Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked
Between Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg made what is quite easily his worst movie to date. It’s such a surprise (and a shame), but an ensemble film about the panic in Los Angeles following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor is certainly no easy task. According to Spielberg, John Wayne called him while he was making the film—originally titled The Night the Japs Attacked by screenwriter Robert Zemeckis–and told him that he shouldn’t waste his time on it. “He said, 'You know, that was an important war, and you're making fun of a war that cost thousands of lives at Pearl Harbor,’” Spielberg recalled in 2011. “’Don't joke about World War II'." I’ve seen plenty of great films that joke about World War II—Inglorious Bastards, Catch-22, To Be or Not to Be—but 1941’s greatest fault is that the film attempts to joke about World War II without ever being funny. — Josh Rosenberg
Even now, Always is infamously one of Spielberg's all-time biggest flops. Is it warranted? Actually, yes. It's bad. But even Spielberg on a bad day is more interesting than most directors at all. A remake of the 1943 movie A Guy Named Joe, Always tells the story of a dead pilot (Richard Dreyfuss) whose ghost mentors a newer pilot (Brad Johnson). Meanwhile, the new pilot falls in love with the girlfriend (Holly Hunter) he left behind on Earth. Panned upon release for its excessive mawkishness, Always might've had a better shot at successtoday, amid the boom of romantasy literature. —Eric Francisco
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Roald Dahl met Spielberg, with a big boost from Disney, in 2016's The BFG. Based on Dahl's childrens' book from 1982, The BFG chronicles the unlikely friendship between a ten-year-old London orphan (voiced by Ruby Barnhill) who befriends an elderly 24-foot-tall giant (Mark Rylance). While its storybook atmosphere has a charming appeal, and its nearly seamless blend of high-fidelity CGI with live-action actors is a sight to behold, The BFG never compares to its source material, let alone other kid-focused fare from Spielberg. —E.F.
Spielberg dove into The Adventures of Tintin, his first 3D motion-capture film, without any experience directing an animated feature before. The film still did moderately well at the box office, purely based on the initial shock of the technologically- advanced animation. Looking back, the overly realistic depictions of the characters made adapting the celebrated French comic book series quite the challenge. Spielberg's pursuit of realism also gave Tintin a face much like the original Sonic the Hedgehog movie design (before Paramount fixed it), which is why I’m guessing that no one’s tried to make another Tintin film since. —J.R.
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Once again, Spielberg proved his range when in 1997 he unleashed two movies of wildly different scope: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a franchise sequel that came with truckloads of merchandise, breakfast cereals, and video games, and Amistad, a historical drama occupied with questions about the price of freedom. Set aboard the Spanish slave ship Amistad, the movie fictionalizes the 1839 revolt when a cargo of slaves killed the ship's captain and seized the vessel, kicking off a high-seas legal battle rooted in the absent morals of the slave trade. Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, and Djimon Hounsou in a breakout performance, Amistad is Spielberg working at his finest, even if the movie isn't his best. — E.F.
It's strange to think how Spielberg has earned the reputation of a director awash in nostalgia, idealism, and innocence, when in fact his movies are often anything but. Oft-forgotten in his oeuvre is his 1987 epic Empire of the Sun, starring a very young Christian Bale as a British schoolboy who grows up in a wealthy family before becoming a prisoner of war to the Japanese during World War II. A meditation on the death of innocence, Empire of the Sun had good intentions—but it's far from Spielberg's most memorable effort.— E.F.
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Speaking of forgotten Spielberg films, let's discuss the little-cited Sugarland Express, which is funny because it’s technically his feature film debut (since Duel was originally made for TV). The story follows a woman (Goldie Hawn) who breaks her husband out of jail, takes a State Trooper hostage, and then attempts to steal her child back from foster care. For some reason, Sugarland just doesn’t have the family-adventure magic you would expect from a Spielberg film. You could blame the lack of excitement on Sugarland appearing so early in his filmography—arguing that Spielberg was still figuring himself out as a director—but he turned around and blows audiences out of the water (literally) when he made Jaws next. — J.R.
Outside of Seabiscuit and Secretariat, there are very few decent films about horse.s I couldn’t tell you why! The annual Budweiser ad for the Super Bowl probably has more views than a lot of equine films out there, but War Horse’s blend of Americana and human-to-animal connection clearly drew Spielberg to the project. And yet, War Horse's tale of heart and resilience is a largely forgettable trip to the movies. There’s nothing terrible with the story; in fact, it’s a reasonably inspirational journey set during World War I about a young man who just wants to reconnect with his horse after he’s forced to sell the animal to the army. War Horse just has no business being nearly two and a half hours long. —J.R.
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"Oh yeah, ooh, ahh. That's how all these start. But then there's running and screaming." Only Jeff Goldblum could be so, well, Jeff Goldblum, and so observant of the Jurassic Park series in only the second movie. Released in 1997, The Lost World: Jurassic Park stomped into theaters as the hotly-anticipated follow-up to its landmark predecessor from 1993. The end result was... well, not the same as 1993. Jeff Goldblum returns, this time as the lead protagonist who is sent to another InGen island, Isla Sorna, as Hammond's nephew aims to build Jurassic Park in the middle of San Diego. Less philosophical and with an emphasis on cheap thrills, The Lost World proved a portent to what sequels will soon become: bigger, but not always better. —E.F.
In a series that has definitively involved ghosts, cannibal tribes, and the literal Holy Grail, somehow, it's aliens and nuked refrigerators that set off lifelong fans of Indiana Jones. To be fair, the 2008 sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a lesser entry in the Indy saga, as it pales in comparison to its mightier predecessors. But Spielberg's masterclass directing keeps the movie interesting, and its introduction of Indiana Jones' greaser son (played by then-rising star Shia LaBeouf) has become the blueprint for other legacy sequels in an IP-obsessed Hollywood. — E.F.
