Summary
Few actors can boast as many iconic action films asWill Smith, whose filmography spans a wide gulf of quality.One of Hollywood’s premiere leading stars for decades now, Will Smith’s box office dominance is a near guarantee.While the actor is also well-known for his strictly comedic and dramatic roles, many of the best Will Smith movies are action romps ending with aclosing credits song performed by Will Smith himself. But not every Will Smith action blockbuster is created equally.
Smith’s movies encompass a range of different types of enjoyment, from low-brow spectacle to thought-provoking profundity. His action movies are almost as varied as his career as a whole, with varying degrees of seriousness, execution, and production value. WhileWill Smith’s movies often divide critics and audiences, the best of his explosion-slinging, bullet-dodging tentpole box office events balance all three of these elements and more to make everyone happy.
Will Smith Names 4 Movies That Best Define His Career
Bad Boys 4 star Will Smith picks the four movies that best define his career, choosing a Mount Rushmore that includes huge hits and an Oscar-winner.
Hancock
Cast
Hancock is a 2008 superhero film starring Will Smith as John Hancock. Despite being a superhero, Hancock could care less about the damage he causes in the city as long as he catches the criminals he’s after. But after he saves Ray (Jason Bateman) the two work together to help his public image and turn him into a real hero.
With such a recognizable face, undeniable star power, and potent on-screen charisma, it’s a wonder Will Smith wasn’t considered for the superhero worlds of DC or Marvel movies sooner than2016’s abysmally-receivedSuicide Squad.But 8 years earlier, Smith starred in an original superhero story that went on to enjoy its own quiet success.Hancockis the story of its titular hero, a gruff everyman amnesiac with incredible strength and durabilitywho unravels that nature of his mysterious past while struggling to gain the public’s acceptance.
The promise of Will Smith as a callous anti-hero is more than lived up to byHancock, withsome satisfyingly hilarious action beats of the cynical character taking on criminals. But beyond the creative action and steadfast performance turned in by Smith, the storyline ofHancockis something of a letdown, morphing into a very different film by the halfway point. WhenHancocksticks to the basics, it’s a great tongue-in-cheek dissection of superhero tropes, but gets too lost in its own lore and worldbuilding, dragging down Smith’s efforts.
I Am Legend
Loosely based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, a virologist who believes himself to be the last human on Earth. After a virus turns most of the world’s population into vampiric creatures known as Darkseekers, Neville finds himself immune. Believing himself to be the last man of Earth, Neville stalks through the ruins of New York, hoping to create an antidote that will save humanity.
Based on a short science fiction tale, Will Smith stars inI Am Legendas Dr. Robert Neville.The sole survivor of an outbreak of a vampiric virus, the film follows Neville’s attempts to seek other survivors and create a curefor the affliction in a bombed-out New York City, all the while dodging the ravenous nocturnal infected humans known as darkseekers. A starkly unique post-apocalyptic standout in Will Smith’s filmography,I Am Legendlives up to its name.
Will Smith proves his ability to carry a film like no one else inI Am Legend, having no other performances to bounce off of for the majority of the film save for his faithful canine companion, Sam. The poignant emotional scenes and harrowing chases through the skeleton of civilization keeps the film exciting, but some key blunders in the late stages of the story, especially the ending, make the adaptation fall a little bit short. Hopefully,the upcomingI Am Legend 2can do craft a similar atmosphere without fumbling the themes and narrative.
I, Robot
I, Robot is a science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas, set in a 2035 world where robots are integrated into society. Detective Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, is skeptical of these machines and investigates a crime he believes was committed by a robot, challenging the established trust humans have in robotic technology. The story explores themes of artificial intelligence, ethics, and the evolving relationship between humans and robots.
Few actors have mastered the art of the buddy-cop action movie like Will Smith, who has starred in countless iterations of the premise over the years. One of his most memorable takes on this trope pairs him with an inhuman partner, the humanoid robot, Sonny.Also based on a science fiction book,I, Robotposits Will Smith as a technophobic detective in a futuristic worldinvestigating the mysterious suicide of a robotics industry leader.
The science fiction action thriller is one of the earliest films to prove Smith’s unprecedented success in police roles, helping to establish a clear trend that his career would go on to follow.I, Robothas phenomenal action setpieces, fascinating world-building, and an uncharacteristically jaded character for Smith to explore.Unfortunately, the film bites off more philosophical substance than it can chew, resulting in a fun action movie that seems to think it’s more important than it actually is. The presence of some truly egregious product placement doesn’t help matters.
