I’m not sure even Chris Evans would have imagined his career would have taken off to the extent that it has. He’s played two superheroes, been (mostly) a leading man for over a decade, and even got to take a shot as a director (it didn’t pan out). He’s now most famous for playing Captain America in the Avengers movies, but he’s done a lot of other good stuff over the years
Here are the top 10 movies from the career of Chris Evans.
Avengers (Duology)
To help allow for exposure of some of Evans’ lesser-known works, I’ll be combining the Avengers movies together and the Captain America trilogy together, because otherwise literally half of this list – and more in the future, more than likely – would be just those, and that would get boring.
But the truth of the matter is that most of Chris Evans’ best movies come under the Marvel Cinematic Universe brand. I know a lot of people were disappointed by the second Avengers film, which is too bad because I think it’s very good, but it’d still pretty easily wind up on this list.
These movies are fun, funny, look great, and have a ton of great action.
Captain America (Trilogy)
You know, the Captain America trilogy has sneakily – well, as under the radar as a MCU trilogy could do – become a great movie trilogy. I’d put it ahead of the Iron Man trilogy, personally, and ahead of a lot of overall film trilogies.
The first movie is a solid origin story which showcases its hero’s efforts in the First World War. The second has political intrigue as the evil group Hydra resurfaces. And the third is a mini-Avengers which sees a bunch of the team fight other members of the team over whether or not it should operate independently of any governing body. They’re all really good and are all probably Top 10 MCU movies.
Cellular
Now that we’ve gotten the Marvel movies out of the way, we get to have some real fun. Cellular is a silly, ridiculous, and incredibly entertaining B-movie about a man who gets a random call on his cell phone from a woman who claims she’s been kidnapped, and then has to decide whether or not he will try to save her life – and how far he’ll go if he decides to do it.
It’s got a lot of action, it’s relatively funny, and it has this non-stop pacing that keeps it moving and keeps it engaging, not allowing you to stop and question the ridiculousness going on until after it’s over.
Gifted
I’ll admit to not being quite as big a fan of Gifted as many people I know, but it’s a decent drama and still ranks among Chris Evans’ top movies. Directed by Marc Webb, it follows Evans and his niece, whom he chose to look after following the death of his sister. The child turns out to be a mathematical genius. So, a battle between him and his mother over the child’s future ensues, as well as a budding romance between him and the child’s teacher. It’s all … a little simple, I suppose, but it’s somewhat emotionally compelling and the acting is great.
The Iceman
In The Iceman, Evans plays a man whose nickname is “Mr. Freezy.” If that doesn’t at least somewhat intrigue you, I don’t know what to tell you.
The film is about a hitman, Richard Kuklinski, and follows him for quite a while – all while keeping his profession a secret from his family. Mob politics and the mental instability of his “colleagues” eventually causes trouble for him, and the movie largely follows that part of his life – when things start to go wrong.
London
London stars Chris Evans and Jason Statham. You probably assume it’s an action movie. It is very much not an action movie.
London takes place primarily in the bathroom at a party, where the two actors drink and snort cocaine and talk about their problems. For 90 minutes. Sometimes, other guests enter the bathroom. Other times, we see flashbacks that correlate to what they’re talking about. That’s the movie. And it’s really compelling! Evans and Statham are great, their characters are really well-defined, and the dialogue is strong.
Puncture
Drugs get involved again in a Chris Evans movie with Puncture. Here, he plays a drug-addicted lawyer who, along with his partner, takes on the health care industry – well, kind of. They’re overmatched but continue anyway, eventually uncovering something untoward – a conspiracy, if you will. All the while, he has to deal with his own demons. It’s a law drama, so if you don’t like those you won’t like this, but if you do like them and haven’t seen it, then you’ve got something to check out.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
I love Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I love the action, the comedy, the stylish approach, the characters – it’s all fantastic. It follows a young twentysomething who has to fight the exes of a girl he wants to date. And by fight, I mean like a video game – but in real life. Because, in this universe, video game rules apply in real life. It’s clever, it’s hilarious, and if you’re on this site and haven’t seen it, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Evans is only in a couple of scenes, as he plays one of the exes. He gets to put on an over-the-top tough guy persona, and it’s pretty funny.
Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer is a social commentary movie dressed up as a brutal action picture – all taking place on a constantly moving train which houses all of society’s classes in a very confined space, but separated by car. Its subjects include class disparity and climate change, and it follows Evans as a poor resident of the train who winds up leading a revolt against the less-poor section of the train. There have been revolutions before, but they were unsuccessful.
It’s got a decent amount of action – much of which is brutal – it looks gorgeous, its characters are interesting (if not terribly deep), and its themes keep your brain engaged. It’s a smart sci-fi movie.
Sunshine
Speaking of smart sci-fi movies, Sunshine is evocative, thoughtful, and thrilling. It tries to keep its “science” aspect relatively realistic, and focuses on the crew of a spaceship while dealing with faith, science, and all of the various personalities of these people. It follows this group as they fly a spaceship toward the sun in order to place a bomb inside of it to try to stop it from going out. Maybe that’s possible; I don’t know.
It does a great job of fleshing out its crew, of giving them all distinct personalities, of allowing them to bounce ideas off each other. It makes you think, and it also gives you a thrilling plot that’s pretty much perfect … until the final half hour at which point it kind of goes off the rails. Is that enough to ruin it? No, but it does leave you with a bit of a sour taste in your mouth.
