10 Best Movies Written by Shane Black, According to Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

There are certain writers and directors whose fans know exactly what to expect from them. This expectation brings a certain level of comfort and dependability to their content. Fans can always expect a wordy, provocative script from Quentin Tarantino. Audiences know Charlie Kaufman will deliver a surreal psychological story about the human experience. Writer-director Shane Black is probably one of the best examples of an artist whose fans have become accustomed to his idiosyncrasies despite critics disliking a lot of his films.

Since Lethal Weapon, Black has almost come to define the buddy action genre, with nearly all of his movies falling into this category. He's also known for his quick-witted dialogue and unorthodox stories. Not to mention, his name is almost synonymous with Christmas because of how many of his movies take place around the holidays. However, even though fans are accustomed to his quirks, it took time to cultivate this attitude. Many of Black's movies were poorly received or ignored upon their release, gaining cult status years after. Movies like Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang, and The Nice Guys may not have been appreciated then, but they are now considered notable films by a great writer. Even films critics hated, like Last Action Hero, have managed to change the narrative after decades of ridicule. Funny enough, it always seems Black is making movies that people will only enjoy a decade later. It may just be that Black is always ahead of the curve.

10 The Predator (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 34%

In 2018, Predator cast alumni Shane Black returned to the franchise, but this time in the director's chair. Even Arnold Swazeneger almost returned to his old stomping grounds before turning down the role for being too small. However, this fourth franchise installment would be like no other before it. Fox chief executive officer Stacy Snyder would label the film as "unexpected and utterly fresh." It may have been a little too unexpected for critics who completely bashed the film despite it making 160 million at the box office.

Keegan Micheal Key and Predator don't sound like two things that would go together, but Black purposely infuses a dirty R-rated comedy with an alien slasher film. While the original had jokes in the first act before things went haywire, no matter how intense things get in this sequel, it never loses its sense of humor. This is mainly because the army recruits mentally unstable soldiers to battle the alien hunters instead of an expert killing squad, like in the first film. This follows Black's trend of using unsuspecting heroes in his later films. This film also takes another hard turn with an almost kid-friendly aspect, with one of the soldier's plucky sons, who has autism, getting his hands on the predator's armor and helping the soldiers on their mission. Between this and the soldiers teaming up with the predator to fight a superpredator, the film feels like a spiritual successor to the campier Alien Versus Predator movies. Unfortunately, the marketing made it seem like the film would be a throwback to the original's darker horror tone, throwing off audiences and critics. Fans have to wonder how this film would've been received if the marketing had leaned into the wackiness of Black's sequel.

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9 Last Action Hero (1993)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%

Last Action Hero is about a boy who is sucked into the world of his favorite actual hero and forced to help him investigate a dangerous mafia boss. This movie is infamous for Sony's serious misstep of placing its release date a week after Jurassic Park, which naturally hurt its first weekend numbers. The film then lost 47% of its audience in its second week when another 90s classic, Sleepless In Seattle, was released. That said, it's still the first movie to have an advertisement placed on a space-going rocket.

This film joins the pantheon of Shane Black films that were not initially well received but are now looked at by some fans as masterpieces. This film accurately satires the tropes of the action genre. It cheekily parodies several classic action movies, including some of Schwarzenegger's own films and catchphrases. The child protagonist who is sucked into the action film hilariously named, Extremely Violent is so used to these tropes he's always ten steps ahead of everyone in the movie. The film's over-the-top action is hilariously absurd while still being cool to look at for the same reason. This may be one of Schwarzenegger's biggest box-office disappointments, but it also might be one of his most interesting films. Perhaps audiences of the time weren't ready to laugh at bloated action films while still in the prime of the action movie craze.

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8 Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 40%

Lethal Weapon 2 may always be a thorn in Shane Black's side after his script was rejected, even though many people at Warner Brothers thought it was genius. Unfortunately, the higher-ups believed it was too dark, with Riggs dying at the end and not having enough humor. Black was so upset that he refused to write the second draft and only took credit for the story. In recent years, he's persisted his version of the script was, "the best thing I ever wrote."

