Where There’s a Will
For
the past 20 years, few movie stars have been as bankable, charismatic, and
doggone likable, as Will Smith. His mere
presence in a movie almost guarantees a $100 million return-on-investment, and
when he’s not making blockbusters, he’s garnering Oscar nominations. With his latest probable hit, After Earth, entering theaters, we’ve been asked to list our Top 4 Will Smith
movies. Here are mine:
Men In Black (1997) – Aliens! Sunglasses! Tommy Lee
Jones! What more could you want? Okay, maybe a more solid story, but
c’mon. Men In Black is the story of a super-secret organization that
recruits Smith to keep order amongst the extra-terrestrials that secretly
surround us. Will Smith cemented his
movie persona as the wise-cracking foil surrounded by special effects
madness. Jones’s stoic stoneface is the
perfect counterpoint to Smith’s everyman naturalness.
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – Here Smith takes a break from big-budget bonanzas and stars as a down-and-out father trying to earn enough money to keep his family together. As a last-ditch effort, he takes a non-paying job as a Wall Street intern, hoping it will pay off for him before his money runs dry. Smith breathes life into this true-life story.
I Am Legend (2007) – In this
sci-fi gem based on the classic Richard Matheson short story, Smith was asked
to do something few actors could accomplish: Carry a movie almost
single-handedly. Smith as perhaps the
last man on earth, searches for a cure against a plague that has turned the
rest of the population into maniacal demons.
Scary in all the right places, I
Am Legend poses the un-asked question, “If it’s the end of the world, who
better to spend it with than Will Smith?”
Men In Black 3 (2012) – Rebounding
from the second sequel retread, the third installment of the MIB series is
maybe the most satisfying. We add time
travel, hilarious jabs at the 1960s, and an inspired performance by Josh Brolin
as a younger Tommy Lee Jones. Will Smith
provides the glue that holds the plot together.
Marty Nabhan - ClearPlay Fresh Prince