Chris Hemsworth Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted relevant superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Chris Hemsworth, whose latest project "Thor: Love and Thunder" is in theaters now. 

Chris Hemsworth's Filmography Ranked:

19.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)

18.Snow White and the Huntsman (C)

17.Men in Black: International (B-)

16.Red Dawn (B-)

15.Thor: The Dark World (B)

14.Vacation (B)

13.Ghostbusters (B)

12.In the Heart of the Sea (B)

11.Thor (B)

10.Spiderhead (B+)

9.The Avengers (B+)

8.Extraction (B+)

7.Bad Times at the El Royale (B+)

6.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

5.Rush (A-)

4.The Cabin in the Woods (A-)

3.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

2.Thor: Ragnarok (A)

1.Star Trek (A)

Top Dog: Star Trek (2009)

A full decade before he became an enemy of the sci-fi community following the release of the misguided at best and stunning lazy and shamelessly pandering at worst Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, J.J. Abrams released what remains the high watermark for genre reboots. With a charismatic, well-matched cast (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin) that sells the team camaraderie of the Enterprise crew with ease and writing that found a way to cut through the franchise's notoriously dense lore and tell a digestible, gripping story, Abrams breathed new life into Star Trek and made one of the most immensely entertaining blockbusters of the past 15 years. 

Bottom Feeder: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

There's a base level of filmmaking and storytelling competency that can typically be found in even the most forgettable pieces of mediocrity the MCU (Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2) has ever churned out. The lone exception to this rule to date came with the sneaky terrible Avengers: Age of Ultron. Repeating his worst signature as an artist that doesn't involve aggressively bullying his cast and crew, Joss Whedon got a bit too overconfident on his second Avengers movie and churned out a scattershot mess of a movie that is stunningly boring and almost completely incoherent.   

Most Underrated: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

An original noir mystery thriller that was backed by a studio that was on the cusp of being acquired by Disney and played in theaters at the exact same time as A Star is Born, Venom and Halloween never really had a chance of being a hit.  Clearly, that doesn't explain why Bad Times at the El Royale still hasn't found an audience, but its doomed theatrical run has certainly made it harder to find a path to cultural relevancy. Hopefully at some point down the line Drew Goddard's hidden gem that features brilliant turns by Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo (in her first major film role), Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson and Lewis Pullman and has some clever twists and turns that lead to an explosive final act that's full of high-wire suspense will find success on some streaming service and become the cult classic it deserves to be.   

Most Overrated: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015):

While it's not considered to be one of the best MCU movies by the majority of people, Age of Ultron does boast a pretty good overall reputation and has a vocal band of supporters behind it that view it as one of the most underrated movies in the mega franchise. Vehemently disagreeing with this not overly notable positive consensus is the only reason I need to declare that this movie is wildly overrated.    

Best Early Non-Thor Project: The Cabin in the Woods (2012):

While it ended up being released just shy of a year after Hemsworth became the first actor to have their stardom launched by the MCU, The Cabin in the Woods was actually shot before Thor and in my eyes at least, does just as good of a job of selling as Hemsworth's acting skills as his now-signature role does. Hemsworth shines as a satirical version of the cocky horror movie jock archetype in Drew Goodard's hilarious, brilliant deconstruction of the entire genre. Outside of Fran Kranz's scene-stealing work as the stoner archetype, he gives the most consistently endearing, amusing performance in a film that needed subtly great acting to gracefully hit its intended meta notes.    

A Hollow Excuse to Post a Small Part of the Incredible Simulated One Take Fight Scene/Car Chasse from Extraction:

An action sequence with fluid camerawork/editing, slick choreography and an actor that is game to handle the bulk of the stuntwork themselves. This is cinema folks.