How do you arrest drug dealers who all have diplomatic immunity? The film's premise alone causes the sequel to up the ante from the first installment with action with bigger and bloodier set pieces. The story also becomes a lot more personal with Rigg's coming face to face with his wife's murder, adding more stakes. Not to mention, these drug dealers being a part of the apartheid government in South Africa. On the other hand, there are also more laughs, with Riggs almost feeling like part of the Murtagh family this time around. Fans can feel the characters, and the actors are more comfortable with each other. Also, Joe Pesci's charismatic performance as a snitch with a heart is so fun to watch that they made him a franchise regular. While some understandably miss the first film's more serious tone, this humorous sequel was necessary for these leads to become America's favorite buddy cops.

7 The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 46%

After a tumultuous breakup with his first love, Black began writing this buddy action comedy about a disgraced football player and washed-up private investigator entangled in a political conspiracy spearheaded by their former employers. Black was paid a whopping 1.75 million for the script. While the movie didn't perform up to studio standards, it performed well in the video rental market and helped Bruce Willis regain some momentum after coming off the much-maligned Hudson Hawk.

This overlooked film has gone on to be appreciated for its dark and moody tone. It never goes too slapstick but has more subtle comedy than most buddy action movies. This allows Damon Wayans to be funny while still showing his dramatic chops. Wayans plays an ex-football star dealing with a substance problem after the death of his wife and kids. Meanwhile, Bruce Willis, as Joe, is the everyday man fans love to see him play, let down by seeing his favorite football star succumb to drugs. Underneath the violent action is a film about the letdown of meeting your heroes. It also shows that Joe is the real hero who, no matter what, never compromises his values. This film feels like a reaction to the new 90s action heroes who were becoming more morally ambiguous than in the previous decade.

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6 The Monster Squad (1987)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 56%

It's no surprise a movie as zany as a bunch of kids taking down Dracula, The Wolfman, and the Mummy would have Shane Black as its writer. In 1986, director Fred Dekker was deciding between rebooting The Little Rascals or The Universal Monsters. However, after watching Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, he chose to do a mashup of the two.

This tongue-in-cheek film may have been a box office bomb, but it has now rightfully become a beloved B-Movie thanks to the absurdity of its story. From cursing children impaling and shooting monsters to Dracula picking up a little girl by her face and calling her an expletive, it's hard to believe this gory children's film was even allowed to be made. This edginess adds to its newborn appeal as new generations watch this film in shock of all the gore and inappropriate jokes this children's film ws able to get away with. With all the craziness, it still pays homage to the classic monsters and the lore fans have come to love.

5 The Long Kiss Goodnight

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%

Black's action comedy thriller about a school teacher with amnesia who discovers she used to be a CIA assassin made a whopping 96 million at the box office. Unfortunately, that was against a budget of 65 million. Some suggest the film might have done better if Genna Davis and director Renny Harlin's last film, Cut Throat Island, hadn't been one of history's biggest box office flops. Although Harlin persisted, it was the confusing marketing that was to blame. Either way, it was well received by people who saw it, and that popularity has only grown over the years.

This suspense thriller uses amazingly choreographed action sequences full of blood and explosions as a ruse to delve into the duplicity of humans. Samantha Caine is a timid teacher with a daughter and boyfriend. However, throughout the film, the more violence she encounters, the more she remembers her past life as an assassin named Charlie Baltimore. She then becomes more aggressive with her daughter and others when someone who she used to be starts to overtake who she has become. However, Samantha is forced to reconcile the two parts of herself when she sees her daughter in danger. Her life as Samantha has given her people to care about, but her past as Charlie has given her a way to protect them. By the film's end, she has become a mixture of Samantha and Charlie, donning Charlie's bleached blond hair shown in all the flashbacks while wearing Samantha's long sundress.

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4 Iron Man 3 (2013)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%

After losing director John Favreau, who had spearheaded the first two films, Robert Downey turned to his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black to write and direct the series's final installment. Black's emphasis on wall-to-jokes and other strong narrative choices divided fans in this trilogy's last film. However, the movie went on to outgross both previous installments combined.

