All of Taylor Sheridan’s films are ranked from worst to best

At this point, Paramount must be running out of space for any more titles from Taylor Sheridan’s TV show-making machine. While “Yellowstone” may be winding down, it still has spinoffs that line up alongside the likes of indie titles like “Landman,” “Lions,” “Tulsa King” and “Mayor of Kingstown” that are running well. also. Of course, television isn’t the only space Sheridan has occupied. Some of his best stories have appeared on the big screen rather than the small.

Before we even knew who John Dutton was and what it meant to be “taken to the train station,” Taylor Sheridan was making a name for himself writing films before he started directing them. As with his television output, there have been some poor misses and some huge successes between the films, some of which you might be surprised he even played a role in helping create. Below is a breakdown of every Taylor Sheridan film project he has a writing or directing credit attached to, starting with his first time behind the camera when he ventured into the horror genre.

Every director has to start somewhere, and for Taylor Sheridan, this type of film was miles away from where it would eventually find its footing. “Despicable” is his only dip into horror, and we should be thankful for that. A ruby ​​watch from start to finish, this knock-off of “Saw” cuts like a rolling pin as a group of friends find themselves trapped in a house with six other strangers and are forced to torture each other to survive. Trust us when we say that you, the viewer, are the only one who will truly suffer.

Filmed on a shoestring budget with some terrible performances to back it up, “Vile” doesn’t necessarily live up to its name, but if the camera stays still long enough, it can be a riveting watch at times. While Sheridan may have introduced some cringe-inducing moments into his stories in later years, the ones he deals with here lack any kind of horror. In a Rotten tomatoes In the interview, he called “Vile” an “excellent opportunity to point the camera and learn some lessons that really served me well in Wind River,” a film he considers his debut as a true director. With that in mind, we can be happy that whatever nuggets of knowledge he took from ‘Vile’ put him far ahead of where he started.

Although he may have been up to his cowboy boots in building his “Yellowstone” world, Taylor Sheridan helped Paramount direct another film in 2021, co-writing with Will Staples a film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s 1993 novel , “Without regret.” The film sees Michael B. Jordan as John Kelly, a US Navy SEAL and the eventual leader of the fictional Special Forces team, Rainbow Six. In Clancy’s books, Kelly (later renamed Clark) is a recurring ally of Jack Ryan, who has been brilliantly rebooted on Amazon Prime Video by this point. The streaming service snatched the film from Paramount and released it during the pandemic to kick off another franchise, but unfortunately it didn’t start with a great premise.

“Without Regret” has all the tools needed to be a hit but feels frustratingly old and boring because of the story around it. Sheridan, no stranger to dealing with heroes contemplating revenge, also plays this one by the book as Jordan’s hero aims to settle the score after his pregnant wife and members of his team are murdered. Directed by Stefano Sollima, the film lacks the same energy and suspense that audiences were getting with “Jack Ryan” and other Sheridan projects at the time. Even the film’s final big shootout is largely dated and fails to make a case for what was supposed to be an entirely new Jordan franchise. As of 2023, “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski is set to direct the “Rainbow Six” sequel. Hopefully, it will give Kelly the jolt that Sheridan and Sollima couldn’t.

While “Without Remorse” struggles to break free from ’90s clichés, “Those Who Wish Me Dead” proudly owns them, making it a fun, old-fashioned cat-and-mouse movie starring Angelina Jolie. Besides directing this film, Sheridan co-wrote alongside Charles Levitt and novelist Michael Kurita, who wrote the book from which the film was adapted. Jolie plays the hero Smokey (a wildfire first responder) who takes a stranded young boy under her protection from two hitmen (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult), hoping to cover their tracks from a mission gone wrong.

Running “Those Who Want Me Dead” in the vein of films like “Hard Rain” and “Cliffhanger” doesn’t really try to reinvent the wheel and is better for it. Aiden Gillen, who filled a corner of the market for lethal and logistical villains thanks to “Game of Thrones” (and who later went on to be a villain in Sheridan’s “Mayor of Kingstown”), does what’s needed. Meanwhile, Nicholas Hoult is trying to become a bad guy, which is a good warm-up for whatever he has in store for “Superman” as Lex Luthor. They don’t do that anymore, but it’s great to see Sheridan keeping the fire burning for them with this entertaining hour.

After the huge success of Sicario, it was no surprise that Sheridan presented a second chapter that revisits this world, and narrows its focus more on Alejandro Gillick, Benicio del Toro’s steely-eyed killer. In Sicario: Day of the Soldado, del Toro’s killer is sent across the border again after a terrorist attack in Kansas City linked to Mexican drug cartels. Just as before, our ruthless hero is focused on his mission, until a young passerby lures him into this dark, lawless land along the way.