10 Will Smith Movies That Critics Didn’t Like, But Audiences Did
While some of Will Smith’s movies may fail to hit the mark with critics, they are still enjoyed by audiences and worth watching at least once.
Men in Black 3
The third installment in the Men in Black franchise, Men in Black 3 sees Agent J (Will Smith) travel back in time to prevent his partner, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) from being assassinated. Arriving in 1969, J meets younger K (Josh Brolin), and the pair must work together to stop an alien terrorist called Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement).
After the success ofMen In Black, Sony mistakenly believed themselves to have a surefire franchise on their hands, only to drop the ball with the poorly-receivedMen In Black II.After letting theaters cool down for a solid 10 years, Will Smith donned the series' trademark black suit and shades once more inMen In Black 3, to the sound of much greater success.For the third film, Smith’s Agent J must travel back in time to join forces with a younger version of his partner in order to prevent a disastrous future.
The biggest sinMen In Black 3commits is separating the intoxicating chemistry of Will Smith’s Agent J with Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K. That being said, Josh Brolin gives a criminally underrated performance as the younger version of Agent K, astonishingly copying Jones' mannerisms to an almost supernatural degree. With the same chrome-laced gunfights and bizarre alien creatures as the previous two films, the third entry manages to be one of the best of theMen In Blackmovies, even if it is missing a few key ingredients.
Gemini Man
Will Smith pulls double duty in Ang Lee’s Gemini Man as retired sniper Henry Brogan, whose biggest enemy turns out to be a younger clone of himself. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Benedict Wong, and Clive Owen round out the main cast of this 2019 action thriller.
Taking a more grounded, serious look at Will Smith’s action acting chops,Gemini Manmight not be the most ubiquitous film with Smith’s name on it, but it was a quiet success for those that gave it a chance.The film stars Smith as an aging assassin who wants out of the business, only to be targeted by the only person capable of taking him down – Himself.On the run from his own clone, Will Smith’s Henry Brogan has to keep a low profile and enlist some help from a few old friends to survive.
Will Smith turns in a decent, if not ground-breaking dual performance as twin versions of the same character, who have an incredibly fascinating dynamic as both “family” and enemies.The de-aging technology on display is impressive, even if the technology still had a long way to go in 2019.With pulse-pounding chases, shoot outs, and fight scenes reminiscent of Jason Bourne,Gemini Manis a solid action flick gatekept from greatness by its plot holes, predictable deaths, and sub-par performances compared to other Will Smith star vehicles.
Enemy Of The State
Enemy of the State is a political thriller directed by Tony Scott, featuring Will Smith as Robert Dean, a lawyer unwittingly thrust into a covert government conspiracy after obtaining evidence of a politically motivated murder. Gene Hackman co-stars as an ex-NSA operative who aids Dean in navigating the perilous landscape of surveillance and corruption. The film examines the far-reaching implications of government overreach and personal privacy invasion.
Before becoming typecast as the wisecracking funny man of the Hollywood action blockbuster world, Will Smith has tried time and time again to delve into more serious roles. Among his action films, none are more straightforward thanEnemy of the State, a Tony Scott film with no fantastical world or science fiction technology.Smith plays Robert Clayton Dean, a simple lawyer who becomes hopelessly entangled in a dangerous schemerevolving around an agent of the NSA.
Enemy of the Staterelies on the suspenseful intrigue of its plot to keep audiences invested, rather than simple explosions and chases. This effort is well-rewarded with some intense action beats that feel truly earned.Enemy of the Statealso poses some interesting questions on state surveillance, making forby far the headiest of Smith’s successful action movies.However, it’s undeniable that Smith excels better in less-dramatic roles where he’s free to embellish the action with his signature brand of comedy. Anyone could’ve played Robert Clayton Dean, but the same can’t be said of Smith’s other iconic action characters.
Bad Boys
Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, played by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, must recover $100 million worth of stolen heroin in Miami. When a key witness to a murder, Julie Mott, is threatened, they race against time to protect her and take down the ruthless drug lord Fouchet behind the heist.
