Denzel Washington

Denzel’s a great actor and one of America’s most popular, so I am expecting some pushback on this top ten.

The thing is, as much as I like him, he seems to have fallen into a pattern over the last decade of playing one of two types: Badass villain, or more frequently, badass good guy. All too often, he’s playing those parts in good, but rarely great films.

In fact, after the first three I have listed here, you could safely argue that he’s got over a dozen starring vehicles of roughly just-above-average quality. It would be hard for me to argue with an alternate top ten that has seven different films than the ones I have picked.

He’s playing what people want to see, I guess, and while it’s hard to argue with that as long as the films are OK, I do wish he would stretch a little bit. Early in his career he did some low-key comedy. He could easily handle straight-up drama that doesn’t turn on gunplay. Anything, really, just break it up a little. He’s an Oscar-worthy actor mostly participating in People’s Choice-level films.

Ten best roles: 1) Malcolm X 2) American Gangster 3) Glory 4) The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 5) The Great Debaters 6) Inside Man 7) The Manchurian Candidate 8) Out of Time 9) Training Day 10) Courage Under Fire