It’s an obvious point to make, but allow us just to state it once again, for the record: Andy Dwyer from Parks And Recreation really glowed up, didn’t he? Since the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie in 2014, Chris Pratt has transformed into the everyman action man who, when you really think about it, might embody the Marvel tone of voice better even than Robert Downey Jr. His vibe is somewhere between Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox: devilishly handsome, able to channel righteous anger, and capable of big stunt-filled set-pieces just as much as he is comedic ones.
He’s the star of several blockbuster franchises, has a number of standout voice turns under his belt, and his filmography is littered with darker, more dramatic roles, too. But which is his best? Only one way to find out: dance off, bro. Read Empire’s list of Chris Pratt’s 10 best movies now:
10. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Genuinely good sequels are something the Jurassic Park movies have historically found harder to come by than triceratops eggs, but this genuinely good sequel, uh, found a way. This time, Pratt’s dinosaur wrangler Owen Grady is drafted in to help save the surviving dinosaurs on the island from an impending volcanic eruption which could wipe them out all over again. This is where we hit Ultimate Action Pratt, all granite forearms and leather vests, desperate to get to his beloved old face-eating raptor friend Blue before everything explodes. The deployment of Jeff Goldblum’s Dr Ian Malcolm as a little garnish is a very welcome touch, and he’s back with a new riff on the old line about scientists not stopping to wonder whether they should – one which realigns and refreshes the new trilogy’s trajectory. “We're causing our own extinction,” he says. “Too many red lines have been crossed.” Throw in the unbearably tense, horror-esque middle act once the dinosaurs are wheeled out on the mainland, and the excellent closing set-up of them being released into the wild, ready to cause chaos, and J.A. Bayona’s follow-up marks itself as an interesting instalment in the iconic franchise.
9. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
The Guardians were once a bunch of oddballs and misfits – but by the time this sequel came around, they were among the cosmos’ leading lights both on screen and among the Marvel fandom. The first movie was all about finding the power in one’s family, whether they were blood relatives or bound by something stronger and stranger; this follow-up delves further into Quill’s daddy issues. And who wouldn’t have daddy issues, when their daddy is a sentient planet played by Kurt Russell? One who admits to having as many kids under his belt by as many different women as he could, in order to turn rocky, dead planets into extra extensions of his own consciousness? It’s a lot for anyone to take in. It’s also a mark of quite how light-footed Guardians Vol. 2 is that it manages to give the child trafficker Yondu (Michael Rooker) one of Marvel’s big heart-tug moments. “He may have been your father, boy,” Yondu tells Quill. “But he wasn't your daddy.” Just try not to sob at that vibrant Ravager funeral.
8. Moneyball
There’s a moment in the Aaron Sorkin co-scripted baseball drama which, if you’re not careful, will absolutely level you. Pratt is Scott Hatteberg, one of the first ‘ballers to be brought in to the Oakland Athletics team under new general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and his counterintuitive policy of signing undervalued players, devised by Jonah Hill’s Peter Brand. In his first training session, Scott goes to pieces; he can’t even pick up the ball. Later, he’s asked what his biggest fear is. “A baseball being hit in my general direction,” he laughs. “No, seriously. It is.” The embarrassment and pain in Pratt’s eyes is heartbreaking. Hatteberg’s arc from hapless dud to match-winner is the heart of Moneyball. If Pratt doesn’t sell it – no movie. This also marked the start of the Hot Pratt Years: initially Pratt was told he was too heavy to play Hatteberg, and he dropped 30 pounds to make the grade.
7. Jurassic World
For a while, it looked like a new Jurassic trilogy was only slightly more likely to make another appearance on planet Earth than actual dinosaurs. It was stuck in its own equivalent of amber, going nowhere particularly fast, for more than a decade. Fortunately, Colin Trevorrow’s take picked up the mantle in its jaws and sprinted for the hills with it. Pratt is Navy veteran and velociraptor whisperer Owen Grady, who’s working at the all-new, nothing-can-go-wrong-this-time dino park Jurassic World. But, wouldn’t you know it, shady types are once again in the market for freaky genetically-modified dinosaurs to sell to the military. It’s a lot of fun, with Pratt at the height of his leading man powers opposite Bryce Dallas Howard’s operations manager Claire – and the climactic barney between the new Indominus hybrid and the OG Tyrannosaurus Rex is exactly as red in tooth and claw as you’d hope.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Everybody’s favourite gang of Marvel misfits get an emotional, harrowing, but ultimately incredibly uplifting send-off in James Gunn’s trilogy-closer, which sees the Guardians on a mission to save Rocket (Bradley Cooper) after an attack from Will Poulter’s golden guy Adam Warlock puts his life on the line. This is a Guardians gathering unlike one we’ve seen before, though, as Pratt’s Peter Quill struggles to deal with his grief for Gamora (Zoë Saldaña), and the disconnect between the version of her he loved, and the time-hopping version in his life now after the events of Endgame. In a lot of ways, Vol. 3 is Rocket’s story – but Pratt remains on top form in his most famous role, embodying a kind of world-weariness whilst remaining consistently charming, funny, and convincing as a hero who, like his raccoon friend, is ready to stop running. One of the MCU’s best big-screen outings in recent years.
