Thrillers will never, ever go out of style. Whatever else is going on in the cinema, audiences will always crave films that make their hearts race.
A thriller is challenging to define, except that it is something you experience in your guts. They frighten us and give us the chills. Technology has improved them, but the best thrillers have historically kept things simple: always gripping, never overwhelmingly scary or dramatic.
The fundamental delight of cinema, which ultimately revolves around the build-up and release of tension, can be found in the best action thrillers. We’ve selected the top thrillers of all time from the more than a century available. Let’s have a look-
The Foreigner (2017)
Director- Martin Campbell
Where To Watch- MX Player
Description- The narrative of a small London businessman named Quan (Chan), whose long-buried past erupts into a revenge-fueled passion when his teenage daughter, the last remaining person he could ever love, is abducted in a mind-numbing act of terrorism driven by politics.
In his relentless pursuit of the terrorists’ identities, Quan is forced to engage in a cat-and-mouse game with an Irish government official (Brosnan), whose own past might hint at who the mysterious attackers are.
Shooter (2007)
Director- Antoine Fuqua
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video
Description- Bob Lee Swagger, a world-class marksman and the son of a Medal of Honor recipient, lives alone in the Rockies. After being exposed to a covert Ethiopian mission a few years prior, he has since quit the military.
A colonel chooses him to work on a plan to assassinate the U.S. president in one of three cities over the following two weeks. Even if he accomplishes his job, Bob Lee is soon made to look bad when the shot is fired.
He goes underground, where he is backed by two strange friends in his pursuit of the truth and those who betrayed him. He is wounded and chased by thousands of people. All paths meet in Ethiopia.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Director- David Leitch
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube
Description- Agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron), the star of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service, is a master of espionage, sensuality, and cruelty who will use any means required to accomplish her challenging mission.
She is sent alone into Berlin to deliver a valuable document out of the troubled city. She teams up with integrated smart station commander David Percival (James McAvoy) to survive the deadliest game of covert operations.
Anna (2019)
Director- Luc Besson
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube
Description- Young and attractive Anna (Sasha Luss) has succeeded in building a career in the fashion industry.
She used to be a subdued model from Moscow more recently, but she quickly gained entry into the elite. An entire mountain of bodies was found after she entered the hotel of a powerful and extremely dangerous guy. Special services are questioning the girl, but she is utterly powerless to provide any information.
She appears to be terrified, and no one doubts her. Following her release, Anna starts getting ready for a new venture. The world’s most lethal assassin—who hasn’t yet gone wrong—is masked under the mask of a precarious beauty.
The November Man (2014)
Director- Roger Donaldson
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., MX Player, Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube
Description- Former C.I.A. agent Peter Devereaux is tasked by the man he worked for to find a woman who is currently living in Russia and is close to a presidential candidate who is thought to have broken the law during the Chechen war.
She can provide them with the name of a witness who can back up her claim. His friend claims that she will only show up to him. So he goes, and she picks up the details and tries to escape, but the man notices this and attempts to stop her.
Casino Royale (2006)
Director- Martin Campbell
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video
Description- James Bond (Daniel Craig) embarks on his first mission as 007 agents. Terrorists worldwide use Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) as their financier.
He plays poker in Montenegro, where he needs to win his money back to stay safe in the terrorist market. Bond and Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) are sent to this game by “M,” the head of MI6, to ensure that Le Chiffre does not win.
Bond enters the most crucial poker game in his already deadly career, with the help of Felix Leiter, Rene Mathis, and Vesper appearing as his partner.
Triple 9 (2016)
Director- John Hillcoat
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video
Description- The Russian mob blackmails a group of crooked officers in Triple 9 to pull off an almost insanely tough heist. Creating a fake 999, the police emergency for “officer down,” is the only way to pull it off.
Their plot is flipped upside down when the naïve rookie they set up to die foils the strike, resulting in a frantic, action-packed finale packed with double-crosses, greed, and vengeance.
