Will Smith’s 10 Best Action Movies, Ranked:- The filmography of Will Smith, whose filmography spans a wide range of quality, is one of the few performers who can boast as many classic action pictures as he has. It is almost certain that Will Smith will dominate the box office because he has been one of the most prominent main performers in Hollywood for several decades now.
Will Smith’s 10 Best Action Movies, RankedÂ
Many of the best Will Smith movies are action comedies that end with a closing credits song that is performed by Will Smith himself. This is despite the fact that the actor is equally well-known for his roles that are strictly humorous and tragic. Nevertheless, not every action film starring Will Smith is manufactured in the same way.
1. Men In Black (1997)
Though Men in Black 3 offered a deft variation on the elements that made the first movie so successful, nothing can match the original alien-fighting franchise, not even Will Smith’s films. In the 1997 movie, Will Smith plays Agent J, an F.B.I. agent who switches careers to work for the mysterious group that oversees alien immigration to Earth. Agent J must work with Agent K, his new mentor and colleague, to neutralize a particularly potent extraterrestrial menace.
It’s understandable why Will Smith, in his own personal Mount Rushmore of Will Smith movies, has publicly named Men in Black as one of his personal faves. There is so much to love in the first Men in Black movie, from Smith’s easy rapport with Tommy Lee Jones’s Agent K to the amusing extraterrestrial animals and Vincent D’Onofrio’s amazing villain Edgar the Bug. In terms of action films, it is without a doubt the best in Will Smith’s resume.
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2. Bad Boys For Life (2020)
Bad Boys II, with Michael Bay’s hallmark breaking logic and being a little too obvious, was a drastic step down for the Smith-led franchise, much like in the Men In Black series. Fortunately, by the time of Bad Boys For Life, the original movie’s legacy had shown to be enduring. The son of a notorious Mexican drug lord and his resentful wife pursue Mike, and it’s up to Mike and Marcus to put together a unique squad of fresh recruits to neutralize the growing threat.
Bad Boys For Life gives the impression that not much time has gone at all, even though it has been nearly 20 years since the last Bad Boys film. Smith and Lawrence unexpectedly fit back into their previous roles. Bad Boys For Life employed contemporary filmmaking to bring the series up to speed with new action heights, surpassing even the corny magnificence of the first movie and ultimately winning over picky movie critics with its charm and personality. Based on Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’s box office performance, the third movie was competent enough to win over the public’s opinion.
3. Independence Day (1996)
While Bad Boys was an excellent film that helped establish Will Smith as an action movie star, it was Independence Day the following year that really cemented his reputation as a household figure. Will Smith leads a strike force as fighter pilot Captain Steve Hiller against an army of extraterrestrial invaders who fight on the planet of July Fourth.
Independence Day is widely regarded as one of the best disaster films ever produced, thus its popularity hardly needs an explanation. While the dual storyline prevents Will Smith from taking over the entire running length of the movie, his contagious charm reaches its peak in Independence Day when he delivers a career-defining “Welcome to Earth!” punch to an extraterrestrial.
He and Jeff Goldblum’s eccentric combination sticks out as the ideal odd couple to withstand the constant explosions and masterful practical effects of director Roland Emmerich’s vision. Despite its lowbrow nature, Independence Day established Smith’s career by pure coolness.
4. Bad Boys (1995)
Bad Boys, the first real action movie in which Will Smith starred, is credited with creating a whole genre of Will Smith motion pictures. Despite having a straightforward plot, the movie went on to have several sequels that all borrowed heavily from the first one’s aesthetic. Will Smith plays a Miami investigator who goes on a wild goose chase through the underworld of crime in the city with Martin Lawrence, looking into the theft of a large amount of drugs from under police control.
Bad Boys is the complete antithesis of Enemy of the State; it stays true to its niche as an easily stylish pure action movie and does it well. One of Will Smith’s greatest actual buddy-cop colleagues to date, Martin Lawrence and the two get along brilliantly while navigating some challenging situations. If nothing else, Bad Boys—one of director Michael Bay’s greatest movies—deserves recognition for being the source of numerous Will Smith action movie cliches.
5. Enemy Of The State (1998)
Will Smith has made numerous attempts to enter more somber roles before he was pigeonholed as the witty humorous guy of Hollywood action movies. Of all his action movies, none is more direct than Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State, which doesn’t have any science fiction elements or a fantasy setting. Smith portrays Robert Clayton Dean, a straightforward attorney who gets utterly enmeshed in a risky plot centered on an NSA operative.
Instead of relying just on chases and explosions to keep viewers interested, Enemy of the State depends on the gripping mystery of its plot. Some strong action beats that seem well-earned reward this effort. Enemy of the State is by far the most cerebral of Smith’s popular action films, and it also raises some intriguing issues around state monitoring.
