10 Most Thrilling Films of the 2000s, Ranked

Similar to Nicole Kidman says in her AMC intro, we watch films as a result of they encourage feelings in a approach that is in contrast to some other medium. That pairing of video and sound could make us really feel heat and fuzzy, scare us out of our wits, and even weep, however the place it actually outshines the competitors is its capability to raise the heartrate, to thrill us with that wonderful type of stress that simply cannot be discovered wherever else.

Like our 2010s list, these aren’t the most effective thrillers of the 2000s: as a substitute, they’re essentially the most thrilling movies, these photos that go away us white-knuckled and sweating, preserving audiences rapt from the second the lights dim till the credit roll. Whether or not motion, sci-fi, or horror, the next are essentially the most thrilling films of the 2000s, ranked so as of how excessive they elevate the blood stress and the way firmly they go away jaws clenched.

16

‘Noticed’ (2004)

Director: James Wan

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The 2000s have been a veritable gold rush for low-budget horror, stuffed with grisly films that took the cost-friendly method of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and elevated it with only a contact extra Hollywood cash and slickness. Amongst these movies, essentially the most hair-raising is the unique Saw, an prompt hit that launched a vastly profitable franchise (one which’s nonetheless working to at the present time) and the careers of director James Wan and inventive companion/screenwriter Leigh Whannell. Different horror films could also be creepier, or lean even additional into the gore, however Noticed is a near-perfect mixture of grime, viscera, and time-sensitive, life-or-death dread. By actually chaining the 2 protagonists to a compact atmosphere, Wan and Whannell give the movie a really claustrophobic really feel, which is additional heightened by the dingy nature of the set. Even when the movie steps away from the central lavatory setting, the sensation of being trapped, with dying shortly approaching regardless of any efforts to flee its clutches.

Noticed‘s villain Jigsaw and his virtually excessively advanced “video games” have turn into iconic mainstays of recent horror, with a selected fan-favorite within the reverse bear entice, which has turn into an emblem for the franchise as a complete. Jigsaw is a compelling and attention-grabbing antagonist, and whereas his philosophy and motivations turn into barely extra convoluted within the later Noticed movies, his malevolence has a streamlined logic to it within the first film that’s uncomfortably comprehensible (if greater than a bit excessive, to say the least). A nod also needs to be given to 2007’s Paranormal Activity, the last decade’s different huge low-budget horror success story, however the upfront, inescapable terror of Noticed has given the movie a endurance loved by solely a choose few of its contemporaries.

14

‘American Psycho’ (2000)

Director: Mary Harron

American Psycho is a masterful send-up of ’80s yuppie consumerism, but it surely’s additionally a legitimately unsettling psychological horror movie. The convenience with which an ice-cold psychopath like Christian Bale‘s Patrick Bateman suits right into a slick super-capitalist society is pretty alarming to contemplate, and whereas American Psycho is particularly concerning the Wall Road increase of the late Nineteen Eighties, the movie’s commentary on masculinity, superficiality, and the customarily vicious nature of capitalism continues to ring true to at the present time. Because of the unreliable nature of Bateman’s narration, the movie is steeped in uncertainty, and it is solely unclear how a lot of the film’s horrific violence is absolutely enjoying out and the way a lot solely exists in Bateman’s twisted thoughts. The stakes get larger and better as Bateman’s actuality begins to crumble, leaving viewers almost as rattled and unbalanced because the titular psycho himself.

The performances are terrific, led by Bale (in his breakout function), who captures Bateman’s slicked-back cool and bloodthirsty mania with equal ability. Willem Dafoe, who performs the detective assigned to Bateman’s case, famously did three impartial takes for every scene: one by which he knew Bateman to be the killer, one by which he solely suspected him, and one by which he was solely unaware of Bateman’s guilt. The combination of the three (finished seemingly virtually at random) additional contributes to the movie’s off-balance really feel, and even when the credit lastly roll, it is as much as every viewer how a lot they consider the veracity of something that they witnessed.

