In the times that we live in, in which everything and every public move or opinion is under close scrutiny, it has become more challenging to analyze the more globally renowned and famous names of a culture than it is to show more underappreciated and low-key names the light of the day. This is to say that, by extension, it isn’t easy to write about the culture of cinema that Will Smith represents and the person he is. Don’t get me wrong- the Philadelphia-born actor has made some of the most generally watchable and easily consumable films of Hollywood.
Starting his acting career with a self-referential leading role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-96), he sort of carried off the vibe with his subsequent roles, even sustaining it in the latter stages of his filmography. However, he famously donned a sort of battlefield star avatar at the peak of his career. Smith became the poster boy of mainstream American cinema that utilized the best of visual technology to create the most committedly noisy and graphic action sequences that exist, even if it watered down to the most plastic and horrible M. Night Shyamalan science-fiction outing ever. What remained, though, was a singular focus on certain agreeable, and dare I say, charming antics that filtered the substance of all the directorial work put together.
In short, we got the sensibility of a furiously active movie star who very much knows how to make things majorly about himself, even before the infamous trajectory at the 2022 Oscars, which would most certainly be a memorable chapter written by his… fingernails. However, what if an actor limits himself to doing just a set of those things? On the surface, the answer seems relatively easy- the downfall is inevitable, and even the attempt to do something different would be nullified.
On the flip side, though, there is the compelling possibility of a formula working to an engaging extent, as we will see here, as the descending order turns from the ‘least mediocre’ to the ‘most entertaining.’ Here are our favorite Will Smith films, a tribute to the kind of familiarity that will never not be worth writing off.
10. Enemy of the State (1998)
Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State is a film that completely justifies its position on the list, being the least mediocre of the genuinely interesting good work that Will Smith has ever done. One of his earliest involvements in a swift action-thriller project, Enemy of the State, is the most Michael Bay film that Michael Bay never made, albeit less exciting and equipped with a plot that is more invested in details. The film is decidedly half-baked and even tasteless in places. Even if you are a fan of the genre and quick to spot unique details in almost everything that you devour from it, you will have a hard time spotting something that has been done differently from the utterly generic one you watched days ago.
Where the film succeeds, though, is its anti-establishment stance on modern American governance and a political system’s unapologetic use of high-technology surveillance on an ordinary lawyer who finds himself in very extraordinary circumstances. In its best moments, especially those that find Will Smith’s Robert Clayton Dean at their center, the film is actually having fun with its otherwise serious and dense material.
9. Aladdin (2019)
From the perspective of being a Will Smith movie, Aladdin works more often than it doesn’t, and that is also the most important reason it finds a place this high in a list of his best films. In an unusual move even by his eccentric standards, Guy Ritchie directed him as a wise, funny, and friendly genie-next-door in the live-action adaptation of the beloved Disney classic of the same name. However, Smith delivers a performance that is mostly on the money and unaffected by the IP or the template, primarily by blending in. His performance is frivolous, musical, and overall a fantastic support system to our charming leading boy, which is a win by all measures.
In fact, this is one of the better Disney offerings in recent years featuring actual walking-and-talking human beings and a retelling of a familiar story that revises almost nothing but the musicality of it all. The love story at its core is also passable, mostly because the leads are talented and sound enough with their chemistry. The culprit? The studio itself.
8. Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Fred Schepisi’s adaptation of the 1990 play by John Guare remains one of the lesser-known yet one of the most important works in Will Smith’s career. Of course, it is not the most prominent achievement he would be known for, and the performance, too, demands little more than a couple of speeches from him. However, this remains perhaps the only state-of-the-art work he was a part of in his early days of working in a feature film. The film, and how it has been directed in itself, would be a treat to watch for fans of stage art and stage-to-screen adaptations, primarily because it very much slips into the skin of theatrical quality. The events happen as a churning out of the back-and-forth between characters, which makes it convincing.
What also makes the film worth a watch is the stellar acting talent involved. Will is quite unlike how he usually is, but Stockard Channing stands out in a leading performance with its own farcical charm. The film would have worked like magic if not for its tedious third act, which makes a troubled shift from satirical dark comedy to a soap opera-style melodrama. If that sounds just like your thing, the film would be a perfect watch on a laid-back, mellow evening.
7. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Ever since the day of its release, The Pursuit of Happyness has been a cult favorite. Many film lovers and Hollywood fans have deemed the film as one of those moments in which feel-good, uplifting, and saccharine cinema reached its peak. To be fair, such claims are partially correct. The structure and the dialogues of this Gabriele Muccino film, a proper three-act biopic of philanthropist Chris Gardner, are all marinated in the energy and vibe of a motivational speaker delivering his lifetime speech and, for what it’s worth, which makes it both a solid tear-jerker and a fitting crowd-pleaser.
However, the reason for such low placement of the film on the list can purely be attributed to how safe it really plays. The film is almost too glossed up for an underdog story ridden with tragic and even traumatic conflicts. However, it also opens up the possibility of falling prey to a story that is too dramatic and rags-to-riches to be consumed without that prejudice. On the other hand, it remains essential to watch, if only to savor the most nuanced and subtle performance of Will Smith in his entire career and his cute chemistry with his own son that elevates the standard and ordinary direction it pursues.
