For the 14th iteration of this series, I will cover a man who is my favorite actor (if not entertainer, as a whole) of all time. A man who is possibly THE most decorated actor of his generation and someone in the conversation of the absolute best of all time. A man who is the North Star to every single black actor to have graced our screens over the past thirty years or so. A man who I had the pleasure of seeing on Broadway in March for what may be his final Broadway performance…
DENZEL HAYES WASHINGTON JR.
This is quite possibly my largest undertaking in the entirety of this series. This man is a hero of mine and I cannot hide my bias for my love of damn-near everything this man has ever done. Every one of the movies I’m going to name here have special value to me. I have memories attached to all of them. Every film that he’s made since 2001 I have not only seen once, but twice, in a movie theater no matter how much I may have liked the film itself.
This is a series that gets to the essential films of whatever artist I am trying to cover, and to be such a fan of everything, it was a really hard thing for me to do to not cover in detail every single thing he’s ever made. As much as it hurts my heart to say, there are some non-essential works here when it comes to explaining the legacy of this iconic and historic pop culture figure. Those films are as follows:
carbon copy
Soldier story
Power
Queen and country
Cry freedom
Heart condition
Mighty Quinn
Mississippi masala
Ricochet
Much Ado about nothing
Out of time
The Great debaters
The Manchurian candidate
Devil in a blue dress
Courage under fire
Virtuosity
The siege
Two guns
Bone collector
Antwone Fisher
The little things
Safe house
The pelican brief
The preacher’s wife
There are some absolute f****** bangers on that list. But if we’re talking about the essential films, then those have to be the fat trimmed from this article (as much as that pains me to say). Yes, I understand that his first Oscar nomination was for cry freedom in 1987, but even fellow ardent fans of his would acknowledge that that’s more the answer to a trivia question than an essential film that he has made. Amidst all of his iconic moments on screen, cry freedom sadly has none. That’s just the facts. (But really, go see that movie.)
Anywho, without further ado here is….
THE DENZEL WASHINGTON TIER LIST!!!!!
🤩GREATNESS🤩
MALCOLM X
I speak no hyperbole when I say this, but the performance that Denzel Washington has in this movie may very well be the greatest singular cinematic performance that I have ever seen in my life. The amount of range that it takes to play Malcolm X, from when he was young to the man that he was when he passed away is substantial. I cannot imagine the physical undertaking that this man had to do, I cannot imagine the research that he had to partake in, and I cannot imagine the pressure that he, himself, felt at that particular time in his stardom to portray such an icon who means so much to Black people. When the conversation of Oscar robberies get really deep with film-snob types, this here is a performance that is mentioned all of the time, and mentioned pretty quickly at that.
GLORY
I wouldn’t go as far as to call this movie underrated, I think it’s uniformly seen as one of the better war movies of all time, but GLORY is a very under-appreciated film. It is a war film that is considerably less glamorous than older war films of its kind. Amidst all the things that this film does perfectly, the one thing that people can’t help but remember is, what is commonly referred to as, the “Denzel tear” scene. A scene that is so powerful that I’ve seen grown-ass men at the gym hit pause on the treadmill just to watch this scene on a muted television and then continue their workout when the scene is over. Amazing cast, amazing direction, every single solitary thing is under-appreciated about this film including Denzel’s Oscar winning performance. A top five performance from him without question.
FLIGHT
If not for the unstoppable locomotive that was the awards circuit run of Daniel Day-Lewis for his masterful performance as Abraham Lincoln in the 2012 Oscar race, I have very little doubt that Denzel Washington would have won his third Oscar for this film. Perhaps it is all of the Shakespearean stage experience that he came to have, but Washington seems to be undoubtedly drawn to men with SUPER advanced inner demons. He does not play troubled men or conflicted men – he plays men who are at war with their inner selves…and I don’t think any of his characters are losing that war more than with Whip Whitaker. This movie does a good job in showing the perils of alcoholism on one’s physical being but more than anything else it over emphasizes the fact that staying clean is an awfully difficult thing to do. Amidst all the things that this film does right, the detoxing scene with John Goodman and Don Cheadle and the upside-down plane landing sequence are both peak cinema. Even if you don’t watch this movie, looking those scenes up on YouTube is well worth your time.
