Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Idris Elba-whose latest project "Masters of the Universe" releases in theaters on Thursday.
Idris Elba's Filmography Ranked:
35.Three Thousand Years of Longing (D)
34.Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (D)
33.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)
32.The Gunman (C-)
31.The Jungle Book (C-)
30.Zootopia (C)
29.The Dark Tower (C+)
28.Star Trek Beyond (B-)
27.A House of Dynamite (B-)
26.Prometheus (B-)
25.The Take (B-)
24.Beast (B)
23.Cats (B)
22.The Losers (B)
21.Thor: The Dark World (B)
20.Takers (B)
19.Thor (B)
18.Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (B)
17.Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (B)
16.Zootopia 2 (B)
15.Heads of State (B)
14.Finding Dory (B)
13.Concrete Cowboy (B+)
12.RocknRolla (B+)
11.28 Weeks Later (B+)
10.Hobbs & Shaw (B+)
9.Pacific Rim (B+)
8.Beasts of No Nation (B+)
7.Extraction 2 (B+)
6.The Harder They Fall (A-)
5.American Gangster (A-)
4.Molly's Game (A)
3.Avengers: Infinity War (A)
2.Thor: Ragnarok (A)
1.The Suicide Squad (A)
Top Dog: The Suicide Squad (2021)
The Suicide Squad remains my favorite thing James Gunn has ever done. The hunger Gunn had to prove himself in the wake of the unearthed Tweets debacle that got him temporarily fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 led to him making the most mature, daring film of his career and I'm not sure if he would've attempted to make something that hinges on such a tricky balance between tragedy, horror and comedy if he hadn't come so close to having his career ripped away from him.
Bottom Feeder: Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
The passion project that George Miller made between Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa is easily one of the most ill-conceived movies I've seen in recent years. The entire movie is centered around the magic of storytelling and romance and yet, it's completely unconvincing as a sales pitch for the wonderous qualities that either of those things can possess. None of the fantastical stories that the djinn (Elba) weaves are particularly compelling and the romance that eventually forms between him and the unsuspecting mopey author (Tilda Swinton) that freed him from his bottle after purchasing it at a flea market in Istanbul lands with a thud thanks to a staggering lack of chemistry. Some really vibrant, inspired work from cinematographer John Seale-who came out of retirement for this project and has since retired for good-is the only reason that this isn't a complete waste of time.
Most Underrated: Beasts of No Nation (2015)
When Netflix was beginning their transition from DVD-by-mail-service to a streaming service that offered a plethora of original programming, they elected to make Beasts of No Nation the first original film that they released on their platform. While it's really not much more than a fun little fact these days given the sheer size of their library and the algorithm-driven homepage that dictates what most subscribers watch, Beasts of No Nation is an excellent film that offered up an early look at the kind of prestige fare Netflix would emphasize putting out during awards season. Cary Joiji Fukunaga is able to pull off the difficult task of making a movie about child soldiers in an unnamed West African country that are forced to fight in a civil war that is unflinching in its depiction of the horrors these kids endure without ever being exploitative and the performances from Abraham Attah as the kid trying desperately to not let the violence he's suddenly surrounded by turn him into a monster and Elba as the brutal militia commandant are astounding.
Most Overrated: Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Age of Ultron remains in dead last in my MCU movie rankings by a comfortable margin, and I'm honestly kind of surprised by how hard people continue to ride for this movie. I don't know if Joss Whedon or Kevin Feige is to blame for what happened here, but this movie is a convoluted, tonally incoherent and dull disaster that represents the absolute worst that the modern Hollywood blockbuster machine has to offer.
