David Ayer has made a name for himself in Hollywood with is gritty Los Angeles-based crime movies, but his filmography shows his strong resume that continues to grow. Ayer got his start in the movie business as a screenwriter, finding success as a writer on films like The Fast and the Furious and Training Day. However, with his writing having its own distinct style, it wasn't surprising that he eventually sought to make his own movies that further let that voice be heard.

Ever since his directorial debut with Harsh Times, Ayer became synonymous with dark crime dramas. However, he has brought his talents to the likes of World War II movies, superhero blockbusters, and straight-up action popcorn flicks. He has also worked with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including the likes of Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. His latest movie, A Working Man, shows that he is still working consistently with many exciting projects on the horizon.

Bright (2017)

Starring Will Smith & Joel Edgerton

It’s not that the concept for Bright was an unsalvageable one. Fantasy fiction is built on allegory and the use of the speculative to explore real-life socio-political concerns. It’s not uncommon to see fictional creatures and animals used as stand-ins for issues of racial and ethnic justice. Bright, however, made every conceivable mistake in bringing its tale to life. It tries to blend together a grimy buddy-cop dramedy with the warring inner-city factions of Los Angeles, only this time there are orcs, elves, and occasionally dragons.

The sight of orcs dressed in gang colors and using AAVE, therefore coding them explicitly as Black and Latinx, is an awkward viewing experience, to put it mildly. The movie has no grasp of the layers or implications of its poorly thought-out allegorical approach, and it doesn’t help that the narrative is so messy. The usually reliable Will Smith seems lost among the many ideas fighting for control. The one shining light is Joel Edgerton, who manages to bring pathos to the screen even as he is swamped under layers of orc prosthetics.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Starring Will Smith & Margot Robbie

The chaos of 2016’s Suicide Squad is now the stuff of Hollywood cautionary tales, and Ayer himself has expressed disappointment with the version we saw. Bringing the eccentric DC team to the big screen, the movie follows a group of supervillains, including Deadshot, Boomerang, and Harley Quinn, being forced to go on a dangerous rescue mission for the government. The result is a messy and convoluted superhero movie that struggles to find its right tone.

Of course, whatever you think of Ayer's work, it's worth ing that he never got to fully complete his vision for Suicide Squad, and calls for an Ayer cut of the movie continue. Still, it's his name on the movie, and questions remain over whether Ayer's brand of solemn sleaze was ever right for such a story. It is worth noting, however, that even with Jared Leto's Joker being heavily criticized, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn became iconic in her own right.

The Tax Collector (2020)

Starring Shia LaBeouf & Bobby Soto

After the big-budget and much-hyped efforts of Suicide Squad and Bright, Ayer decided to take things back to basics with The Tax Collector, a film that has more in common with his earlier efforts than the franchise fare. Shia LaBeouf reunites with Ayer for another gritty Los Angeles-based drama about a pair of "tax collectors" who work for a local crime lord collecting his money from across the city. As is befitting a David Ayer movie, it's gruesome and violent and heavily skewed towards a more nihilistic tone.

It's also derivative of dozens of other movies that have trodden this familiar territory. This vein of mean-spiritedness could work given the bleakness of the plot, but it all plays out so dully. It doesn't help that the film is defined by its questionable portrayal of Latinx people, dialogue, and culture, something Ayer has been called out for many times before. However, LaBeouf's fiery performance does add a spark to things.

Sabotage (2014)

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sam Worthington

A loose adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None, Sabotage takes the murder mystery element to the modern streets of Los Angeles. In one of his strongest roles following his post-governorship return to acting, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the leader of a DEA special task force set to take on a deadly drug cartel in one of their safe houses. The job seems to be going well until, one by one, the team are picked off in bloody fashion, and everyone is a suspect.

The movie is a gritty and brutal action thriller with the kind of questionable main characters that Ayer seems drawn to. However, the mystery aspect that gives the movie so much fun potential is mishandled in the final act, abandoning the entire premise for a standard action movie. While Schwarzenegger is a strong presence in any film, he feels somewhat miscast here, though his ing actors including Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, and Joe Manganiello, add some fun to the movie.

Street Kings (2008)

Starring Keanu Reeves & Chris Evans

Street Kings is a movie that hits on a lot of the same notes that David Ayer is known for. Keanu Reeves stars in the movie as a troubled cop who, following the murder of his wife, has gone down a dark path, putting himself on the opposite side of the law. However, when a fellow cop is murdered, he is set up to take the fall. As he tries to clear his name, he uncovers more conspiracies inside the LAPD.

