After playing professional football as a running back for the Sacramento Mountain Lions, John David Washington shifted to his acting career. Washington joined the main cast of Ballers as Ricky Jerret before landing his first major film role in RZA’s Love Beats Rhymes. Since then, Washington has appeared in several excellent films. He has even received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for BlacKkKlansman, and the Saturn Award for Best Actor for Tenet.
With Washington’s film career gaining momentum, he has already completed filming for Amsterdam and True Love. Washington has been recognized for doing things on his own rather than riding on the success of his father, Denzel Washington. His choice in the film projects he has decided to be involved in has already been very impressive. As we await his future roles, here’s a look at John David Washington’s best movies so far, ranked.
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5 Love Beats Rhymes
Lionsgate
The 2017 musical drama film Love Beats Rhymes focuses on a young woman who dreams of pursuing a career in hip hop. The film itself was directed by a hip hop legend in RZA, who has always been a major part of Wu-Tang Clan. Uninterested in completing a degree in accounting, Coco Ford was unable to accept the life that someone else had wanted for her. She did, however, later discover her love for poetry. Washington appeared in the film as Mahlik, a member of Coco’s freestyle group. Although Coco pined over Mahlik, he was neither the right person for her affection nor to make music with. Surprisingly, films that are straight-forward about following your dreams have become less common over the years. Love Beats Rhymes went back to the tried-and-true formula.
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4 Malcolm & Marie
Netflix
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zendaya and Washington shot a secret movie while in quarantine. Presented completely in black and white, Malcolm & Marie explored the struggling relationship between filmmaker Malcolm Elliot (Washington) and his girlfriend Marie Jones (Zendaya). Centered on just two characters, the film benefited from a razor-sharp focus. It was not without its flaws, but the film succeeded in portraying the many factors that can pull two people apart. Jealousy, ego, and insecurity — it was all there.
3 Monsters and Men
Neon
Released in 2018, Monsters and Men marked the first film in Washington’s career where he was a leading man. Washington did not disappoint, giving audiences a great performance as cop Dennis Williams. The film also starred Anthony Ramos and Kelvin Harrison Jr, who were both excellent. Monsters and Men tackled difficult but very real social issues that have become more relevant now than ever. It was emotionally packed and engaging, showing multiple perspectives on a traumatic event and how it affected the film’s characters. Monsters and Men has relatively flown under the radar, but has always deserved more attention.
2 Tenet
Warner Bros. Pictures
The highly-anticipated Tenet was the first Hollywood tent-pole to open in theaters after the pandemic shut everything down. Director Christopher Nolan experimented with time once again, after having already done so with Inception and Interstellar. Tenet dealt with reversed entropy, featuring objects moving backwards in time while others moved forwards. As expected from a Nolan film, the directing, cinematography, and score were all top-notch.
Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, and Kenneth Branagh all shined in their respective roles. Washington was perfect as the lead who simply went by the name of “Protagonist.” Tenet was an effective sci-fi action thriller with spy elements, but the film has not been as well received as some of Nolan’s other films. Some thought of Tenet as brilliant and a misunderstood masterpiece, while others were overwhelmed by the time inversion present in the film. Both Washington and Pattinson have revealed that, per IGN, even they did not exactly know what was happening.
1 BlacKkKlansman
Focus Features
Washington’s first credited film role was as a student in a Harlem classroom in 1992’s Malcolm X. 26 years later, director Spike Lee directed Washington in another biographical film, BlacKkKlansman (2018). Washington played Ron Stallworth, who in both the film and real-life, was the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Working with Detective Philip “Flip” Zimmerman (Adam Driver), Stallworth infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan.
The storytelling in the directing, performances, and writing was phenomenal. At the Cannes Film Festival, BlacKkKlansman won the Grand Prix, and at the 91st Academy Awards, the film won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Such strong material allowed for Washington to give the best performance of his film career. Washington was able to display both his comedic and more serious dramatic chops. The chemistry between Washington and Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman was also a major highlight. Not only was BlacKkKlansman thought-provoking and based on a true story, it was also massively entertaining.
