Of course. Here is an article ranking the films of a modern master, Denis Villeneuve.
The Architect of Awe: Every Denis Villeneuve Film, Ranked From Worst to Best
In an era of disposable blockbusters and fleeting streaming content, Denis Villeneuve has carved out a space as Hollywood’s foremost architect of awe. He is a director of immense, almost religious patience, who crafts films that are as intellectually stimulating as they are sensorially overwhelming. From the sun-scorched deserts of Arrakis to the rain-slicked streets of a futuristic Los Angeles, his work shares a powerful DNA: a meticulous visual language, a bone-deep exploration of trauma, and an uncanny ability to find the intimate human soul inside the most epic spectacle.
Ranking his filmography is a difficult task, as even his “worst” films possess a vision and artistic integrity that many directors never achieve. This list, therefore, is less a judgment of “good vs. bad” and more of an exploration of his evolution, from a promising Canadian auteur to a true cinematic master.
Here is every Denis Villeneuve feature film, ranked from worst to best.
11. August 32nd on Earth (1998)
Every master has to start somewhere. Villeneuve’s debut feature is a raw, searching film about a woman who, after surviving a car crash, decides she must conceive a child with her best friend to give her life meaning. While it contains the seeds of his later work—existential dread, a character thrown into crisis, stark landscapes (in this case, a salt flat)—it feels more like a sketch than a fully realized painting. The film is commendable for its ambition but lacks the hypnotic control and thematic depth that would later define his career. It’s an essential artifact for understanding his journey, but the least essential for viewing.
10. Maelström (2000)
A significant leap forward in style and confidence, Maelström is a darkly comedic, surrealist drama about a self-destructive young woman whose life intersects with the son of a man she accidentally killed. Oh, and it’s narrated by a talking fish who is being chopped up on a butcher’s block. It’s as strange as it sounds, but it’s also proof of Villeneuve’s burgeoning visual flair and willingness to take bold narrative risks. While its quirkiness can sometimes feel at odds with its heavy subject matter, Maelström is a fascinating, singular film that showed the world a director with a truly unique voice was emerging.
9. Polytechnique (2009)
After a nine-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Villeneuve returned with this devastating gut punch of a film. Shot in pristine, haunting black-and-white, Polytechnique is a dramatization of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal. It is a work of profound empathy and restraint, focusing on the victims and the pervasive sense of dread rather than glorifying the perpetrator. It is difficult, harrowing, and not a film one revisits casually. Its low placement here is not a reflection of its quality—it’s a technical and emotional marvel—but of its brutal, almost unbearable subject matter, which makes it a powerful but punishing experience.
8. Enemy (2013)
Released the same year as Prisoners, Enemy is its Lynchian evil twin. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a brilliant dual performance as a meek history professor who discovers his exact doppelgänger, a confident but volatile actor. What begins as a strange curiosity spirals into a paranoid, surrealist nightmare drenched in a sickly, sepia-toned haze. This is Villeneuve at his most opaque and allegorical, a puzzle box of a film about identity, fear, and toxic masculinity that culminates in one of modern cinema’s most terrifying final shots. For some, its ambiguity is frustrating; for others, it’s a masterpiece of psychological horror.
7. Dune: Part One (2021)
Bringing Frank Herbert’s “unfilmable” novel to the screen was a monumental task, and Villeneuve succeeded where others had failed by making one brilliant, crucial decision: he only told half the story. Dune: Part One is a masterclass in world-building. It is pure, uncut atmosphere—a sensory immersion into the politics, religion, and brutalist beauty of Arrakis. The scale is breathtaking, the sound design is seismic, and the visuals are unforgettable. Its only “flaw” is that it’s a feature-length prologue, a magnificent piece of setup that, by design, leaves you wanting more.
6. Prisoners (2013)
This was Villeneuve’s Hollywood calling card, and it remains one of the most gripping thrillers of the 21st century. When his daughter goes missing, a desperate father (Hugh Jackman in a career-best performance) takes matters into his own hands. Prisoners is a nail-biting procedural elevated by Roger Deakins’s rain-soaked, dread-inducing cinematography and a suffocating sense of moral decay. It showcases Villeneuve’s unparalleled ability to sustain tension for over two and a half hours, pushing its characters—and the audience—to their breaking point. It’s a dark, complex, and utterly riveting piece of work.
5. Sicario (2015)
If Prisoners was about the darkness within a man, Sicario is about the darkness lurking within our institutions. Emily Blunt plays an idealistic FBI agent who is thrown into the amoral, shadow world of the war on drugs. This isn’t a film you watch; it’s a film you survive. The tension is relentless, culminating in sequences—like the infamous border-crossing shootout—that are so masterfully executed they leave you breathless. With its cynical heart and procedural realism, Sicario is a cold, brutal, and flawlessly crafted film about the erosion of morality in the face of an unwinnable war.
4. Incendies (2010)
The film that earned Villeneuve international acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Incendies is a powerhouse of raw, emotional storytelling. Following the death of their mother, a pair of twins are tasked with delivering two letters: one to the father they thought was dead, and one to a brother they never knew existed. Their search unearths a harrowing family history set against the backdrop of a brutal civil war. The film builds toward a final revelation of Greek tragedy proportions, a twist so devastating it recontextualizes everything you’ve just seen. It’s a testament to Villeneuve’s ability to handle human drama with the same intensity he brings to his blockbusters.
3. Dune: Part Two (2024)
Everything Part One promised, Part Two delivers—and then some. This is a true epic in every sense of the word, a thunderous war film that brilliantly completes Paul Atreides’s journey from a displaced prince to a flawed, terrifying messiah. The spectacle is somehow even grander, the action is visceral and kinetic, and the character arcs are deeply resonant. More than just an adaptation, Dune: Part Two is a stunning, cautionary tale about the dangers of faith, power, and colonialism. It’s the rare blockbuster that feels like a monumental, singular artistic statement.
2. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
To make a sequel to one of the most iconic and influential sci-fi films ever made is an act of supreme cinematic hubris. To make one that is arguably better is a miracle. Blade Runner 2049 is that miracle. Villeneuve doesn’t just replicate the original’s aesthetic; he expands its world and deepens its themes of what it means to be human. Every frame, courtesy of Roger Deakins in his Oscar-winning triumph, is a breathtaking work of art. It’s a slow, meditative, and melancholy masterpiece that respects its predecessor while forging its own profound and beautiful identity. An audacious, staggering achievement.
1. Arrival (2016)
While other Villeneuve films overwhelm you with scale or tension, Arrival conquers you with its heart. When twelve mysterious alien vessels appear across the globe, a linguist (a luminous Amy Adams) is recruited to decipher their language and, in doing so, prevent a global war. This is the ultimate distillation of a Villeneuve film: a high-concept premise used to explore the most intimate human experiences—communication, grief, time, and love. It is a profoundly intelligent, deeply moving, and hopeful piece of science fiction. The final reveal is not one of violence or horror, but of heartbreaking, beautiful empathy. Arrival is a perfect film, a work of transcendent grace that proves Denis Villeneuve is not just a master of spectacle, but a true poet of the human condition.
