Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 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 Yahya Abdul-Mateen II- whose latest project "By Any Means" releases in theaters today. 

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Filmography Ranked:

11.The Greatest Showman (C)

10.Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (B-)

9.All Day and a Night (B-)

8.Baywatch (B-)

7.First Match (B-)

6.Candyman (B-)

5.The Matrix Resurrections (B+)

4.Aquaman (B+)

3.The Trial of the Chicago 7 (B+)

2.Us (B+)

1.Ambulance (A)

Top Dog: Ambulance (2022)

Michael Bay, please come back to making movies. There are a few thousand of us that miss your demented ass dearly. Ambulance is one of the purest distillations of Bay's maximalist style that he's ever put out and its unwavering commitment to being relentless makes it an exhilarating movie that particularly popped on the big screen.   

Bottom Feeder: The Greatest Showman (2017)

Egregious whitewashing of P.T. Barnam's legacy aside, The Greatest Showman is just a very vanilla musical that suffocates the talent of its exceptional cast (Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Abdul-Mateen II) with its pervasive plainness. 

Most Underrated: Ambulance (2022)

As we enter the final quarter of 2026, I can confidently say that I believe that Ambulance is currently among the best movies released this decade thus far. Bay is firing on all cylinders as he uses brain-breaking drone shots, massive explosions and dangerous stunts to heighten the chaos of a heist movie that is centered around a pair of bank robbers (Jake Gyllenhaal, Abdul-Mateen II)-who happen to be adoptive brothers-hijacking an ambulance after the job goes sideways and racing around Los Angeles trying to avoid getting arrested or killed while the EMT (Eiza González) tries to keep the cop (Jackson White) someone from their crew shot alive. The fact that all of this manic spectacle was delivered on a shoestring budget ($40 mil) by Bay's standards makes its tremendous success that much more impressive.

Most Overrated: The Greatest Showman (2017)

It's not exactly hard to deduce why The Greatest Showman became a crowdpleasing box office sensation that remains in the zeitgeist nearly 9 years after its release. Underdogs and outcasts overcoming adversity to find success is the ultimate feel-good movie formula and the aforementioned ensemble cast is full of actors that are well-liked by the masses. While I'm definitely not immune to this style of storytelling or being swept away by watching actors that I like on screen, The Greatest Showman doesn't have enough personality or excitement in its DNA for its "charms" to work on me.