Every Spike Lee Movie, Ranked
Updated 9/11/20 to add American Utopia.
Spike Lee's new Netflix film Da 5 Bloods has been earning mostly terrific reviews, but where does it rank among the veteran director's best films? In the gallery above, we rank every feature directed by Lee in order by Metascore (reflecting the consensus of top professional film critics) from worst to best.
Note that a few made-for-television films are not included because there were not enough reviews available to calculate a Metascore. These include Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella (1990), Sucker Free City (2004), Kobe Doin' Work (2009), and 2 Fists Up (2016).
Lee’s 2012 documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s 1987 album Bad premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It focuses on Jackson as an artist and collaborator. For some critics that was enough, but one wonders how its reception would change in the wake of the controversial Leaving Neverland.
“A blockbuster melange of Motown, metal, hip-hop, world and gospel influences, bound by trailblazing production, 'Bad' has stood in its predecessor's shadow too long, and Spike Lee convincingly makes the case for reassessment with this exhaustive and entertaining if less-than-penetrating documentary on its creation.” —Guy Lodge, Variety
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