apply a huge amount of physical strength to save his life.

Phone Booth

The main character of this film is unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Out of curiosity, he picks up the receiver in a telephone booth, and ends up playing a deadly game with death which seemingly has no clear ending.

Wrecked

His car is wrecked, his leg broken. In the glove compartment there’s a revolver; in the boot, a bag stuffed with money. A few bodies lie around, but there’s not a living soul to be seen. A man finds himself in a jungle, unable to remember who he is.

Gravity

Doctor Ryan Stone, a biomedical engineer and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski are sent on a mission to Earth orbit. Everything is going well, until a catastrophe occurs and their shuttle is destroyed. They are left alone in open space, tethered together but without any line to Earth.

1408

Mike Enslin is a writer of horror novels, but doesn’t believe himself in paranormal phenomena or ghosts. Never before has he experienced anything of this kind...until now, when he decides to visit the ’Dolphin’ hotel and checks into the mysterious room 1408.

127 Hours

Aron Ralston is a loner and fearless climber. On one occasion, without having told anyone where he is, he falls into a deadly trap whilst out climbing. He is forced to endure 127 agonising hours without food or water, with slowly fading hopes of being saved.

I Am Legend

A deadly virus turns everyone on Earth into vampire-like beasts, which can’t endure sunlight and only hunt at night. In New York, lone survivor Robert Neville becomes their prey. Neville, who has been hunting the creatures themselves for three years, goes on a journey in search of an antidote to the virus.

Cast Away

Chuck Noland experiences a harsh fate, which forces him to focus on life’s most basic priorities. He miraculously survives a plane crash only to end up on an uninhabited island. Now he is forced to spend long, hellish years alone there, with every day becoming a battle for survival.

Moon

Sam has spent three long years on the Moon in complete isolation from the rest of humanity. His contract is coming to an end, and two weeks before his return to Earth he meets his replacement. But the thing is, the latter looks identical to him. Is this a dream? What’s really going on down there on the surface of the Moon?

Iron Doors

A man wakes up locked in a mysterious building with no windows and a huge iron door. No one answers his cries for help, and he has no idea what to do. But he has to find a way out — without food or water, he won’t last long.

Locke

Ivan Locke dreams of success and climbing the career ladder. Tomorrow he faces a very important step up that latter to his dream, but in the evening he receives a disturbing phone call. That one call turns his life upside down.