Laurence Fishburne 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 Laurence Fishburne-whose latest project "John Wick: Chapter 4" releases in theaters today. 

Laurence Fishburne's Filmography Ranked:

30.Man of Steel (D)

29.The Matrix Revolutions (C-)

28.All the Old Knives (C)

27.Passengers (C)

26.Armored (C)

25.Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (C)

24.Red Heat (C+)

23.TMNT (C+)

22.Ride Along (C+)

21.The Ice Road (C+)

20.Biker Boyz (B-)

19.Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (B-)

18.Where'd You Go Bernadette (B-)

17.Assault on Precinct 13 (B)

16.Ant-Man and the Wasp (B)

15.21 (B)

14.Deep Cover (B)

13.Osmosis Jones (B)

12.Mission: Impossible III (B)

11.The Mule (B)

10.Last Flag Flying (B)

9.Contagion (B)

8.Mystic River (B)

7.A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (B) 

6.Predators (B+)

5.John Wick: Chapter 2 (A-)

4.The Matrix Reloaded (A-)

3.Boyz n the Hood (A)

2.John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum (A)

1.The Matrix (A)

Top Dog: The Matrix (1999)

The Wachowski's mind-bending cyberpunk martial arts saga hasn't lost an ounce of its excellence since it first dazzled audiences in the spring of 1999. Seeing this shit in a theater where no one really knew what to expect from it must've been a really special experience. 

Bottom Feeder: Man of Steel (2013)

As flawed as Zack Snyder's later DCU projects are, they at least have an admirable sense of ambition and several great elements driving them. Outside of a harrowing open sequence and heartfelt performance from Kevin Costner, Man of Steel falls completely on its face. The pacing is brutally slow, Michael Shannon's manic, cartoonish overacting as General Zod is completely at odds with the otherwise deeply stoic tone and Snyder's typical action prowess is nowhere to be found in the string of incomprehensible mid-air collisions that the film tries to pass off as fight scenes.  

Most Underrated: Predators (2010)

All of the Predator sequels that came before Prey have pretty shitty reputations on the whole, but the only one from the bunch that I will wholeheartedly defend from its detractors is the Robert Rodriguez-produced, Nimrod Antal-directed effort that is technically only the 3rd entry in the franchise. The hook of a band of prolific killers (Adrien Brody, Fishburne, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Oleg Taktarov, a pre-stardom Mahershala Ali) being dropped onto the Predator's home planet is genius and the film does a good job of using that dynamic to create a sense of unease, distrust and general tension as the group is forced to try and feel each other out while they fight for their lives in an environment that they have no understanding of or feel for. Having some top-notch action/death scenes and getting a few scene-stealing performances out of its ensemble (Fishburne, Grace, Goggins) only further solidified its greatness.  

Most Overrated: Mystic River (2003)

Mystic River has routinely been brought up as one of the best Boston movies ever for at least the past 15 years and by the time I actually saw it for myself in 2021, I was shocked by just how much I disagreed with that sentiment. While the movie is a generally solid and well-acted crime mystery drama, the final 20 minutes are so jaw-droppingly preposterous that it's hard to believe that it's the real conclusion to an otherwise dreary yet grounded story. 

Film I'm Most Glad to Have Re-Appraised: The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

While I haven't read the whole piece yet, former New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott had a great line in his piece explaining why he was stepping away from film writing where he stated that one of the most important parts of being a critic is acknowledging when you're "wrong". For me, this concept is primarily applied in cases involving films that I've done a complete 180 on from one viewing to the next. In recent years, there's no film I've done a bigger swing on than The Matrix Reloaded. As a teenager, I thought it was a lame sequel that tarnished the legacy of the original. Watching it with fresh eyes shortly before the release of The Matrix Resurrections 15 months ago truly felt like I was experiencing it for the first time. While the opening stretch of the film set in the final human city of Zion has its rough patches including most notably the infamous dance club scene, Reloaded becomes incredibly gripping once it returns to the Matrix. There are some very cool expansions of the mythology (Agent Smith evolving into a rogue program as a result of his encounter with Neo at the end of the previous film, getting to actually see/hear The Architect), giving increased attention to the romance between Neo and Trinity allows their relationship to become more convincing and the massive action setpieces are well-executed to the point where it's difficult to fathom how they were able to put them all together.