Parker (2013)
Director- Taylor Hackford
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., MX Player,
Description- Parker is a thief who operates by a strange code. He doesn’t kill innocent people or take from the underprivileged. He is asked to work with four other men on a project. It is executed perfectly by them. They inform Parker that their funds will empower them to start a new work that will pay them significantly more. On the other hand, Parker refuses to join them and demands his part. But they need everything, so they try to murder him.
They dispose of his body, but someone discovers him—even though he’s still alive—and brings him to the hospital. As soon as he is well again, he begins to carry out another of his codes: revenge on those who attempted to kill him. Despite being notified that they are working for a well-known gangster, which he was unaware of, he continues to hunt them.
After discovering their address, he mimics their identity and pretends to be a wealthy Texan seeking to buy a home. He hires Leslie Rogers, a real estate agent, to get a tour. In reality, he’s looking for where they’ve hidden out. He then embarks on his strategy to capture them after discovering it. However, when they find out he’s still alive, they ask the mob boss to take care of him. To deal with him, the mob boss dispatches a murderer. Leslie is also drawn to him and follows him.
The Accountant (2016)
Director- Gavin O’Connor
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video, Netflix
Description- Math genius Christian Wolff is more attracted to numbers than people. He handles accounting tasks as a freelancer for some of the most dangerous criminal businesses around the world from behind the mask of a small-town C.P.A. firm.
A cutting-edge robotics business where an accounting clerk has found a mismatch involving millions of dollars in Christian’s new client as Ray King’s Crime Enforcement Division of the Treasury Department begins to draw in. However, as Christian uncrooks the records and gets closer to the truth, the body count increases.
Den of Thieves (2018)
Director- Christian Gudegast
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video
Description- A gritty crime drama that centers on Los Angeles chronicles the overlapping and extremely touching lives of a top-tier unit of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the state’s most successful bank robbery squad as they plot an elusive robbery on the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles.
A group of ex-MARSOC Marines in Los Angeles kidnap an armored truck under the direction of Ray Merrimen. As the hijackers flee with the empty truck, a shootout follows that results in multiple deaths, including one of Merrimen’s crew. Detective Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and his Major Crimes Unit team look into the crime, making the recently released Merrimen their top suspect.
Donnie Wilson, a bartender who admits to being the thieves’ unarmed getaway driver, is seized by Nick’s crew. He says the group stole a significant amount of money from a stadium, but he does not know their future plans and is let go.
Black and Blue (2019)
Director- Deon Taylor
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Netflix
Description- In the action thriller “Black and Blue,” Naomie Harris plays a rookie police officer who mistakenly captures the killing of a juvenile drug dealer on her body camera.
When she realizes that dishonest police committed the murder, she teams up with Tyrese Gibson, the only member of her community who is ready to assist her.
She has to flee both the criminals seeking retribution and the police, who are frantically trying to destroy the evidence that could lead to their prosecution.
Man on a Ledge (2012)
Director- Asger Leth
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube,
Description- An ex-cop turned criminal has threatened to jump from a Manhattan hotel. Upon hearing a woman scream, the closest New York Police Officer runs to the scene and calls 911.
Along with firefighters, more police officers, including SWAT teams and tactical command, show up. To help him come down from the ledge, the police then send a police psychologist on their instruction. Things aren’t exactly what they seem, though.
Army of Thieves (2021)
Director- Matthias Schweighöfer
Where To Watch- Netflix
Description- Sebastian, a timid bank teller from a small village, lived a lonely, unremarkable life six years before the horrific events of Army of the Dead (2021) against an enormous virus epidemic in Las Vegas.
The passionate YouTuber and theoretical safe-cracker fascinated by locks and safes will get the chance to shine when enigmatic Gwendoline asks for his help to carry off the greatest heist of all time: open a quartet of impossible safes that Richard Wagner inspired.
However, when Sebastian and Gwendoline’s gang embark on a frantic trip across Europe, obsessed Interpol officer Delacroix is close on their chase, and things in Sin City are turning dark.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Director- F. Gary Gray
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video, MX Player
Description- A horrible murder takes place in Clyde Shelton’s home. The perpetrators have been caught. The D.A., Nick Rice, has only circumstantial evidence as a result of improper procedure.
