Wesley Snipes started his movie appearance in the late 80s. In 1991 he took the first lead role in a movie called New Jack City where he played a drug lord. Throughout the 1990s, he became one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. The best Wesley Snipes movies were made during this decade. One of his most recognizable roles before he made Blade, was a kickass action film Passenger 57.
Snipes didn’t stop in the next decade. He continued with the success, although not as much as in the 90s. Still, he starred in a few awesome movies. His best work in the 2000s decade was Undisputed from 2002 and two sequels of the Blade franchise.
In the last decade, he appeared in several movies, but the most successful was his appearance in Silvester Stallone’s The Expendables 3.
Here is the list of the best Wesley Snipes movies of all time (ordered by release date):
1. New Jack City (1991)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Starring: Wesley Snipes (29), Ice-T, Allen Payne
The story is about the rise and fall of a drug lord. A small-time drug dealer Nino Brown starts the crack business and becomes a drug lord making millions every week. Detective Scotty who wants to take him down goes undercover into his organization called Cash Money Brothers.
2. White Men Can’t Jump (1992)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Director: Ron Shelton
Starring: Wesley Snipes (30), Woody Harrelson, Rosie Perez
Sydney (Wesley Snipes) and Billy (Woody Harrelson) are street basketball players and they think they are the best in town. They will join forces to compete in street tournaments and earn money. Nothing can stop them, except themselves.
3. Passenger 57 (1992)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Director: Kevin Hooks
Starring: Wesley Snipes (30), Bruce Payne, Tom Sizemore
John Cutter (Snipes) is an airline security expert who will find himself in a situation where his expertise will be very much needed. Several terrorist attacks have already happened and this time the terrorists seized control of a plane in which John Cutter is. He sits in seat number 57 and he is the only one who can mess up their plans.
4. Rising Sun (1993)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Wesley Snipes (31), Sean Connery, Harvey Keitel
A woman is found dead in the office of a Japanese corporation during a party in Los Angeles. Police detective Webster Smith (Snipes) is called to investigate, but he is instructed to pick up a former police Captain and an expert on Japanese affairs, John Connor (Sean Connery). Things turn out to be not as obvious as they seem.
5. Demolition Man (1993)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: Marco Brambilla
Starring: Sylvester Stallone (31), Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock
In Demolition Man, Snipes plays a psychopathic criminal Simon Phoenix. After he has been caught by John Spartan, Phoenix is sentenced to 40 years. Cryogenically frozen in 1996, he is reanimated in 2032 in a society where crime doesn’t exist. Nobody is trained to stop him except his captor John Spartan who is also frozen for a crime he did not commit.
6. Sugar Hill (1993)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director: Leon Ichaso
Starring: Wesley Snipes (31), Michael Wright, Khandi Alexander
Wesley Snipes plays a drug dealer in Harlem who wants to get out of his old life and start anew with his girlfriend. He will learn that getting out is nowhere near as easy as he thinks.
7. Drop Zone (1994)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Director: John Badham
Starring: Wesley Snipes (32), Gary Busey, Yancy Butler
Federal Marshal Pete (Snipes) needs to expose a group of skydiving crooks led by a rogue DEA agent (Gary Busey). In order to do that he will need to team up with professional skydivers and learn skydiving.
8. Money Train (1995)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Director: Joseph Ruben
Starring: Wesley Snipes (33), Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lopez
Two foster brothers (Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson) work as transit cops. One of them decides to rob the money train that transports the subway’s weekly revenue. The other one must help his brother not to get caught and save him from jail time.
9. Murder at 1600 (1997)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Director: Dwight H. Little
Starring: Wesley Snipes (35), Diane Lane, Daniel Benzali
There was a murder in the White House. Detective Harlan Regis (Wesley Snipes) is called in to investigate. Upon his arrival, he realizes that the Secret Service won’t help him much, except for one person, agent Nina Chance (Diane Lane). Murder investigation will expose them to some dark political secrets.
10. U.S. Marshals (1998)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Director: Stuart Baird
Starring: Wesley Snipes (36), Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Downey Jr.
In this spin-off to The Fugitive from 1993, Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard, but this time he doesn’t chase Harison Ford, but Wesley Snipes. When a prisoner transport plane crashes, prisoner Mark Sheridan (Snipes) rescues some prisoners and then escapes. Marshal is in pursuit, but as he chases Sheridan he starts to realize that there is more to this prisoner than meets the eye. Mark Sheridan is also looking for truth while trying to keep ahead of Gerard.
11. Blade (1998)
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Director: Stephen Norrington
Starring: Wesley Snipes (36), Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson
The Blade was born of a mother bitten by a vampire and has all of their strength in combination with the best human skills. He grew up to be a vampire hunter and protector of the human race and he is on a mission to stop the evil vampire master Deacon Frost.
The Blade is the best-rated Wesley Snipes movie on IMDb.
12. The Art of War (2000)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
Director: Christian Duguay
Starring: Wesley Snipes (38), Anne Archer, Maury Chaykin
Shaw (Snipes) is an operative for the United Nations’ covert squad, using espionage and quasi-ethical tactics to secure peace and cooperation. After China’s ambassador is gunned down, Shaw is framed for the murder. Now he needs to find out what is going on while evading FBI and Triad gangsters.
13. Blade II (2002)
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Wesley Snipes (40), Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman
This time, a new breed of super-vampires has appeared and they are a threat to both humans and vampires. The Blade needs to make a pact with the enemy to defeat an even bigger enemy. He will lead an elite team of vampire assassins against their mutual enemy.
14. Undisputed (2002)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Director: Walter Hill
Starring: Wesley Snipes (40), Ving Rhames, Peter Falk
Heavyweight boxing champion George “Ice Man” Chambers (Rhames) ends up in maximum-security prison, but the prison has its own champion. Monroe Hutchens is the undefeated heavyweight champion for ten years. The match is organized and two men will fight to see who is the real undisputed champion.
15. Blade: Trinity (2004)
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Director: David S. Goyer
Starring: Wesley Snipes (42), Kris Kristofferson, Parker Posey
In the third and last part of the series, Blade, who is now wanted by the FBI, joins forces with a group of vampire hunters called the Nightstalkers. They will face their most challenging enemy yet, Dracula.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Jungle Fever (1991), Demolition Man (1993), The Fan (1996), and U.S. Marshals (1998).
10 Best Wesley Snipes Movies According to IMDb
According to IMDb, these are the 10 best Wesley Snipes movies in the lead role:
- Blade (1998) – 7.1
- White Men Can’t Jump (1992) – 6.8
- Blade II (2002) – 6.7
- New Jack City (1991) – 6.7
- Jungle Fever (1991) – 6.5
- Undisputed (2002) – 6.2
- Rising Sun (1993) – 6.2
- Murder at 1600 (1997) – 6.1
- Blade: Trinity (2004) – 5.9
- Passenger 57 (1992) – 5.9
10 Best Wesley Snipes Movies According to Box Office
- Blade II (2002) – $155 million
- Blade (1998) – $131 million
- Blade: Trinity (2004) – $130 million
- Rising Sun (1993) – $107 million
- White Men Can’t Jump (1992) – $91 million
- Money Train (1995) – $77 million
- New Jack City (1991) – $48 million
- Passenger 57 (1992) – $44 million
- Jungle Fever (1991) – $44 million
- Murder at 1600 (1997) – $41 million