Over the course of 50 years, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 movies — here are all Steven Spielberg movies ranked from worst to best. Steven Spielberg movies have made the director become a cultural icon over the course of his career, with his films inspiring the next generation of filmmakers for decades. Steven Spielberg is one of the few directors who can shift effortlessly between crowd-pleasing blockbusters, and prestigious award-baiting fares. Furthermore, movies directed by Spielberg often manage to combine these two facets of Hollywood filmmaking, which is an even rarer feat. This ability to cater to both critics and general audiences comes down to his natural gifts as a storyteller; Spielberg imbues his movies with heart, which makes many of them enduring classics.
Spielberg has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director seven times, winning twice. Steven Spielberg movies have amassed an incredible $10.5 billion worldwide, easily making him the highest-grossing director of all time. Seven movies directed by Spielberg have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Of course, as with any filmmaker, Steven Spielberg isn’t infallible, but even his misfires are not wholly devoid of merit. Here are all 34 Steven Spielberg movies ranked from worst to best.
34. Always
Released in the same year as lead actor Richard Dreyfuss shared a mutual love for the 1943 war drama A Guy Named Joe, the story of the spirit of a pilot who mentors a friend from beyond the grave, which inspired Always. To its credit, Always has Audrey Hepburn in her final film role and features some impressive aerial stunts. However, it’s a slow movie that dramatically doesn’t offer anything that A Guy Named Joe didn’t do better decades earlier.
33. The Terminal
Next up on the list of Steven Spielberg movies ranked is The Terminal. While the premise of man without a nation stuck inside an airport for years is certainly an interesting hook, The Terminal’s slow pace languishes the concept. It doesn't help that the movie's lead Tom Hanks, a reliable and always lovable on-screen presence, is just too starry a choice for such a quiet role. It’s a gentle movie about a precarious time in history (post 9/11) that nobody knew how to deal with, but Spielberg’s ambitious intent doesn’t carry through the aims of The Terminal. Perhaps the most impressive thing about The Terminal is that the titular building was built from scratch inside a hanger when Steven Spielberg couldn’t find an airport that would let him film for the length of time he needed. It’s a pity though that the film itself seems so inconsequential, despite its best intentions.
32. Hook
Despite a cult following, Hook is not a film that holds up when one removes the rose-tinted glasses of childhood glee.
The 142-minute running time would test the patience of any kid or adult, especially thanks to its unruly pacing and disappointing lack of magic. Still, the practical sets and production design are a visual treat in the current age of digital sets, Dustin Hoffman is having a ball as pirate leader Captain Hook, and John Williams delivers perhaps his most underappreciated score. Despite all this though, Spielberg himself remains one of Hook’s loudest detractors, lamenting the quality of the script and that he didn’t give Robin Williams more freedom in the role.
31. Ready Player One
The faults of Ready Player One’s cameos and Easter eggs aren’t enough. Spielberg tries hard to imbue a sense of danger, but that’s difficult to sustain when the movie feels like watching someone else play a video game. That sense of emotional detachment is Ready Player One’s biggest weakness. Still, Mark Rylance playing a Willie Wonka-style Silicon Valley guru is a welcome addition.
30. 1941
Spielberg is a man of many talents, but screwball comedy is not one of them. Riding high on his back-to-back success with movie stars Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Ned Beatty. Spielberg’s set pieces remain impressive to this day, with the dance hall fight being a highlight. However, these virtues are not enough to justify its bloated runtime and scattershot approach, with the film collapsing under the weight of its ideas, most of which fall flat. According to Jack Nicholson, director Stanley Kubrick allegedly told Spielberg that 1941 was "great, but not funny." That sums it up pretty well.
29. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a definite step down from its masterful predecessor. The effects are still stunning and the cast is peppered with stand-out talent, but it's tough to escape the feeling that the entire enterprise is just a retread of the original movie. Even Spielberg himself itted he became disaffected while making The Lost World because he was so sure the film would be a slam dunk since the first one was.
While meme-worthy Jeff Goldblum is always watchable, the change in his portrayal of Ian Malcolm from the previous movie is jarring, to say the least. The fourth act climax in San Diego also feels tacked on and doesn’t deliver on its intent to homage King Kong. Moreover, there's little thematic weight to this film and several main characters, like Vince Vaughn's Nick Van Owen, simply disappear in the third act. It's still superior to Jurassic Park’s other sequels, and the darker tone is an interesting change of pace from the original movie. However, it comes at the expense of the awe and wonder that Jurassic Park had in spades.
28. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Spielberg’s attempt to make an Indiana Jones sequel that lived up to its predecessors great moments (like Crystal Skull's time travel) that proudly stand up with the original trilogy in of sheer thrills. But when those three movies set the bar so high, even a pretty solid movie cannot help but fall seriously short by comparison.
27. War Horse
Translating Michael Morpurgo's simple children's book about a family's horse who is taken to the frontline with British troops during the First World War works so well as a children’s novel and play because it shows the horrors of war through a childlike prism. Translating that into a straight-faced war drama inevitably strips the story of some of its appeal and charm. The horse blends into the background while an array of celebrated character actors pop up for random scenes and trite dialogue. Spielberg's direction of action though is unparalleled, and War Horse showcases some of the most spectacular, beautiful, and brutal footage he’s ever captured. Composer John Williams is channeling Vaughan Williams with his lavish score, and there is a yesteryear quality to the filmmaking. War Horse is arguably the film in Steven Spielberg’s catalog that feels most like it could have been made in the 1940s — for better or worse.
26. The Sugarland Express
Technically his theatrical directorial debut, The Sugarland Express was a curious place for Spielberg to get his start. The story follows a husband and wife trying to outrun the law so that they can regain control over their son who now lives with foster parents. The rougher edges are to be expected for such an early Spielberg movie, but he still displays a striking command of action scenes, which are on display here with some top-notch car chases. There’s a fascinating nihilistic edge to this story too, with the film considered as something of an anomaly among Spielberg’s other films (as well as Goldie Hawn’s). Spielberg’s typically earnest approach to the material is largely absent here, reflective of the disenchantment inherent in Hollywood movies of the era.
25. The BFG
Spielberg's The BFG failed at the box office, being one of the few real financial disasters in Spielberg's canon.