6. Independence Day (1996)
Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day is a blend of science-fiction opera, adventure drama, and disaster movies in surefire ways that it is impossible after a point not to dismiss your prejudices and enjoy the film. In fact, it works best as a piece of millennial nostalgia, with over-the-top and intense drama in a plot that is as scattered as its punctured editing. What makes it so fun is that it is all over the place and leaves no ready room for nuance, the literal everything-everywhere-all-at-once of unadulterated Hollywood spectacle.
For once, its summer entertainer value is so immediately effective that you would like to keep watching even as the narrative elements are hanging like threads in thin air. Although it is not the quintessential Will Smith movie and doesn’t quite hold up as a piece of his legacy, it is a film that manages to sustain its more significant motives with superb stakes. At the very least, it uses the familiar tropes with great originality.
5. King Richard (2021)
As a disclaimer before watching the film, you deserve to know that King Richard is weaker than a majority of the films in the list and finds its position here because it is an important work with respect to the glaring legacy of the star at its front- one that also becomes complex because different people will remember its position in the awards season for various reasons. In fact, for the most part, this diluted sports drama doesn’t even feel like a real film. It is more of a gift, commissioned by the Williams sisters as a sort of thank-you to their father, Richard Williams, affirmed by the fact that they have produced the film.
However, what makes it watchable and even intermittently enjoyable is the Oscar-winning leading performance that Will Smith has pulled off as Richard. Although the writing whitewashes the grey areas of the real-life hero to highlight his struggle to make his daughters visible, it doesn’t diminish the core-rattling power of Smith’s role, arguably the best of his career.
4. Ali (2001)
Ali is not one of the strongest or the most defining films of American auteur Michael Mann’s legacy, some of whose films redefined mainstream action as we know it. However, he plucks the dramatically sound and compelling life of Cassius X, later renowned in the world as Muhammad Ali, and treats the events following his rise to fame with absolute honesty and conviction. It is not a perfect film because in staying true to the character work, the film mistakes exhaustion for engagement, and the dense narrative packed with different timelines and extensive characters often takes us out of the experience. Also, given that the film spans decades of the boxer’s life, the edit between its leaps should have been less jarring.
Yet, for all its flaws, it is one of the rare sports biopics that operates with minimum clichés, and the merits are much more than the loopholes. For one, in tracing the judicial involvements of Ali, the film reveals itself to be politically aware and intelligent. Additionally, the writing is slight but sincere enough not to compromise on the mysterious aspects of the young star’s life. Most importantly, Will Smith owns up to the task of delivering the most challenging performance of his life that demands him to shed his familiar skin entirely, and it is nothing short of impeccable that he does, after all, own up.
3. Bad Boys (1995)
Although the look and feel of Bad Boys tend to disagree, this birthplace of Michael Bay has a plot so convoluted and a set-up so exhaustive that even within the territory of its genre, it runs the risk of becoming peak trash. The treatment is over-the-top, predictable even. However, the singular choice of focusing on the chemistry shared by Martin Lawrence and Will Smith turned the cards for the film entirely. It immortalized its name among the most memorable action comedies of the late 20th century. Lawrence and Smith basically carry the entire motion of this film, and they are fantastic when it comes to anchoring their bromance to a specific direction.
In his first film, Bay proves that a tendency to be unafraid of going over the radar with slapstick comedy can pay off if done with love. We also had Téa Leoni switching from a damsel-in-distress to a sexy warrior with a gun in her hands. Although the film is made keeping in mind that it is supposed to be a franchise, the filmmaking is essentially hilarious and pays a heartfelt ode to male idiocy.
2. I Am Legend (2007)
Francis Lawrence’s film bears a title that is not just bad but also misleading- I Am Legend has a protagonist who is not half as boastful as the film claims to be, in part due to Will Smith’s reasonably strong performance, which works like a potion within the boundaries of the idealistic American family hero. Of course, this is an apocalypse-based science-fiction survival thriller with stakes so high that there is absolutely no room for depth. However, incredible talent is on display here because it is the rare high-octane action film that doesn’t put execution on the side and is pretty fun and competent.
Although a rarity in the quality films of its kind, I Am Legend is unique because it works in part due to the fact that it takes itself more seriously than the audiences would. The fact that it restricts the outreach of silliness is actually a gift because until we arrive at the awful cliffhanger of a climax, we know that we have been offered a lot of substance that smells of fresh popcorn. Overall, it is a good and committed entertainer even by today’s standards, and it is proof that Emma Thompson can have you thinking about her even if she does a commercial cameo for mere seconds.
1. Men in Black (1997)
Men in Black is the undisputed king of Will Smith’s exciting and entertaining brand of action-comedic cinema. Outrageous, deeply funny, and overall a compelling crowd-pleaser, it is the kind of slapstick science-fiction classic that can make a cheap joke about the acclaim it receives. It is self-aware and wonderful because it knows that the writing it works with is familiar and features cosmic stakes that are pretty dried up and worn out. It tags along anyway because it knows it is riding on some of the most innovative jokes of its time and astonishing 3D effects, which you can never look back at with disdain. Director Benny Sonnenfeld’s approach is glorious, piercing, and razor-sharp.
What genuinely surprises one about the film is how it plucks every actor and voice artist to give them their own stand-alone moments to seize. The only prominent woman in the picture is casually inserted and then is put into an unpredictable spotlight almost casually, which remains an impressive aspect that modern blockbusters still find difficult to pull off.
