Benicio del Toro 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 Benicio del Toro-whose latest project "Reptile" is on Netflix now. 

Benicio del Toro's Filmography Ranked:

16.The Wolfman (D)

15.The Hunted (C)

14.No Sudden Move (B-)

13.Star Wars: The Last Jedi (B-)

12.The French Dispatch (B-)

11.Savages (B)

10.Dora and the Lost City of Gold (B)

9.Traffic (B)

8.Sicario: Day of the Soldado (B+)

7.Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (A-)

6.Sicario (A-)

5.Guardians of the Galaxy (A)

4.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

3.The Usual Suspects (A)

2.Snatch (A+)

1.Sin City (A+)

Top Dog: Sin City (2005)
Seeing Sin City-which I maintain captures the look and feel of a graphic novel better than any other live action film in history-when I was 13 was a true watershed moment for me that helped build the love I have for movies today and for that reason, it will always have a special place in my heart.   

Bottom Feeder: The Wolfman (2010)

The Wolfman wastes its exceptional ensemble (del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving) and some cool gore/creature effects on the most painfully dull retelling of the classic gothic horror tale imaginable. Universal needs to release another remake ASAP so this one can be banished even further into the Chamber of Forgotten Movies than it is already.  

Most Underrated: Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) 

Dora the Explorer is such a popular property that it was only a matter of time before it got adapted into a feature. Seeing that adaptation materialize into a weird, somewhat meta live action romp from Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Neighbors) was a completely unexpected and surprisingly delightful. Isabela Merced does a terrific job of balancing Dora's signature eagerness to explore with a great sense of humor, the Indiana Jones-esque adventure through the jungles of Peru that drives the bulk of the story is a lot of fun to watch unfold and Eugenio Derbez is a riot as a bumbling treasure hunter that ends up becoming entrenched with Dora and co on their quest to save Dora's parents (Eva Longoria, Micheal Pena-who are similarly funny here).     

Most Overrated: No Sudden Move (2021)

I've always viewed Steven Soderbergh as a total wild card that is capable of producing films in any genre of any quality level at any given time. Of all the Soderbergh films that I've seen, No Sudden Move is arguably the biggest wild card of the bunch. At first glance, Soderbergh appears to be back in slick caper mode a la Out of Sight or the Ocean's trilogy as the film starts by following a pair of lowlevel gangsters in 1954 Detroit (Don Cheadle, del Toro) who get a target on their backs after a job gone wrong. As it progresses, the film reveals itself to a much more convoluted, less propulsive crime thriller with some serious albeit muddled commentary on redlining, pollution and corporations putting profits over the wellbeing of the population sitting at its messy center. It sucks that Soderbergh overstuffed this thing into oblivion because there's a great movie floating around somewhere in this busy behemoth.