13

‘Cloverfield’ (2008)

Director: Matt Reeves

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Whereas Cloverfield was actually not the primary horror film to characteristic a cinéma vérité-inspired, discovered footage method, it actually elevated it to new heights. As soon as once more, the affect of The Blair Witch Mission is plain, which established the model as a recipe for achievement within the horror style (see additionally the beforehand talked about Paranormal Exercise), but it surely was Cloverfield that basically jacked up the stress to beforehand unseen heights. By elevating the scope and finances, Cloverfield toes the road between terrifyingly epic and claustrophobically intimate, lending a way of actuality to the in any other case unimaginably terrifying plot. Whereas many movies have featured alien invasions, few have finished it in such an eerily acquainted approach. We have all seen household reels and buddies’ movies: what if these in any other case banal pictures have been disrupted by a violent extraterrestrial presence?

The discovered footage model lends itself to a pulse-racing viewing expertise, and whereas many movies have relied on the POV method as a shortcut into pleasure, Cloverfield earns the thrills organically, build up from the normalcy of the opening scenes to the all-out mayhem of the movie’s climax. As soon as issues decide up, there isn’t any slowing down, and the digital camera is handed off as characters meet their numerous fates all through the chaos. The shaky cam cinematography additionally permits the panic to construct organically, impartial of the central monster, and every fleeting glimpse of the alien presence heightens the fear till issues lastly attain a boiling level.

Regardless of the unsteady camerawork, the imaginative and prescient of director Matt Reeves and J.J. Abrams (who produced the movie) is evident and concise, and Cloverfield is an extremely immersive, terrifying expertise.

11

‘Snatch’ (2000)

Director: Man Ritchie

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The 2000s have been additionally a fantastic period for crime flicks, with administrators like David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises) and the Coen brothers (No Country For Old Men) making masterpieces of the style. But when there’s one crime subgenre that basically skilled a renaissance within the decade, it is British crime, with masterpieces of the dirty limey world like Jonathan Glazer‘s Attractive Beast and Matthew Vaughn‘s Layer Cake, to not point out the star-making movies of Jason Statham like The Transporter and Crank, each of which ship an all-out wildness that may be a mainstay in motion movies of the period. If there’s one determine who defines the British crime style within the 200s, it is undeniably director Man Ritchie, whose singular model of Cockney humor, visceral violence, and memorable characters was first delivered in 1998’s Lock, Inventory and Two Smoking Barrels and distilled to perfection with 2000’s Snatch. Each movies (additionally that includes Statham) are chock-full of nonstop thrills, and Ritchie’s dialogue is arguably at its snappiest with Snatch: the script has numerous quotable strains, bolstered by the pitch-perfect casting. The motion can also be turned up, epic and all-out with out ever shedding the dirty sense of realism that Ritchie constructed his title on.

Snatch options a number of overlapping storylines and scores of characters, and but the movie by no means feels cluttered or confused. Every onscreen character has their very own distinctive charms, with highlights in Statham’s Turkish and Brad Pitt‘s nigh-unintelligible Romani bareknuckle champion Mickey, and even the villains have an cheeky British charisma. Past the motion, Snatch can also be riotously humorous, and the movie’s world is wealthy and deep, with one thing surprising lurking round each nook, making certain a real edge-of-seat expertise.

9

‘Kids of Males’ (2006)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

One other science fiction masterpiece, Children of Men contains a world whereby a widespread infertility disaster has introduced humanity to the brink of extinction, leaving civilization in a chaotic state of disrepair. The movie’s performing is incredible, starring Clive Owen as a disillusioned bureaucrat who finds himself chargeable for what could be humankind’s final likelihood at a future, and the all-star lineup contains Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Every of the aforementioned masters is given a lot to work with by way of the dynamic script, tailored from P.D. James‘ 1992 novel The Kids of Males.

As soon as once more, the digital camera is a big chunk of the movie’s depth: Kids of Males is arguably finest remembered for its cinematography, with a number of lengthy, one-take scenes, essentially the most iconic of which is undoubtedly the automobile reverse escape, which stands as one of the crucial hair-raising scenes of the last decade. The movie’s general gritty, violent really feel is additional heightened by the dust, blood, and dirt bodily utilized to the digital camera lens, most notably within the movie’s climactic battle scene, an actual boots-on-the-ground method to camerawork. That nearly documentarian method to the look of the movie concurrently offers issues an all-too-plausible really feel whereas exacerbating the overwhelming sense of desolation. On the earth of dystopian cinema, Kids of Males lands among the many most life like and seemingly believable; one can think about that, in a society with out the prospect to breed, and that has misplaced the central perform of existence, issues would deteriorate simply as they do in Cuarón’s world. That chaos, when paired with the glimmer of optimism and hope on the movie’s coronary heart, makes issues deeply human in each sense of the phrase.

