Early in his career, he seemed destined to be typecast as a go-to guy for fast-talking, lovably odd characters in lightweight comedies -- and later on, he was in danger of ending his career as a cautionary tale for young actors with substance abuse problems. But after spending the better part of a decade working his way back from the brink, Robert Downey, Jr. capped off a remarkable resurgence in 2008 with Iron Man and Tropic Thunder -- a hot streak that seems likely to continue with a 2009 slate that includes Sherlock Holmes and this week's The Soloist. You know what that means: it's Total Recall time!

With more than 50 movies listed in his filmography, Downey has obviously had his share of ups and downs -- and such clunkers as Johnny Be Good and Danger Zone are on that list, it also includes an impressive number of critical winners; in fact, the lowest-rated film on the top 10 we assembled for this week's Total Recall boasts an 83 percent Tomatometer rating. With so many well-reviewed films jostling for a spot, there are bound to be some surprising omissions -- as well as a few obscure inclusions. So what say we get down to business and find out what they are by taking a look at the cream of the crop, shall we?

83%

Fresh

10. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

There's no surefire way for an actor to guarantee that any given project will be a hit at the box office, but having Joel Silver attached certainly doesn't hurt a movie's chances for success. The producer behind remunerative franchises such as Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and The Matrix, Silver is known for his blockbuster instincts -- which is why 2005's Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a skewed noir comedy directed and adapted by Shane Black (The Last Boy Scout) came as such a pleasant surprise for critics. Downey, who worked with Silver on 2003's Gothika, is squarely in his wheelhouse here, starring as a two-bit hood who repeatedly breaks the fourth wall as he stumbles from one circumstance (accidentally landing a movie role) to another (discovering a murder mystery) while trading quips with the private investigator (Val Kilmer) who's helping him research his character. Kiss Kiss saw only limited release during its brief theatrical run, but it earned high praise from the likes of the Washington Post's Desson Howe, who called it "the first movie since 1994's Pulp Fiction not just to understand movie violence as a pop cultural form...but to play it like a virtuoso violinist."

82%

Fresh

9. Tropic Thunder

We've all watched enough of the Biography Channel to know that Hollywood comebacks aren't exactly rare -- but Robert Downey, Jr.'s is surely the first to include a role performed in blackface. Downey's industry-spoofing appearance as Kirk Lazarus, the Australian method actor who undergoes a pigment-dying procedure to play a black soldier, was the perfect way to cap off a resurgence that would have seemed all but impossible at the turn of the century. Audiences responded to Thunder's acid mix of action and satire, sending it over the $100 million mark, and critics resisted the opportunity to make C. Thomas Howell jokes, delivering high marks for the movie -- which Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer referred to as "raunchy, raucuous, and riotously funny" -- and Downey's performance in particular, which, in a fabulously ironic turn of events, earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Academy Awards.