If you've read my Liam Neeson list you would know he is my all-time favorite actor. It just so happens that Matt Damon is number 2. His characters have a lot of depth and always has played unique characters. I really don't know how most people feel about Matt Damon, but I am all about badass noteworthy characters. I really don't care if someone says anything negative about him.
http://www.ranker.com/list/matt-damon_s-best-characters/stokified,
Miller
In the Green Zone Matt Damon plays this Warrant Officer who is trying to locate WMD's in Iraq. The idea of this movie is pretty controversial and is complete fiction. A lot of the movie actually makes sense of what could have happened. A Warrant Officer who is on is own fucking program (OFP) decides to dig into a story that is really deep and that Army special forces don't want him to figure out. All he is trying to do is find the truth, which is uncommon nowadays. Then he meets this reporter who is trying to uncover the truth as well.
Colin Sullivan
This character really is a scumbag in The Departed. I do respect the loyalty he has with a major crime boss that supported him as a child though. Matt Damon is a villain and it's pretty understandable why he is a mole in a the police department. Matt Damon is a bad guy that makes sense, how bout that?
Mitch Emhoff
Matt Damon plays a guy whose wife dies. Apparently his wife was also cheating on him, which he comes across in the movie. Matt Damon is a Dad of a teenage girl where all he is trying to do is protect her from this deadly disease outbreak. The outbreak isn't extremely over the top and is well done if there was ever a virus to wipe out a population on Earth (Black Plague anyone?). All in all it was a good movie and the outbreak was created by a bat taking a dump on pigs, so there you go. I just spoiled the movie for you if you haven't seen it.
Will Hunting
Will Hunting is a nonconformist genius who would rather do construction then be some douchebag that only cares about money. A lot has to do with an abusive childhood and really bad experiences. He got a Ivy League education from the library of all places.
Mike McDermott
In this movie Matt Damon plays this poker genius. His achilles heel is whenever he plays against this Russian guy that he simply can't read. The whole movie is about him losing a shit ton of money then quitting poker. His good buddy worm (Edward Norton) drags him back into the poker game when he gets out of prison. It really is a great movie and will only get better as time goes on. I didn't even know what Texas hold'em was in 1998 and now it's probably the biggest card game in the world. This movie was way ahead of its time.
Francois Pienaar
The movie Invictus is really about Nelson Mandella. It's about how Mandella uses the South African rugby team the Springboks to unify the country. Matt Damon's character is the Captain of the team and buys into everything Mandella is trying to do for the country. It really is a great story and Matt Damon is a believable rugby Captain.
Linus Caldwell
Linus Caldwell is one of the lamest guys in all of the Ocean's movies. He is panicky and is always trying to impress everyone. He is always trying to live up to how great his Dad was. This character does evolve over the movies and is pretty pivotal in the most recent Ocean movie.
Jason Bourne
I've really seen these movies way too many times. I still like them and still think Matt Damon is brilliant. He is a spy who has amnesia who has flashbacks all the time. Every single Bourne movie with Matt Damon I loved. If there was ever a super soldier of some kind this is what he would look like. Not 20 feet tall and able to jump a mile in a single bound.
Private Ryan
Basically Saving Private Ryan is about a group of Army Rangers trying to find Private Ryan after the invasion of Normandy in World War 2. This regiment of guys take a bunch of casualties and go through hell to find a Private of all people. Eventually the group of Rangers led by Tom Hanks meets up with Private Ryan and tells him they have orders to bring him back. All of Private Ryan's brothers died in the war and the US Army does not want every single brother to die in a war (this really does happen). So this Private tells a Captain I'm not leaving because all of his friends he's with are his new brothers and he wants to stay and fight. The likely hood of a Captain listening to the private is pretty small, it really doesn't make sense. Movie wise Matt Damon's character was great and I would have been inspired to fight with him if he gave me that great of a speech.