8

‘Minority Report’ (2002)

Director: Steven Spielberg

The work of Philip Okay. Dick has given us some actually basic diversifications, together with Paul Verhoeven‘s Total Recall (1990) and Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner (1982). Within the (at this level) grand custom of grasp administrators consuming from the effectively of PKD, Steven Spielberg‘s fashionable basic Minority Report (tailored from the quick story of the identical title) takes Dick’s remarkably compelling premise, rife with thematic explorations of free will vs. destiny, morality, and the ethics of policing, and pairs it beautiful visible language and Spielberg’s unmatched eye for blocking and composition. Naturally, being based mostly on a piece by such a titan of sci-fi offers Minority Report an inherent leg up, however the movie greater than realizes the scope and dynamic world of the unique. Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, the chief of an elite detective squad who, by way of a trio of mutant clairvoyant people often known as “precogs,” can see (and cease) horrific crimes earlier than they happen. When the precogs subsequent prediction claims Anderton himself will turn into a killer, he goes on the run, racing in opposition to time to keep away from his former colleagues and avert his supposed future transgression.

As acknowledged, Spielberg’s gorgeous model is on full show, elevated with some top-notch VFX work that fleshes out Minority Report‘s not-so-distant future world. The movie additionally options a number of incredible motion sequences, as one can comfortably count on from any such movie that includes Cruise’s abilities, together with a really memorable jetpack chase sequence that concerned 18 crew members, 1.5 miles of cable, and an 80-foot rig. Kid’s play for Cruise, maybe, however that type of stuntwork leads to an undeniably riveting viewing expertise that begins cranked to eleven and by no means eases up.

7

‘Oldboy’ (2003)

Director: Park Chan-wook

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When Park Chan-wook‘s 2003 masterpiece Oldboy launched, it shocked audiences with its brutality and darkness. There was actually nothing prefer it earlier than, and hasn’t been since (regardless of numerous makes an attempt), least of all of the 2013 American remake. In case you’re feeling depressed about humanity, it is best to wait to look at Oldboy till your spirits have perked up: the movie goals to look straight into the darkish, twisted aspect of human nature, holding an unflinching lens to the horrible issues it finds in these depths. It is actually a surprising, disturbing watch, however by no means in a approach that feels unearned or merely for the sake of consideration (a key element that lots of its imitators fail to realize), as a substitute utilizing that darkness to discover morality, vengeance, and the continuing, deeply human battle between loneliness and fleeting connection.

Oldboy tells the story of a Korean businessman named Oh Dae-su (performed by Choi Min-sik) who, for seemingly no cause in any respect, awakens after a bout of drunkenness to search out himself locked in a hotel-like jail with nothing however a tv to maintain him firm. After fifteen years, the now-deranged Dae-su is sedated and launched into the world, deperate to uncover the identification of his captor and the rationale for his imprisonment. The reality he uncovers begins off grim and solely will get darker, with every new piece of realized info solely growing his anguish and instability. It is a gripping watch from begin to end, punctuated by sequences of intense violence: after all, one can’t focus on Oldboy with out mentioning the stellar hammer-in-a-hallway struggle sequence, which is maybe simply as influential and oft-imitated because the movie itself.

5

‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)