In light of this, he plans to have one speak against the other. Shelton is dissatisfied when he learns of this. Ten years later, the guilty person is about to be executed, but something goes horribly wrong; his execution goes wrong, and he suffers.
Someone messed with the machine, they discovered. And the other is discovered dead, murdered in a heinous manner. Rice has Shelton hauled up because he has suspicions about him. Shelton initially agrees with Rice to a plea deal before changing his mind.
It seems like Shelton is still not through; he seems to be blaming the entire system and starting a war on it by suing everyone associated with the case of his family. So Rice must stop him, but Shelton is far ahead of him.
The Transporter (2002)
Director- Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen
Where To Watch- Apple T.V.
Description- Frank Martin, a former member of Special Forces, appears to have a peaceful life alongside the French Mediterranean. He works as a mercenary “transporter,” moving people and other commodities from one location to another. There are no questions. Frank follows a rigid set of rules, which he never breaks, as he performs enigmatic and usually risky activities in his bespoke BMW.
Frank’s latest transport appears to be no different from the many others he’s finished in the past. He’s been tasked with making a delivery by an American known only as “Wall Street,” but when Frank stops along the way, he realizes his parcel is moving.
When Frank checks into the bag, he discovers a stunning woman tied within. Frank’s unwavering commitment to his other two rules, which comprise his basic survival code, also fails swiftly, sending him and his new friend down a path that ends with unexpected revelations, grave complications, and the opposite of what Frank ever imagined coming to believe: that rules are meant to be broken.
The American (2010)
Director- Anton Corbijn
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video, Netflix
Description- Jack is a talented craftsman, rare among assassins. He promises his contact Pavel that his next mission will be his last after a job in Sweden ends more harshly than he had anticipated. Jack travels to the countryside of Italy, hides out in a little town, and enjoys having some time to himself away from danger.
As defined by a Belgian woman named Mathilde, the job is in the process of a weapon being built. Unexpectedly, Jack reaches out to the local priest Father Benedetto for friendship and develops a relationship with Clara. But by coming out of the shadows, Jack may be inviting eventual downfall.
No Sudden Move (2021)
Director- Steven Soderbergh
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video,
Description- Three career criminals are paid to carry out what seems to be a short and simple operation: keep an accountant’s wife and kids hostage while he retrieves a file from his boss’s office. However, things start to fall apart very quickly, and more powerful forces seem to be at play.
Gangster Curt Goynes, together with Ronald Russo and Charley, are hired to terrorize a family as part of a blackmail plot in 1954 in Detroit, Michigan since they need money to depart the city.
Doug Jones, the recruiter, sends them to Matt Wertz’s home, the residence of the G.M. accountant, where they are to take the family hostage while sending Wertz to his workplace to grab a document from his boss’s safe.
After discovering it to be empty, Wertz, in a desperate attempt to help Jones, returns home, where Charley is preparing to execute the entire family, much to the dismay of Goynes and Russo. Goynes murders Charley by shooting him because he doesn’t want to participate in a bloodbath.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Director- Scott Frank
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube,
Description- Matt Scudder, a former police officer, is now a private detective. A drug dealer asks him to track out the individuals who abducted his wife.
Even though he paid them, it appears that they murdered her. Scudder flatly refuses. However, the man later visits him and explains how his wife was murdered.
Scudder accepts the assignment. After doing some research, he believes that the individuals he is searching for have pulled this out more than time and that everyone they seized is associated with a drug dealer.
When they take another female, Scudder makes an effort to ensure that she is returned alive just as he is about to give up.
S.W.A.T. (2003)
Director- Clark Johnson
Where To Watch- Netflix
Description- Two Los Angeles S.W.A.T. officers, Brian Gamble and Jim Street, was ordered to stop a particularly bloody bank robbery based on a previous tv show. In the process of stopping the robbery, they shot a hostage. S.W.A.T. suspended Street while terminating Gamble completely.
Daniel Harrelson, often known as “Hondo,” a seasoned SWAT officer, is instructed to put together a SWAT unit for his division after six months. In addition to 3 rookies, he selects other S.W.A.T. officers. They learn that a French crime leader by the name of Alex Montell is trying to get away from prison.
