The Sky Cinema Will Smith collection

Wednesday 8 January 2020 by Matt Maynard Features

Sky Cinema is in every Will Smith fan’s good books as they have a section dedicated to seven of his, arguably, best movies he’s ever starred in… within reason.

I Am Legend (2007)

I Am Legend is based on the 1954 Richard Matheson novel of the same name, and has been empirical in the development of the zombie-vampire and worldwide post-apocalyptic genres as we know them today.

The world-renowned rapper and actor plays a scientist in this post-apocalyptic epic, the last survivor of a plague in the whole of New York, who struggles desperately to valiantly find a cure to save all mankind. It’ll send you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, placing you on the edge of your seat for a hefty portion of the film.

After Earth (2013)

Much like the first movie on this list, After Earth follows a similar theme of mankind as an endangered species. Although directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who co-wrote the story alongside Gary Whitta, the film is actually based on an original idea by Will Smith himself, which sees his son, Jaden, star as his on-screen mini-me.

The movie is set 1000 years after humans have been forced off the Earth in search of a new planet due to environmental cataclysm forces. Their new home planet, Nova Prime, comes under attack by ursas, large predatory monsters that hunt by sensing fear in humans, and can only be fought using ‘ghosting’, a technique which suppresses fear. Before retirement, Cypher (Will Smith) takes his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) on his last voyage, which crash lands leaving Cypher severely injured. Kitai must take on the perilous Earth, under his father’s instructions, to save them both.

Bad Boys (1995)

Michael Bay’s directorial debut sees him orchestrate this cop-action comedy, starring Will Smith as a narcotics detective alongside Martin Lawrence. Bad Boys would later spawn a second movie, Bad Boys 2 (2003), and is soon to become a trilogy, with Bad Boys for Life due to drop at some point in 2020.

The story follows Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey who are investigating $100 million of stolen heroin, seized from a police vault. Internal Affairs are suspicious it was an inside job, and threaten to close the whole department down unless it can be proved it wasn’t, and they only have five days to do it.

Hitch (2005)

The first and only romcom on this list, a stark contrast from all the action so far. Will Smith plays Alex Hitchens, a professional ‘date doctor’ who helps other men woo their love interests. However, when he meets gossip columnist and journalist Sara (Eva Mendes), he finds the game he teaches everyone else doesn’t work quite as expected.

I, Robot (2004)

Another futuristic sci-fi film, I, Robot is set in the year 2035 where humanoid robots have been created to serve humankind. Detective Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, despises the robots after he was rescued by a humanoid in a car collision, leaving a 12-year-old girl to die.

Spooner grows suspicious after the death of Dr Alfred Lanning, a US Robotics employee, whose fatal fall from his office window was deemed a suicide by the police, with a little help from co-founder of U.S Robotics, Lawrence Robertson. The death of Lanning leads him down a path to see whether or not it was one of the robot’s doing.

Hancock (2008)

Will Smith flies into action as drunk superhero Hancock in this rather amusing take on meta-human life.

When attempting acts for the greater good, he becomes ridiculed by the general public for his often careless approach. After saving Ray, a PR specialist, from certain death, Ray proposes the idea of entering Hancock’s employ to improve his public image. After reluctance to accept Ray’s advice, Hancock slowly becomes the hero his city so desperately needs.

Enemy of the State (1998)

Tony Scotts’ action-thriller sees Will Smith take on the role of Robert Clayton Dean, a US labour lawyer who becomes the target of a corrupt politician when a disc containing incriminating evidence is slipped into his back pocket.

Dean’s life begins to fall apart once the N.S.A cotton on to the fact that he is the one holding the tape. With his wife and job both gone, he begins searching for answers...