All 11 Denis Villeneuve Movies Ranked, Worst to Best

There's no withholding the answer here: the top of any honest Denis Villeneuve movies ranked list comes down to three titans — Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune: Part Two — and after eleven features, we give the crown to Blade Runner 2049, with Arrival a hair behind and Dune: Part Two completing the podium. That's the debate-settler. Everything below is the full countdown, worst to best, with where each film actually earns its spot.

It's the perfect moment to rank the run. The French-Canadian director who quietly became the modern sci-fi king is now shooting Dune: Part Three — his adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune: Messiah, due December 18, 2026 — and has been tapped to direct the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM. The work below is how he got there.

What are all of Denis Villeneuve's movies in order?

Before the ranking, here's every Villeneuve feature in release order, so you have the Denis Villeneuve movies in order at a glance:

1. August 32nd on Earth (1998)
2. Maelstrom (2000)
3. Polytechnique (2009)
4. Incendies (2010)
5. Prisoners (2013)
6. Enemy (2013)
7. Sicario (2015)
8. Arrival (2016)
9. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
10. Dune (2021)
11. Dune: Part Two (2024)

Eleven films. No true disaster among them — the gap between his worst and best is the gap between "interesting" and "all-time great," which is its own kind of compliment.

11. August 32nd on Earth (1998)

His feature debut, a stylish French-language road movie about a woman who decides she wants a child after surviving a car crash. The compositional eye is already there, but the storytelling is loose and self-consciously arty. Essential only for completists tracing where it all began.

10. Maelstrom (2000)

A darkly comic Montreal drama narrated, improbably, by a fish awaiting slaughter. It won Villeneuve major Canadian acclaim and hints at the moral heaviness to come, but the whimsy hasn't aged as cleanly as his later precision. A fascinating curio at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes.

9. Enemy (2013)

The most divisive entry, and the lowest-scored at 73%, which feels harsh. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a man who discovers his exact double in this Toronto-set adaptation of a José Saramago novel. It's a deliberately opaque nightmare about fidelity and control with one of the most discussed final shots in modern cinema. Lower on consensus, high on cult devotion — the kind of film that dominates Denis Villeneuve best movies Reddit threads precisely because nobody agrees on it.

8. Polytechnique (2009)

A stark black-and-white reconstruction of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre. Unsparing and formally rigorous, it announced Villeneuve as a serious dramatic force. It sits at 88% critically and remains his most painful, least rewatchable film — by design.

7. Prisoners (2013)

His English-language calling card: a grueling abduction thriller with Hugh Jackman and Gyllenhaal, shot by the great Roger Deakins. At two and a half hours of mounting dread, it proved Villeneuve could command a Hollywood ensemble without sanding off the bleakness. Lands at 81% and remains a gateway film for many fans.

6. Dune (2021)

The film that made the unfilmable filmable. Dune is monumental world-building — Greig Fraser's photography, Hans Zimmer's score, Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides — but it's structurally half a story, ending right as the engine turns over. That incompleteness is the only thing keeping it out of the top five. A foundational chapter rather than a standalone triumph. For the bigger Chalamet picture, see our Timothée Chalamet best movies rundown.

5. Incendies (2010)

His breakthrough on the world stage and his first Oscar nomination (Best Foreign Language Film). Twins travel to the Middle East to unravel their late mother's secret past, building to a gut-punch revelation that ranks among the most devastating in his catalog. A staggering 91% — proof his power never depended on spectacle.

4. Sicario (2015)

A vise-tight cartel thriller anchored by Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin, with Deakins behind the camera and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson's growling score. The border-crossing convoy sequence is a masterclass in sustained tension. At 91%, it's the film where Villeneuve's control over dread became unimpeachable, and a standout for fans of the best heist and crime thrillers.

3. Dune: Part Two (2024)

His most spectacular film and a legitimate pick for the top spot — many readers will put it at #1, and we won't argue too hard. It delivers everything Dune set up: the worm-riding, Paul's terrible ascent, Zendaya's Chani as the trilogy's moral conscience. It sits at 92% and stands as one of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century. We place it third only because the two films above it are tighter, stranger, and more singular. Read our full Dune: Part Two review for the deep dive.

2. Arrival (2016)

The film that crowned him. A linguist (Amy Adams) decodes an alien language and, in doing so, the shape of grief and time itself. Arrival is his most emotionally complete work and his highest live-action critical score at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes — the answer to anyone comparing Denis Villeneuve movies ranked on Rotten Tomatoes. Arrival vs Blade Runner 2049 is the great Villeneuve coin-flip; Arrival loses by a feather only because of what edges it out.

1. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

His masterpiece. A sequel nobody believed could work that became a melancholy, staggeringly beautiful meditation on memory and what makes us real. Ryan Gosling and a returning Harrison Ford headline; Deakins finally won his long-overdue Oscar for the cinematography. It under-performed at the box office and earns "only" 88% — but consensus undersells it. As a total fusion of image, sound, idea, and feeling, nothing else in the filmography is this complete. For more from its star, see our Ryan Gosling best movies guide.

Where can you watch Denis Villeneuve's movies?

Availability shifts by region and month, but here's the general lay of the land in the US:

• Dune and Dune: Part Two — typically stream on Max (Warner Bros.), with digital rental everywhere.
• Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival — rotate across major streamers; reliably available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and similar.
• Sicario, Prisoners, Enemy — widely available to rent or buy digitally.
• Incendies, Polytechnique, Maelstrom, August 32nd on Earth — best found on arthouse-leaning services and digital storefronts.

If you're chasing the cerebral end of his work next, our roundup of the best sci-fi movies to stream is the natural follow-up. And if you like your auteurs ranked, our Christopher Nolan movies ranked is the companion piece to this one.

Has Denis Villeneuve won an Oscar, and what's next?

For all the acclaim, Villeneuve has never won a competitive Academy Award — a genuine snub given the run above. He's collected multiple nominations, including Best Director recognition around Arrival and Best Picture nods for both Dune films. Dune: Part Three (adapting Dune: Messiah) and, eventually, his James Bond film are the likeliest places that drought finally ends.

The bottom line

Every Villeneuve feature ranked worst to best lands on a simple truth: even his lesser work would headline most directors' careers. The top tier — Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Dune: Part Two — is as strong a top three as any living filmmaker can claim. Crown whichever you love most; the only wrong answer is pretending the choice is easy. Now go argue about it.

Further reading: Denis Villeneuve on Wikipedia · Where to watch on JustWatch.

Sources

• Denis Villeneuve filmography -- Wikipedia
• Denis Villeneuve Tomatometer scores -- Rotten Tomatoes
• Denis Villeneuve box office (Director) -- Box Office Mojo
• Dune: Part Two box office -- Box Office Mojo
• Blade Runner 2049 -- Wikipedia