Butler's acting career started out very promising. He kind of felt like a younger Russel Crowe and the kinds of movies he was taking felt reminiscent of that with musicals like Phantom of the Opera and romcoms like The Ugly Truth. However, it feels like 300 was the peak of his career. I genuinely think he got typecast in that role. Scornful action hero plotting revenge. Law Abiding Citizen, Gamer, 50 dozen Olympus Has Fallen sequels.
Nowadays, when you look at his filmography it's mostly straight to DVD/Streaming b-movie action schlock. Most of it is repetitive nonsense and filler. I can't remember the last time he has done anything remotely interesting or outside of that action bubble he is trapped in.
Every once-and-awhile he'll get a theatrical release but they, without fail, flop. Geostorm: anyone remember that? Greenland: isn't this the same as the last one? Plane: I think I remember Jeremy Jahns reviewing that one. Gods of Egypt: apparently one of the biggest studio losses of all time.
It's actually genuinely sad. So long as you forget the fact that he is quite wealthy regardless of the long-term success of his projects and is likely better off than I can ever hope to be.