Michelle Rodriguez Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted released superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Michelle Rodriguez-whose latest project "Fast X" is in theaters now.  

Michelle Rodriguez's Filmography Ranked:

18.Avatar (D)

17.Blue Crush (C)

16.Machete Kills (B-)

15.Resident Evil (B-)

14.Resident Evil: Retribution (B-)

13.Alita: Battle Angel (B-)

12.S.W.A.T. (B-)

11.The Fast and the Furious (B-)

10.Battle: Los Angeles (B-)

9.Fast & Furious (B)

8.Girlfight (B)

7.Widows (B)

6.F9 (B+)

5.Fast and Furious 6 (B+)

4.Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (B+)

3.Machete (A-)

2.The Fate of the Furious (A)

1.Furious 7 (A)

Top Dog: Furious 7 (2015)

James Wan got thrown into the fire on his first blockbuster and ended up putting forth one of his most impressive directorial efforts to date. Through the purity of the sentiments that were being conveyed on screen and some pure movie magic, Wan was able to make a film that served as both an emotional, heartfelt tribute to the late Paul Walker and a rollicking, outlandish over-the-top action spectacle. 

Bottom Feeder: Avatar (2009)

Fun fact: I had forgotten that Rodriguez was in Avatar until I was sitting in a theater last Labor Day weekend seeing Top Gun: Maverick for the second time and the trailer for the re-release played. Guess my efforts to purge as much of this wretched film from my memory as possible were successful!!!

Most Underrated: The Fate of the Furious (2017)

What a fucking gem this movie is. The setpieces are wildly inventive and fun as hell (particularly the prison fight, "flying" cars scene and baby rescue sequence), Charlize Theron's Cipher is an incredible, scenery-chewing villain and the relentless ball-busting Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham engage in results in some of the funniest one-liners of the entire series. 

Most Overrated: Avatar (2009)

Here we go again.... As ambitious and talented of a filmmakers as James Cameron is, I strongly believe that Avatar brings nothing to the table outside of its astonishing visual effects, cinematography and sound design. The dialogue and acting are stunningly rough for a mainstream Hollywood movie and the story is an insufferably cheesy bore that isn't nearly compelling or deep enough to warrant taking nearly 3 hours to tell. 

Genuinely One of the Most Unforgettable Movies I've Ever Seen: Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

Is Battle: Los Angeles a "good" movie. Outside of the visceral action sequences and cool alien design, not particularly. However, it's a movie that is so unintentionally funny that my friends and I have been quoting and discussing it regularly for the past 12 years and that's enough for me to speak of it fondly whenever the opportunity arises.