Don Cheadle Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography and hand out assorted relevant accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Don Cheadle-whose latest project "Space Jam: A New Legacy" arrives in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday. 

Don Cheadle Filmography's Ranked:

23.Ocean's Twelve (D-)

22.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)

21.After the Sunset (D+)

20.Volcano (C-)

19.Crash (C+)

18.Mission to Mars (C+)

17.Iron Man 2 (C+)

16.Traitor (B-)

15.No Sudden Move (B-)

14.Brooklyn's Finest (B-)

13.Boogie Nights (B-)

12.The Guard (B-)

11.Traffic (B)

10.Talk to Me (B)

9.Reign Over Me (B)

8.Swordfish (B+)

7.Flight (B+)

6.Ocean's Thirteen (B+)

5.Hotel Rwanda (B+)

4.Out of Sight (A-)

3.Iron Man 3 (A)

2.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

1.Ocean's Eleven (A)

Top Dog: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Watching No Sudden Move's initial promise get derailed by overcomplicated plotting was a reminder that Steven Soderbergh's success in the heist genre is dependent on keeping things slick and straightforward. Case in point: his career highpoint Ocean's Eleven. Powered by a charismatic ensemble cast (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Cheadle, Andy Garcia, the late Bernie Mac and Carl Reiner, about 62 others), vibrant Las Vegas setting and Soderbergh's signature sharp visuals, this remake of the iconic 1960 Rat Pack film effortlessly solidifies itself as a masterclass in non-stop, electrifying entertainment.  

Lowlight: Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Ocean's Twelve is the complete antithesis of its predecessor. Where Ocean's Eleven is a simple, wall-to-wall party, Ocean's Twelve is a joyless disaster that loses sight of its proven winning identity by suffocating any chance of fun developing with a needlessly convoluted, witless plot that is centered around a boring heist. 

Most Underrated: Swordfish (2001)

Seeing a 20th anniversary piece on Swordfish appear on the Yahoo! homepage last month was very surreal and even a little bit jarring. For starters, I'm shocked that it's been 20 years since it was released. Secondly, I didn't think anybody in film media cared enough about Swordfish to voluntarily acknowledge its existence, let alone a milestone anniversary. To be honest, I'm just glad that somebody else out there has fond memories of this dumb little movie. It's a captivating time capsule of the manic cool hacker/nu metal era in action cinema that is made infinitely better by an overqualified cast (John Travolta, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Cheadle, Sam Shepard, Vinnie Jones) that gleefully commits to its silly material.  

Most Overrated: Boogie Nights (1997)

It takes a special brand of asshole to be critical of Boogie Nights mere moments after talking up Swordfish, but thankfully I'm very qualified to handle that task. Paul Thomas Anderson's breakout project is perhaps the purest showcase of his filmmaking signatures in his entire filmography. There's a plethora of sensational performances, some really striking visuals, the type of sluggish pacing that has the remarkable ability to render exciting topics boring (in this case, the wild west of the 70's porn industry) and an indulgent long runtime (2 hours and 35 minutes) that it never even comes close to justifying.