Chris Evans Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Chris Evans-whose latest project "Lightyear" opens in theaters tomorrow.  

Chris Evans' Filmography Ranked:

23.What's Your Number? (D-)

22.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)

21.Sunshine (D+)

20.Playing It Cool (C)

19.Captain America: The First Avenger (C+)

18.Push (C+)

17.Fantastic Four (C+)

16.The Perfect Score (C+)

15.Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer (C+)

14.TMNT (C+)

13.Captain America: The Winter Solider (C+)

12.The Losers (B)

11.Not Another Teen Movie (B)

10.Captain America: Civil War (B)

9.Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (B)

8.Gifted (B)

7.Snowpiercer (B)

6.Cellular (B+)

5.Street Kings (B+)

4.The Avengers (B+)

3.Knives Out (B+)

2.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

1.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

Top Dog: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

While it's not my favorite MCU movie, Infinity War may be the impressive triumph of the entire franchise to date. It deftly balances the individual plights of its large collection of characters with the introduction of an incredible villain in Thanos and its dedication to building an uneasy atmosphere helps convey the scale of the stakes and the threat Thanos' plan poses to the world.

Bottom Feeder: What's Your Number? (2011)

Time to break out the classic What's Your Number? spiel for the 600th time!!! Despite having a cast that's filled with very charismatic, funny actors including Anna Farris, Evans, Ed Begley Jr., Blythe Danner and Andy Samberg, What's Your Number? manages to be one of the laziest, cringiest and flat-out painful romantic comedies that I've ever seen.

Most Underrated: Street Kings (2008)

The little-seen summer 2020 VOD causality The Tax Collector, already forgotten Netflix blockbuster Bright and seemingly eternal discourse about the degree of his involvement in producing the widely loathed theatrical cut of Suicide Squad has overshadowed the string of great crime flicks David Ayer was responsible for from 2001-14. Even with the John Wick-induced public embrace of Keanu Reeves that has taken place over the past 5 or so years, Ayer's sophomore directorial effort Street Kings hasn't garnered any renewed attention. While it's fair to say that it treads on similar gritty ground as Ayer's most celebrated work Training Day and his directorial debut Harsh Times, Street Kings is still a slick, well-acted and very entertaining corrupt cops vs. honorable cops saga.  

Most Overrated: Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014)

There's plenty of good things to say about The Winter Solider: Anthony Mackie's charisma, dramatic acting and chemistry with Evans made him a terrific addition to the MCU ensemble, the fight choreography is consistently impressive and after a rocky introduction in The First Avenger, Evans proved that he was the right choice to play Steve Rodgers/Captain America with his very assured performance here. However, many of those positives are overshadowed by its brutal pacing, flat visuals and a thoroughly incoherent espionage plot that heavily involves a terrible character from the previous movie that should've never returned under any circumstances.

Top Movie That Has Likely Only Been Referenced as a Trivia Answer in the Past 10-15 Years: The Perfect Score (2004)   

I would love to know how many times some variation of the question "What was the name of the first movie Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson starred in together?" has been asked at trivia nights around the world as well as how many people have actually gotten the answer right. The Perfect Score belongs in a camp of innocuous, commercially unsuccessful 2000's comedies alongside Stealing Harvard, Big Trouble and Corky Romano where the plot (a bunch of teenagers attempt to steal the answers to the SAT's) is ultimately more memorable than the movie itself. The biggest difference between The Perfect Score and those other films though is that they didn't happen to feature two future superstars in leading roles, which makes it far more noteworthy than its disposable peers by default.