REMEMBER THE TITANS
Outside of a few exceptions, almost every single feel-good sports movie follows the same exact tropes, and that’s very much including remember the titans. Underdog story? Check. Racial divisions within the team that are pretty much resolved by the beginning of the third act? Check. Large cast of unique individualistic characters? Slow motion comebacks? Inspirational speeches? Check. Mind you, this is also a Disney movie so these things are added just a little bit of cheese to make them that much more borderline routine. What makes this different is simply one thing… Absolute MOTHERf****** swag. You see, swag is the one thing that the truly great family sports films (the sandlot, the mighty ducks, the karate Kid, Rudy) have the rest of the field just…lacks. It’s hard to explain. This is a movie that has enough swag to be in this category WITHOUT Denzel’s towering performance. I’d like to think that the creators of the Friday night lights television show watched remember the Titans over and over again to get the idea for Coach Taylor from Denzel’s performance as Herman Boone.
PHILADELPHIA
When I was a little boy there was this McDonald’s commercial featuring Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing a game of HORSE. Each would make a continuously impossible shot and say the words “nothing but net” right before they hit the shot. Throughout my adult life I can’t help but to symbolically connect that commercial to this film. Not that it’s a contest or anything, but the number of exquisitely performed scenes from Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington throughout this film is really something to behold. All of their shots were going in…nothing but net. This is a movie that has a lot to say about homophobia at a time where both HIV and AIDS were seen as death sentences to anybody who contracted them. This is a challenging film with a timeless message, and I don’t know how they pulled it off, but they happen to get the two best actors in the entire world to be there. Tom Hanks won his first Academy Award for this, and Denzel deserved to be nominated but instead ended up being one of the biggest Oscar snubs of all time.
CRIMSON TIDE and MAN ON FIRE
Tony Scott and Spike Lee are the key collaborators of Denzel Washington, each bringing the best of him out in various ways. Whenever Denzel Washington and Tony Scott got together you can expect something kinetic and upbeat in it’s presentation, as opposed to the Spike Lee films which mostly dealt with deep material. Both CRIMSON TIDE and MAN ON FIRE are the crown jewels of the five films that Scott and Washington did together.
Crimson Tide is a unique political thriller (and some may call it a war film even though there’s no combat). There is consistent tension from the beginning of the second act forward, largely due to the towering performances from Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman as two military-type alpha-males endangering the lives of their submarine crew because of a major disagreement on whether to start World War 3. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were just sitting across from each other playing guitar solos back and forth with one another for two hours. That’s pretty much what you get in this movie. Oh yeah, and this movie also Stars James Gandolfini and Viggo Mortensen who also put in significant work. This is a masterpiece of the ’90s.
The character of John Creasy in Man on fire is without question the most badass character Denzel Washington has ever played. Just a straight savage with a heart of gold. This is one of the better revenge movies of all time, and a movie that’s almost hater-proof. Especially if you like action movies in any single way. Because it’s Denzel Washington, he does add a lot of depth where it probably wouldn’t exist in a movie like this starting in the first act. Inner demons. Right in this man’s wheelhouse. But then the second act happens, Nine Inch Nails instrumentals play, and the fun begins. The murderous vengeful rampage of John Creasy is one of the more satisfying things in all of 2000’s cinema. If you’ve seen this movie then I’m sure you agree.
GREATNESS ADJACENT
HE GOT GAME
The ending of this movie is the one thing that keeps it from being true greatness, and yet I will still put it in this category because the rest of the film is about as accurate of a depiction of the kinds of pressures and temptations that high caliber college athletes face. There isn’t a single thing about this film that has aged poorly or has become outdated. College recruitment is a dirty game with no morals and, though many films have tried to tackle it before, they’ve done so in a way that’s actually kind of glamorizing a lifestyle, rather than going into detail as to how you can lose your soul by caving in to all the temptation. This is a top 5 Spike Lee film, and I’ve been arguing that for years.
