Denzel Washington Best Movies Ranked Best to Worst

Set in 1971, Washington plays the Virginia high school football coach who spearheads a radical new regime of integrating an all-black school with an all-white one. Not everyone is happy at the start, but the ever-dependable Washington wins them round. 

Another one of Washington’s prestige sports dramas, this one is based on the real life story of Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, the championship boxing contender wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. Washington won a Best Actor Golden Globe, and was also nominated for Best Actor Academy Award. 

Tony Scott’s Man On Fire casts Washington as the less-than-heroic John Creasy, a former CIA agent turned alcoholic mercenary. The abduction of his boss’s daughter Pita (Dakota Fanning) spurs him into action, and when he gets going, Creasy can’t be stopped. At one point he inserts a bomb into someone’s backside. 

Ahead of their reunion on Gladiator II , Washington teamed up with director Ridley Scott for his dastardly turn as unredemptive criminal Frank Lucas, the no-good mastermind who rises to power on the streets of ‘60s New York. He’s joined by a powerhouse cast of Russell Crowe, John Hawkes, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Josh Brolin.

A compelling character study directed by Robert Zemeckis, Flight casts Washington as Whip Whitaker, a commercial airline pilot with a heavy addiction to alcohol. When the plane he’s flying almost crashes, he’s the heavily scrutinized subject of a national inquest. 

A historical drama chronicling the first all-black volunteer company in the US Army. While the ensemble cast features Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick, it’s Washington who steals the show, especially during one scene where he’s brutally flogged. As a result, he rightfully won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

An underrated heist movie by Spike Lee, Inside Man pits Washington’s dogged Detective Keith Frazier against Clive Owen’s ultra-prepared thief Dalton Russell. With Russell taking a Manhattan bank and its customers hostages, Frazier has to find a way of getting everyone out alive, but he seems to be one step behind at every turn. 

Before Inside Man, Spike Lee directed Washington in the epic biopic of the civil rights leader Malcolm X . His portrayal is layered, complex, and powerful, and earned Washington an Oscar nomination, losing out to Al Pacino in one of the Academy’s biggest ever upsets. 

It’s Washington vs Hackman on board a nuclear submarine, the former a newly promoted officer, the latter a Captain. When a Russian splinter group threaten World War 3, the men battle for control of the vessel. This film marks the first of many collaborations between Washington and Tony Scott, with a script co-written by Quentin Tarantino.

A crime thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua, Denzel Washington gives a career-best performance as Alonzo Harris, the LAPD narcotics officer with some pretty extreme methods. Together with his rookie partner, Ethan Hawke’s Jake Hoyt, we follow the pair over a hectic 24-hour period navigating the neighbourhoods LA, with Washington throwing off the reins and unleashing the full force of his talents.