Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra has become a major power player in Hollywood over the past decade and a half, carving out a name for himself in thrillers and big-budget action movies. After making his directorial debut in the 2005 horror film House of Wax, the skilled filmmaker has continued to increase the size, scale, and scope of his productions. He further solidified his place as a go-to Hollywood director with his continued working relationships with big-name stars like Dwayne Johnson and Liam Neeson.
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While Collet-Serra’s movies might not seem like ambitious productions, he has found a lot of success sticking with a specific type of movie, showcasing his talent as a filmmaker who knows how to entertain an audience. Though some of his efforts have been lesser than others, he can often be counted on to elevate even lackluster material. With Collet-Serra’s latest movie, Carry On, once again proving his talents, fans might be interested in looking back at his entire filmography.
11 Goal II: Living The Dream (2007)
A Standard Sports Drama
Though he is largely known for his thriller and action movies, Jaume Collet-Serra went a different route for his sophomore effort, Goal II: Living the Dream, a compelling sports drama that continues the story of soccer star, Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker). Aside from the on-field excitement, the dramatic crux of the film concerns Munez’s struggle with being traded from Newcastle United to Real Madrid.
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While the film earned decent reviews, the biggest critique is that it focused too much on Munez’s home life and not enough on the action-packed soccer spectacle. Being compared to the superior original also hurt the film’s reputation, but Collet-Serra was able to bring energy and excitement to the movie to make it his own. In the end, it is not a sports film that takes the genre to some new places, but it provides the kind of uplifting story fans of these types of movies are looking for.
10 The Commuter (2018)
Liam Neeson Elevates The Flawed Thriller
Jaume Collet-Serra found his most frequent leading man in Liam Neeson, working on several movies together. Unfortunately, the latest project the two collaborated on as director and star is the least successful. Neeson stars as Michael MacCauley, a former cop who becomes embroiled in a harrowing mystery upon boarding a commuter train on his way home from work. For a price of $100,000, he’s tasked with identifying the passenger known as Prynne, a criminal in possession of a valuable stolen item.
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As with many of the actor’s thriller roles, Neeson’s acting talents do a lot to improve the movie. His committed performance helps to keep the audience engaged while also surrounded by a strong cast. Unfortunately, the script lets him down, while Collet-Serra seems less in control of the story as in previous Neeson movies. While there are some fun genre thrills, it doesn’t add up to much satisfaction.
9 House Of Wax (2005)
Collet-Serra’s Messy Yet Fun Horror Debut
Though Jaume Collet-Serra hasn’t returned to the horror genre in some time, House of Wax is a sign of his ability to deliver some scares and memorable stars. The movie follows a pair of teens who become stranded in a small town on the way to a football game. They decide to tour the town’s weird wax museum, only to fight for their lives when they make a terrifying discovery about the truth behind the wax figures.
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The movie was dismissed at the time for being a formulaic horror remake. While it does certainly fall into genre traps quite often, audiences have found an appreciation for its considerably gruesome nature that delivers some memorable, disturbing scenes. Collet-Serra imbues the picture with style and panache, setting up some memorable set pieces and elevating the predictable horror story.
8 The Shallows (2016)
Blake Lively Carries A Mixed Shark Movie
While there have been few shark movies since Jaws that have left a mark on the subgenre, Jaume Collet-Serra sought to do Steven Spielberg’s classic movie justice with The Shallows. Blake Lively stars as Nancy, a young woman on a solo surfing vacation who visits a secluded beach and begins riding the waves. However, her little moment in paradise turns into a nightmare when she is attacked by a shark which begins stalking her as she is trapped on a reef with the tides rising.
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There are some great shark attack moments throughout the movie and Lively delivers a gripping central performance.
The Shallows works best as a character-driven tale of survival that shows how Nancy, moment by moment, works to outsmart and outlast the killer shark with nothing but her ingenuity and undeniable will. It is a bare-bones script that seems to be the best Collet-Serra works off of. There are some great shark attack moments throughout the movie and Lively delivers a gripping central performance. However, the movie does struggle to maintain its suspense over the course of its runtime.
