Idris Elba's 14 Best Movies

British actor/DJ/producer Idris Elba's 27-year screen career includes roles in 51 television shows (most notably, as "Stringer Bell" on The Wire and the title role in Luther) and 54 feature films. Now running his own production company, Green Door Pictures, Elba also made his directorial debut in 2018's Yardie.

In the meanwhile, let's take a moment to look back at his best work so far.

14. Molly's Game

This true-life story features Elba as high-profile attorney Charlie Jaffey, who agrees to represent Molly Bloom, who hosted high-stakes poker games in the early 2000s. 

13. Obsessed

On the surface, Obsessed is a simple but all-too-common story about sexual harassment as well as both white and female privilege and double standards ("No" clearly doesn't mean "no" to blonde and blue-eyed Lisa Sheridan). But it also works as a pretty decent metaphor for cultural appropriation. Elba's Derek Charles is a finance executive who finds himself targeted by a new temp at the office -- who doesn't respect the fact that he's married and uninterested.

12. The Mountain Between Us

In this romance drama, Elba is Dr. Ben Bass, a neurosureon who survives a plane crash in Utah's High Uintas Wilderness only to put his medical expertise to the test by nursing journalist Alex Martin back to health so that they can try to make their way back to civilization.

11. 28 Weeks Later

In 28 Weeks Later, Elba shows off one of his many acting specialties: portraying military leaders. His General Stone oversees the U.S. soldiers stationed in the U.K. as the nation recovers from a deadly pandemic, in this decidedly depressing zombie flick.

10. Takers

Takers features one of the few instances of Elba using his natural accent. His Gordon "G" Cozier is a British-born criminal who finances his upscale lifestyle by pulling off heists with a team of bank robbers.  

9. The Harder They Fall

8. Beast

During a trip to South Africa's Mopani game reserve, widowed physician Nate Samuels, his two teenage daughters and old friend, Martin Battles, are stalked by a rogue lion.

7. Extraction 2

Elba's mysterious Alcott doesn't participate in the action alongside his MCU castmate Chris Hemsworth. But this is the best of the six movies in which the two appeared together -- by far.

6. Prometheus

Elba's Captain Janek is the commander of the title spacecraft in this prequel of the movie Alien.

5. American Gangster

In American Gangster, Elba's Tango is a rival to heroin kingpin Frank Lucas who becomes an example of how the latter treats his enemies.

4. The Suicide Squad

Although we still haven't gotten what we really want, the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad, the DCEU has rolled out an R-rated follow-up with lots more supervillains and a much higher body-count.

Although the first movie's standout, Harley Quinn, is given plenty of spotlight, a couple of new characters (and one semi-new character) steal the show right from under her. One of those characters, Elba's Robert "Bloodsport" DuBois, is only semi-new because as a Black assassin with weird guns, expert marksmanship and an estranged young daughter, he's awfully similar to Suicide Squad's Floyd "Deadshot" Lawton. But Elba makes him his own and unforgettable. And his relationship with new squad member Cleo "Ratcatcher 2" Cazo alone is worth watching the movie -- and rewatching it.  

Hopefully, we'll get another Suicide Squad sequel in the future (featuring Bloodsport).

3. Pacific Rim

Elba portrays Marshal Stacker Pentecost, a high-ranking officer in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, in a world in which humanity is forced to construct giant manned-robots in order to combat invading kaiju.

2. The Age of Ultron

Elba makes his third appearance as Norse deity Heimdall in a hallucination experienced by the Mighty Thor (and prompted by Wanda Maximoff) in this Avengers sequel that grossed over $1.4 billion.

Elba's best line:

"You're a destroyer, Odinson!"

1. Infinity War

Elba makes his final appearance as Heimdall in this MCU movie that kills off half of the universe alongside the famed Norse deity, who Thor calls his best friend.

Originally Posted 4/17/21

Updated 6/17/23