The Top 3 Denzel Washington Movies On Rotten Tomatoes Are Not The Ones You Expect

It's worth noting, of course, that with all due respect to the knowledgable, hard-working film critics contributing to those Rotten Tomatoes scores, film reviews are arguably as subjective as audience reactions. Rotten Tomatoes also doesn't really have an effective way of separating reviews of a film that came in when it was released, and those that have been trickling down in the years since.

That fact could particularly affect the rankings of films like "Malcolm X" and "Philadelphia" as they were released in the early 1990s, and each arrived in theaters with just enough controversy to have skewed a review or two. As for flicks like "Training Day" and "Inside Man," as brilliant as they are, they both err more on the side of action movie fun than prestige cinema. And some critics surely felt they tripped a little too often into the trappings of such fare. Despite this fact, most fans of Washington's work might be quick to rank any of those films above those topping the Rotten Tomatoes list.

One would be wise not to underestimate the films in the Top 3, however, as they each feature strong turns from Washington. That's particularly true of "Glory," which not only helped vault Washington to superstardom but rightfully earned the actor his first Academy Award. As for more recent hits like "Fences" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth," if you've seen either, you know the films really do speak for themselves. And yes, each is as worthy of a spot near the top of a "Best of Denzel" list as any film in his vaunted oeuvre.