Jude Law has earned his place in 21st-century Hollywood as a leading man, but he’s also proven himself to be one of the more versatile actors of his generation. Born in London, Law cut his teeth in British theater before making the transition to cinema. Even from the early stages of his career, the actor was able to avoid falling into any specific niche. He could play the romantic lead, the creepy villain, and even the memorable sidekick to a wonderful degree.
Whether the loyal Watson to Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes or the manipulative enemy of Captain Marvel (2019), Law has always been best when paired with a partner willing and able to keep up with him. This is why he works so well in romances like The Holiday (2006), dramas like The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), sci-fi adventures like Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024), and singular projects like The Young Pope (2016), which is a personal favorite of this writer but hard to recommend to everyone. Across a varied career, here are the 10 best Jude Law movies, ranked, and where you can find them on HBO Max, Disney+, and more.
10. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
One of Jude Law's foundational films was Enemy at the Gates, a compelling war thriller that helped earn the actor some of his earliest raves. In the Russian-set World War II film, Law plays the famed Russian sniper Vassili amid his duel with a German sharpshooter, Danilov.
The film nails the wartime epic vibes, with some of the better scenes feeling pulled straight from Saving Private Ryan (1998). While critics bemoaned the romantic subplot, it was an early showcase of Law’s potential as a romantic lead. If war movie fans can get past that piece of the storyline, they'll find a war story that’s better moments of tense battlefield strategy make it a fitting peer to shows like Band of Brothers (2001) or the Daniel Craig-led Defiance (2013).
9. Cold Mountain (2003)
The film that truly launched Jude Law into stardom, the Civil War epic Cold Mountain, earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Law’s talents as a romantic lead are much better utilized here than in Enemy at the Gates, with the sweeping romantic throughline of W. P. Inman’s efforts to reunite with his first love, Ada Monroe.
Opposite Nicole Kidman, Law finds the right balance of romantic passion and old-school western cool to make a lengthy epic never feel boring. While fans of quick-paced action flicks might be bored with the sheer scope of this epic (and should instead look to Law’s ridiculous but fun sci-fi shoot-em-up Repo Men), Cold Mountain makes for a solid modern-day answer to Gone With the Wind (1939).
8. Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
Disney’s live-action remakes of its animated classics have been a mixed bag, but Peter Pan & Wendy is a solid entry in the run. Helmed by The Green Knight director David Lowery, Peter Pan & Wendy is at times too faithful to the source material. However, when it takes the time to breathe and live in the world of Neverland, it becomes magical.
One of the best elements of the film is Jude Law, who has an absolute blast as Captain Hook. While the film’s otherwise largely handsome production is a good draw, Law leans into the natural bombast of the classic pirate character. The film’s tragic undercurrent for the characters adds a surprising complexity to the role, giving Law a genuine sense of heartbreak to play with that was absent in the original animated Peter Pan (1953). A solid entry in the Disney canon, Peter Pan & Wendy is a perfect companion to films like Hook (1991).
7. Vox Lux (2018)
Unsettling and mesmerizing in equal measure, Vox Lux is a stinging musical that has only grown as a cult classic since its underseen theatrical release. Jude Law appears as the unnamed manager, who works for Natalie Portman’s pop star Celeste and serves as a stand-in for the Devil that all artists have to make deals with.
The manager is the right blend of charming and off-putting, speaking to the film’s overall sense of disconnect from a world of chaos and violence that Celeste is always reeling from. The manager only gains more ambiguity as the film progresses, with a final proclamation from Celeste hinting at a darker core of the character that adds layers to the film’s cautionary tales about fame and survivor’s guilt. Not for anyone who likes Jude Law as a charming hero, Vox Lux is nevertheless another reminder of how good he is as a villain.
6. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
An openly goofy throwback to the pulp films of early cinema serials, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a delight. Filmed against green screen to create a stylistic retro aesthetic, Sky Captain focuses on the titular globe-trotting adventure hero. Played by Law with all the gruff charm of the characters who inspired Indiana Jones, the film’s bombastic set pieces and old-school over-the-top mad scientist plotlines are a blast—if you’re willing to run with it all.
