I don’t want to be too hyperbolic, but it’s not enough to point out that Kristen Stewart is an underrated actor. She is excellent. For real. In fact, I would go so far as to say she is one of the best actors under 25 in movies right now. BAFTA agrees, nominating her for its Rising Star Award a few years ago (the academy determined the nominees; she won thanks to a public vote flooded by Twi-hards). She doesn’t deserve this credit for her talent because of the Twilight movies by any means of course. It’s absolutely despite them. This should be obvious. Michael Sheen shouldn’t be judged on his Twilight character and neither should Stewart.
She should be judged for the work that she should be getting all the attention for, including a terrific breakout performance in the small 2004 film Speak, and then her heartbreaking turn in Into the Wild. She gives one of the performances that make that film, which many considered among the best of the year. If she wasn’t the girl from Twilight now, she’d probably be the girl from Into the Wild. Also Adventureland. This was a terribly underrated movie in 2009 and I suspect much of it was because people couldn’t get past the casting, including Stewart who now was a known commodity thanks to Twilight. But her work in this movie is fantastic, subtle but quietly rich. Then she continued to do great work in small movies like Welcome to the Rileys and On The Road, the latter of which changed my mind about Garrett Hedlund and I hope will do the same for the K-Stew detractors. She’s seriously outstanding in it.
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