The first true action film Will Smith ever starred in,Bad Boysis responsible for pioneering an entire subgenre of Will Smith movies. Though straddled with a simple plot, the film would go on to multiple sequels, all owing much of their style to the original. Alongside Martin Lawrence,Will Smith plays a Miami detective investigating the theft of a massive supply of narcotics from under police custody, leading the two of them on a wild goose chase through the city’s criminal underworld.
The polar opposite ofEnemy of the State,Bad Boysknows what it is and excels at it, staying in its lane as an effortlessly cool pure action film.Martin Lawrence presents Will Smith with one of his best literal buddy-cop partners yet, the two bouncing off one another wonderfully while weaving their way through some tight spots. One of thebest films of director Michael Bay,Bad Boysdeserves credit as the progenitor of many Will Smith action movie tropes, if nothing else.
Independence Day
Roland Emmerich’s iconic 1996 sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day chronicles the attack of a hostile race of aliens against planet Earth. When extraterrestrial aircraft occupy Earth without warning, the forces of humanity quickly band together to stop them. At the behest of President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), US Marine pilot Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and satellite engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) organize humanity’s last-ditch counterattack against the technologically-advanced alien mothership.
Bad Boyswas a fantastic flick to get Will Smith’s foot in the door as an action movie star, but it was the next year’sIndependence Daythat truly made him a household name. As fighter pilot Captain Steve Hiller,Will Smith leads a strike force against an army of alien invaders from outer space, who wage war on the planet of the 4th of July.Hailed as one of the all-time greatest disaster movies ever made,Independence Dayneeds little explanation for its success.
Even though the split narrative keeps Will Smith from dominating the film’s runtime,his infectious charisma is at its zenith inIndependence Day, as he punches an alien in the face and tells it “Welcome to Earth!” with a career-defining delivery.His idiosyncratic pairing with Jeff Goldblum stands out as the perfect odd-couple to weather the relentless explosions and brilliant practical effects of director Roland Emmerich’s vision. Low-brow though it may be,Independence Daydefined Smith’s filmography through sheer rule of cool.
Bad Boys for Life
In Bad Boys For Life, the third installment in the Bad Boys film franchise, Marcus Burnett wants to retire, but when Mike Lowrey is shot, and the assailant goes after a friend of Burnett’s, the two team up together for one last ride.
Just like in theMen In Blackseries,Bad Boys IIwas a dramatic step down for the Smith-led franchise, with Michael Bay’s logic-defying signature being a little bit too visible. Luckily, the legacy of the first film was proven to still have legs by the time ofBad Boys For Life.When Mike is targeted by the vengeful wife and son of a powerful Mexican drug lord, it’s up to him and Marcus to assemble a special team of new recruits to take down the emergent threat.
Despite almost 20 years having passed since the lastBad Boysmovie,Bad Boys For Lifemakesit seem as if no time had passed at all, with Smith and Lawrence slipping back into their old characterswith shocking familiarity. Outpacing even the cheesy greatness of the first film,Bad Boys For Lifeused modern filmmaking to bring the series up to speed with new action heights, finally winning over selective movie critics with its charm and personality. Judging by thebox office success ofBad Boys: Ride Or Die, the third film was good enough to win back public opinion.
How Much Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Were Paid For All 4 Bad Boys Movies
Will Smith & Martin Lawrence made quite a bit of money for their portrayals of Det. Burnett and Det. Lowry in the wildly popular Bad Boys franchise.
Men In Black
James, a New York police officer, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
Men In Black 3was a clever twist on what made the original work, but the first film in the alien-fighting franchise simply can’t be topped, even by any other Will Smith movie.The 1997 film sets up Will Smith as Agent J, an F.B.I. agent that makes a career pivot to the elusive titular organization in charge of extraterrestrial immigration on Earth.It’s up to Agent J and his new partner and mentor, Agent K, to stop a particularly dangerous alien threat.
Will Smith has gone on record namingMen In Blackas one of his own favorites in hispersonal Mount Rushmore of Will Smith movies, and it’s easy to see why.
Will Smith has gone on record namingMen In Blackas one of his own favoritesin hispersonal Mount Rushmore of Will Smith movies, and it’s easy to see why. From Smith’s effortless chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K to the hilarious alien creatures and Vincent D’Onofrio’s incredible villain Edgar the Bug, there’s simply too much to appreciate about the firstMen In Black.As an action movie, there’s no question that it ranks supreme among the action movies ofWill Smith’s filmography.