THE HURRICANE
Every actor that is considered to be in the G.O.A.T. conversation has that watershed performance where simple greatness becomes inarguable all-time greatness. Outside of the aforementioned crimson Tide, the Denzel filmography from 1994 to 1998 was filled with…a bunch of mid. A lot of the films in the “don’t matter” category happened around this time. For the hurricane he got in his best physical shape, started boxing on the regular, and really got into character in the way that very few people could do. This film has aged in a very unique way for me as a fan. At the time, this was right next to Malcolm x as one of his best performances. And it’s a performance that would be the career best for pretty much anybody else in the field. This is a top 10 performance from him. It says a lot that this performance has been eclipsed by many other performances from him since 1999.
AMERICAN GANGSTER
Denzel and Russell Crowe really should do more movies together. They have amazing chemistry on screen and it’s ridiculous. This movie mostly takes after the 1995 classic film heat, specifically in the way that they show the cop side of things and then they showed the criminal side of things. Denzel and Crowe are only on screen together twice in this entire film. One is a silent stare down outside of a church. The other one is an amazing showdown scene between the two featuring one of my favorite Denzel moments of all time…. THE CUP SLAP! The only thing keeping AMERICAN GANGSTER from true greatness is a lack of interaction between the two leads throughout this two-and-a-half-hour film. Otherwise this is a big epic sprawling crime drama done with the highest extent of Hollywood production.
FENCES
It’s here where I want to talk about Denzel the director more than Denzel the actor. It’s not like his performance in this movie is anything to sneeze at. He certainly has a PhD in all things August Wilson and that is very clear to see. There’s a very famous video of what his Troy Maxson looks like, as opposed to James Earl Jones. And that’s really all you need to see in order to understand the levels of nuance that he’s bringing to the performance. This is his best directing effort by a hundred miles. As a director, he always seemed to be finding his footing, but with this it is very clear that he had a full envisioning of the world that he wanted this particular play to be set in. In the same way you can tell when a director is directing their passion project, you can tell that this is his. Well, this and probably anything else that he directs that involves August Wilson’s plays.
TRAINING DAY
Every single bonafide Hollywood goat has that one role showcasing their movie star swagger to the absolute max. Movie stars just don’t get more charismatic than what he was in this film. It was a firework show of screen presence. So much to the point that Ethan Hawke was giving interviews saying that he was being stunted on just by being in proximity of the swagetry. Oh, and the movie is pretty good as well. Yes, it does have the convoluted ending… But you know what? Who cares? Nobody walked into training day expecting a cinematic masterpiece. In fact, we were all on the fence when it came to that film because we could not conceptualize Denzel playing a villain, but oh boy did he ever do that emphatically. Is this the top five performance from him? Many would say yes. And depending on the day, and how I’m feeling at the time… I’ll agree to that.
😊 GOOD 😊
JOHN Q.
Prolly overstating things a bit here by saying the following, but I’ll say it anyway: John q was the point where Denzel Washington started being a box office draw. He was already known, he was already widely respected, and he had two Academy Awards to his name, and he’d always been at the front of the marquee. But when you look at the box office numbers of his previous films usually a lot of the big ones had the award season bump that comes with an Oscar nomination or two. His previous two films prior to John q were remember the Titans and training day. It seems as if, commercially, he was never more viable. That being said, I think we can say that this doesn’t offer anything dynamic performance-wise from him by his own standards. It is an enjoyable thriller that has a lot of heart, and is the type of film that you could qualify as a 2000’s kind of film, a film that really shows what those movies look like as opposed to other decades. It’s fine.
INSIDE MAN
You could also say the same thing about inside man. Casual fans of Denzel Washington really love this film and consider it one of his best. I respect that. It is enjoyable from beginning to end and it was really nice for me to finally see a Spike Lee movie with some high Hollywood glossy flash to it. Denzel really is the star of inside man because Spike was in what I like to call his “glossy film era” at this point. Forgetting that she hate me even exists, the film that was before this one was the 25th hour, and the film after this one was miracle at Saint anna. Two films that I absolutely love from Lee that have gone criminally underrated. Up until August 2025, this was the least emotionally potent film from this collaboration. But it was nice to see them do popcorn type of fare.