Following The Avengers, Shane wanted to make the story more grounded, with Tony fighting a more realistic villain than in previous films. This included the controversial choice of making the Mandarin a jaded scientist whose experiments gave him meta abilities instead of the comic book-accurate version of The Mandarin. When the Mandarin destroys Tony's compound and suit, he's forced on a journey of self-discovery with minimal action. Black wanted the first two acts to, 'Feel like a Tom Clancy thriller" instead of a comic book movie. In what might be one of the most divisive moments in the MCU, Ben Kingsly's frightening version of the Mandarin is revealed to be a pretentious actor masquerading as a terrorist. Whether fans hate or love it, this film goes down in MCU history for Shane's gutsy directorial choices.

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3 Lethal Weapon (1987)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Shane Black's first script after graduating from U.C.L.A. is about a suicidal cop and his family-oriented partner who take on a drug syndicate run by ex-special forces. The casting of the two leads is especially remarkable because the studio originally wanted Bruce Willis for Riggs and Mell Gibson to play John Mclain in Die Hard. However, fate intervened, and they both turned down the roles. Meanwhile, Mutaugh's race was never mentioned in the script, so Richard Donner took it upon himself to cast whomever he wanted. The iconic movie would spawn three sequels and a T.V. show and become a blueprint for future buddy-com films for decades to come.

The greatness of this film is not in the action but in seeing oldtimer Murtagh (Danny Glover) and a young hotshot Riggs try to find some common ground. At the beginning of the film, widower Riggs is purposely putting himself in harm's way, hoping he dies. In a surprisingly emotional and heartbreaking scene that Gibson needed the whole production to prepare for, Riggs attempts to shoot himself, stopping at the last minute. These more emotional elements make this film stand out from the onslaught of buddy action movies that followed. It takes meeting family man Murtagh and his household and seeing their love for one another to pull Riggs out of his slump. Of course, that's not before saving Murtagh's daughter, who's kidnapped by the syndicate. Perhaps this is why Richard Schickel of Time Magazine called it "Mad Max meets The Cosby Show."

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2 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

After being rejected by the Academy of Motion Pictures and the failure of The Long Kiss, Goodby, Black decided to step out of his comfort zone and write a romantic comedy. However, after several drafts, he ended up with a neo-noir crime comedy about a criminal mistaken for an actor who becomes entangled in a murder mystery. This film got a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, and the then embattled Robert Downy credits the movie with paving the way for him to be cast as Iron Man.

This film breaks the stereotypes of crime noirs and turns them on their head while still being a very engaging murder mystery. The usual depressing narrator is exchanged for a humorous, unreliable narrator who forgets parts of the story and has to retell them later. Harry even breaks the fourth wall to apologize for all the cursing in the film. Instead of the heroic, straight, badass hero, Detective Gay Perry(Val Kilmer) is this film's Dirty Harry, often using homophobia as a weapon against his enemies. This includes packing a gun in his crotch, knowing bad guys won't search him there. Black stated he had never seen "the gay guy who kicks down the door, shoots everyone, and bails your ass out." Val Kilmer and Robert Downy Jr's quick and snappy dialogue is hilarious and thought-provoking, playing off of straight men's uncomfortably around gay men. The jokes come so fast that catching them all in one sitting is almost impossible. Their chemistry almost makes the film, leaving fans to wonder about the film's fate if the Studio had gone with their original choice for Harry, Johnny Knoxville.

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1 The Nice Guys (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

After the success of Iron Man 3, Black returns to his Lethal Weapon roots with a buddy action film about a private eye who teams up with an enforcer to find the only eyewitness of a politician's daughter thought to be dead. While the film only made 62 million worldwide, its Rotten Tomatoes score remains at 91% and has found a new life on steaming.

This period piece perfectly reflects the distrust of authority and government corruption of the 70s, with the nice guys being led down a rabbit hole of crooked politicians and mobsters. However, in typical Black fashion, things never get too heavy, with Ryan Gosling and Russel Crowe hitting jokes back and forth like a tennis match. Many fans had never seen the usually monotone Gosling be this energetic, nor Crowe this humorous, adding to the film's hilarity. There's also lots of fun to be had with all the '70s costumes, set designs, and the decade's fascination with erotica and drugs.

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NEXT:10 Movies Known For Having Near-Perfect Screenplays