The 8 Best Gerard Butler Movie Scenes

Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla is a terrific action crime film that might be one of his lesser-known flicks. It stars Gerard Butler as a member of The Wild Bunch, a group of London crooks looking to make a big score. Butler’s portrayal of One Two has him sashaying up to Thandie Newton in a memorable scene where he shows off his flirtatious dance moves while engaging in witty banter. Tom Hardy and Idris Elba co-star.

Olympus Has Fallen is an action thriller that catapulted Gerard Butler into the action genre. The film provided a number of great action set pieces but one in particular stands out, demonstrating Butler’s ability to handle action scenes. During the initial White House attack, Butler’s Mike Banning is able to single-handedly take on a group of terrorists who are after nuclear codes.

Machine Gun Preacher tells the true story of Sam Childers, a drug-using alcoholic biker who finds God. On a missionary trip, Sam witnesses the displaced children and is told that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is kidnapping kids, turning them into child soldiers. One of the more important scenes in the movie comes when Sam is rescuing the children from the LRA, showing just how dedicated he has become to his cause.

In Law Abiding Citizen, Gerard Butler plays Clyde Shelton, a man pushed to the brink when he is forced to watch his wife and daughter murdered. When the killer is set free three years later after making a plea deal, Clyde devises a shocking act of vigilante justice. Tracking down the killer, he incapacitates the man and videotapes him while he slowly dismembers him before finally decapitating him. It’s a brutal scene.

Yes, Gerard Butler even does romance movies. Here, Butler plays Gerry, a man devoted to his wife Holly (Hilary Swank). Sadly, Gerry passes away from a brain tumor, forcing Holly to withdraw from the grief. It isn’t one specific scene but a number of them that propels Butler’s performance. Gerry has left a number of heartfelt letters to help the grieving Holly find her way back.

If you aren’t aware of what “Mavericks” are, they are a series of some of the largest waves on Earth. Located near Half-Moon Bay in Northern California, this biographical drama showcases these waves through the eyes of legendary surfer, Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), and his protégé Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston). It is the intense surf scenes that get Butler’s Chasing Mavericks on this list.

Gerard Butler has never been more powerful than he was as King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s 300. The story revolves around Leonidas’s leading of his 300 Spartan soldiers in taking on the Persian “God-King” Xerxes and his army of 300,000. But before we get to the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas delivers his iconic powerful speech ending with “This is Sparta.”

Because who knew? We won’t lie here; we do love Gerard Butler in his new persona as an action hero. But, seeing him take on the massive role of the Phantom and actually singing is an unexpected pleasure. Bigger names had been asked to take on the role, but it eventually went to Butler who, at the time, had zero professional singing experience.

In fact, when he first sang “The Music of the Night” for Andrew Lloyd Webber, he had only taken four voice lessons. It was a great performance highlighting Butler’s singing talents and romantic charisma.