Denzel Washington's Most Ranked Movies

Denzel Washington’s figures such as Malcolm X, Steve Biko, Frank Lucas, and Coach Herman Boone in his films. He also played a drug trafficker Frank Lucas in American Gangster and an anti-apartheid activist Steve Bikie in Cry Freedom.

Déjà Vu (2006)

-Of all the movies Washington made with the late Tony Scott, Déjà Vu might be the most consistently underrated.

-As ATF agent Douglas Carlin, Washington is always fighting the clock as he attempts to solve the murder of an unknown woman (Paula Patton) killed in a bombing.

Flight (2012)

–Flight hasn’t maintained a major cultural footprint since it opened in 2012, but Washington gives a knockout performance as an alcoholic pilot who often drinks on the job but manages to crash-land a plane despite his inebriated state.

Unstoppable (2010)

-Maybe there’s no more perfect idea for a movie than two guys spending 90 minutes trying to stop a runaway train before it sets off a bunch of explosive chemicals.

Courage Under Fire (1996)

– Washington plays a Gulf War Army lieutenant who is tormented by his own horrible deed while digging up the truth about a captain’s (Meg Ryan) suspicious death in combat.

Mississippi Masala (1991)

-It’s also about the fallout from Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda and the diaspora that resulted, as well as colorism and the tensions that can boil over between minorities in a place where racism is prevalent.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

– Washington assumes the Frank Sinatra role, a soldier out to prove that a decorated vice-presidential candidate he fought during the Gulf War (Liev Schreiber) is part of a conspiracy engineered by a powerful corporation.

He Got Game (1998)

-As written by Lee, the character can be tender and cruel, wise and cutting. Clearly relishing the complexity of the material, Washington rarely strikes a false note navigating the plot’s parable-like twists and turns.

The Pelican Brief (1993)

-You could say Denzel Washington‘s rise to prominence to being, not just one of Hollywood’s greatest actors, but greatest movie stars, officially started when he starred alongside Julia Roberts in this adaptation of the John Grisham thriller.

American Gangster (2007)

-With an equally ambitious cop (Russell Crowe, his old rival from Virtuosity) on his tail, Denzel was truly memorable as a scary-yet-sophisticated self-made entrepreneur, making a lot of money and a lot of enemies as the No. 1 drug supplier during the ’70s.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

-Playing up his characteristic powerful stature and commanding voice, Washington is a terrifying foe for those unfortunate enough to stand in his way, and a formidable equal to co-star Frances McDormand’s prickly twist on Lady Macbeth.

Fences (2016)

-Reprising his role, along with Viola Davis in an Oscar-winning Supporting Actress turn, from the 2010 Tony-winning stage revival, Washington’s working-class patriarch is a lived-in performance of a complex man in a struggle against his own past, pride, and present socioeconomic circumstances.

Crimson Tide (1995)

– When a group of Russian ultranationalists takes control of a nuclear missile installation, the USS Alabama is sent to patrol the seas and launch a preemptive strike if the Russian extremists arm their bombs.

Inside Man (2006)

-Washington is at his sharpest (and sharp-dressed) as he teams up once again with Spike Lee for this wildly entertaining heist thriller.

The Hurricane (1999)

-While this movie is notorious for its inaccuracies, one thing is for certain: Denzel is incredible in it.

Philadelphia (1993)

– Jonathan Demme’s drama is about a lawyer with AIDS (played by Tom Hanks) who sues his firm for wrongful termination, represented by an initially homophobic personal injury attorney, portrayed by none other than Washington himself.

Training Day (2001)

-Let’s forget for a minute that Denzel Washington won his second Oscar playing a piece of shit.

-His Detective Alonzo Harris is a chain-smoking, whip-riding, utterly corrupt LA cop who takes a naïve white-boy cop (Ethan Hawke) for an ever-eventful ride.

Malcolm X (1992)

-This is the role Denzel Washington is the most famous for, and for good reason.