Over the past decade, Elizabeth Olsen has managed an accomplished and promising career. After establishing herself as an acting entity apart from her famous older twin sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Elizabeth began appearing in a run of impressive indie features.
Of course, her biggest break to date came when she was cast in the MCU as Scarlet Witch, a role that has garnered her critical praise and a global audience. Though Scarlet Witch is Olsen’s biggest claim to fame, she has continued to appear in challenging and varied roles.
Worst: Very Good Girls (2013) - 6.0
Very Good Girls is something of a noble failure. Forgotten almost immediately upon release, the coming-of-age film was an adaptation of a YA novel centering around the love triangle that erupts between two friends determined to lose their virginity.
On paper, the pairing of Elizabeth Olsen with Dakota Fanning seems like a recipe for success, however, the two just don’t convince in the film as friends or naive teenagers. An early role for Olsen, the film was both panned by critics and ignored by audiences.
Best: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - 6.9
Martha Marcy May Marlene introduced the indie film world to Elizabeth Olsen. Her feature debut, the film cast Olsen in the lead as a woman fleeing from a cult and her traumatic struggles to integrate herself back into normal life.
The film presented the first opportunity to observe the prodigious maturity the young actress could bring to the screen. Olsen’s nuanced and layered performance as a young woman adrift, trying her best not to drown, brought her acclaim and kickstarted the first phase of her career.
Worst: Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2011) - 5.9
Even though Peace, Love & Misunderstanding was a very early role for Olsen, it is still an anomaly. The film is good-natured, in a way, but some felt that the overly saccharine tone and horrendous attempts at humor were a bit cringe-inducing.
Olsen’s role as a nerdy teenager is far removed from the darker and more intellectually challenging material she usually picks and the reviews reflected this.
Best: Sorry For Your Loss (2018 - 2019) - 7.5
The upcoming Wandavision series on Disney+ will not be Olsen’s first foray into the television format. Just two years ago, Olsen starred as the series lead in Facebook Watch’s original series, Sorry For Your Loss.
The series, which was canceled after two seasons, followed Olsen’s character Leigh, a recently widowed writer, as she navigates life after grief. It was unable to gain any real momentum in the mass public consciousness, but over its run, it carved out its own meditative niche, as well as providing an excellent showcase for Olsen’s skill and command of the screen.
Worst: I Saw The Light (2015) - 5.7
A film starring Tom Hiddleston as legendary boozehound and country icon Hank Williams with Elizabeth Olsen in the secondary lead as his wife and partner sounds like the algorithm for the next Walk the Line. However, I Saw the Light didn’t fare as well.
Hiddleston and Olsen do their best to bring something to the material, but the result was less than successful in critic’s eyes and a box office failure.
Best: Wind River (2017) - 7.7
Taylor Sheridan’s taut directorial debut channels the best parts of the murder mysteries of yesteryear with a modern edge and message. A uniquely grown-up “whodunnit,” Wind River tells the story of a tracker, played by Jeremy Renner, as he teams up with Olsen’s wet-behind-the-ears FBI rookie to solve the murder of a local Native American teenage girl.
The film is alternately heartwrenching and nailbiting, concluding with a satisfying edge-of-your-seat finale. Olsen and Renner have great chemistry in the film and Olsen brings a unique perspective to the character, which could have easily been a throwaway sidekick with a less talented performer in the role.
Worst: Oldboy (2013) - 5.7
Up there with Michael Bay’s slew of slasher remakes and Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, Spike Lee’s remake of the South Korean classic is as confounding as it is genuinely baseless in its existence.
Lee’s film does nothing to spin on the original, instead just diluting everything that made that film so good, to the point of making it all boring. One of the few misfires in Lee’s career, the film also features Elizabeth Olsen in a role that is in her wheelhouse but, like the rest of the film, just doesn’t work.
Best: Captain America: Civil War (2016) - 7.8
The beloved third installment of the Captain America series is essentially a lite-Avengers film. The film is so jam-packed with MCU regulars and newcomers that it is a testament to Olsen’s charm and charisma that she manages to be a stand-out.
After her first proper appearance in Age of Ultron, Wanda/Scarlet Witch finds herself aligned with Steve Rogers/Captain America in the titular squabble that provides a bulk of the film’s runtime. The film is one of the most revered in the entire canon and marked the first real step in the direction of a climax for the various plotlines.
Worst: Silent House (2011) - 5.2
In 2011, Olsen had one great film and two bad films: Silent House is the worst of the three. Attempting to mesh together home invasion thrillers like Funny Games and The Strangers with a one-take gimmick was a noble idea worth pursuing, and to the film’s credit, it maintains suspense and relative quality until it reveals its hand in the third act.
However, the twist in Silent House is so cheap and misguided that the entire film is squandered beneath its weight. Not only is it a bad twist, narratively speaking, but it veers dangerously close to being ethically gross.
Best: Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame (Tie) (2018 / 2019) - 8.4
Yes, it was always going to come down to an MCU appearance. Olsen’s turn in the films as Wanda/Scarlet Witch has brought her legions of fans that would otherwise not know her. The users of IMDb give both closing chapters of “The Infinity Stones” saga the same rating of 8.4.
Though the films are inherently ensemble films, Olsen is still given time to shine in both the action setpieces and more intimate, dialogue-driven scenes. Wanda/Scarlet Witch continues to be an important asset in the MCU character repertoire, and fans are lucky to have an actress as experienced and talented as Elizabeth Olsen in the role.
NEXT: Every Movie Featuring Elizabeth Olson And Josh Brolin
