The Best and Worst of James Earl Jones

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “The Lion King” star James Earl Jones.

Films starring James Earl Jones that I've seen:
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Coming to America
Field of Dreams 
The Hunt for Red October
The Sandlot
The Lion King
Judge Dredd
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Robots
The Benchwarmers
Click
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Performance: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
I went with Empire Strikes Back because it's my favorite Star Wars movie and features the famous reveal that turned the entire original trilogy on its head, but you could really pick any of Jones' turns as Darth Vader as his finest work (except for Rogue One because he's not in it for very long). Even though he wasn't in the actual suit, Jones is responsible for the overwhelmingly menacing aura that has made Vader one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable villains in cinema history.  

Worst Performance: N/A
The top perk of being a character actor who specializes in voice acting and bit parts in large ensembles is having far less of a chance to embarrass yourself. Jones' particularly strong track record exemplifies why he's largely viewed within the industry as a true pro that has relished every opportunity he's had throughout his lengthy career. Whether its playing a resentful, grudge-holding father in the decent, but largely forgotten comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins or providing narration for Sylvester Stallone's super campy adaptation of Judge Dredd, Jones has a way of disappearing into the characters he plays and providing at least a minimal boost to the quality of a project in the process.      

Best Film: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Like most widely beloved franchises, Star Wars is arguably a little bit overrated. Personally, I've only really enjoyed one of the movies that's been released since the original trilogy and it's probably not a coincidence that it was the one (The Force Awakens) that pretty much modeled itself beat by beat after A New Hope. The exception to that belief is The Empire Strikes Back. This was the one time in the entire series where everything just came together perfectly. The movie is epic, exciting, well-acted and best of all, has held up about as well as a movie that's nearly 40 years old possibly can.

Worst Film: The Hunt for Red October (1990)
No words could accurately describe the feeling of sheer hopelessness I felt while watching this lifeless political saga play out. The spy genre has plenty of boring-ass movies, but this is one of the only times where international espionage has been portrayed in a  way that makes it seem like the most mundane activity in the whole god damn world. After about 90 minutes of cutting between conservations between the American feds about how advanced the titular Russian submarine was and an esteemed Russian sub commander played by accent virtuoso Sean F'n Connery lecturing his crew about why he was defecting from the Soviet Union, I was keeping my fingers crossed that a third party would've came in and wiped out both sets of cardboard power players just so I could relish in  one fleeting moment of excitement before this nearly 150-minute ZZZapalooza came to a close.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Once Upon a Time.... in Hollywood” star Leonardo DiCaprio.