7 Run All Night (2015)
An Underrated Gritty Crime Story
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Perhaps the most underrated of all of Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra’s collaborations is Run All Night, which is a decidedly more grounded crime movie compared to the high-concept thrillers they have made together. In the film, Neeson plays a hitman for the mob named Jimmy Conlon, who gets caught in a tight moral bind when his estranged son (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses a mob hit. With the two men going on the run, their conflicted relationship is given a chance to heal if they can survive the night.
The movie is a nice hard-boiled crime thriller, once again led by a reserved performance from Neeson. The actor seems to excel at the conflicted heroes and Jimmy is a perfect example. Collet-Serra also seems to enjoy handling a movie that is less about the concept and more about the relationship at its center. Unfortunately, Run AllNight marks the lowest-grossing of Collett-Serra’s Liam Neeson movies.
6 Unknown (2011)
A Convoluted Thriller With A Solid Mystery
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The first joint effort between Jaume Collet-Serra and Liam Neeson came on the back of Neeson’s surprise success with Taken and his new reputation as an action hero. Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris, a biochemist traveling to Berlin with his wife for a medical conference. Following a car accident, Martin wakes up in Germany with no idea of who he is, while his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) fails to recognize him. Racing to unravel the mystery and find the person who stole his identity, Harris thrashes a gauntlet of bad guys.
With expertly ratcheted tension and suspense to go with an intriguing plot,
Unknown
shows why Collet-Serra and Neeson have worked together so often.
Though Unknown was marked as an action movie, it is much more of a Hitchcockian thriller with Neeson playing the hero searching for answers. Neeson keeps things grounded and Collet-Serra maintains a thrilling pace, even if the convoluted plot gets unwieldy. With expertly ratcheted tension and suspense to go with an intriguing plot, Unknown shows why Collet-Serra and Neeson have worked together so often.
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5 Black Adam (2023)
An Entertaining Yet Empty Superhero Movie
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12 7.4/10 Black Adam PG-13SuperheroActionSci-FiFantasyAdventure
Black Adam is a feature film centered around the DC Comics antihero Black Adam, portrayed by Dwayne Johnson. The story follows the titular character as he emerges in the modern world, freed after millennia of imprisonment, to deliver his own form of justice. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film explores themes of power and morality while introducing new characters from the DC Universe.
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*Availability in US Release Date October 21, 2022 Runtime 125 Minutes Cast Dwayne Johnson , Aldis Hodge , Pierce Brosnan , Noah Centineo , Sarah Shahi , Quintessa Swindell , Marwan Kenzari , Bodhi Sabongui , Mohammed Amer , James Cusati-Moyer , Jalon Christian , Benjamin Patterson , Odelya Halevi , Uli Latukefu , Jennifer Holland , Henry Winkler , Chaim Jeraffi , Sharon Gee , Stephan Jones , A. Manuel Miranda , Djimon Hounsou , Raj Kala , E. Lloyd Napier , Kiara Rashawn , Onye Eme-Akwari , Sanna Erica , Vince Canlas , Tonea Stewart , Meghna Nagarajan , Patrick Sabongui , Alex Parkinson , Joseph Gatt , Kamen Casey , Dennis Dawson , Mike Senior , Jermaine Rivers , Regina Ting Chen , Sekou Laidlow , Cameron Moir , Donny Carrington , Boone Platt , Philip Fornah , Derek Russo , Angel Rosario Jr. , Tang Nguyen , Christopher Matthew Cook , Natacha Ellie , Daniel Danca , Yssamei Panganiban , Ben Jenkin Expand
Jaume Collet-Serra stepped into the world of superhero movies with mixed results. A spinoff of the Shazam universe, Dwayne Johnson stars in Black Adam as one of the DC Universe’s biggest anti-heroes. He is an ancient superhuman who has been imprisoned with magic for centuries only to be released in the modern world, where he seeks to dish out his own brutal and destructive brand of justice as a group of superheroes attempts to stop him.
While Black Adam was hyped up as a game-changing event for the DCEU, it ended up being a fairly standard superhero movie. Collet-Serra feels at home in the big-budget, effects-driven world of superhero movies, making some fun sequences. However, Johnson never feels very committed to the character and Black Adam himself ends up being one of the least interesting aspects of the film. In the end, it was a turning point for the DCEU but actually marked the final installment before the new DCU was announced.
