I firmly believe this 2012 disaster movie is one of Tom Holland's best performances till date

Tom Holland will soon be seen in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, based on Homer's epic poem. Some sources say that this is Nolan's most expensive film to date. So, it puts a big responsibility on the shoulders of its cast and crew to bring in their A-game. However, that might not be a big challenge for Holland, who has already proven himself as a reliable star with the success of the Spider-Man movies.

Holland received a lot of love and recognition for his performance as Peter Parker in the MCU's Spider-Man projects. He has shown his acting chops in this big-scale spectacle, which has helped Marvel Studios reach new heights of success. In addition to the action scenes, Holland showed Parker's more sensitive side through his relationship with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, who became a father figure for him along the way.

Besides these action tentpoles, Holland also starred in relatively smaller-scale movies like The Devil All the Time (2020), The Lost City of Z (2016), and Cherry (2021), which offered him a deeper and darker material to work with. It allowed him to explore his emotional range beyond what he could explore in the MCU movies. The same was the case with the Apple TV+ series, The Crowded Room. Although the show was critically panned, Holland's fans couldn't get enough of his multiple roles in this project.

While these are some of Tom Holland's stronger performances, one deserves more attention—his early role in the Oscar-nominated film The Impossible (2012).

Note: Parts of this article are subjective.

Tom Holland's performance in The Impossible is one of his best to date

In 2012, Tom Holland starred in The Impossible, a disaster drama by the Society of the Snow director J.A. Bayona. This Oscar-nominated film is based on the actual story of Maria Bennett and her family, who were tragically caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while on a tour in Thailand. It starred Naomi Watts as Maria, Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars) as her husband Henry, and Tom Holland as their oldest son, Lucas.

This Tom Holland starrer was a critical success upon its release and earned mainly positive reviews, leading it to receive an 82% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating. It earned Naomi Watts a nod at the 2013 Academy Awards for her incredible lead performance. Yet, Tom Holland was the beating heart of this movie, which was his feature film acting debut.

While barely in his early teenage years, Holland shows an impressive emotional range through his performance as young Lucas. The film is inherently about the courage and resilience of people like him and his family, who were caught in this unfortunate event that put their lives at risk. Holland's innocent eyes convey the intensity and horror that the victims must have felt at the time.

Unlike the adults, Lucas offers another perspective on this tragedy. He is shell-shocked but responsible despite being fairly young. Thanks to Holland, we can understand the mental strength it takes to survive through such a bleak event as a kid.

Although Holland rose to prominence as Spider-Man, his performance in The Impossible remains one of his finest. His work in The Odyssey might just be another worthy addition to that list.