Ranking The Films Of Alejandro G. Iñárritu From Worst To Best

6. 21 Grams

The second entry in the "Death Trilogy" is unfortunately Iñárritu's worst film to date. Similarly to Amores Perros, 21 Grams centres on three different storylines that come together around a tragic car accident. Unfortunately, the film is told in a non-linear fashion for seemingly no justifiable reason.

This technique creates a messy and uneven viewing experience that results in keeping us at arms length from the characters. This means there is very little emotional connection as the film is more focused on being a puzzle rather than a coherent film. It is a massive shame because the three central performers (Naomi Watts, Benecio Del Toro and Sean Penn) are all doing fantastic work.

Watts and Del Toro in particular are given some truly heart-breaking emotional beats which they give their all to. But because these moments can seemingly come at any given time without context, it is hard to sympathise with the characters and their problems.

Thankfully, Iñárritu is yet to use this narrative structure to such a heavy-handed extent again, which really hindered what would've been an otherwise engrossing tragedy to watch unfold.