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4 Non-Stop (2014)
Collet-Serra’s Best Thriller With Liam Neeson
Non-Stop remains the best of the four movies Jaume Collet-Serra and Liam Neeson made together and is an example of all of the best aspects of their collaborations. Neeson plays air marshall Bill Marks, who is blackmailed on a transatlantic flight from New York to London. While onboard, Marks receives a series of text messages to wire $150 million into an offshore account. If he refuses, one passenger on the plane will die every 20 minutes.
The pulpy premise and isolated setting make for the ideal setup for this project between these two. Jaume Collet-Serra is able to keep things exciting with each reveal bringing more questions as the audience is as gripped to solve the mystery as Neeson’s hero. While the ending of Non-Stop was a letdown for some, it makes for a gripping ride for the majority of the movie with Neeson playing the grizzled hero to perfection. The movie earned over $220 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), an impressive feat for an original thriller.
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3 Orphan (2009)
A Twisted Horror Movie That Goes Over The Top
Returning to his horror beginnings following House of Wax, Jaume Collet-Serra delivered an outrageous and unpredictable movie with one of the wildest twist endings of all time. Orphan follows John and Kate Coleman, loving parents who adopt the precocious nine-year-old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). As Esther begins showing increasingly sinister behavior, the parents must figure out what the source is while protecting their young son, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett).
The movie is at its best when it leans into its ridiculousness. Collet-Serra has rarely been known for embracing humor much in his films, but he proves to have a knack for the darkly comedic aspects of this story. Orphan‘s twist ending will likely be what divides audiences the most, but Fuhrman’s performance truly makes the character of Esther a modern horror icon and sells the big reveal.
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2 Jungle Cruise (2021)
A Fun Disney Popcorn Adventure
Jaume Collet-Serra stepped into the world of big-budget filmmaking with Jungle Cruise, collaborating with two huge Hollywood stars on a franchise adventure. Based on Disney’s theme park attraction of the same name, Jungle Cruise follows Captain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) as he guides British siblings Lily (Emily Blunt) and McGregor Houghton (Jack Whitehall) through the Amazon jungle to find the sacred Tree of Life.
The movie is also helped greatly by the chemistry between Johnson and Blunt.
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Given his previous intense and serious thrillers, it is surprising that Collet-Serra fit into the lighthearted popcorn movie world so effectively. He helps to stage some fun action set pieces that allow Jungle Cruise to stand out more from some of Disney’s lackluster live-action adventure movies. The movie is also helped greatly by the chemistry between Johnson and Blunt. While the plans for Jungle Cruise 2 seem to have stalled, Collet-Serra continued to show his versatility with this movie.
1 Carry-On (2024)
A Gripping Christmas-Set Thriller
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Carry-On PG-13
Carry On is a film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, focusing on a young TSA agent who is coerced by a mysterious traveler into allowing a dangerous package onto a Christmas Eve flight. As events unfold, he must use his wits to resolve the perilous situation.
Release Date December 13, 2024 Runtime 119 Minutes Cast Taron Egerton , Jason Bateman , Sofia Carson , Danielle Deadwyler , Tonatiuh , Theo Rossi , Logan Marshall-Green , Dean Norris , Sinqua Walls , Curtiss Cook , Joe Williamson , Gil Perez-Abraham , Josh Brener , Benito Martinez , Edwin Kho , Reisha Reynolds , Adam Stephenson , Michael Scott , Jeff Pope , Raymond Rehage Director Jaume Collet-Serra Expand
Jaume Collet-Serra’s most recent movie is his best effort as a director to date. The thriller Carry On has elements of Die Hard while also excelling as its own gripping ride. Taron Egerton stars as Ethan, a TSA agent who is working at the airport during the busy Christmas travel season. He then receives a message from a stranger who instructs him to allow a certain bag to go through the security without being stopped or else someone Ethan loves will be killed.
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Egerton makes for a terrific grounded hero, while Jason Bateman steals the show in a villainous role.
Carry On has the same kind of premise as a lot of Collet-Serra’s movies, including Non-Stop and Commuter, but the execution is top-notch. Egerton makes for a terrific grounded hero, while Jason Bateman steals the show in a villainous role. However, Collet-Serra does deserve a lot of credit for maintaining a thrilling pace from beginning to end with a sharp script that does not come apart in the way some of these other thrillers have.