From there on, Cumberbatch went on to appear in major movie franchises, such as Star Trek, where he played the villain Khan, and, of course, the MCU where he’s portraying Stephen Strange aka Doctor Strange. With Doctor Strange’s second solo adventure currently running in cinemas, it’s a good time to take a look at some of Benedict Cumberbatch’s lesser-known underrated movies.
5 Hawking (2004)
Benedict Cumberbatch excels at playing real-life characters which he proved when he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Alan Turing in the 2014 movie The Imitation Game. However, even Cumberbatch’s fans might not recall that he played a real person before, one that was still alive at the time of the movie’s release. In 2004, Cumberbatch portrayed none other than the iconic physicist Stephen Hawking in the TV movie Hawking.
It was one of Cumberbatch’s first major movie roles, but even back then, the actor has already proved his wide acting range. The movie centers on Hawking during his studies, shows how he got sick, met his wife and worked on his research. Unlike the 2014 movie The Theory of Everything that focused primarily on Stephen Hawking’s relationship with his wife Jane, the TV movie gives space to multiple areas of Hawking’s life, making for a balanced story. Despite its overall quality, it has only six thousand ratings on IMDb at the moment.
4 Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
A question for all Marvel movies fans is: what happens when Doctor Strange and Venom join forces? Well, if it happens in a civil form in a drama movie, it leads to excellent acting performance both from Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy. Cumberbatch plays Alexander Masters, a man who remember his friend Stuart (Hardy), who was addicted to alcohol and heroin, and homeless. When they met, Alexander decided to write a book about Stuart’s complicated life, and Stuart convinced him to tell the story backwards, hence the movie’s title.
Cumberbatch and Hardy create a strong duo, and the TV movie is both touching and funny, switching effortlessly between various moods. Television movies don’t usually get as much attention from the audience as those that are running in cinemas. That explains why Stuart: A Life Backwards has only twelve thousand ratings on IMDb despite the fact that both Cumberbatch and Hardy are very popular actors.
3 Third Star (2010)
Intimate dramas don’t often get as much attention from the audience as big blockbuster movies, and the British movie Third Star is no exception to this rule. It centers on a group of friends who go on a trip. Normally, this would be an idyllic time full of joy and new experiences, but James (Benedict Cumberbatch) has cancer, and he’s dying. Despite the serious topic, the movie contains flashes of humor, not just tragedy, just like life itself.
It never extorts the audience emotionally, instead, it provides the viewers a glimpse into James’s life and character as well as into the minds of his closest friends. The movie puts an emphasis on the bonds between people and shows what happens when these bonds are put to a test. Cumberbatch excels as James, but the movie has a strong cast overall.
2 Frankenstein (2011)
Right alongside Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein is another British classic. While not a typical movie, Frankenstein is a must-watch for all who want to see Cumberbatch in a challenging dramatic role. The story of Frankenstein is well-known, as it’s been adapted in movies multiple times. The talented scientist Victor Frankenstein creates a strange Creature and abandons it. As a result, the Creature goes to search for its creator, and encounters multiple people along the way, wreaking havoc.
In this filmed theater performance, Cumberbatch gives an excellent performance as the Creature, and it’s easy to feel sorry for him at times. An interesting fact is that Cumberbatch alternated in the role with none other than Jonny Lee Miller, who also played Sherlock Holmes, but in the American TV series Elementary. With just over three thousand ratings on IMDb, Frankenstein doesn’t disappoint everyone who wants to try something new. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the filmed performance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare from 2015 in which Cumberbatch plays the leading role as well.
1 The Courier (2020)
One of Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest movies flew under the radar and has only 55 thousand ratings on IMDb, much less than some of his other movies have. It’s not the first time Cumberbatch appears in a historical movie based on real events. The Courier takes place in the 1960s and focuses on a British businessman Wynne (Cumberbatch) who just might have a chance to stop the Cold War from happening.
The Courier creates a convincing atmosphere of the 1960s and Benedict Cumberbatch gives a focused performance in the leading role. Those viewers who would like to see the movie but haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet can stream it on Netflix.
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