Top 4 Idris Elba Movies

by Helen Earnshaw | 21 April 2016

Idris Elba is one of the most in-demand British actors and is back on the big screen this week with his new action film Bastille Day.

Idris Elba in Bastille Day

Bastille Day comes just a week after the huge success of The Jungle Book - Elba brought to life the character of Shere Khan in the new live-action movie. The film has already grossed over $314 million at the global box office.

Bastille Day sees Elba team up with British director James Watkins. Richard Madden, Charlotte Le Bon, and Kelly Reilly complete the cast list.

To celebrate the release of Bastille Day this week, we take a look back at Elba's career and pick out some of his best movies and performances to date. Do you have a favourite?

- Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Elba won critical acclaim last year when he took on the role of Commandant in Beasts of No Nation, which was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and was based on the novel by Uzodinma Iweala.

Beasts of No Nation brings to life the gripping tale of Agu, a child soldier torn from his family to fight in the civil war of an African country. This was a hard-hitting and powerful movie with Elba giving an incredible performance.

This was a role that we have never seen Elba tackle before and it was an uncompromising turn from the actor - who really should have picked up an Oscar nomination for his stunning work.

There's no denying that Beasts of No Nation is a film that is difficult to watch as it highlights some very real and troubling issues. It is one of those harrowing movies that stay with you long after the credits have rolled.

Elba and Abraham Attah, who takes on the central role of Agu, make a terrific cinematic team and it is their relationship and central performances that truly push this film forward.

For me, this is one of Elba's best career performances and he went on to win a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated at the Baftas. This is a movie that you have to check out if you have not already seen it. It may be a rather tough subject matter, but Elba is just fantastic from start to finish.

- Second Coming (2015)

2015 was a very busy year for the British actor and Second Coming was another of the movies that we saw him star in.

Second Coming was the feature film directorial debut of Debbie Tucker Green - who also penned the screenplay as well as being in the director's chair.

Jackie (Marshall) is expecting her second child but the maths doesn't quite add up. It's been months since she last slept with her husband Mark (Elba), so she knows it can't be his. But she also knows she hasn't been with anyone else. Prior to Jackie's discovery, she, Mark, and son JJ (Francis-Lewis) are a close-knit middle-class family living in London. And then comes Jackie's seemingly immaculate conception.

Afraid of Mark's reaction, she says nothing. But she knows it's only a matter of time until she can't conceal the truth anymore. As the child inside her starts to grow, so does everyone's concern for her state of mind, until it's not only the father of the child that is in question but Jackie's sanity as well.

Second Coming is an intimate and persona movie that is packed with heart and soul. This is a family that we can all recognise and relate and that is what makes this movie really resonate with audiences - these are ordinary and everyday characters struggling to juggle family and work life.

Elba and Nadine Marshall give two terrific central performances as Mark and Jax - a regular couple who find is difficult to talk about the problems that they are facing and how they are feeling. We are also introduced to the acting talents of Kai Frances Lewis - he plays' Mark & Jax's son JJ - as he makes his feature film debut.

Second Coming may not have been one of Elba's biggest and most successful movies of 2015, but it was great to see him move away from the blockbuster and action roles for a while.

- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2014)

While Elba may not have looked much like Nelson Mandela when he took on the role of the inspirational leader in 2014, I thought that the actor was the perfect choice for the role.

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom was one of the early must-see movies of 2014 as Elba took on the iconic role in the Justin Chadwick-directed biopic drama.

The movie is based on Mandela's autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of age, education, and 27 years in prison before becoming President and working to rebuild the country's once-segregated society

Elba has a power and a presence in every scene that he is in and yet he is respectful of the man that he is portraying. Having said that, this movie does not show Mandela as a saint, instead, they show him as a man who has flaws and who has made mistakes throughout his life.

The fact that Elba looks nothing like Mandela become irrelevant as he gets under this skin of this man and shows how the years of struggle took their toll. I found this movie to be an engaging and solid biopic and that is largely thanks to the great performance by Elba in the central role.

However, the film is not without its flaws and I think that Chadwick doesn't quite deliver when it comes to landing the film's emotional punch.

- Prometheus (2012)

In the summer of 2012, Elba turned his hand to the sci-fi genre as he starred as part of the great ensemble cast of Prometheus. The movie saw Elba team up with director Ridley Scott for the first time as he returned to the 'Alien' franchise.

The year's 2093 and we follow Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), a scientist who is convinced of alien life having a key hand in the story of mankind. Following clues left throughout history, she travels to an unknown planet along with her partner Charlie (Green), a small band of explorers and the trillion-dollar backing of the Weyland Corporation, who've sent ice cold exec Vickers (Theron) and robot David (Fassbender) along for the ride.

They intend to find out if the clues are correct and find the origins of humanity. They end up finding a whole lot more and not all of it is all that friendly.

Elba starred alongside Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, and Charlie Theron as he took on the role of Janek, the captain of the Prometheus.

While it is a supporting role from Elba he gives a wonderful performance as a man who feel totally responsible for the wellbeing of the crew in his care.

There is a sense of tension and menace that hangs over the whole film and I love the Scott has mixed elements of science fiction and horror.

Prometheus went on to gross over$403 million at the global box office and was one of the biggest films of the year.