BOOK OF ELI
Boy, was I excited when this man made a movie called The book of Eli and he was Eli! (I might have once declared this the greatest Denzel movie of all time before ever seeing it) But once I came back down to earth I realized that this film was simply good. This without question is the second most badass character that Denzel has ever ever played, but the story that surrounds this is a bit mid if I’m going to be honest with you. Yes Gary Oldman is here doing his best, yes Mila Kunis and Jennifer Beals are here and they are both fine both literally and figuratively, but this is a film that does devolve into symbolism surrounding religion and how religion is used. I thought that was a very clever way to go about things but in the third act we come to realize who Eli really is, and it’s very unspectacular. This is a film by the Hughes brothers, and is the only film that they’ve ever made that I’ve actually liked.
UNSTOPPABLE
I consider the 90’s the decade that had the most enjoyable types of action movies – in juxtaposition to literally any other decade that came before it. As much as I talk about this, I often find myself perplexed on how to describe how enjoyable the combination of semi-serious yet still goofy, aesthetic, one-note characters that are cliche in a way, yet played to the absolute max, and simplistic plots that aren’t too complicated, and won’t have you lose your place whenever you have to go to the bathroom. That is certainly the case here. Chris Pine playing the young upstart with financial troubles, and Denzel playing the old grizzled vet both trying to stop an impending 90’s-movie-type disaster is such a perfect movie to show to someone who doesn’t know what a 90’s movie is.
THE EQUALIZER
This is the film that really benefits from the element of surprise. Not that we hadn’t seen a Denzel character get his hands dirty before like in man on fire or in training day, but we’ve never seen hand-to-hand combat from Denzel like this. It also helps that we were in a time frame where our action stars were fifty-plus years old. (Not saying that as a bad thing by the way) for about six or seven years it was very refreshing to see an elderly man whoop the f*** out of people. It was nice when Liam Neeson did it, when Tom Cruise did it, or when Daniel Craig did it. Denzel is a member of that club, and it was very welcome. What this movie has that the other ones in the trilogy do not have is what I like to call the “just right” bowl of porridge. This was the perfect blending of what everything this franchise could have been. It had heart, wasn’t paced too kinetically, was swift and brutal in its portrayal of the action, and it wasn’t too glossy in the execution of everything. A definition of a low-key blockbuster.
MEH
THE EQUALIZER 2
In reference to my three bowls of porridge analogy from before when referencing the first one, this film is the “too hot” bowl of porridge. This one is the film that is undeniably Hollywood blockbuster-ish. The action is way more constant, the final set piece is a lot more elaborate, CGI is overtly used, badass one-liners are being dropped every now and again, and it just feels like such a stylistic contrast to the movie that came before. Not bad at all, but routine. There’s no real special feeling to this that there hadn’t already been in any other Denzel Washington action film. The bar was set kind of high from stuff that has been aforementioned in this article. Hollywood Blockbuster cardboard. Respectfully.
THE EQUALIZER 3
And this one is the “too cold” bowl of porridge. For some reason, the action has been scaled down a whole lot, there are these long drawn out shots of southern Italy that are idyllic and beautiful, but feel unfamiliar with the franchise up until this point. A decent enough action movie by any means. It’s not trash, per sé, but it’s just so radically toned down from the previous two iterations that it feels like one of those movies where a bunch of friends got together and went on vacation with each other…and just so happened to shoot a movie while they were doing so…
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
I’m honestly not big into Shakespeare all that much. I’ll admit that somewhat proudly. I understand the importance of getting it right when you do it, and I understand the historical significance and how much Shakespeare means to people. That being said, Shakespeare is so much more of a stage thing than it is a movie thing, and I’ve always felt that way. However, in every one of these Shakespeare films there’s always a world class performance at the front of it. In this case, it is Denzel giving possibly (I could be totally biased here) the greatest Shakespearean cinematic performance of all time. This man somehow makes these very famous monologues from Macbeth sound so organic they feel practically improvised. I just saw him in Othello on Broadway, and that’s just something else that’s in his bag. The pacing of this movie is glacial, and the direction, I’m sorry, is not all that great. I know it’s a Coen brother who directed this, but I don’t care. Gotta be honest.
