8) The Ending – Third Star
Shortly before he nabbed the title role in Sherlock and earned international stardom, Cumberbatch featured in indie British drama Third Star. Here, he plays James, a young man dying from a terminal illness who embarks on a camping trip with his best friends on what he knows will be his last birthday.
As you can probably guess, Third Star is a full-on tearjerker, one which wrings as much emotion as it can from this tragic tale of a man accepting his own mortality and his friends adjusting to the impending loss of their friend. The supporting cast members are all solid in their roles – particularly J.J. Fields as Miles – but this is naturally Cumberbatch’s film and he gives James a wisdom and tragedy beyond his years.
It’s the final scene of the movie that will really get you, though. As James and his friends swim out into the sea, Cumberbatch’s character holds himself below the water, in a bid to take his own life. The physical acting of seeing James peacefully accept his fate, paired with the voiceover where he passionately talks about wanting to feel something – even death – is absolutely spellbinding.
