It’s hard to believe that Jada Pinkett Smith isn’t any older than she is since she’s been around for so long, but at the same time it’s easy to see why she’s so popular since she’s been nothing but great since she came on the scene in a big way back in the 90s. Since then she’s turned in a great number of performances, some in less than great movies, but all that have been memorable for the most part. That’s one of the great things about Jada, she can take part in a movie that’s something less than great and still be one of the best parts about it since she has a strength of character that’s hard to deny. It doesn’t often reflect well on an actor when they take place in a few less than noteworthy movies, but at the same time it’s admirable when they can continue to be lauded as one of the best no matter what. That’s what Jada’s capable of, among other things.
Here are a few of her best movies.
5. Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight
Jeryline is the typical young person that’s stuck in a rut and can’t find her way out of the small bit of nowhere she’s found herself in, but that changes pretty quickly when a stranger shows up to the hotel she works in one evening. When it’s deduced that he’s some type of holy warrior and is seeking to keep a certain artifact from the demon lord that is trying to retrieve it, Jeryline and the others attempt to survive the night as the demon lord summons his own allies and attempts to subvert every last one of the survivors in an attempt to turn them against the man he’s after. In the end however only Jeryline is left, the newly anointed demon knight and keeper of the artifact.
4. Matrix Revolutions
Niobe is just awesome, it has to be said. While she didn’t come in until the second movie, which was less than great really, she absolutely took charge in the third movie when the crew needed to reach Zion in order to help or at least to figure out what was going on. Her piloting skills were second to none and her determination to reach the city and help secure it was nothing less than awe-inspiring. Just thinking about the maneuvers that would be necessary to pull in an attempt to pilot through a tunnel system barely wide enough for a school bus, and with sentinels swarming all around them, is enough to make a person dizzy.
3. Collateral
Annie isn’t exactly a victim but she’s not exactly the strong woman that Jada has been seen as in other roles since that’s not the character. Plus, anyone standing within reach of Vincent is pretty much a target that has little to no chance of survival in this movie, as the assassin is able to move about like a ghost until he reaches his target, upon which their worries are at end since he tends to finish the job. When Max intervenes though Annie, the last person on Vincent’s list, is spared as the cab driver somehow outwits the assassin and finds a way, however improbable, of killing Vincent and leaving him to be found later.
2. Menace II Society
Ronnie isn’t the kind of woman you play around with when it comes to emotions and you certainly don’t want to test her patience when it comes to doing things the way she feels they should be done. When it comes to Caine she’s got a lot of love for him and it shows, but she’s not all that crazy about his status as a drug dealer or the fact that his lifestyle could eventually corrupt her son. She definitely eliminates the idea of not having a positive female role model in these types of movies since she’s one of the most positive and important characters in the entire movie, though of course she doesn’t get as much attention.
1. Set It Off
Stony and her three friends have had a rough life and it only seems to get worse in the movie as the four of them find that they’re not likely to make anything better since bad things just keep happening. So they decide to start taking something back, and as a result they find themselves squarely on the radar of the same people that they felt were harassing them in the first place. There’s a great deal of poetic justice in this movie as you can’t help but root for Stony and her friends, but at the same time wonder why they wouldn’t feel the need to follow the rules like everyone else. It’s a conundrum really since a lot of people would probably feel the same way if life was giving them the shaft in this manner, but many folks still wouldn’t act on it.
She’s been nothing but great throughout her career, despite a couple of less than stellar movies.
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