I guess it's worth evaluating my impressions of Colin Farrell.
My first memory of him was in one of my favorite movies of all time -- Minority Report.
He was more than solid in that film. Nothing to write home about; but, he was good.
I was critical of his performance in Phone Booth. It wasn't the strongest film to begin with. It's still pretty good. It's just that Farrell's accent kept dipping in and out.
Now I'm going to digress; but, I'm gonna be making a relevant point.
The movie that convinced me that Gary Oldman is the greatest cinema actor of all time was The Contender. I watched the entire film looking for him, and I didn't realize until the credits that he was one of the main characters.
I knew that Colin Farrell was playing the Penguin in The Batman before seeing it.
Still, the second time I saw the movie, I took my mom, my niece, and my younger nephew. My mom loves Colin Farrell. His credit came up at the end of The Batman, and she immediately asked me where he was in the movie.
Telling her that he was The Penguin clearly baffled her.
I'm not putting Colin Farrell on the level of Gary Oldman yet. His role of The Penguin was aided by more makeup than a lot of Oldman roles.
Still, it has to be noted that the makeup didn't make Farrell's performance.
Farrell just fucking nailed the character down to every inflection and every step.
The guy was always a good actor. He's just matured as an actor. He's just gotten better.
He was a good supporting actor twenty years ago.
He's a fucking powerhouse now.