There are only a couple of filmmakers who are so iconic and widely known that even people with no interest in how movies are made have heard of them. Steven Spielberg is one of those directors and has been since his breakout movie Jaws defied all expectations to become the highest grossing movie ever made – and the first of many high-concept summer blockbusters.
From Schindler’s List to the Indiana Jones series, Spielberg has helmed all kinds of movies. While Spielberg’s movies are generally well-received by critics, there are some blind spots on his filmography that the reviews weren’t too kind to.
33 Hook (29%)
The idea of casting Robin Williams as an adult Peter Pan was a doozy – and he does give a terrific performance, as does Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook – but Hook is let down by a weak script and inconsistent tone.
32 1941 (42%)
Spielberg has rarely attempted comedy, and the reason for this is the failure of his first foray into the genre, 1941, which falls flat despite featuring such greats as John Belushi, John Candy, and Dan Aykroyd.
31 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (53%)
After breaking all kinds of new ground with Jurassic Park, Spielberg helmed a sequel that set the precedent for the franchise going forward: interminable follow-ups that can’t justify their own existence or come close to matching the greatness of the original.
30 Twilight Zone: The Movie (58%)
John Landis, Joe Dante, George Miller, and Steven Spielberg all directed segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie, but Spielberg’s segment can be seen coming from a mile away, because it’s treacly and sentimental and doesn’t even try to be scary.
29 The Terminal (61%)
Due to political tensions in his fictional Eastern European native land, Tom Hanks is stuck living in John F. Kennedy International Airport indefinitely in The Terminal. The premise is a juicy one, but the movie devolves into a corny love story as he falls for a flight attendant.
28 Always (67%)
A forgettable WWII-era romance, Always is a prime example of Spielberg’s incessant sentimentality ruining a movie. Still, the cast includes such greats as Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, and Audrey Hepburn.
27 Ready Player One (72%)
Adapted from Ernest Cline’s novel of the same name, Ready Player One is a CGI-laden spectacle about a kid traversing a virtual reality, featuring Easter eggs referencing as much of popular culture as possible.
It’s just as thematically empty and driven by nostalgia as its source material, but the trip into The Shining is a delight for Kubrick fans and horror fans alike.
26 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (74%)
Stanley Kubrick was working on a version of the Pinocchio story about a cyborg boy before he died, at which point Spielberg snapped up the project and finished it for him. A.I. is certainly a Spielberg movie, not a Kubrick movie directed by Spielberg, but it’s one of his best sci-fi works.
25 The Adventures Of Tintin (74%)
With cutting-edge motion-capture technology, Spielberg brought Hergé’s iconic Tintin comics to life with gusto in The Adventures of Tintin, a vibrant, colorful big-screen adventure whose sequel is stuck in development hell.
24 The BFG (74%)
Adapted from the Roald Dahl book of the same name, The BFG stars a CGI’d-up Mark Rylance as the titular big friendly giant who protects a young girl named Sophie from the other giants who have decided to hunt her down.
23 War Horse (74%)
Much more lighthearted than Spielberg’s other war movies, War Horse follows a horse through the horrors of World War I as his former owner frantically tries to track him down.
22 Empire Of The Sun (75%)
A young Christian Bale stars in Empire of the Sun as a wealthy British kid circa World War II who becomes a prisoner of war locked in a Japanese internment camp. It’s a unique take on a coming-of-age story – most kids don’t come of age as a P.O.W.
21 War Of The Worlds (75%)
Spielberg drew on 9/11 imagery in constructing his modern-day adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. It’s far from a perfect movie, but it is interesting to view it through that lens.
20 Amistad (77%)
After depicting the Holocaust, Spielberg took on one of history’s other harrowing chapters: American slavery. Amistad tells the story of a slave ship that was commandeered by the slaves aboard, and the Supreme Court case that followed.
19 Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (78%)
The belated fourth Indiana Jones movie has a much higher Rotten Tomatoes score than might be expected by Indy fans who felt betrayed by its use of aliens, computer-generated monkeys, and nuked fridges as plot devices.
18 Munich (78%)
One of Spielberg’s darkest and most underrated movies, Munich dramatizes Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli government’s covert retaliation for the Black September massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
17 The Color Purple (81%)
Anchored by phenomenal performances by Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, The Color Purple explores much more serious themes than the average Spielberg movie, including racism, incest, and domestic violence.
16 Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (84%)
Technically a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a lot darker than its predecessor and its racist overtones are pretty uncomfortable, but it’s still much better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
15 The Sugarland Express (85%)
Spielberg’s first feature film to debut in theaters, The Sugarland Express is a crime thriller about a married couple going on the run from the law. It marked Spielberg’s first of many collaborations with composer John Williams.
14 Duel (88%)
Before Spielberg landed the gig directing Jaws, he helmed Duel, a made-for-TV movie about a man being terrorized by an old tanker truck whose driver wants to kill him for overtaking him.