12 Best Russell Crowe Movies, Ranked According to IMDb

One of many best stars of twenty first century cinema, Russell Crowe has been entertaining audiences all around the world for many years. Outlined by his endeavor and his versatility, a lot of Crowe’s most well-known roles are his heroic lead components, however he has additionally flourished as heinous villains and even in smaller components amid huge, ensemble casts. To focus on his skills additional, he has additionally narrated docuseries and tried his hand at directing with some success.

Nevertheless, it’s undeniably in appearing the place his legacy has been established and consolidated, profitable a number of important accolades together with the Academy Award for Greatest Lead Actor for his efficiency within the iconic historic epic Gladiator, an achievement he adopted up instantly with one other Oscar-nominated efficiency in A Beautiful Mind. Crowe’s resumé is in depth and filled with acclaimed initiatives, a lot of which have obtained excessive rankings on IMDb. The most effective Russell Crowe motion pictures on IMDb are a wholesome mixture of comedies, blockbusters, and searing dramas, showcasing his versatility as a performer.

12 ‘The Subsequent Three Days’ (2010)

IMDb Score: 7.3/10

A rewarding remake of the 2008 French movie Pour Elle (‘Something For Her’), The Next Three Days excels as a grounded motion thriller that gives loads of pleasure in its easy and efficient premise. The lifetime of a married couple is uprooted when Lara (Elizabeth Banks) is arrested for murdering her boss regardless of her insistence that she is harmless. When her final probability to enchantment the decision fails, John (Crowe) places collectively a plan to interrupt her out of jail.

Though the movie has some pacing points and is sometimes contradictory in its tone, it does largely thrive as a riveting motion flick with agency, established stakes, and characters in a predicament that’s simple to take care of. Whereas critics have been divided on the movie, basic audiences proved to be extra welcoming, with its 7.3 ranking on IMDb a strong and respectable rating. It additionally features Liam Neeson in a supporting role. – Ryan Heffernan

11 ‘The Good Guys’ (2016)

IMDb Score: 7.4/10

A profession spotlight from Shane Black that makes distinctive use of its sensible comedy duo in Crowe and Ryan Gosling, 2016’s neo-noir black comedy The Nice Guys has turn out to be one of many greatest cult classics of the 2010s. Set within the seediness of Seventies L.A., it follows the uneasy alliance between a tricky enforcer and a hapless P.I. as they examine the disappearance of a younger girl, a case that finally ends up having ties to important political figures.

Hilarious and hectic, The Good Guys has overcome its disastrous field workplace show with beautiful immediacy to be broadly thought to be among the best comedy motion pictures lately. It holds up nicely on a number of rewatches as a ridiculously entertaining buddy cop film that introduced out the comedic genius in each of its main stars. As its reputation has steadily grown, curiosity in a possible Nice Guys sequel has materialized.

10 ‘Grasp and Commander: The Far Aspect of the World’ (2003)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Made in 2003, Peter Weir‘s Grasp and Commander: The Far Aspect of the World relies on three of Patrick O’Brian‘s novels and is about within the Napoleonic Wars. It recounts the beginning of the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and his ship’s surgeon and, when the event requires it, naturalist Stephen Maturin.

Crowe performs a younger commander of a British man-o’-war ordered to search out and destroy a French frigate, convincing audiences that he might certainly have stuffed the position. His super efficiency receives appreciable assist from Weir’s course and among the greatest naval motion sequences ever filmed, plus an amazing efficiency from Paul Bettany as Maturin. Thought of by some to be amongst the most historically accurate movies, Grasp and Commander superbly brings the early Nineteenth-century naval expertise to life with epic grandiosity.

9 ‘Les Misérables’ (2012)

IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Tailored from the celebrated eponymous musical, Les Misérables asks Crowe to not solely play an early Nineteenth-century French police inspector however to sing his approach by means of the plot. Crowe stars as Javert, the movie’s de-facto antagonist with a decades-long obsession to convey Jean Valjean to justice.

Right here, Crowe is a part of an ensemble solid that features Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, and Eddie Redmayne. Jackman and Hathaway have been standouts, receiving Oscar nominations for his or her roles, with Hathway profitable Greatest Supporting Actress. Nevertheless, Crowe’s position because the initially vindictive and in the end tragic inspector provides considerably to the movie’s emotional depth. His singing has attracted a lot criticism from followers and audiences, and the Oscar-winning film hasn’t aged exactly well. Nevertheless, Crowe’s spectacular dedication to Les Misérables can’t be denied.

8 ‘3:10 to Yuma’ (2007)

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Thought of one in every of the best Westerns of the last 20 years, 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma is the second movie created from a 1953 Elmore Leonard brief story. The primary model, made 50 years earlier than, can also be thought of one of many nice Westerns! The movie follows Ben Wade (Crowe), a captured outlaw who have to be taken to jail on the three.10 practice to Yuma. The issue is getting him to the practice with out his gang rescuing him.

Crowe stars as a ruthless however congenial villain, whereas Christian Bale performs one of many posse’s deputized to escort him to his practice. The pair turn out to be, if not pals, then allies of a form, discovering extra in widespread with one another than both want to admit. 3:10 to Yuma deftly handles thought-provoking themes of morality, loyalty, and sympathy whereas nonetheless delivering an exhilarating Western that ranks among the many style’s greatest trendy entries.

7 ‘The Insider’ (1999)

IMDb Rating: 7.8/10

Based mostly on {a magazine} article about Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco firm whistle-blower, 1999’s The Insider is a brilliantly made, tension-filled drama. Extra importantly, it is a very important story about how the media – when all else fails – will be a necessary channel for telling the general public the reality about essential points.