MO’ BETTER BLUES
It may be hard to believe for those who weren’t there, but before the Jordan vs. LeBron debate…there was the Wesley OR Denzel debate. Believe it or not, Wesley Snipes, for a considerable distance of time, was neck and neck with Denzel as far as who was the top Black actor in the industry. They’ve only worked together once, and I’m going to be honest with you… I think Wesley got him here. He’s undoubtedly the best part about this movie. In comparison, Denzel may be playing the blandest Spike Lee role of all the ones that he’s played to this day. As time has gone along, I do find that Mo’ better blues doesn’t have the reverence of the vast majority of the works of Washington or Lee. Nothing quotable, no standout scenes of any kind. This was a film that was sandwiched between do the right thing that came right before it, and jungle fever which came right after. There’s a lot that is forgotten about when it comes to this one.
ROMAN J. ISRAEL ESQ.
From top to bottom, this could easily be considered standard John Grisham-type legal drama stuff. For the story to seem as familiar as it does, if you’ve ever bothered watching a legal cinematic drama with a really big star, this movie radically overachieves in the complexity of its titular character who has severe OCD, and social anxiety disorder despite being a brilliant legal mind. I understand that not a lot of people have seen this movie. But I assure you, this is one of the best Denzel Washington performances out there. There are multiple moments in this movie where this character is doing menial activities and Denzel was hitting every note so perfectly. He’s done the physical work so diligently here that it’s just engrossing to watch. Top five performance? Not so sure.Top six or seven? definitely.
GLADIATOR II
I know that the word “mid” is used by the youngsters out there to describe everything from a movie that they fell asleep in but didn’t hate to a top 10 movie of the year…but there needs to be some clarification as to what real mid looks like. Real averageness. GLADIATOR II is the very definition of cinematic mid. Aside from Denzel’s Golden Globe nominated performance, everything else about this movie, from every other relevant-to-revered artist that decided to take part in this production, are trying to elevate this to try and remotely come close to the original…but to no avail. And it’s really a shame. Denzel’s character really takes over in the third act. And normally, that’s a recipe for success when it comes to damn near any other script in existence. But this script is just not one of those ones. True fans of his will enjoy this…to a point.
the taking of Pelham 123
I believe I’m one of the very few people who have seen the original TAKING OF PELHAM 123 with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Believe it or not, this film makes impressive improvements to the flaws of the original. Watching this movie made me realize that the original just didn’t have the kind of technology that the thematic elements needed in order to maximize its potential. And that being said, there was potential for a really, really good film here. There were just two problems: 1. There are a lot of characters that make a lot of very illogical and stupid choices that lead to critical mistakes which lead to this storyline being able to continue. (i.e.; the most unintelligent portrayal of NYPD police officers in cinematic history) 2. Travolta. I almost hate to say it. He is laughably over-the-top bad in this film at times. Had he simply been a little bit more grounded, this would be a much better film.
DEJA VU
It says a lot about the potency of this collaboration that this is the base standard popcorn fair when it comes to Washington and Scott. DEJA VU is a script that probably looked good on paper, but just couldn’t get executed in the proper way without making things too confusing for the average viewer. Time travel is a plot device that makes literally everything sketchy when used more than once in a film. No matter what the cast, no matter what the director, the time travel trope is something that can seriously derail an otherwise promising movie with the inevitable plot holes that will come from recounting events due to time travel. If the script is watertight, then what you’re going to be left with is resorting to coincidental instances in order to move the story along that are absolutely implausible. That’s definitely what happens with DEJA VU and it just doesn’t have enough screen time to wrap everything in a bow.
