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Every Rian Johnson movie ranked worst to best highlights why the acclaimed director is knwon for much more than his entry into the Star Wars franchise - and that the two Benoit Blanc' movies don't define his career either. All of Rian Johnson's movies have been mostly well-received by critics and fans alike, and he has one of the most consistent filmographies of any currently working director.
The worst Rian Johnson movie is still a great film, though it's the best that showcases exactly why he's such an esteemed director. Aside from some shorts and a handful of acclaimed TV episodes, Rian Johnson has only directed 6 movies so far — his most recent being hit murder mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Even though he's certainly matured as a filmmaker, movies directed by Rian Johnson have been consistently well-crafted with meticulous attention to detail.
6 The Brothers Bloom (2008)
A Globetrotting And Genre-Bending Heist Drama
Two orphaned brothers, skilled con men, embark on their final con, targeting a wealthy heiress. Amidst romance and betrayal, they confront their past and the complexities of their relationship, ultimately facing the consequences of their deceitful lives.
Release Date September 9, 2008
Runtime 114 Minutes
The Brothers Bloom isn't just a solid second movie for Rian Johnson, but a strong film in general. The Brothers Bloom is not your run-of-the-mill heist movie, and features a meticulously twist filled plot. It centers around two brothers, Bloom and Stephen (Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, respectively), whose entire childhood and young adult life is built on a life of con jobs and swindling.
When Bloom decides he wants out in the Rian Johnson movie, however, his brother lures him in for one last job, which tends to be the case with most caper stories. Unfortunately, The Brothers Bloom is last on the list of movies directed by Rian Johnson. Like other Rian Johnson movies, the plot of The Brothers Bloom is unpredictable — not only in terms of its globetrotting story, but with its multi-layered character journeys and twists (of which there are many).
The brothers plan to steal a few million dollars from a wealthy heiress (Rachel Weisz), only to let love, hate, and the inevitability of double-crossing get in the way. As usual, the director is at the top of his game here, despite being the bottom of the list for Rian Johnson movies ranked. The cast is more than respectable, with two Academy Award winners (Brody and Weisz), a then-rising star with Rinko Kikuchi, and the Incredible Hulk (Ruffalo), and they're all given plenty of scenery to chew over the course of The Brothers Bloom's tight and complicated almost-2 hour runtime.
5 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Rian Johnson's Chapter Of The Skywalker Saga
In the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, General Leia Organa leads the Resistance forces against the First Order. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker struggles to come to terms with his past failures, while Rey urges him to train her in the Force and join the resistance. Culminating in a massive battle between the two armies, The Last Jedi raises the stakes of this intergalactic war, and sees the final fight of one beloved character.
Release Date December 15, 2017
Runtime 152 Minutes
To many, Star Wars is a gold standard in fiction. For its directors, Star Wars is potentially a creative death sentence. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Rian Johnson from climbing aboard and trying his hand at a galaxy far, far away. From some points of view, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the dark horse of the franchise, with Johnson making just enough bold choices to add his unique stamp to George Lucas' massive world.
As a whole, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a successful sum of its inventive parts.
From other perspectives, it's not the dark horse, but the black sheep, with most of the criticisms aimed at how much creative liberties Johnson was more than happy to take while running the show. So, whether you're on Team Light Side or Dark, there's no denying that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the most divisive entry in the franchise. That said, regardless of some polarizing opinions floating around the internet, it is in the opinion of many that this one of the Rian Johnson movies has done justice to Lucas' beloved franchise, blemishes notwithstanding.
As a whole, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a successful sum of its inventive parts. Between Luke's (Mark Hamill) turn from reluctant hero to reluctant mentor, subverted expectations with alliances (as well as a few plot setups from Star Wars: The Force Awakens), and Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren's (Adam Driver) budding, but complicated, relationship, Johnson managed to nail the Star Wars tone, while also making it feel completely distinctive.
