8) Gabriel Callaghan (played by Stephen Rea) – Until Death (2007)
I saved a spot on this list for this very character, and it’s only because of one scene. Until Death saw JCVD in a very different light, playing heroin addicted cop Anthony Stowe, who is just a real scumbag in general. He rats out his close friends, he cheats on his wife, he’s an insensitive sod and he’d bury his own mother just to get his next fix. In fact, anyone would think he was the villain in this piece. But this is a story of redemption, and Van Damme turns in probably what I consider to be his greatest performance to date.
So, onto the great Stephen Rea. Now, here is an actor who could work with the worst material in the world and make it look like gold. While Until Death was an ambitious and effective film for the most part, it wasn’t without its problems. I could go on to explain them all, but I’ll stick to the main one, and that is that Stephen Rea’s Gabriel Callaghan had very limited screen time.
He pops in and out for literally 5 minutes at a time throughout the film until the final act, which is where he really is able to let loose and chew up some scenery. In a nutshell, Callaghan and Stowe were partners until Callaghan went rogue and became head of a drug cartel. Stowe attempts to put him away when Callaghan gets the drop on him and shoots him in the head, but not before confessing to sleeping with his wife.
Stowe survives the ordeal, recovers, and goes about righting all his wrongs until he comes face to face with Callaghan, who is holding his pregnant wife hostage. It is in this scene where Rea is given ample screen time to show just how much of a sadistic bastard he can be, and his chemistry with Van Damme is spot on. Roughhousing a pregnant woman and being a general sleaze take flight here, but its’ done in such a way that you know the comeuppance is going to be sweet.
This performance was a memorable one for me, mainly because Stephen Rea somehow managed to make it all work in just one scene, and that’s testament to how brilliant he is.