Although it’s a fine follow-up from Sheridan, there’s no doubt that “Day of the Soldado” lacks the brilliant direction of Denis Villeneuve and the haunting cinematography of Roger Deakins, which filled every frame of its predecessor. The only winning element is del Toro, who tries, but doesn’t entirely elevate the film to the heights of what’s come before, no matter how cool he looks slaying crime bosses.

Director Stefano Sollima gamely takes the chair as Villeneuve’s replacement (when Sheridan would have been a better choice), trying to lend a hand in what feels like the “Yellowstone” creator’s attempt to build a world on the big screen. since then, The producers promised a third film In development while Sheridan was busy creating a breed of Duttons, but the wait was long. Right now, there’s no set time for Gillick’s return but given how deathly silent he often is, we’ll never hear of his coming anyway.

In Taylor Sheridan’s film and television projects, some of his best work often features a perfectly matched pair in the center. For “Hell or High Water,” which Sheridan wrote for director David Mackenzie, Chris Pine and Ben Foster are a double act. Toby (Payne) and Tanner Howard (Foster) are brothers who start robbing banks in order to keep the family home. Unfortunately, Marcus Hamilton, a veteran of Jeff Bridges’ team, is following them and dealing with one last case.

This film may carry the classic tropes of some superior heist movies, but Sheridan still manages to add his familiar tone and strict management of fatalities to a thrilling cookout under the West Texas sun. Bridges presents the classic archetype of the sullen lawman approaching retirement, even with a trustworthy partner along for the ride (the always welcome Birmingham Jill). However, the one place he plays with this formula in particular is with the Howards themselves.

Foster, who often played the brief Fuse in films like “3:10 to Yuma” and “Alpha Dog,” is unpredictable here but is often just as cold as his on-screen brother Pine. Their chemistry is perfectly summed up in an unforgettable trip to the gas station where Toby lets a pair of gullible thugs attack him while Tanner won’t leave the car. Upon listing Best heist movies of all time Such as “Heat,” “The Town,” “Point Break,” and “Hell or High Water” are easily worth stealing some conversation time.

2017’s “Wind River” is undoubtedly Taylor Sheridan’s best example of handling the dual duty of writing and directing, culminating in a simple yet sinister detective story. Elizabeth Olsen is an FBI agent sent to handle the murder of an 18-year-old girl and member of the Northern Arapaho tribe on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Joining her in the search is U.S. Wildlife Service agent Corey Lambert (Jeremy Renner), who has a dark past that he has been forced to return to. Together, they both find themselves on a trail of horrific cover-ups, pulse-pounding shootouts, and a bit of cold but tearful justice paid at the end of it all.

While its final act relies on unsettling flashbacks, there’s no doubt that Sheridan deftly builds mountains of tension to get to this sub-zero detective story, with Olsen and Renner doing the work. By this point, both stars had already established an impeccable dynamic thanks to their work together in the MCU as Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch. Here, the film remains on emotional scenes that are only enhanced when they are dealt with individually. Olsen gives a commendable, Clarice Starling-like performance as a brave woman in a man’s world, but Renner delivers what may be some of his best work as a father who deals with grief in his own way. By the time the truth comes out in “Wind River,” you’ll have chewed your fingers to the bone if you haven’t already frozen over.

It may not be Taylor Sheridan’s best film that he directed, but it’s the one that put his name on the map more than anything else, and rightly so. Under the impeccable direction of Denis Villeneuve, another up-and-comer at the time, Taylor Sheridan’s “Sicario” was a huge hit that perfectly integrated the artists’ handling of the harsh terrain and gripped its audience from beginning to end.

Featuring an impressive array of talent, including Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and an early appearance by Daniel Kaluuya, “Sicario”’s greatest asset is Benicio del Toro in the wonderful role of Alejandro Gillick. As the titular killer, or “Sicario,” in this shadowy battle against drugs and gang warfare, Gillick is the stone-faced killer from whom many of Sheridan’s future characters would be cut.

When del Toro’s killer enters a scene, a creepy atmosphere comes with him, making him something that inspires fear and fascination for both the audience and Blunt’s Kate Macer, who is “lost in the land of the wolves.” Throw in Roger Deakins’ searing cinematography and one of the greatest gunfights in cinema history, and “Sicario” remains Taylor Sheridan’s best work, even if someone else made the decision.