Unquestionably, though, Smith does best in less dramatic parts when he can add his distinct brand of humor to enhance the action. While Robert Clayton Dean could have been played by anyone, this cannot be said of Smith’s other well-known action figures.
6. Gemini Man (2019)
Gemini Man, which examines Will Smith’s action acting prowess in a more somber and grounded manner, may not be the most well-known movie featuring Smith, but it was a modest hit for those who gave it a shot. In the movie, Smith plays an elderly assassin who wants to leave the industry, but the only person who can stop him is himself.
Will Smith’s Henry Brogan, on the run from his own clone, needs to stay under the radar and get some support from some old acquaintances in order to survive. As the identical twins, Will Smith gives a passable, if not particularly innovative, dual performance. They have an immensely intriguing dynamic as both “family” and adversaries. Even if there was still a long way to go in 2019 for the technology, the de-aging technology on show is astounding.
Gemini Man is a decent action movie with heart-pounding chases, shootouts, and fight scenes reminiscent of Jason Bourne. However, it is prevented from greatness by its predictable fatalities, storyline gaps, and poor performances in comparison to other Will Smith star vehicles.
7. Men In Black 3 (2012)
Sony made the mistake of thinking they had a surefire franchise with Men in Black after the film’s popularity, and they lost out on a lucrative opportunity with Men in Black II. Will Smith returned to the series’ iconic black suit and shades in Men In Black 3, to the sound of even greater success, after letting theaters cool off for a good ten years.
In order to avert a catastrophic future, Smith’s Agent J has to go back in time and team up with a younger version of his partner in the third movie. Men in Black 3’s greatest mistake is severing the seductive bond between Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K and Will Smith’s Agent J. Nevertheless, Josh Brolin plays the younger Agent K in a criminally underappreciated performance that manages to imitate Jones’ mannerisms nearly perfectly.
Even though it lacks a few essential elements, the third installment in the Men in Black series manages to be one of the greatest, with the same chrome-laced gunfights and strange extraterrestrial monsters as the first two movies.
8. I, Robot (2004)
Will Smith, who has starred in numerous variations of the concept over the years, is one of the few actors who has perfected the art of the buddy-cop action movie. In one of his most iconic interpretations of this motif, he is paired with the humanoid robot Sonny, an inhuman partner. I, Robot, which is also based on a science fiction novel, follows Will Smith, a technophobe investigator in a futuristic setting, as he looks into the unexplained death of a prominent figure in the robotics sector.
One of the first movies to demonstrate Smith’s extraordinary success in police roles, the science fiction action thriller helped to set a distinct pattern that his career would eventually follow. I, Robot offers amazing action scenes, intriguing world-building, and a character that is uncharacteristically cynical for Smith to delve into.
Sadly, the movie takes on more philosophical material than it can handle, which leaves us with an enjoyable action movie that looks more significant than it is. It doesn’t help that there is some rather heinous product placement.
9. I Am Legend (2007)
Will Smith plays Dr. Robert Neville in the science fiction film I Am Legend, which is based on a brief story. The movie centers on Neville, the lone survivor of a vampiric virus outbreak, as he searches for other survivors and develops a treatment for the disease in a destroyed New York City while evading the nocturnal, voracious infected people known as darkseekers. I Am Legend is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece that is remarkably apart from anything else in Will Smith’s oeuvre.
With only his devoted dog companion, Sam, as a performance to base most of the movie around, Will Smith establishes his ability to carry a movie like no one else in I Am Legend. The film is kept fascinating by the intense chase scenes through the remains of civilization and the dramatic emotional passages, but the adaptation falls slightly short due to certain significant errors made in the story’s later phases, particularly the ending. I’m hoping that the next I Am Legend 2 can create a similar mood without mishandling the subjects or the story.
10. Hancock (2008)
It’s amazing that Will Smith, with his instantly identifiable visage, unquestionable star power, and powerful on-screen personality, wasn’t taken into consideration for the superhero universes of DC or Marvel films earlier than 2016’s miserable Suicide Squad. However, eight years prior, Smith appeared in a superhero novel that was independently published and went on to become a modest success.
The main character of Hancock, a rough-and-tumble ordinary man amnesiac with extraordinary power and resilience, reveals the details of his enigmatic past while fighting for acceptance by the general public. Hancock more than lives up to the promise of Will Smith as a heartless anti-hero, with some gratifyingly funny action sequences featuring the cynical figure taking on crooks.
Beyond Smith’s inventiveness and unwavering performance, though, the plot of Hancock is a bit disappointing, changing drastically at the midpoint to become a completely different movie. Hancock’s analysis of superhero clichés is hilarious when he stays true to the fundamentals, but his overemphasis on worldbuilding and lore overshadows Smith’s efforts.
