7 best Charlize Theron movies, ranked — and where to stream them
Few actors in modern cinema are as versatile as Charlize Theron, who started her career as a model and may have initially been underestimated by audiences because of that. After making a strong impression in early supporting roles, she’s been one of the biggest stars in Hollywood for the past 25 years. She’s excelled in award-winning dramas, blockbuster action movies, small-scale indie films and the occasional comedy, playing a wide range of roles that demonstrate a willingness to experiment.
Theron has also worked as a producer, taking control of her career and championing projects that offer her the kind of complex roles that are sometimes lacking for women. She’s taken supporting roles in massive franchises like “The Fast and the Furious,” “Alien” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while digging into more substantial lead roles.
With her new action film “Apex,” co-starring Taron Egerton, premiering this week on Netflix, here are my picks for the best Charlize Theron movies to stream right now, ranked in order of greatness.
7. ‘The Devil’s Advocate’
In one of her earliest breakout roles, Theron plays the wife of hotshot lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves), who’s recruited by the literal devil to work at a New York City law firm devoted to evil. Theron could easily have disappeared into the stereotypical role of a disapproving horror-movie wife, but she brings more depth and nuance to Kevin’s wife Mary Ann, who becomes increasingly suspicious of the slick, controlling John Milton (Al Pacino).
At first, Mary Ann is Kevin’s partner in corruption, but she sees the real dangers before he does, especially after Milton sexually assaults her and then confidently denies any wrongdoing. Even alongside major stars Reeves and Pacino — who gives one of his most delightfully hammy late-career performances — Theron holds her own, proving that she has the talent for her own future major stardom.
Watch on the Criterion Channel
6. ‘Prometheus’
![Prometheus - Official FULL Trailer [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5UEv03g51kU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Theron is just one member of an impressive ensemble cast in Ridley Scott’s epic, visually stunning “Alien” prequel, but she makes a distinct impression as cold, calculating corporate overseer Meredith Vickers. She fits perfectly into the franchise’s tradition of ruthless executives who put company interests over human beings, as she directs a mission to a distant planet that may hold keys to the origin of life on Earth.
Vickers isn’t particularly curious about scientific discoveries, only looking out for the interests of the perpetually sinister Weyland Corporation, led by decrepit founder Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce). In a crew full of explorers who are disturbingly eager to interact with unknown alien life forms, Vickers survives longer than most, and Theron shows how her self-preservation instincts define her.
Watch on HBO Max
5. ‘Monster’
Theron won her only Oscar for her intense, heartbreaking performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in writer-director Patty Jenkins’ debut feature. Theron brings empathy and understanding to her portrayal of Wuornos, who led a troubled life full of abuse, and initially turned to violence only when confronted with violence herself. Theron transforms physically via makeup and prosthetics, but her emotional and behavioral transformation is just as important, fully embodying Wuornos in what Roger Ebert called “one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema.”
Theron charts Wuornos’ descent into homicidal rage, and she’s matched by Christina Ricci in a quieter but still impressive performance as Wuornos’ girlfriend, Selby Wall. “Monster” may have lost some of its impact thanks to two subsequent decades of garbage true-crime content, but it remains remarkably affecting as a tragic love story, with Theron as its central doomed figure.
4. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
![Mad Max: Fury Road - Official Main Trailer [HD] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hEJnMQG9ev8/maxresdefault.jpg)
There’s a reason that Theron gets equal top billing with Tom Hardy as the title character in this post-apocalyptic action bonanza. Filmmaker George Miller’s fourth “Mad Max” movie is essentially one long chase sequence, as hardened nomad Max Rockatansky (Hardy) joins up with the indomitable Imperator Furiosa (Theron) to take on megalomaniacal warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his fleet of heavily armed vehicles.
There’s astonishing stunt work in what many consider to be one of the greatest action movies of all time, but all of the shootouts and explosions wouldn’t mean much without characters to care about. Theron makes Furiosa into a haunted, determined leader who will stop at nothing to save Immortan Joe’s indentured “brides” and return to the Edenic home she was torn from. Theron creates an icon of modern action cinema, as enduring as Mad Max himself.
3. ‘Long Shot’
Theron doesn’t often get to show off her lighthearted side, which makes this delightful romantic comedy even more refreshing. She has great chemistry with Seth Rogen as the unlikely couple at the center of a love story set among the political elite. Theron’s Charlotte Field is the U.S. secretary of state and a leading candidate for president, who hires Rogen’s recently unemployed journalist Fred Flarsky as her latest speechwriter.
They’re also onetime childhood acquaintances, and they reconnect over shared memories while forging a new bond thanks to their honest, casual rapport. “Long Shot” is genuinely funny and genuinely romantic, and it also offers an appealing wish-fulfillment scenario about a competent, caring politician who’s seeking office for all the right reasons. If Charlotte were real, she’d be easy to support, and Theron is a key reason for that.
Watch on Hulu
2. ‘Young Adult’
It takes an actor of considerable talent to make a reprehensible person like Mavis Gary compelling and even perversely likable, and that’s exactly what Theron does in this dark comedy from director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody. Mavis is a moderately successful author of young adult novels, but still can’t let go of her days as a high school queen bee. She’s vain and vindictive, and she sets her sights on her now-married high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), deciding to return to her small hometown to seduce him.
Even though she’s obviously deluded about Buddy’s interest in her, she’s surprisingly sympathetic in her self-sabotage, especially once she connects with nerdy outcast Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), her former high school classmate. Theron doesn’t have to give Mavis any disingenuous redeeming qualities in order to make her fascinating and funny.
Watch on MGM Plus
1. ‘Atomic Blonde’
I stand by my assessment of this as the best action movie of the past 15 years, and Theron’s performance is essential to making it work. She plays MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton, who is sent to Berlin in 1989 to track down a stolen list of undercover operatives. The story takes place against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with Lorraine attempting to complete her mission in the midst of political upheaval.
There are plenty of intricate plot twists, but the real hook is the dazzling action created by director David Leitch, in his first solo effort after his uncredited co-directing work on “John Wick.” Theron throws herself into the physicality of her role, and Leitch emphasizes the toll that the battles take on Lorraine’s body. It’s an action movie that takes the consequences of its action seriously.
Watch on HBO Max
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