Miami Vice (2006)
Director- Michael Mann
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube,
Description- Ricardo Tubbs is smart and observant. He shares a home with Trudy, an Intel analyst born in the Bronx, and together they smuggle drugs into South Florida undercover to find the criminals of three homicides.
Sonny Crockett [his demeanor may appear unorthodox to the casual observer, but technically, he is sound] is charismatic and seductive until, while undercover working with the South Florida group’s supplier, he becomes romantically involved with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of a firearms and narcotics smuggler.
Public Enemies (2009)
Director- Michael Mann
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube
Description- Bank robberies and other violent crimes against wealthy targets were rampant during the turbulent 1930s. John Dillinger’s gang operates with crafty precision against major corporations while leaving regular people alone, making it the most infamous of them all.
J. Edger Hoover, the chief of the F.B.I., is determined to stop Dillinger from becoming a folk hero, so he hires the assistance of ace agent Melvin Purvis to find him.
Dillinger himself faces a bleak future with the loss of friends, few options, and a shifting world of criminal organizations where there is no place for him. At the same time, Purvis struggles with the practicalities of the investigation.
Wrath of Man (2021)
Director- Guy Ritchie
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Netflix
Description- Patrick Hill began working for Fortico Security as an armored truck security guard five months after the theft. The workplace trainer “Bullet” calls him “H,” and his manager Terry praises his references.
Hill barely completes his training and has a rough relationship with his coworkers, such as “Boy Sweat” Dave and Dana Curtis. The bullet is held hostage while being picked up with more than $2 million in cash.
A mysterious and crazed-eyed new security guard for a cash truck shocks his coworkers by using pinpoint accuracy during a theft. The crew is unsure of who he is or where he comes from. Soon, the marksman’s true motivation becomes obvious as he takes bold and irreversible actions to settle a score.
What Happened to Monday (2017)
Director- Tommy Wirkola
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video
Description- Seven identical sisters (all played by Noomi Rapace) live a cover-up existence while being tracked by the Child Allocation Bureau in a not-too-distant future where overcrowding and famine have led governments to implement a stringent One-Child Policy.
The Bureau, led by the ferocious Nicolette Cayman (Glenn Close), imposes a rigid family-planning agenda, which the sisters evade by taking turns adopting the name of one person: Karen Settman.
They were nurtured and given the names Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday by their grandfather (Willem Dafoe), who also taught them that they could only be themselves in their own apartment, which served as a jail.
They were nurtured and given the names Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday by their grandfather (Willem Dafoe), who also taught them that they could only be themselves in their own apartment, which served as a jail.
That is until Monday mysteriously fails to return one day.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
Director- Fede Alvarez
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video
Description- Lisbeth Salander, an antisocial and technologically gifted computer hacker, finds herself purging Stockholm of men who despise women after being severely scarred by her father’s horrific and utterly indefensible actions.
After the events of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Lisbeth hasn’t talked to her old journalist friend Mikael Blomkvist in three years, and now she’s being sought like prey for stealing Project FireFall—a powerful tool created for the Americans that can penetrate and take control of most internet defense systems. Project FireFall was designed to breach and control most online defense systems.
Lisbeth’s terrible history is now returning to haunt her as the N.S.A., the Swedish Security Service, and dangerous Russians are close on her trail. If cutting-edge computer software falls into the wrong hands, no one in this world is safe.
The Equalizer (2014)
Director- Antoine Fuqua
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video, ZEE 5, Netflix
Description- Former special operations commando Robert McCall faked his own demise in order to lead a peaceful life.
Instead, he leaves his self-imposed seclusion to save a young girl, but on meeting members of a vicious Russian gang, he finds his sense of justice reignited.
McCall now becomes the go-to guy when the powerless require revenge that they would never be able to find without his skills.
Source Code (2011)
Director- Duncan Jones
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video
Description- Colter Stevens, an army captain, is inventing a special system that allows him to install his memory into another person. The only drawback is that you can only stay for 8 minutes at a time. Just outside of Chicago, a commuter train was struck by a bomb that morning.
