Often called the most charismatic actor working Hollywood today, Will Smith is one of the last of a breed of movie stars who can do it all. His career as an actor was never something that Smith took lightly and, much like comparable superstar Tom Cruise, he built his roles carefully. The result has been a long career at the top, with far more hits than misses. His movies appear to only get better, and more beloved, the older he becomes. Smith provides one of the best qualities a star can possess: the impression that their best work is always still ahead of them.
Here’s Will Smith’s top ten highest rated movies on IMDb right now.
Men In Black 3 (6.8)
Will Smith’s last appearance, so far, in the long-lasting media franchise that he helped to forge was the most expensive of the series but also the highest grossing.
It would be easy to think that appreciation was a gimme for the beloved Men in Black series, especially for a movie that was seen as a comeback after the disappointment of the previous movie a decade prior. But Men in Black 3 genuinely remembers the aspects that made the original movie work so well and reconfigures them to feel new and exciting for an audience fifteen years down the road from that initial success.
Bad Boys (6.9)
The debut of Michael Bay as an action director, and Will Smith as an action star, would change both men’s careers and the face of Hollywood forever. The buddy cop comedy with Martin Lawrence was big, loud and stylized beyond reason. It was a perfect vehicle for a world that didn’t yet know Smith as a leading man in movies and still associated him with his musical persona, popularized by The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Which was still going at that time.)
Bay and Smith would reteam eight years later for the similarly beloved sequel, with the belated third installment slated for a 2020 release.
Independence Day (7)
Released less than two months after the final episode of Smith’s defining TV hit The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the monster success of Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi spectacle secured Smith as not just a bankable action star in major Hollywood movies but an actor with a whole new career lying ahead of him beyond the Fresh Prince persona and the world of music.
Independence Day also, crucially, demonstrated Smith’s abilities as a team player. The movie was by no means all about him but he was still able to shine while playing one member of an ensemble and one half of his buddy pairing with Jeff Goldblum’s character.
Concussion (7.1)
It may seem odd for an actor so closely associated with action blockbusters, but Will Smith’s most popular movies seem to be his smaller dramatic roles. Even when, like Concussion, they’re largely unloved by critics and the box office, relatively speaking.
Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu in the movie, a Nigerian-American physician credited with the discovery and exposure of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in professional American football players and its resulting health issues. The movie chronicles both Omalu’s struggle for acceptance and respect as a Nigerian in America and his clash with the NFL over his research.
I, Robot (7.1)
With the possible exception of the next movie on our list, 2004’s I, Robot is the most unashamed star vehicle for Smith as a leading action hero in his IMDb top ten.
Its connections to the collection of Isaac Asimov stories from which it takes its name is tenuous, at best, and the movie contains wall-to-wall product placements but it’s hard to feel unsatisfied when you’ve seen Will Smith blowing away robots with a machine gun. Part whodunnit, part cyberpunk epic, I, Robot is relentless in its goal to entertain the audience by any means necessary.
I Am Legend (7.2)
The third movie adaptation of Richard Matheson’s seminal post-apocalypse novel of the same name had been cooking for over a decade before it made it to the big screen, with Smith originally being attached to star in an earlier production, directed by Michael Bay, that inevitably fell through. (If you think that sounds weird, wait until you hear about the one before from Ridley Scott and Arnold Schwarzenegger.) It certainly wasn’t without its problems, demonstrated quite well by its two completely different endings, but the idea of spending a few hours alone with Will Smith in New York was clearly too good of an offer to pass up for audiences.
I Am Legend’s continual script problems mattered a lot less when it became obvious that Smith could improvise his own dialogue, or just say nothing at all, and still be hugely compelling.
Enemy Of The State (7.3)
Tony Scott’s paranoid thriller sees Smith play a successful lawyer who becomes embroiled in the coverup of a government assassination via a random encounter with an old acquaintance. It sounds like the perfect set up for a classical thriller but Enemy of the State is far more new school than old school and it’s because of this that it still strikes a chord today.
For all the outdated technology that plagued most 90s movies, Enemy of the State was one of the decade’s many action thrillers that were remarkably ahead of their time. In 1998, the movie depicted the NSA engaging in surveillance practices that would be vehemently denied until Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing in 2013. Today, they’re generally accepted as fact.
Men In Black (7.3)
Loosely based on a comic series from the early 90s, Barry Sonnenfeld’s sci-fi action buddy comedy spawned a verifiable media franchise that’s lasted up until today with sequels and a spinoff. The original movie was another demonstration of Smith’s power as a team player. He stole the movie by himself without it being structured all around him.
The overall strength of the cast, coupled with Danny Elfman’s hugely memorable score and Rick Baker’s Oscar winning special effects, cemented Smith as an actor who was more interested in being recognized for good movies than just recognized as a movie star.
Seven Pounds (7.6)
Another example of a critically-unloved small-scale drama from the lower half of Smith’s box office rankings that has only grown in popularity since its release, even potentially becoming identifiable as a cult movie.
Seven Pounds is a small-scale emotional drama that’s gained popularity and interest over the years since its release almost certainly because how unusual it is for a Will Smith movie and because of its more mysterious attributes. With key information being revealed slowly throughout the course of the movie, leading to a shocking conclusion.
The Pursuit Of Happyness (8)
It’s not difficult to see why Smith’s portrayal of real-life entrepreneur Chris Gardiner during a time of great financial struggle and homelessness has resonated with so many since its debut in 2006. The performance would earn Smith his second Oscar nomination and prove a huge hit at the box office on release but the message of determination in the face of overwhelming hardship has only grown more relatable over time.
The Pursuit of Happyness would also mark a significant change in Smith’s onscreen star persona as he became no longer the only Smith on screen. His son, Jaden, making his debut in the movie.