However, distinctive as it may be, Rian Johnson's other movies prove his skills shine when he's not confined by working within a franchise. While it may not be a perfect film, The Last Jedi is more than worthy of the Star Wars handle, though it's not as satisfying as Rian Johnson's original stories.
4 Looper (2012)
The Time-Travel Thriller Starring Bruce Willis
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8/10
Looper
In the sci-fi action thriller Looper, time travel is possible, but illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper," a hired gun, is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich as a Looper and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
Release Date September 28, 2012
Runtime 118 minutes
Before Johnson embarked on the sci-fi genre's No Man's Land with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he tackled a wholly original concept with Looper. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who Johnson worked with on his first film) and Bruce Willis playing the same character, but from different time periods, the film is a time-jumping, mind-melting nod to films like The Terminator, Blade Runner, and 12 Monkeys.
Set in a future in which time travel exists, Joe (Gordon-Levitt) plays someone called a Looper whose job is to kill people for the mob. The catch is that these victims are sent back in time from the future so as to keep the mob off the hook. However, when Joe's older self (Bruce Willis) is sent back as a target, the two men enter a cat-and-mouse chase in which time is literally working against them.
Looper is an inventive piece of fiction based on the concept alone, but Johnson capitalizes on the premise wonderfully. There are dozens of memorable sequences that take full advantage of the time travel aspect. For example, at one point, a character's future self loses parts of his body as his past self is tortured to death. These visuals are carried by a frenetic, though carefully functioning pace, with the end result being that Looper among the most original of Rian Johnson's movies.
However, it easily pushes the envelope the most when it comes to exploring the genre and time travel movie tropes. At one point in the film, Jeff Daniels' character Abe says, "The movies that you're dressing like are just copying other movies. Do something new." Johnson may have written that line himself, but there's no harm in following your own advice - and that's exactly what he did.
3 Glass Onion (2022)
The Star-Studded Return Of Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery follows Detective Benoit Blanc's continuing detective work in Greece. When tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends to his private island, Benoit Blanc must step in to solve the case when one of them is killed.
Release Date December 23, 2022
Runtime 139 minutes
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a sequel to Knives Out, and it follows Daniel Craig's protagonist Benoit Blanc on an entirely new case. The Rian Johnson movie an a star-studded cast, starring the likes of Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, and many more.
Glass Onion follows detective Blanc to Greece where he is hired by Helen Brand (Monáe) to investigate the murder of her sister. Like Knives Out, plenty of other characters get involved along the way, only complicating the situation, and the conclusion is a twist that must be seen to be believed. Glass Onion received a limited theatrical release, and will be on Netflix December 23rd, 2022.
During its brief, week-long, box office run, Glass Onion exceeded original projections, and instead of grossing $6-8 million, it instead earned $13.2 million. While Glass Onion is a great movie, Knives Out beats it by a hair. Like the first mystery, the overall conclusion is hidden in plain sight. However, Knives Out does a better job of not giving anything away.
The formatting between both of Rian Johnson's whodunnit movies is markedly similar, which is what gives the first film the edge. Even though it's an entirely new mystery with separate characters, this installment in Rian Johnson's filmography would've been better if it found a way to separate itself from its predecessor. Regardless, Glass Onion and its many celebrity cameos stand out among the pack, making it a great addition to the collection of movies directed by Rian Johnson.
2 Knives Out (2019)
The Acclaimed Murder-Mystery
When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, there are suspects aplenty. Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death.
Release Date November 27, 2019
Runtime 130 minutes
Released in 2019, Knives Out was a breakout success for Rian Johnson, and also a top contender for best Rian Johnson movie to date. Following the somewhat polarized response to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Knives Out received nearly universal acclaim from critics, and appreciative audiences propelled the comedic murder mystery to an impressive $311 million box office take on a budget of $40 million (via Box Office Mojo).
