Director Denis Villeneuve is quickly rising to become one of the most popular directors in cinema. His most recent release, Dune, has already seen critical acclaim and praise, especially for managing to adapt a book that's been notoriously difficult to put to the big screen. But while Dune is one of Villeneuve's more mainstream projects, the director has a successful and extensive portfolio of movies under his belt. Here's a look at some of his best work.
Arrival Takes a More Human Approach to Aliens
Denis Villeneuve's 2016 film, Arrival, starring Amy Adams, takes a more human approach to the idea of aliens arriving on Earth. After twelve unknown spacecraft land all across the globe, linguistics professor Louise Banks aims to communicate with the extra-terrestrials. As is typical with humanity, things escalate with the alien crafts as numerous countries see them as a threat and prepare for war. But Louise is set on understanding the alien's motives, all before humanity opens fire on them.
Being one of Villeneuve's more well-known movies, Arrival was highly received and nominated in almost every major film award ceremony. But outside of accolades, it's a must-watch for fans of sci-fi movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, where humanity's place in the universe is questioned.
Enemy Delves Into Psychological Thriller Territory
2013's Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is Villeneuve's take on a psychological thriller. Collage history professor Adam Bell lives a relatively mundane life with his girlfriend Mary until one day he watches a movie with an actor who looks identical to him. Finding out the actor is named Anthony Claire, Adam goes on a hunt to find him and realizes they are more similar than he first thought. Once they meet, things take a turn as Anthony becomes obsessed with finding out who Adam is and forces himself into his life.
Enemy is one of the best movies in the psychological thriller genre, acting as a study of two men who will stop at nothing to learn the truth of their existence.
Prisoners Is One of Villeneuve's First Big Successes
Starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, 2013's Prisoners is one of Villeneuve's first big successes. Jackman's character, Keller Dover, has his daughter and her friend go missing, and after the police aren't quick enough with finding them, he takes matters into his own hands. While this may sound like a familiar tale, this story definitely takes a turn. In classic Villeneuve fashion, things aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and the audience is challenged with which characters to trust.
Prisoners is one of the first instances of Villeneuve working with prominent Hollywood actors, and it worked wonders, with Jackman, Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano all giving heartbreaking performances as their respective characters.
Blade Runner 2049 Expertly Adds to the Blade Runner Franchise
Being Villeneuve's first movie in an existing franchise, Blade Runner 2049 is a sequel to the 1982 cult classic, Blade Runner. Taking place in the dystopian future, Officer K (Ryan Gosling) is a synthetically made human called a replicant, whose job is to hunt down other rogue replicants. However, a discovery he makes on one of his hunts leads him to question his own creation and creates a struggle within him to become his own independent person.
Blade Runner 2049 received critical acclaim for both its story and cinematography. And while it didn't perform well at the box office, it still stands as one of Villeneuve's better projects.
Sicario Focuses on Drug Violence at the Mexican Border
Starring Emily Blunt, 2015's Sicario is one of Villeneuve's more grounded movies. With the increasing drug violence on the Mexico border, the FBI sends agent Kate Macer on a mission to take down a drug cartel that killed members of her team. However, Kate slowly learns that the U.S. government has bigger plans for the border and that she is being used so that they can gain more control over the cartel.
Sicario is highly recommended for those looking for an action-packed crime drama. And the film was so successful that it spawned a sequel, though not directed by Villeneuve, Sicario: Day of the Soldado.