Morgan Freeman's 7 Best Movies

In his 58-year(!) career, preeminent actor Morgan Freeman has graced the stage and the screen, big and small and he shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon; the veteran thespian has five projects due for release in the next two years. He's also taken on roles as diverse as former slaves and freedom fighters to the U.S. President and the Higher Power. Shockingly enough, Freeman has only been awarded one Oscar. 

7. Brian Banks

Based on the title character's true story, Brian Banks follows a high school football star who's wrongly accused of a crime and persuaded to plead no contest to the charges -- but only because he's told that the worst sentence he would receive would be probation. Unfortunately, the judicial system wasn't merciful and instead he was sentenced to over 6 years in prison. While Banks did his time and was paroled, he learned the hard way that even out of prison he's still judged and denied the chance to earn a living. Determined to prove his innocence and get his wrongful conviction overturned, he works with the California Innocence Project to get another hearing in order to get his life back and pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.

Freeman delivers an uncredited performance as Judge Jerome Johnson, who presides over Banks' appeal. 

6. Seven

Retiring Detective Lieutenant William Somerset is saddled with an ambitious young partner during his final case and comes to the realization that the deaths they're investigating are the work of a serial killer. Freeman expertly imbues Somerset with a world-weariness that manages to stand out from the sea of cynical cinematic cops. 

5. Oblivion

Unlike in most alien invasion movies, Oblivion begins with the war already won -- but at the cost of the planet. Freeman portrays combat veteran and leader of a group of human survivors, Malcolm Beech. I can't say much more without spoiling things for those who haven't seen it.

4. Unforgiven

In this, his only western, Freeman is Ned Logan, a retired outlaw who takes a job collecting the bounty on a cowboy (and his accomplice) who disfigured a prostitute's face. Having been recruited by old friend Will Munny, but realizing that his skills and eyesight having waned over the years, and that he's no longer willing to kill, Logan re-retires from gunslinging. However, he's tortured to death by corrupt sheriff Little Bill Daggett, who feels threatened by Logan and associates exacting frontier justice. 

3. Batman Begins

After billionaire Bruce Wayne returns from a seven-year international sabbatical, his interest in his family corporation's Applied Sciences division is noticed by its chief, Freeman's Lucius Fox. Though he'd been demoted to corporate archivist since a hostile in-house coup, Fox's engineering genius becomes invaluable to Wayne's nocturnal activities as a masked vigilante. Wayne makes particular use of the prototype defense products Fox shows him, such as armored vehicle, the Tumbler. By the end of the film, he's promoted to CEO of Wayne Enterprises.

His best line: 

"If you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing, when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot."

2. The Dark Knight

Now the CEO of Wayne Industries, Freeman's Lucius Fox takes more of an active role in his vigilante activities. Having already supplied him with the Tumbler, he expands the crime-fighter's armory with the Batpod, a motorcycle outfitted with weaponry. However, Wayne's use of surveillance software to hack into every cell phone in Gotham is an intrusive step too far for Fox, who threatens to resign his from his post if the apparatus isn't dismantled.

1. The Dark Knight Rises

When Bruce Wayne surfaces after seven years of seclusion, Freeman's Lucius Fox provides him a new military aircraft prototype: the Bat. After Wayne loses control of his family's company, Fox is demoted to president and, subsequently, reluctantly agrees to use his fingerprints (as a member of the corporation's board) to allow terrorists access to Wayne Industries' nuclear fusion reactor, which they plan to weaponize. Following the apparent death of Wayne and the actual death of CEO Miranda Tate, Fox resumes his position atop the company.