Director: Quentin Tarantino

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It appears there isn’t any style Quentin Tarantino is not personally enthusiastic about, and could not grasp. A real movie buff’s movie buff, every of his films is a love letter to a basic number of movie: he is obtained kung fu-inspired motion (Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2), Westerns (Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight), crime (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Reservoir Dogs), and even a slasher (Death Proof), however with regards to sheer, white-knuckled thrills, it is onerous to compete together with his tackle World Battle II motion, 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. Like lots of Tarantino’s films, Basterds follows a number of characters, however its core protagonists are an elite group of Jewish commandos and a Jewish cinema proprietor who pair up in an unlikely try and deliver down Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Whereas Brad Pitt’s is extremely memorable because the chief of the titular commandos, equal elements comedic and fist-pumpingly brutal, Christoph Waltz‘s Academy Award-winning flip because the terrifyingly clever SS officer Hans Landa (nicknamed “The Jew Hunter”) completely steals the present. Honestly, if Inglourious Basterds was only a supercut of all of Christoph Waltz’s scenes, it will nonetheless have a spot on this record. The movie’s opening scene, by which Landa interrogates a dairy farmer a couple of fugitive Jewish household beneath his floorboards, is a masterclass in stress, and is for certain to depart viewers sweating even upon repeat viewings. Basterd‘s later bar scene has additionally turn into extremely iconic, as three undercover brokers tangle with a bunch of more and more suspicious Nazis. As all the time, Tarantino’s writing is hermetic, and by no means have three fingers impressed a lot terror within the hearts of a viewing viewers.

3

‘On line casino Royale’ (2006)

Director: Martin Campbell

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Daniel Craig‘s first outing as James Bond, Casino Royale represented a brand-new route for the franchise, shifting away from the pretty tacky (albeit lovably so) model of espionage motion the franchise constructed its title on and taking issues in a darker, extra life like route (a standard theme for this record and for Hollywood within the 2000s as a complete). There are fewer devices, fewer one-liners, and fewer debonair winks on the digital camera, however there’s a complete lot extra grime and brute physicality. Craig’s tackle Bond is muscular and aggressive: he is a younger, comparatively untested agent, just lately assigned his iconic Double-O standing, and his eagerness to show himself with out considering issues by way of leads to quite a lot of violent messiness.

Nonetheless you are feeling concerning the Pierce Brosnan period, the Bond franchise had undeniably began to lose steam in direction of the tip of his tenure, and On line casino Royale was a bolt of electrical energy for the sequence from the leap, with a one-two-combo within the black-and-white retelling of Bond’s first bloody kill and, extra importantly, the opening parkour scene (on the time a really new, comparatively unknown sport), a brand new commonplace of motion depth for the franchise that it arguably has but to achieve in any of the Craig movies since. Mads Mikkelsen‘s Le Chiffre, the movie’s villain, is terrifying and certifiably creepy, replete with an eye fixed situation that leaves him weeping blood. Le Chiffre is not a laser gun-wielding industrialist or an murderer with a gun constructed from a golden lighter and pen: he is the personal banker/financier of terrorists, a comparatively small piece of a militarized world that may be a direct mirror to our personal, and a becoming antagonist for a Bond with a bit extra dust on his tuxedo than those that got here earlier than him.

1

‘The Bourne Id’ (2002)

Director: Doug Liman

The Bourne Identity is with out query among the best motion movies of the century up to now. Its launch brought about a large shockwave within the motion style, and Doug Liman‘s blood-pumping masterpiece is definitely among the many most influential actino movies in fashionable cinema. As such, The Bourne Id nonetheless feels extremely recent to at the present time, and whereas a lot have tried to seize its mix of high-octane thrills and grounded depth (together with the later movies within the Bourne sequence), none have finished it fairly in addition to Id. Each the brutal physicality of the movie’s motion (much like On line casino Royale, which it doubtlessly influenced) and Bourne’s hyper-precise lethality, so deeply embedded in his subconsious that it involves him virtually involuntarily, have turn into mainstays of recent motion, seen and expanded upon in movies just like the John Wick franchise.

As with different movies on this record, The Bourne Id‘s framework lends itself to depth, with the Matt Damon‘s titular amnesiac grasp murderer making an attempt to uncover his previous whereas working from the identical individuals who gave him his deadly skillset. By inserting each Bourne and the viewers in darkness about who he’s and why seemingly everybody needs him lifeless, there is not a single second in Id whereby the pacing can sluggish and Bourne can relaxation straightforward. Anybody might be out to get him, nowhere is secure, and all we all know for sure is that Jason Bourne is an unstoppable (albeit unwilling) killing machine. The movie is predicated on Robert Ludlum‘s novel of the identical title, however leans extra into the existential element of Bourne’s amnesia; specifically, simply what kind of particular person finds himself floating within the Mediterranean with two bullets in his again and killers lurking round each nook, and whether or not he may ever be thought of morally justified in his actions.