The Top 3 Denzel Washington Movies On Rotten Tomatoes Are Not The Ones You Expect

Now several decades into his celebrated screen career, Denzel Washington has logged a total of 47 film credits. And if you're a fan of the legendary actor's work, you know there's not really a bad movie in the bunch. Heck, even casual fans might find themselves in utter awe at just how many modern classics Washington currently boasts on his IMDb page.

That list fronts some seriously impressive titles indeed, with the two-time Oscar winner (and 10-time nominee) logging time in hard-hitting affairs like "Malcolm X," "Philadelphia," "Training Day," and "Inside Man," among numerous others. Given the general esteem bestowed upon those impressive offerings, you might be surprised, even shocked to learn that none of them even managed to crack the Top 3 films of Washington's career according to their Rotten Tomatoes ratings. In fact, they didn't even crack the Top 5, with the fifth to first spot respectively going to "Mississippi Masala" (92%), "Devil in a Blue Dress" (92%), "Fences" (92%), "The Tragedy of Macbeth" (92%), and "Glory" (95%) respectively. 

To be certain, those are some of the best movies of Washington's career. It's also particularly nice to see an underrated gem like "Devil in a Blue Dress" getting some well-earned love. But it's still hard to fathom how some of Washington's other films are on the outside of the Top 3 looking in.

It's worth noting, of course, that with all due respect to the knowledgable, hard-working film critics contributing to those Rotten Tomatoes scores, film reviews are arguably as subjective as audience reactions. Rotten Tomatoes also doesn't really have an effective way of separating reviews of a film that came in when it was released, and those that have been trickling down in the years since.

That fact could particularly affect the rankings of films like "Malcolm X" and "Philadelphia" as they were released in the early 1990s, and each arrived in theaters with just enough controversy to have skewed a review or two. As for flicks like "Training Day" and "Inside Man," as brilliant as they are, they both err more on the side of action movie fun than prestige cinema. And some critics surely felt they tripped a little too often into the trappings of such fare. Despite this fact, most fans of Washington's work might be quick to rank any of those films above those topping the Rotten Tomatoes list.

One would be wise not to underestimate the films in the Top 3, however, as they each feature strong turns from Washington. That's particularly true of "Glory," which not only helped vault Washington to superstardom but rightfully earned the actor his first Academy Award. As for more recent hits like "Fences" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth," if you've seen either, you know the films really do speak for themselves. And yes, each is as worthy of a spot near the top of a "Best of Denzel" list as any film in his vaunted oeuvre.