Far from the more dramatic sci-fi tenor of films like Dune (2021) or Blade Runner (1982), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow leans into the absurd to appeal to the kid in every audience member. If nostalgic adventure stories like The Rocketeer (1991) or Darkman (1990) entertained you, then you’ll love the high-flying action of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
5. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Sherlock Holmes is very much a blockbuster approach to the classic literary detective, and it all comes together around two winning performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively. The whole film is well cast (Rachel McAdams is a pretty solid Irene), but it’s the dynamic that Law and Downey find together that really sells the film. Their constant bickering and silly asides add a constant sense of levity to offset the purposefully grey and gritty aesthetic of Guy Ritchie’s late 19th century London.
Their friendship is close enough to have inspired legions of fan fics, with a genuine sweetness that keeps them compelling. It may bristle against Sherlock Holmes purists, but this film (as well as the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) is a great lightweight fusion of the classic detective narrative and the blockbuster scope.
4. Contagion (2011)
Contagion hits a lot harder in a post-COVID world, but the haunting speculative story about a viral outbreak remains one of the most intriguing performances of Law’s career. The film has a stacked cast of characters, all different people dealing with the immediate fallout of a lethal pathogen spreading across the world and killing countless people.
As an opportunistic conspiracy theorist who takes advantage of the situation to gain global attention, Law’s performance as Alan Krumwiede feels almost prophetic for entire industries that sprang up during the global pandemic. Notably, Law never plays the purposefully hateable Krumwiede as a straight villain but rather a flawed, and ultimately scared, man. Not for the faint of heart, audiences who can withstand the drama and nerve-wracking tension of Contagion won’t be able to turn away from it.
3. Road to Perdition (2002)
Opposite Tom Hanks in one of the beloved actor’s most intense films, Jude Law’s Harlen Maguire is an intense but magnetic villain in Road to Perdition. As a ruthless hitman sent to hunt down Hanks’ on-the-run mobster Michael Sullivan and his son, Law is eerily chilling as the primary physical threat of the film.
A crime scene photographer who also has a habit of documenting his own kills with pictures, Maguire is a menacing figure that Law brings to icy life in the same kind of unsettling way Jake Gyllenhaal would later do in Nightcrawler (2014). If you’re a fan of Jude Law as a romantic, then you should avoid this performance. However, any crime thriller fan needs to check out this film if only for one of the best shoot-out sequences of the 21st century.
2. Spy (2015)
It’s a shame Jude Law has never gotten to play James Bond or appear in more comedies given his talent at both, which Spy proves in spades. The goofy riff on the espionage genre sees Law playing Bradley Fine, a knock-off of 007 who wouldn’t be anything without the help of his ever loyal assistant, Susan Cooper.
Law leans into the surface-level charms and beats of a standard James Bond performance, tilted just enough to be hilarious. Slightly dim-witted and completely unaware of the fact, Law reveals himself as a gifted comic actor when the situation calls for it, even as he also has to naturally shift back into action hero mode. Lacking in subtlety but making up for it with pure wacky comedy that’s hard not to laugh at, Spy is a great showcase for another side of Law. It’s also a perfectly goofy watch for fans of Slow Horses (2022).
1. The Order (2024)
One of the best films in Jude Law’s filmography and a compelling drama that speaks to his talents as a dramatic actor, The Order is an intense must-watch for thriller fans. Based on the non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America’s Racist Underground, The Order follows Law’s FBI agent Terry Husk as he infiltrates a white supremacist terrorist organization.
Opposite a magnetic villainous performance from Nicholas Hoult, Law’s stoic performance hints at a deeper layer of introspection and hurt as he struggles with his humanity in the face of inhumane beliefs. While audiences who are looking for a bit of levity in their films might want to look elsewhere, The Order is a terrific thriller with a deeply important moral core—and the best movie starring Jude Law to date.