A rare solid is capped with Al Pacino enjoying a tv producer attempting to movie Wigand’s story, usually towards opposition from his personal broadcaster. Crowe stuns as Wigand, delivering a tense, decided, absorbing efficiency that earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Greatest Actor. Crowe is The Insider‘s beating coronary heart, completely enhancing the movie’s anxious tone together with his modulated, exact efficiency.

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6 ‘American Gangster’ (2007)

IMDb Rating: 7.8/10

Launched the identical yr as 3.10 to Yuma, American Gangster has Crowe enjoying on the aspect of the angels on this crime drama set in Harlem. The film tells the true story of heroin kingpin Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and the policeman, Detective Richie Roberts (Crowe), who finally introduced him down. Roberts discovers Lucas is transport his heroin from Thailand to the US within the coffins of lifeless troopers being returned from the battle in Vietnam. Roberts provides Lucas a deal: rat on the military of corrupt cops and DEA officers for an opportunity at a lighter sentence.

The twist on the finish is that Roberts subsequently turns into a protection lawyer, and Lucas is his first shopper, one thing so absurd it might solely occur in actual life. Directed by Ridley Scott, American Gangster is tight, thrilling, and visceral, providing a worthy showcase for the Oscar-winning duo at its heart.

5 ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ (2021)

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Russell Crowe’s most evident credit score within the DCEU is available in Man of Steel, the movie that launched the superhero franchise, the place he seems as Jor-El, Kal-El’s (Henry Cavill) father who sends him to Earth when Krypton is destroyed. Whereas the character was killed off in a flashback scene in Man of Metal, Crowe returned to the franchise, albeit in an uncredited cameo, in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

The much-anticipated re-release of 2017’s Justice League, the 2021 movie was an prolonged model of the key crossover occasion, one which extra precisely displayed Zack Snyder’s authentic imaginative and prescient all through its four-hour runtime. Its 7.9 rating on IMDb is indicative of it being not solely successful with followers of Snyder and superhero movies, however a totally pleasurable motion blockbuster that far surpasses the unique 2017 launch and stands amongst the best films in the DCEU. – Ryan Heffernan

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4 ‘Cinderella Man’ (2005)

IMDb Rating: 8.0/10

This Ron Howard movie from 2005 tells the story of boxer James Braddock, who, towards all the percentages, gained the World Heavyweight Title in 1935 when he defeated fellow American Max Baer (Craig Bierko). An honorable, decided, and brave man, Braddock turned a hero for all People struggling by means of the Nice Melancholy and was nicknamed ‘The Cinderella Man’ by sports activities author Damon Runyon.

Cinderella Man contains a powerful and bodily resilient character who additionally possesses nice ethical and emotional power that’s proper up Crowe’s avenue. Along with Howard’s directing and the enchantment of a hero for the widespread folks, Cinderella Man makes for a movie that’s each entertaining and fulfilling and stays one in every of the all-time best boxing movies.

3 ‘L.A. Confidential’ (1997)

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Though not his first American movie – that was the underrated 1995 Western The Quick and the Dead – this 1997 manufacturing firmly set Crowe’s toes on the trail of Hollywood stardom. Nearly universally acclaimed on its launch and primarily based on the James Elroy novel of the identical identify, L.A. Confidential‘s story about corruption and crime in post-war Hollywood can nonetheless be held up because the neo-noir crime movie par excellence.

With excellent performances from Man Pearce, James Cromwell, and an Oscar-winning Kim Basinger, L. A. Confidential is among the many greatest movies from the 90s. Crowe is outstanding as Detective ‘Bud’ White, an honorable if excessively brutal, cop who hates males who hurt ladies. Mysterious and trendy, L. A. Confidential is a neo-noir masterpiece and one in every of Crowe’s greatest efforts.

2 ‘A Lovely Thoughts’ (2001)

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Some true tales can solely be advised correctly in fiction: A Lovely Thoughts, about mathematician John Nash, is simply such a narrative. The actual Nash, a genius who, with two others, gained the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics, was additionally dwelling with schizophrenia and spent a few years out and in of psychiatric hospitals. Controversially, director Ron Howard and author Akiva Goldsman determined to characterize Nash’s sickness as a collection of hallucinations, with blended outcomes.

Crowe performs Nash with nice perception, sympathy, and, appropriately sufficient, intelligence, completely matched by a riveting Jennifer Connelly as his spouse, Alicia. Director Ron Howard brings the best out of Crowe, with the Australian actor delivering arguably his best efficiency as Nash. A Lovely Thoughts works higher as a sweeping love story than a biopic a couple of misunderstood genius, however Crowe’s electrifying efficiency greater than makes up for any of the movie’s weak spots.

1 ‘Gladiator’ (2000)

IMDb Rating: 8.5/10

From its extraordinary opening battle to its climax within the Colosseum, Gladiator is a darkish and tumultuous journey by means of historical Rome. The movie covers the Roman military, slavery, gladiatorial contests, the Senate and the imperial household in simply over two hours, leaving the viewers in little doubt they’d simply seen one of many best historic movies – and revenge tales – ever made.

Pushed by Ridley Scott’s course, the story is firmly anchored by Crowe’s Academy Award-winning efficiency as Maximus, a Roman basic betrayed by Joaquin Phoenix‘s evil Emperor Commodus, who turns into a hero as a gladiator whereas aspiring to return to Rome to confront Commodus. Crowe’s gravity, presence, and stoicism make sure the viewers understands that though Gladiator is not real history, it’s, in its approach, true historical past.

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