With amoral cops and corruption on the streets of Los Angeles, Street Kings just doesn't feel fresh enough in Ayer's filmography to be really special. He handles the complicated mystery and gritty action scenes well, but it all feels a bit tired in the end. The movie is injected with some fun thanks to a star-studded cast, including Chris Evans, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, and others. It is also interesting to see Reeves take on a more complex protagonist who's still worth cheering for.

The Beekeeper (2024)

Starring Jason Statham & Josh Hutcherson

David Ayer seemed to find a new ideal collaborator when he teamed with Jason Statham for the action movie The Beekeeper. Statham stars as a reclusive man working as a beekeeper on a farm owned by a kind older woman. When she is targeted by scammers, resulting in a devastating tragedy, Statham's true past comes out as he returns to his roots as a government operative, hunting down those responsible.

It might not be John Wick, but it is entertaining.

The movie is silly and ridiculous in its premise and execution, but it is also great fun if you understand what you are walking into from the beginning. Part of why Statham and Ayer work so well together here is because they are dialed into what this movie should be. Statham has always been great at understanding what audiences want from his movies, and Ayer is smart enough to know to keep things simple, just delivering a solid action thriller with a crowd-pleasing revenge story at its center. It might not be John Wick, but it is entertaining.

A Working Man (2025)

Starring Jason Statham & David Harbour

While David Ayer will not be returning for The Beekeeper 2, the success of the first movie quickly led to him reteaming with Jason Statham in A Working Man. As further proof of this duo being in tune with what the audience wants, they do not change the formula too much for their second project together. A Working Man sees Statham playing a black ops agent who leaves his violent life behind to become a construction worker. However, when his kind boss's daughter is kidnapped, he uses those hard-hitting skills to get her back.

Despite the fact that it follows a very similar formula as The Beekeeper, A Working Man not only strikes again with this approach, but actually improves on it. The action is more inventive and hard-hitting, the plot keeps things simple so as to focus on the action, and Statham delivers a strong performance beyond simply beating people up.

Harsh Times (2005)

Starring Christian Bale & Freddy Rodríguez

Ayer's directorial debut Harsh Times followed the familiar territory of his screenplays, with another Los Angeles-set tale of a traumatized veteran who wants to do the right thing but finds himself in a downward spiral of violence and corruption. Ayer had the great fortune to land Christian Bale as his leading man, and the actor predictably throws himself into the part of a man so fractured by his trauma that he cannot escape his fatal circumstances.

Indeed, it is not hard to see the similarities between Harsh Times and Ayer's script for Training Day as they both take audiences on a gritty and brutal odyssey through Los Angeles, led by a reckless and unpredictable protagonist. Bale's performance is hugely entertaining while also putting you completely on edge with what mayhem he will conjure next. Ayer would go on to grow as a filmmaker, but he established a certain style right from the beginning.

Fury (2014)

Starring Brad Pitt & Logan Lerman

Ayer has always had a love for films about morally grey men on a mission. With Fury, he came the closest to capturing that vibe with his ultraviolent homage to The Dirty Dozen. Brad Pitt stars in the movie as a tank commander leading his loyal crew during the dying yet still violent days of World War II. Logan Lerman plays the fresh and inexperienced soldier who s the crew after they have already been through hell.

A brutal and engrossing experience, with Ayer feeling perfectly at home in the period piece after gaining a reputation for his more modern and urban stories.

It's a story of nihilism and the twisted kind of brotherhood that forms in the face of ceaseless violence, and Ayer certainly did not skimp on the blood. Fury may be one of the more striking war films that fully conveys the stain, literal and mental, of such conflict. It is a brutal and engrossing experience, with Ayer feeling perfectly at home in the period piece after gaining a reputation for his more modern and urban stories.

End of Watch (2012)

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Michael Peña

It may have only been his third movie as a director, but 2012's End of Watch arrived with the kind of force and fury that signaled the arrival of a filmmaker to watch. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña are a formidable duo as two close friends and LAPD partners whose day-to-day police work and off-duty lives bleed together in oft-dangerous ways. Even though the movie ticks off more than enough cop movie clichés, there's a real freshness to End of Watch, an abrasive realism that taps into something more honest than just another buddy cop drama.

Peña and Gyllenhaal’s chemistry elevates the movie, bringing warmth and familiarity not only to their violent confrontations but also to their quieter, playful moments as friends. Ayer also uses the found-footage approach of the movie better than most movies in that subgenre. It could have felt like a cheap gimmick, but instead, it excels at placing the audience in this immersive world.