Danny Boyle is known as one of the greatest directors in history. The Englishman has directed for both stage and film, but it is the latter that has seen him go down in history for his artistic, award-winning style. He has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA, and has been nominated for countless others. He's a force in the industry that has created some amazing works during his career.
He's created many movies in his long and storied career, so today we’ve used IMDb to compare his five worst films (because there certainly are some) to his best films (which are pretty difficult to whittle down). Even Boyle's worst films aren't that bad, though, showing just how great of an artist he really is.
BEST: Shallow Grave (7.3)
After beginning his career by directing some high profile music videos, Danny Boyle was given a modest budget to create a (hopefully) successful black comedy.
It was his first directorial venture and attracted some of his frequent collaborators, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston, for the first time and shone a light on their as-yet-unknown careers. This was certainly a great first effort on the part of Boyle.
WORST: Millions (6.9)
Considering it is his fifth-worst film according to IMDb, Millions certainly didn’t get a critical reception that suggests a ‘bad’ film. It was actually quite an overwhelming critical success, which seemed to charm almost everyone that watched it. According to Boyle, it was going to be his first venture into the world of musicals.
BEST: 127 Hours (7.6)
127 Hours takes an incredibly interesting and dramatic premise (which could so easily end up looking really boring on-screen) and manages to avoid creating a film that you can almost never look away from, despite most of the film taking place in a little crack in the middle of a desert.
Unsurprisingly, the James Franco starring film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
WORST: Trance (6.9)
Another rather well-received film that shows off Boyle’s ability to create tension and thrilling psychological consequences is 2013’s Trance. The reviews weren’t glowing across the board as usual, but particularly compliments came thick and fast for his unparalleled ability to fill his films with truly dark humor.
BEST: 28 Days Later (7.6)
One of the most forward-thinking zombie films in a time when zombie films had become incredibly oversaturated was 28 Days Later. He returned to his collaboration with Christopher Ecclestone for this incredibly dark, fast-paced horror spectacular.
It was acclaimed across the board and is often considered the film which both brought fast zombies to the forefront and gave new life to a stilted genre.
WORST: Yesterday (6.8)
One of Boyle’s most recent films is the romantic comedy Yesterday. Its premise is incredibly unique: Jack Malik is the only person in the world who remembers The Beatles, going on to become famous after taking credit for their songs. Despite this, the romance angle wasn’t exactly necessary and the very clever concept was actually sort of neglected.
BEST: Slumdog Millionaire (8.0)
Danny Boyle really outdid himself with Slumdog Millionaire. It came out of nowhere, loosely adapting a novel called Q&A to propel Dev Patel to fame via a story about the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.
The plot itself is genius, as his correct answer to every question has a backing for why he knew it based on his incredible life story. It became one of the most successful British films ever, winning Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards.
WORST: The Beach (6.7)
Giving a young Leonardo Di Caprio is the main role, Boyle’s 2000 drama The Beach didn’t quite have the same impact as many of his other films of a similar era. It was rather divisive, as it was a success and the box office and its direction was praised, yet Di Caprio was actually nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor.
BEST: Trainspotting (8.1)
Of course, Boyle’s best film is the inimitable Trainspotting. Returning to Ewan McGregor and a colorful cast of great British actors to play the heroin-troubled Scottish group from Irvine Welsh’s hit novel, he really created something impressive here.
It is considered on one of the best British films of all time and was finally provided with a sequel in 2017 when its entire cast and director returned for T2. The sequel wasn’t as well-loved as the original, but against predictions from many, it certainly didn’t undo the legacy of its predecessor.
WORST: A Life Less Ordinary (6.4)
Just a year after Trainspotting took the world by storm, Danny Boyle reunited with Ewan McGregor, brought Cameron Diaz on board, and then ended up making his worst film. It was received negatively by critics and lost money at the box office, mostly because it had a boring story and wasn’t particularly funny.