HIGHEST 2 LOWEST
(THIS MOVIE NARROWLY MAKES THIS CATEGORY BTW)
🤮WTF IS THIS GARBAGE?!🤮
FALLEN
I’ve tried so hard with this movie. Time after time I found myself turning this movie on with the hope of me seeing something that I didn’t see before to try and find some redemptive quality, but it’s always to no avail. In numerous interviews, Denzel has said that turning down the role of detective William Somerset in the movie SE7EN is one of his biggest regrets. I tend to think that maybe this film was an attempt to capture that kind of vibe that SE7EN had maybe? Not sure. The aesthetics are ugly, the story barely makes sense, the supernatural element is really f****** stupid, and the performances are whatever. This is the movie that makes Denzel Washington look…pedestrian. As much as it pains me to say it, he’s really boring here. And I almost want to say it’s not his fault because of the dog s*** material. And yes, that is a factor… but there’s none of the typical dynamic performance that we’re used to seeing. Even up to this point, he had had way more interesting (and fun) performances in movies like virtuosity and ricochet, two equally batshit crazy movies. There’s just nothing redeemable here – objectively.
🌟CINEMATIC APOGEE🌟
Believe you me, it is tough to put one particular moment from this man’s career at the forefront for a cinematic apogee. The “Denzel Tear” has already been mentioned, the “cup slap” has already been mentioned, there are quite a few speeches from Malcolm X that I could have mentioned, and there are the aforementioned scenes from flight. There’s the “I wish you had more time” scene from Man on fire, the “who’s your daddy” scene from remember The Titans and the one-on-one basketball game with Ray Allen at the end of he got game…. And that’s off the top of my head.
But you know what? With certain performers with this quantity of memorable signature moments you got to respect the casual’s opinion more than you would like to. Denzel Washington is a performer who is revered by multiple generations of people both young and old. And whether or not a superfan such as myself likes it, to take the Pepsi challenge with the question of what the greatest Denzel Washington moment is, the vast majority of the casuals within my friend circle and my coworkers came up with one answer and came up with it quickly….
And this is the answer they all came up with……
In my heart, I knew it was going to be this scene from TRAINING DAY. But I did have to ask around just so that my biases wouldn’t get in the way. I would not choose this. However, when asking people, I was actually pretty surprised on how many people either knew this whole speech, or at least knew parts of it by heart as if it were a really popular song from twenty years ago that they knew the chorus of. Even if they didn’t get the order of what was said here, it resonated with all of them.
I do remember watching training Day for the first time, and thinking that eventually he was going to turn into a good guy. That all of the really shady stuff that Alonzo Harris does with glee throughout the film was all part of a bigger lesson that was later to be taught in the third act of the film, but no. Evil is where he went. And it was at level 10, and it all culminates with this speech. For me it was like hearing a singer that I’d heard my entire life hit a note that they’ve never hit in a song before and I was like…..
Not my favorite scene. Not my favorite movie of his. But this is so much more iconic than we give it credit for. “King Kong ain’t got s*** on me” is one of those kinds of movie quotes that the AFI will acknowledge sooner or later as one of the greatest movie quotes of the 2000’s. And by the way…it was improvised. That is not in the script. From what I understand, the last words that he is supposed to say in that scene is “I’m the man up in this piece!” Everything else is on instinct from there on.
**************
In March of this year I went to the Ethel Barrymore theater in Times Square, and I saw this man and Jake Gyllenhaal performing OTHELLO. It’s important to note that I absolutely do not like OTHELLO in comparison to Shakespeare’s other works, but I love both of those actors so much that it was a no-brainer for me to travel across the country to see them.
At the age of 42, for the first time in my life, I felt like what a kid must have felt like seeing their favorite athletes in a live game. The play opened with Gyllenhaal on stage and he got a wonderful round of applause (as he should have). Denzel came out and got a burst of applause that felt like it lasted a full minute. Him and Gyllenhaal biding time until the audience died down was quite hilarious to see. It was nice to check something off the bucket list. I saw him do his final Shakespearean play on Broadway and that warms my heart tremendously.
I’m thankful for the work Denzel Washington has put out there for all of us. He is truly a timeless performer.
Sorry if my fandom came through on this article in an annoying way. I just can’t help it.