While a murder mystery in execution, Knives Out — which, like Glass Onion, features an amazing all-star cast — is unique in the genre in that the audience is aware who committed the murder early on. Knives Out isn't a stereotypical "whodunnit", and the story is more about whether they will get away with it. Or at least that's what Knives Out wants its audience to believe, as even more surprising twists and turns occur further into Johnson's masterful movie.
As great as Knives Out's script is though, what really propels it is the cast, led by Daniel Craig as private detective Benoit Blanc and Ana de Armas as the apparent murderer. Craig and Armas would go on to star together in 2021's James Bond entry No Time to Die. Also featured in the cast are Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Lakeith Stanfield, and of course, the late, great Christopher Plummer as the deceased mystery writer Harlan Thrombey.
1 Brick (2006)
Rian Johnson's First Ever Film
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Brick
A high school loner delves into his town's underworld to uncover the truth behind his ex-girlfriend's disappearance. As he navigates a web of deceit, drugs, and violence, he confronts a cast of enigmatic characters, leading to a gripping and intense showdown.
Release Date April 14, 2006
Runtime 110 minutes
Cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt , Lukas Haas , Emilie de Ravin , Meagan Good , Nora Zehetner , Noah Fleiss , Matt O'Leary , Noah Segan
The debut entry in a director's filmography often pales in comparison to later work in the rest of their career. There are usually hints of what will end up becoming trademarks in the future, but those trademarks usually need some time to marinate before they mature. With Rian Johnson's first movie, it seems he knew exactly what he was doing right out of the gate - and to this day, Brick is still his best work.
Brick is a very dramatic, very moody neo-noir; and the catch is that it's set in a high school. The lead hard-boiled detective (Gordon-Levitt) is a high school student, the femme fatale (Nora Zehetner, The Right Stuff) is a classmate, and bullies, school officials, and various outsider cliques play roles in either helping or hurting his investigation. At the helm is a writer and director tipping his hat to the past, while confidently breaking new ground in a fun, but still potently tragic genre hybrid. It's even inspired in parts by the anime series Cowboy Bebop, so there's certainly a lot to chew on.
Out of Johnson's entire filmography, Brick is definitely his least refined, but not to the detriment of the final product. On the contrary, it's a bonus. Where it lacks the money to have the polish of something like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it's swimming in gritty, low-budget flair; and where it pales in comparison to the physical scope of his other films (it doesn't travel the world, through time, or across the galaxy), it redefines a genre and manages to avoid any tongue-in-cheek slips with characters and dialogue that might have struggled landing with a less experienced and confident filmmaker than Rian Johnson at the helm.
What's Next For Rian Johnson
To the delight of many fans of the franchise and director, the next Rian Johnson movie is the sequel to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The third film in the Benoit Blanc trilogy, titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, is scheduled for release in 2025 on Netflix, and some details of the casting have also been revealed.
Of course, Daniel Craig will be back to reprise his role of Benoit Blanc. Alongside him in the latest Rian Johnson mystery movie will be (and their roles if they're known) Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin (as Father Frank), Mila Kunis (as Police Chief Scott), Jeremy Renner, and several others. The story of Wake Up Dead Man is still unknown, but that's not a bad thing.
Rian Johnson has disclosed a key detail about Wake Up Dead Man, and it's one that sets the tone without giving away anything crucial. In 2023, when he was working on the script, he explained that Knives Out 3 takes the franchise in a "completely new direction tonally and thematically". While this is incredibly vague, it's no surprise that Johnson is keeping details on the plot of Wake Up Dead Man ambiguous. Twists and suspense are partly why Knives Out and Glass Onion are among the best Rian Johnson movies, so any story spoilers would likely diminish the impact.
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Rian Johnson
Discover the latest news and filmography for Rian Johnson, known for Knives Out and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Birthdate December 17, 1973
Birthplace Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
Professions Director , Screenwriter , Producer , Editor , Actor
English (US) ·