Of all A-list stars, Denzel Washington’s career may be the most enviable. Although he has a well established onscreen persona, it’s mutable enough to allow him to move from serious dramas to passion projects.
Until The Equalizer 2, he had never made a sequel. He has been in only six movies that have made more than $100 million domestically, with his biggest hit being the relatively modest $130 million of American Gangster.
Washington himself is the selling point.
But which performance is his best? Here are my six favorite Denzel Washington movie roles, ranked:
- John Q (2002):
Washington plays a loving father whose son needs a heart transplant and, because his insurance won’t pay for it, takes a hospital hostage. The movie is a message about the healthcare crisis, and it’s as subtle as a defibrillator.
This is one of those movies in which every character is an idiot—and Denzel does not play an
“idiot”
Well.
2. The Bone Collector (1999):
Here’s one of his many Se7en knockoffs, based on a series of novels about a quadriplegic cop played by Washington, who teams up with a rookie cop (Angelina Jolie) to take down a serial killer.
Washington tries to give his detective some desperation as he’s devastated by no longer being able to walk. The movie is too absurd and sloppy to delve much into it. It was supposed to set off a series of films about this detective team, but it did not.
3. American Gangster (2007):
If we were ranking Washington’s performances based solely on their cold-bloodedness, American Gangster’s Frank Lucas would be near the top. This Harlem gangster operates by a strict moral code. The ferocity of Washington’s portrayal is enhanced by the character’s racial resentment.
On his shoulder, he carries with him perpetual anger that suggests no amount of power will ever remove the fact that he’s a black man living in White America.
4. A Soldier’s Story (1984):
Washington was featured in most of the movie’s advertising, but he’s actually a supporting character in this adaptation of Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play about a black officer (Howard Rollins) investigating the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana toward the end of World War II. Denzel plays the earnest private with a secret, displaying a smart, eager-to-please manner that disguises the cunning and danger underneath. It’s a terrific performance, and even with all the other fine actors onscreen, you keep waiting for Washington to come back.
5. The Equalizer (2014), The Equalizer 2 (2018), and The Equalizer 3 (2023):
A violent and nasty role based on a forgotten ’80s TV show, yet Washington makes it work through sheer force of stardom. His black-ops vigilante is among his most pitiless characters, and although he never quite asks you to like the guy, The Equalizer is an underrated marvel of kicking ass with ruthless, amoral efficiency.
6. Man on Fire (2004):
The title does a lot of the work here: Denzel gets to play a man of righteous and furious vengeance. He’s a former CIA operative who finds redemption in a 9-year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) he’s sworn to protect… until she’s kidnapped and he has to go save her.
Washington basically comes across as the last guy in the world you’d want coming after you. Plus, he gets a killer of a final scene.
#Clique, which of these movies have you seen, and which one is your favorite?
