Henry Cavillmight be best known for his appearances as Superman in the DCEU, but one of his best roles actually came in an underrated war movie on Netflix. The British star spent years plying his trade in smaller roles in TV shows and movies throughout the 2000s, but his career exploded at the turn of the 2010s.
Successful films likeThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.helped make him a household name, but it was his starring role inThe Man of Steelthat truly launched Cavill to the top. Thoughhis years as Superman were turbulent, it elevated his status, and he’s remained a hot commodity ever since.
Despite this success, Cavill has been quite selective with his film roles, and is not as active as some of his A-list contemporaries. While he simultaneously stars in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, Cavill has also been in his fair share of smaller projects. His 2017 Netflix hidden gem is still one of the actor’s finest films to date.
Henry Cavill Is Great In Sand Castle
2017’sSand Castleis one of the many streaming-exclusive films that came and went with little fanfare. However, it deserves a second look nearly 10 years later, andit’s much better than its lackluster reviews suggest. Set atthe outset of the Iraq War,Sand Castleis less of an action-packed affair, and more of a character study.
Sand Castlecurrently holds a 47% onRotten Tomatoes.
Cavill has a somewhat small role as Captain Syverson, one of the handful of disillusioned soldiers that Ocre (played by Nicholas Hoult) encounters on his journey. Worn down by his experiences in the war already,Syverson has a somewhat Sisyphean attitude toward their taskof fixing the water pump.
While not being given a ton of screen time, Cavill is quite different from the signature roles he was already playing by that point. Like his co-star, Hoult,Cavill convincingly transforms into a soldier, and the characters clearly came from a place of passion for writer Chris Roessner, who based the film on his own military experience.
Henry Cavill’s Next War Movie Was Actually A Comedy
It took a while for Henry Cavill to get back to the war genre, but 2024’sThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfarewas a stark departure fromSand Castle. The Guy Ritchie film steps back to WWII, and follows a heavily-fictionalized version of the real-life SOE who was tasked with sabotaging the enemy by any means necessary.
Like mostGuy Ritchie movies,The Ministrycombines a lot of exciting action and a goofball sense of humor, and Cavill leads the show as Gus March-Phillipps. Instead of being worn down by his war experience, March-Phillipps seems to revel in the mayhem, andHenry Cavillperfectly understood the off-the-wall tone of the comedy war film.
