Antoine Fuqua started his directing career by making music videos, and some of the most iconic videos ever, like “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio, “For Your Love” by Stevie Wonder, and “The Most Beautiful Girl In the World” by Prince are some of his long line of work.
When Fuqua stepped into feature films and documentaries, the quality of his work kept elevating. His movies are now recognizable for their unique style, like the use of cold colors and high contrasts for emphasis, and he’s got the courage to tell gritty stories that pack a punch. The Equalizer 3 is his latest feature, but what else was well-rated on IMDb? The list is pretty great.
10 ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (2016)
IMDb rating: 6.9/10
Fuqua often says he draws inspiration from Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai is the first samurai Western, redone as an American Western by John Sturgess asThe Magnificent Sevenin 1960. Many found the original with Steve McQueen enough of a remake, but Fuqua surprised everyone with his rendition.
With a more updated and diverse cast, Fuqua directed a version for modern times. Led by Denzel Washington, the seven gunmen from all over join forces to help protect a town from industrialists looking to tear it down. Fuqua’s strengths are well-made action scenes, and this movie has plenty; the runtime doesn’t drag the story out, and there are some great moments with each gunman. It’s also one of the movies that gave Lee Byung-hun a Hollywood career.
9 ‘The Equalizer 3’ (2023)
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
The latest (and last, according to Fuqua) installment of The Equalizerseries sees Denzel Washington taking matters into his own hands again. Perhaps the most intense of all three, The Equalizer 3 puts its hero, Robert McCall, into a John Wick-esque role. In it, Washington establishes what Liam Neeson always looks to achieve.
Considering Washington’s age (he’ll be an impressive 70 next year), the action scenes let him go all out, combining intelligent and physical warfare. Despite a poorly received sequel from 2018, The Equalizer 3 turns the series onto its head and becomes another Fuqua classic. This one’s not to be missed and one of the best collaborations between Washington and Fuqua.
8 ‘Shooter’ (2007)
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
At first glance, the conspiracy thriller Shooter is a standard action flick. There’s the conspiracy to kill the President and a world-renowned marksman set up to take the fall for it. Played by Mark Wahlberg in one of his best performances, the marksman Bob Lee doesn’t plan to go down easily.
As Lee gets help uncovering the conspiracy in the story’s essence, he discovers more forces pulling the strings – as most conspiracy movies will have it. Fuqua gave Wahlberg a lot of ground to stand on and material to work with, making Shooter more layered than meets the eye. It’s undoubtedly one of the most underrated conspiracy movies out there.
7 ‘The Equalizer’ (2014)
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
The Equalizer may be the highlight of Fuqua’s current career, but it was mostly the stepping stone for him to elevate his already excellent work. He introduced his unique vision and style in Training Day (also with Washington as the lead), but the first Equalizer solidified he’s here to stay, allowing him to go further.
The Equalizer focuses on Robert McCall (Washington) embarking on a vengeful journey after meeting a beat-up young girl tied to some shady underworld characters. The movie’s name suggests McCall is the hero who brings balance back into the world or at least justice to one girl’s life. Besides Washington’s stoic but passionate performance, Marton Csokas became the main bad guy of the times.
6 ‘Southpaw’ (2015)
IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
Seeing Jake Gyllenhaal as an angry, vengeful boxer may not have been on anyone’s bingo card in the 2010s. Yet, Gyllenhaal, a chameleon that he is, fits right into the role of Billy Hope in Southpaw. Written by Kurt Sutter (the creator of Sons of Anarchy and Mayans MC), Southpaw is another recognizable Fuqua feature.
Billy Hope is an angry and impulsive boxer; he gets into a feud with a rival, leaving Billy (spoiler alert) widowed. Billy must put his life back together for the sake of his young daughter while fighting the urge to exact revenge on everyone involved in his wife’s death – including himself. Southpaw is not entirely a boxing movie but a story of fighting one’s demons, sacrifice, and change.
5 ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ (2004)
IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
Antoine Fuqua has many documentaries under his directing belt, too. Lightning In a Bottle is one of them, and it’s an incredible story of blues. While it’s just a string of performances by well-known artists like BB King, Howling Wolf, and Natalie Cole, some surprising but touching performances include Allison Krause and Aerosmith.
Shot at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Lightning In a Bottle takes the viewers and audience on a journey of blues. The genre is explored and paid homage to through fantastic vocal and band performances. Fuqua directs the story in a way that celebrates blues as a music genre and a way of life for many of the artists on stage.
4 ‘Training Day’ (2001)
IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
Training Day wasn’t Fuqua’s first feature film – that right’s reserved for Jamie Foxx-ledBait. However, Training Day is Fuqua’s most iconic movie, earning Denzel Washington the Best Leading Actor award at the 2002 Oscars. People still quote it and attribute the King Kong quote to Washington the most.
Washington plays an experienced and temperamental Narcotics detective, Alonzo Harris, who leads a young rookie, Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), around on his first day on the job. But Alonzo isn’t what Jake expected, and he’s forced to rethink everything he knows about how the justice system works. More than anything, the lines between right and wrong are continuously blurred as Alonzo uses a ‘takes one to know one’ justice-enforcing style on the streets of Los Angeles.
3 ‘The Terminal List’ (2022)
IMDb Rating: 7.9/10
The Terminal List is another conspiracy thriller on Fuqua’s directing roster, and though he only directed one episode, he’s the series’ executive producer. Chris Pratt dives deep into his newly established action hero persona and leads this highly entertaining series about James Reece, a commander whose Navy SEAL platoon is ambushed and killed one day.
Reece is left putting together the pieces of what happened with a skilled team of investigators. As one of the best Chrises, Pratt is convincing as Reece and has excellent chemistry with the rest of the cast. Antoine Fuqua directed only the first episode, The Engram, establishing the pacing and expectations for the rest of the series.
2 ‘Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers’ (2022)
IMDb Rating: 8.2/10
The documentary TV miniseries Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers is among Fuqua’s best-rated works on IMDb. The love for LA Lakers doesn’t diminish after so many years, but the real story is – this team wasn’t always at the top as they have been. The team’s tumultuous and creative beginnings are presented in this 10-part Hulu series.
Although the story was also told in an excellent dramatized HBO version called Winning Time, it was great hearing the real-life players like Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tell the story of how and why the team succeeded in its prime. Jerry Buss’s sons also appear, showing why and how his marketing genius paved the way for the team.
1 ‘What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali’ (2019)
IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
Whoever decides to tell a story about Muhammad Ali is bound to have an exciting movie on their hands. Still, HBO‘s What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali documentary by Antoine Fuqua might take the cake; it’s one of the best sports documentaries out there, paying wonderful homage to Muhammad Ali’s life, career, and activism.
The story follows Ali’s life from his boxing beginnings to his humanitarian days, and many of his old friends and acquaintances appear to talk about him. It also depicts his life’s progression, as Fuqua chooses exceptional real-life footage to describe one of the greatest athletes of all time.