5. Onward
With Pratt having spent most of the ‘00s gradually becoming a sleek, powerful, sexy starsailor, this Pixar animation gave him a chance to jump right back into loveable schlub mode. He channels his inner Jack Black as Bailey Lightfoot, a teenage elf who loves heavy metal and D&D-like game Quests Of Yore, desperate to find a proper quest to go on. Fortunately, his kid brother Ian – voiced by Tom Holland – provides exactly that, when his attempt to briefly resurrect their dead dad goes wrong. Instead, they’re stuck with his disembodied legs, with only one change to make him whole again. The pair – of brothers, and of legs – set out on a fantastical road trip to find the gemstone which can make it happen. It’s a lot of fun, and like Pixar’s best work, manages to really leap into deepest and darkest of topics without feeling overly bleak or hopeless. A lot of that is down to old Marvel chums Pratt and Holland, bouncing along together with charm to spare – their brotherly love is the real magic here.
4. The Lego Movie
Emmett Brickowski is just a regular Lego guy doing a regular Lego job down in Bricksburg, pulling stuff down and building stuff up. The Lego civilisation he lives in seems to be ticking along nicely, until he tumbles into a quest to stop the crazed Lord Business from glueing everything together and stopping anything from changing ever again. Voice acting is a tricky skill, but even among esteemed company here – especially Will Arnett as Lego Batman – Pratt stands out, his raw enthusiasm giving way to something more meditative. His final plea to Lord Business about the power of imagination is particularly moving: “Look at all these things that people built! You might see a mess… what I see are people, inspired by each other.” It’s faintly miraculous that such an odd idea as The Lego Movie was executed so brilliantly (kudos to the genius touch of Phil Lord & Chris Miller) and it’s been attempted many times – often very badly – since. But, at least for a while, everything was awesome.
3. Zero Dark Thirty
Kathryn Bigelow’s peerless thriller following the United States’ mission to track down and take out Osama Bin Laden is one of cinema’s best responses to that era of suspicion and cynicism. As one of the celebrated Seal Team 6, Justin Lenihan, Pratt is the hands and eyes of the government – and, by extension, anyone who was outraged and pained by 9/11 – but he isn’t just a finger pulling a trigger. He’s there to challenge Jessica Chastain’s CIA analyst over bad intelligence and lost causes from the past, and bring a particularly post-War On Terror jadedness into the mix. Chastain, who derides the idea of sending soldiers in when she could drop a bomb, desperately wants Bin Laden dead; Pratt and the Seal team embody the idea of whether it was worth what it cost.
2. Avengers: Infinity War
Is it a bit of a cheat to call this a Chris Pratt movie? No. Well, a little bit. But it’s as much a Chris Pratt Movie as it is a Beardy Chris Evans Movie, or even a Purple Josh Brolin Movie. The injection of goofy, goodtime energy which Pratt’s Peter Quill and the Guardians give the first part of Marvel’s wildly entertaining crescendo – especially in their hilarious interactions with Thor and Iron Man – not to mention their heartbreak at the news of Gamora’s murder, is a huge part of why it works so well. As Mantis (Pom Klementieff) struggles to keep Thanos under control, and Peter Parker does his best to yank off that dang gauntlet, Quill gets the chance to finally be a hero on a properly universe-saving scale – only for his knee-jerk, grief-induced punch to ultimately mean he and half the universe are turned to dust and float into nothingness. You had such a good plan, Peter! Why did you ruin it?!
1. Guardians Of The Galaxy
The Iron Man and Captain America movies might have carried the bulk of the storytelling in the first few phases of Marvel’s grand narrative, but if you’re looking for an outing that consistently makes it close to the top of fan’s MCU rankings, it’s got to be Guardians Of The Galaxy. It’s easy to forget what a breath of fresh air Peter Quill jamming around an alien landscape to Redbone’s ‘Come And Get Your Love’ represented; James Gunn’s decisive pivot from world-weary post-The Dark Knight gloom to space-opera, DayGlo larks. At the heart of it all is man-child Peter Quill, AKA – well, occasionally known as – Star Lord. As the motley crew of a tree, a raccoon, a green warrior and a mega-muscled moron come together to stop the Power Stone falling into the wrong hands, it’s Quill who has to do the most growing up – and it’s Pratt who shot most rapidly to superstardom as a result.