Glen Powell has quietly become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Until now, the actor has starred almost exclusively in military movies, space films, and rom-coms. But this plan seems to have paid off as Powell is now a bona fide leading man. His latest film is Netflix’s Hit Man. Based on a true story that was originally reported in Texas Monthly magazine back in 2001, the film follows a fake hit man who secretly works for the cops. His real job is to arrest those who are engaging in murder-for-hire plots.
So far, the movie has seen nothing but praise, holding a lofty 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 95% audience score. Though Powell is just getting started in his career, he’s already been in a handful of blockbuster hits that have helped propel him onto Hollywood’s A-List. If you loved Powell’s performance in Hit Man, you should check out his other best films like Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone but You, and more.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
In Top Gun: Maverick, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is back, this time as a fighter pilot instructor. His students include Rooster (Miles Teller), Phoenix (Monica Barbaro), and Hangman (Glen Powell). Maverick trains his students and then learns of a new mission to destroy a uranium plant in an unnamed foreign country. Being Top Gun, there’s lots of military action, dogfights, and the obligatory homoerotic volleyball scene.
But volleyball and fighter jets seem to be a winning combination at the box office because Top Gun: Maverick became the 12th highest-grossing movie ever, raking in almost $1.5 billion. Thanks to the film’s success, it was announced in early 2024 that Top Gun 3 is in the works. so audiences will get to see Maverick hit the skies yet again.
Top Gun: Maverick is streaming on Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Anyone but You (2023)
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star as Ben and Bea in Anyone but You, a classic enemies-to-lovers tale about a guy and girl who spend a wonderful night together, only for it to be ruined the next morning. Even worse, they find out their sisters’ are getting married to each other, so the two are forced to reunite at a destination wedding in Australia.
But Anyone but You changes the formula when Ben and Bea are forced to pretend they’re in love to trick the other wedding guests. Despite the natural urge to roll your eyes at a rom-com, Anyone but You is actually really entertaining and both leads do a great job. The movie became a sleeper hit, eventually earning an impressive $219 million globally.
Anyone but You is streaming on Netflix.
Hidden Figures (2016)
Hidden Figures tells the long-untold true story of Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three Black women who helped with NASA’s Project Mercury, which made John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth. The movie was praised for depicting a story that had been lost to history, and Hidden Figures received three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Octavia Spencer.
In the film, Powell plays John Glenn, who in real life worked to bring equality to NASA and personally acquainted himself with the team of Black “computers” (which was the title given to number-crunching NASA employees at that time). On top of being nominated for numerous awards, Hidden Figures was also a blockbuster hit.
Hidden Figures is streaming on Disney+.
Set It Up (2018)
In 2018’s Set It Up, Glen Powell and Zoey Deutch play two overworked employees who suffer under their oppressive workloads. To help make their lives easier, the two decide to force their bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) to fall in love, hoping that happier bosses will lead to easier workdays. But as their plan progresses, it seems Cupid’s arrow isn’t just aimed at their bosses and the film quickly becomes a web of romance and comedy.
The movie premiered as a Netflix exclusive, and despite being a somewhat predictable and formulaic rom-com, Set It Up managed to score some excellent reviews. It currently holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Set It Up is streaming on Netflix.
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
Premiering at SXSW in 2022, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood was written and directed by Richard Linklater. Like some of Linklater’s other films, Apollo 10 1/2 uses his trademark digital rotoscoping animation style. The movie centers around a young math wiz who is approached by NASA to pilot a top-secret lunar lander. The reason they need a child is because their dimensions were slightly off and they accidentally made the shuttle a little too small.
But beyond that, the movie is an exploration of life in America during the late 1960s, as the country underwent a massive shift from nuclear family-style conservativism to the upheaval of war, protests, and a more science-focused society. In the film, Powell plays Bostwick, one of the NASA agents. Despite being a small indie film, Apollo 10 1/2 received 23 nominations from film critics associations around the country.
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is streaming on Netflix.
