Denis Villeneuve Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Denis Villeneuve-whose latest project "Dune: Part Two" releases in theaters today. 

Denis Villeneuve's Filmography Ranked:

7.Enemy (C-)

6.Incendies (C)

5.Blade Runner 2049 (B-)

4.Dune (B+)

3.Arrival (A-)

2.Sicario (A-)

1.Prisoners (A-)

Top Dog: Prisoners (2013)

Prisoners was the introduction for most American audiences to the cinematic stylings of Villeneuve and hot damn, did the French-Canadian manage to leave quite the first impression. This mystery thriller about a cop (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the traumatized father (Hugh Jackman) of two missing girls who operate on different sides of the law in their pursuit of the serial child kidnapper that has reigned terror on their desolate Pennsylvania town for decades is a slow-burning affair that packs a serious wallop. Jackman and Gyllenhaal turn in some of the finest performances of their careers as the tormented men trying to get to the bottom of this horrific case, Villeneuve does a masterful job of creating a dread-soaked atmosphere that gradually escalates in intensity throughout and the reveal of the disturbing truth behind the kidnappings fuels an explosive finale that is pretty much impossible to forget.            

Bottom Feeder: Enemy (2014)

Ironically, Villeneuve followed up Prisoners with the only real dud he's made since he broke out in Hollywood. As fiercely committed as Jake Gyllenhaal is in his dual lead roles, Enemy doesn't have enough eerie atmospherics, visual pop and compelling mindfuckery to deliver upon its surrealist psychological thriller ambitions.     

Most Underrated: Sicario (2015)

Sicario isn't underrated in the traditional sense as it made enough money to get a sequel greenlit and helped pave the way for Taylor Sheridan to become one of the biggest television kingpins of the last 20 years. It is however underrated in the pantheon of Villeneuve's acclaimed filmography as it's widely pegged to be a couple of steps below the rest of his American films, which is a sentiment that I strongly disagree with. Villeneuve is in peak form as he creates a procedural thriller about the drug trade at the United States/Mexican border that runs laps around the titles its often compared to (Traffic, Blow) in terms of entertainment value/suspense level, moral complexity and technical craftsmanship/acting.     

Most Overrated: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

I'm just going to be completely honest, nothing about Blade Runner 2049 impressed me much outside of its VFX and cinematography. The primary philosophical subtext surrounding robots desire to find their own humanity in a manufactured existence isn't particularly thought-provoking, compelling or unique (the polarizing live action remake of Ghost in the Shell that was released the same year operates in the same thematic waters with a similar, if not greater degree of effectiveness), the acting outside of Ryan Gosling's reliably strong work in the lead role is unremarkable and it ultimately fails to bring enough new ideas to the table to justify its existence in a world where the original is already worshipped by fans, critics and film historians alike.