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Paul Greengrass is one of the most distinctive British filmmakers of his generation, whose handheld camerawork, documentary-style realism and visceral approach to action influenced an entire generation of films. From the political chaos of Bloody Sunday (20020) to the intense thrills of the Bourne franchise, Greengrass has consistently struck audiences with his immersive and utterly surprising filmmaking.
Almost every film adaptation of a real-life story now asks the question, “What would Greengrass do?” There is little doubt, for example, that he was the man who most effectively channeled the horrors of 9/11 with 2006’s terrifying yet surprising United 93.
Moving from his roots in intense drama to Hollywood action filmmaking, he showed that his unique style could deliver spectacular entertainment, and when he took on the challenge of directing 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy, the second film in the brutal and brilliant Bourne franchise, he changed the face of action cinema forever.
With the recent release of The Uising, we look back and rank every feature film Greengrass has directed, analyzing the work of one of modern cinema’s most fascinating and influential filmmakers.
13. Flight Theory (1998)
It’s difficult to choose which movie to put at the bottom of this list because Greengrass hasn’t made a bad movie. But the theory of flight was probably his least accomplishment. Kenneth Branagh stars as Richard, an eccentric artist obsessed with the idea of human flight. After a disastrous attempt to jump off a building using homemade wings, he is sentenced to community service, which puts him in the life of Jane (Helena Bonham Carter), an independent woman with motor neurone disease.
The two formed a relationship that centered around two memorable performances and a very strange storyline without falling into traditional romantic fantasy. But this is a story about independence, friendship, and especially the desire to live life to the full. Greengrass has never been afraid to explore uncomfortable topics as we know him, and this is a fascinating document of the films he made before his big success.
It’s a unique early entry into his filmography, and while it may lack some of the urgency of his later work, there’s no doubt that it’s still a very solid body of work.
12. World News (2020)
Paul Greengrass explores the American Civil War in News of the World. It follows former Confederate general Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) as he travels through Texas and makes a living reading newspaper articles aloud to paying audiences. When he meets Johanna (Helena Zengel), a young girl raised by orphaned Kiowas, he reluctantly agrees to take her to her relatives hundreds of miles away.
The film is a notable departure from the portable style of Greengrass’s previous work, and in some ways it is proof that he can move easily between genres. News of the World is a measured and effective Western with Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel in great form as the central pairing.
The film may not showcase his best work, but it proves there are plenty of strings to Greengrass’ bow. News of the World also displays an interesting subtext about misinformation and the power of storytelling. It’s undoubtedly one of the safest and most traditional films on this list, but it’s still solid.
11. Rebellion (2026)
Greengrass’ latest film is another example of him expanding his scope, this time setting it against the backdrop of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The Uising stars Andrew Garfield as a grieving English farmer who joins a rebellion against the oppressive taxes and entrenched power of Richard II’s government. As the uprising spreads to London, the rebels become divided over their objectives, and the King seeks to regain control.
Greengrass reimagines pivotal moments in British history, exploring the struggle between common people and the ruling class, and, unsurprisingly, the results are exciting and visually impressive. The unsettling visual style can be a bit distracting here, and while the shaky camerawork is particularly effective during the fight sequences, it feels somewhat unnecessary elsewhere, leading to a film that, while certainly impressive, at times feels a bit unsettling itself.
Without giving anything away, the ending itself drew criticism that the connections the film was trying to make were awkward enough to take away from what we had just witnessed. But for the most part, The Uising is another example of Greengrass’ incredible storytelling ability, putting you right in the center of a very important historical event.
10. Jason Bourne (2016)
After their incredible work on Supremacy (2004) and Ultimatum (2007), Greengrass and Matt Damon have stated that this is the end of the Bourne series and that there will be another chapter if the right storyline can unfold. Almost a decade after Ultimatum, they uncovered it, apparently with a plot involving the CIA’s past surveillance program and Julia Stiles’ Nicky Parsons uncovering information about Bourne’s own past.
Sound familiar? Well, that’s because Jason Bourne is literally, as the title suggests, a Jason Bourne movie. This time we welcome Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and Vincent Cassel. They all had an absolute blast with Damon’s Bourne having barely any lines to say for the entire movie. Thankfully, with Greengrass behind the camera, Jason Bourne is a truly explosive character and proved to be a perfect example of how to make the fourth film in a franchise so good.
It may be something we’ve never seen before, but the set pieces are still amazing, ending with a metal shredding car speeding down the Las Vegas Strip. It may be the least essential of the Bournes, but it’s still thrillingly entertaining.
9. Resurrected (1989)
It is one of the most important films in Greengrass’ catalog. This film is not only his debut, but also thematically so. Institutional failure and manipulation of public opinion were major themes that would become pillars of Greengrass’s films in the future, and the fact that The Uising addressed these issues in some ways brought his career into full swing.
Resurrection tells the story of David Thewlis’ Kevin Deakin, a British soldier who is presumed dead during the Falklands War but returns home weeks later. He survives the explosion, is left behind on the battlefield, and initially receives a hero’s welcome upon his return to England. But suspicion soon turned to hostility as rumors spread that he had abandoned his colleagues.
Stories focusing on soldiers returning from war have permeated cinema for decades, but Greengrass has created something here that feels truly original. Thewlis is great. He delivers one of the best performances of his career as a man whose real story seems seemingly irrelevant once people decide his opinion matters more. Although some parts of the film retain a somewhat TV-esque style, Resurrection is a great blueprint for a filmmaker who would become one of the world’s best.
8. Green Zone (2010)
Perhaps the most underrated Greengrass film, this Iraq War-set thriller comes hot on the heels of what we thought was a complete Bourne trilogy the year before. Green Zone, once again starring Matt Damon, was nicknamed ‘Bourne in Iraq’. Even though it did the film a disservice, you can draw more positive parallels from that summary than you might think. Damon plays Roy Miller, a U.S. Army chief warrant officer tasked with finding weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled across the United States. After repeatedly finding empty locations, Miller begins to question the information behind the mission, and as Brendon Gleeson’s Martin Brown offers a different account of the events, Miller investigates a possible cover-up.
The handheld camera work does wonders for the Iraq setting, with quick editing giving a real intensity to the military operations as effectively as they did in the Bourne films. Damon is in good form, and he’s joined by Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdall, and Jason Isaacs (a particularly enjoyable one), rounding out the cast at the top of their game.
While many great films (and many bad ones) have been made about the Iraq War, Greengrass’s style offers something different from depictions of war and remains an underrated film worthy of reassessment.