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Rufi-oh! Rufi-oh! Ru-fi-ohhhhh!!! It's hard to upstage Robin Williams, but in Spielberg's Hook, teen actor Dante Basco did just that as the punk leader of the Lost Boys of Neverland. But Rufio ain't the hero of Hook. It's still Peter Pan, now a cynical lawyer and family man (played by Williams) who rediscovers his lost memories as the legendary folk figure. Hook wasn't showered with pixie dust upon release in 1993, earning lukewarm reviews and bombing at the box office. To say nothing of Spielberg himself admitting in retrospective interviews how much he wasn't pleased with the final result. But it hasn't stopped Hook from earning cult-classic status, with its fans seeing its lush imagination that no physical execution could honor. —E.F.
Audiences generally remember three things from The Twilight Zone movie: the vignette about the airplane passenger freaking out about seeing a creature on the wing, the terrifying TV-addicted child who removes his sister’s mouth (directed by Gremlins’ Joe Dante), and the helicopter accident that killed actor Vic Morrow. No one ever talks about Spielberg’s segment, titled “Kick the Can.” The concept is perfect for Spielberg: residents of a retirement home reminisce about their youth until they're magically transformed back into children. Sadly, Spielberg’s story is simply overshadowed by the scarier and more fantastical segments of the film. —J.R.
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By 2018, the popularity of esports, Fortnite, and the growth of virtual reality meant Ernest Cline's vision of a near-future "metaverse" might actually come true. But where Cline's book Ready Player One, from 2011, struggles to reason between dystopian fiction and Funko Pop collector utopia, Spielberg's big-budget movie simply sees it as yet another escapist sci-fi adventure. Set in a future coming for us faster than we care to admit, Ready Player One follows an orphan gamer (Tye Sheridan) who races to find the prized golden "Easter egg" in the vast virtual reality simulation called the OASIS. Cline's book is dripping with Spielberg homages, so it's simply fitting that Spielberg himself directed its big-screen adaptation—and honestly, the best-case scenario. Still, the end result is a B-minus at best. —E.F.
H.G. Wells's alien-invasion classic, The War of the Worlds saw a major post-9/11 interpretation in Spielberg's underrated 2005 film adaptation starring Tom Cruise. The Top Gun and Mission: Impossible star plays a divorced dad in New Jersey who must bring his children back to their mother in Boston amid the sudden arrival of all-powerful war machines from outer space. A propulsive survival thriller that oozes horror and violence, War of the Worlds is better than you might remember it. —E.F.
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Decades before generative A.I. became an existential threat, we had Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence—a project inherited from Stanley Kubrick-remixed the tale of Pinocchio for the 21st century. Haley Joel Osment stars as David, a childlike android who is built as a "replacement" child for a New Jersey couple. This is only the start of a fantastical, millennia-long journey in which David, accompanied by a talking teddy bear, tries to achieve the impossible: become a real boy. It may not look the part, but A.I. stands as one of Spielberg's darker films—its mixture of fairy-tale storytelling and speculative science fiction imbue the movie an uncanny vibe. And the ending will crush you. —E.F.
After two home runs in Saving Private Ryan and Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg and Tom Hanks aimed for a triple with The Terminal. A feel-good drama that sings in praise of helpful strangers and the resourcefulness of oneself, The Terminal sees Hanks play a visitor from eastern Europe who is left stranded at JFK International Airport due to geopolitical turmoil back home. Though The Terminal is cloying to the point of madness, Hanks asserts his leading-man charms more than enough to let The Terminal to coast on goodwill alone. —E.F.
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For years, Spielberg talked up the importance of the original 1961 West Side Story on his life. In 2021, he finally helmed his own version, a splendid remake that didn't rewrite or reboot a classic but remastered it from the eyes of a true devotee. A breakout Rachel Zegler stars as Maria, who becomes the object of affection of one Tony (Ansel Elgort). It's a sweltering summer in New York City, and the streets are heating up over a gang war waged between white and Puerto Rican teenagers. Can young love survive the violence? The Shakespeare-inspired West Side Story soars as the rare remake that holds its own ground. —E.F.
The "sequel" to Spielberg's masterwork Raiders of the Lost Ark is, in fact, a prequel. 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a comparatively bleaker and meaner film, sees Harrison Ford back as Indiana Jones, who is tasked with helping an Indian village rescue their children from a vicious cult that practices black magic. While Temple of Doom has its legion of fans, it's hard to reconcile with its careless depiction of India and Kate Capshaw's presence as the shrill Willie. Still, it gave us Short Round (played by future Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan) and some of its own all-time classic moments of action cinema. —E.F.
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Though it siphons most of its energy from the anxieties of Donald Trump's first term, The Post is a compelling political thriller that lives up to the spirit of '70s classics like Network, All the President's Men, and The China Syndrome. Meryl Streep stars as Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, who chooses between publishing the infamous Pentagon Papers or risk severe blowback. The Post came out the same year that the real WaPo adopted a new slogan: "Democracy Dies in Darkness." The Post is an entertaining exploration of that very sentiment. —E.F.
Just when it seemed as if Cold War thrillers were on ice, Spielberg brought it roaring back with his 2015 hit Bridge of Spies. The director reunites with Hanks, who plays a lawyer tasked with negotiating the release of a CIA pilot from the Soviet Union. In exchange, the Soviets gets back Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), whom Hanks's lawyer had previously defended. Factual inaccuracies aside, Bridge of Spies is a return to form, not only for Spielberg but for a genre that once enraptured the moviegoing public. —E.F.
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