His last memory is of piloting his helicopter on a combat operation in Afghanistan, so he takes on the role of a teacher who is traveling to work on that train and is puzzled as to what he is really doing and why he is there. The program’s administrators inform him that he needs to find a bomb aboard the train.
More importantly, he needs to find the bomber because another attack is scheduled for later in the day. However, he is also informed that he can only learn about the past and that he cannot change it. As he grows fond of his traveling partner Christina, he decides to put that theory to the test.
Self/less (2015)
Director- Tarsem Singh
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video
Description- An extremely rich man suffering from cancer undergoes a radical medical treatment in which his consciousness is transferred into the body of a young, healthy man. But nothing is as it appears when he begins to figure out the mystery of the body’s origins and the institution that will kill to defend its purpose.
Damian begins a new life in New Orleans under Edward Kidner’s alias and is instantly embraced by his next-door neighbor Anton. A woman and a child appear to him in his dreams after he again forgets to take his medication. Damian (as Edward) confronts Albright, who dismisses it but inadvertently reveals parts of Damian’s visions that Damian had not revealed.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Director- Stefano Sollima
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video
Description- In this intervention, Josh Brolin’s character, C.I.A. agent Matt Graver, teams up with a mysterious agent to investigate a Mexican drug gang transporting terrorists into the country. Graver and his partner are forced to reconsider their purpose when the daughter of a major kingpin is hijacked.
In a false flag operation, Gillick tries to kill a high-profile Matamoros cartel attorney in Mexico City, while Graver and his team kidnap Isabel Reyes, the daughter of the Matamoros rival’s leader, Carlos Reyes (who ordered the slaughter of Gillick’s family).
Vantage Point (2008)
Director- Pete Travis
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video
Description- The American President will deliver a speech to Salamanca, Spain, in a public area shortly.
A plain-clothes police officer, his girlfriend and another man, a mother and child, a tourist from the United States with a video camera, and a Secret Service member who has just returned from medical leave are all present.
A bomb explodes in the square shortly after a distant blast, and shots are fired, causing the President to fall. The story of those moments is repeated multiple times, highlighting the activities of various characters. Who is responsible for the plan becomes apparent over time.
Shot Caller (2017)
Director- Ric Roman Waugh
Where To Watch- Amazon Prime Video
Description- A happily married, white-collar business executive commits a crime by mistake. After receiving a prison sentence, he has to adapt and become familiar with prison life. He tries to act in the best way for his family on the outside during this. If he makes the wrong decision in prison, it will significantly impact him and his family.
On his first night there, Harlon overhears a fellow prisoner being raped in a group and quickly realizes that the only way he can survive is to attack. The following day, he refuses to back down when challenged and kills an African-American prisoner.
This attracts the attention of Bottles, the “shot caller” for the white supremacist gang P.E.N.I. In return for safety and acceptance into the group, Jacob is forced to import drugs and kill a snitch. Over time, Harlon advances in rank, earning the nickname “Money,” and becomes even more toughened by life in prison.
The Next Three Days (2010)
Director- Paul Haggis
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video
Description- After a disagreement with her boss, Lara Brennan killed him. She is then taken into custody. Her fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, and it seems that she was seen fleeing the site of the crime.
John, her husband, would spend the following years trying to free her, but there is no proof to counter the accusations against her. And as she starts to feel the pressure of being away from her family, especially her son,
John decides to let her go. He conducts a great deal of investigation to discover a solution.
The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
Director- Tony Scott
Where To Watch- Apple T.V., Google Play Movies & T.V., Youtube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix
Description- A Manhattan subway train is taken over by four armed guys in the early afternoon. They stop the train on a slight incline and detach the first car to allow the rest of the train to coast back.
Ryder, their leader, dials Walter Garber, the dispatcher keeping an eye on that line, and they speak on the phone. Garber is a supervisor who has been demoted in the interim while being questioned for bribery. Ryder threatens to shoot hostages unless $10 million is paid in one hour.
The announcement of the hostage crisis sends the stock market into a tailspin, the mayor approves the payoff, and it’s unclear what Ryder wants or whether Garber is a part of the deal.