Which one is best? The best spy films stay tightly rooted in the real world, examining how intense and complex international spying can be. Spy movies give the audience a sense of excitement, enigmatic charm, and usually some thrilling action sequences.
In the real world, spying often amounts to nothing more than covert meetings and secret exchanges of documents and information. In the film world, though, spy games are far more thrilling, often packed with backstabbing, chase scenes, and spine-chilling moments of excitement.
No matter what flavor of spying action you prefer, from thoughtful drama to searing political fable, twisted romance, or classic no-shakes-not-so-stirring sex appeal, there’s been a great spy movie in that fashion.
Of course, these films tend to stretch the truth, but some remain deep-rooted, telling their stories through the historical lens of the eye. These are the top 10 spy movies of all time.
10. The Bourne Trilogy (2002) (2004) (2007)
Directors:
The Bourne Identity –Doug Liman
The Bourne Supremacy- Paul Greengrass
The Bourne Ultimatum– Tony Gilroy
Where to watch: Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max
The list of the best modern spy films would be imperfect without the first three Bourne films, which attracted the spy genre for modern audiences and recognized Matt Damon as an A-list spy.
The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum –All three films in the original Bourne trilogy are the best at considering brutal warfare, conspiracy, and an identifiable character for a man who’s never quite convinced who he is. The trilogy’s title character Jason Bourne becomes richer with each film.
The first film’s thrill is discovering Bourne’s exceptional skills as he is capable of; Each newfound ability gives a chilling moment for the audience and the character himself. By Supremacy, both Bourne and the audience know just what he is capable of. By the third film, Bourne – the nature and the franchise – is a well-oiled machine, executing tricks with smooth coordination and skill.
9. Burn After Reading (2008)
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Where to watch: Vudu, Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple Tv
No one discovers the beasts behind the mask of civilized humanity with the sharp wit that the Coen brothers bring to this movie. Burn After Reading is the resentment that grows when the social contract destroys.
Along with those razor-sharp points, that features all the technical superiority we expect from Joel and Ethan Coen’s work — perfect casting, brilliant writing, and specificity that allows for fun and loud humor, which is just a half-click shy of sad.
Burn After Reading is a spy movie in which the way The Big Lebowski is a detective movie that shows each performance is hilarious and honest, with Coyne residing at the sweet spot of wildly funny and devastatingly tragic.
8. Spy Game (2001)
Director: Tony Scott
Where to watch: Vudu, Peacock, Prime Video, Apple Tv
Presented as a two-hander between Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, The Spy Game is an excellent return to the genre for the iconic star of Redford’s show – Three Days of the Condor. Spy Game discovers the relationship between two lead spies, Nathan Muir (Redford) and Tom Bishop (Pitt); One on the eve of his retirement, the other his death sentence.
Redford builds his character into an enigmatic mix of real political cleverness and unexpected loyalty, and as we know, Muir lies, plots, and controls to save his Supremacy.
Along with Redford’s breathtaking performance, Spy Game is a good spying thriller, mixing classic variety sequences with director Tony Scott’s trademark initiative, embellishments for explosive action, and great editing.
7. Casino Royale (2006)
Director: Martin Campbell
Where to watch: Vudu, Netflix, Prime Video, Apple Tv
With the iconic tagline, “Bond, James Bond,” James Bond – famously known as Agent 007 – established himself as cinema’s most distinguishable spy figure. Since he first seemed in Doctor No in 1962, there have been over two dozen movies about the British secret agent famous for his love of women, drink, and cars.
The film Casino Royale introduced Daniel Craig as an upgraded version of James Bond. This happens early in his career when he is assigned a task to take down a villain known as Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). He becomes romantically involved with another agent, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green).
The movie was praised for depicting a more vulnerable version of Bond and its emotional height. Bond is still stylish when the moment calls for it, but in Craig’s hands, he’s even more so than before.
6. Argo (2012)
Director: Ben Affleck
Where to watch: Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple Tv +, Apple Tv
Based on a true story, the 2013 Best Picture winner stars Ben Affleck as a CIA agent led by Tony Mendez who rescues six US embassy employees on the streets of Iran during a 1972 uprising by Tehran revolutionaries. During the seizure of a US embassy in Iran, six American diplomats escaped and found refuge with the Canadian ambassador.
To save them, CIA officer Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) fabricates a cover story in which the diplomats act as if they are a film crew exploring locations for a new movie.
With a sterling cast and Chris Terrio’s sharp script, Affleck uses the entire movie to establish a set that viewers may be interested in. In the film’s final act, he brings a set piece that intellectually moves the audience to experience the excitement of covert ops, making for a sensitive, cathartic story about the hard-won heroism of a covert operation.
5. Red Sparrow (2018)
Director: Francis Lawrence
Where to watch: Vudu, Prime Video, Apple Tv
Red Sparrow is a stunning spying film with a big studio budget and a genuine movie star cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, and the brilliant Charlotte Rampling. But don’t expect an adventurous thriller through the action-packed life of a superspy; Red Sparrow is a darker, more serious film that takes on a character drama about live sexual abuse.
Lawrence stars as Dominika Egorova, a prima ballerina who is blackmailed into spycraft after a planned accident leaves her unable to dance. A consequent attack leads her to witness an undercover crime.
She was forced to train at ‘Sparrow School, where she was trained as a young woman to use sexual and psychological skills to influence and blackmail men. Dominika becomes a seductive agent of the state, but when assigned to target a CIA agent, she tries to escape.
Red Sparrow didn’t quite make it to theaters, but the extraordinary story and technical style point to a movie that will hold up well beyond the lens of time.
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Where to watch: Vudu, Prime Video, Apple Tv
Kingsman is a shock-created movie of the spy genre. It’s the kind of bold film that can only happen when a genre as firmly entrenched in cultural ethics as the spy movie does.
Eggsy Unwin (Taron Edgerton) is a troubled young man who seems destined for a difficult life. Eggsy is employed to join the Secret Service to battle the insane Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). But one day, she comes across secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and discovers his late father worked for a spy agency.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is a stylish, tasteful, violent spy comedy that became an unanticipated smash hit. It engages familiar spy figures and makes fun of them through its exotic tone and quirky characters. The movie’s success returned with the original cast in the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
3. Munich (2005)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Where to watch: Vudu, Prime Video, Apple Tv
On the surface, Steven Spielberg’s Munich follows the aftermath of Black September, a terrorist attack on the 1972 Olympics that killed 11 Israelis. Beyond the cover story, the Best Picture-nominated film falls deeper to analyze relative truths, communication failures, and the costs of pursuing an unwinnable, endless war.
Munich follows a group of spies and assassins who come together to avenge the deaths of their fellow citizens. This film is based on a non-fictional story, the film is, at best, an estimate of history, but Spielberg wanted to convey profound truths with a cinematic style in telling a partially dramatized version of the story.
As the team removes criminals one by one, they are successively swapped, again and again, each death only opening the way for new, more threatening terrorists, each violence only returning with more casualties.
The film explores the complexities of intelligence – in the unique perspective of teamwork – but Munich is a story of compassion and the thirst for revenge.
The film stars Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, and Ciaran Hinds; apart from offering some genuinely thrilling and exciting moments, it also takes time to ask tough questions about the morality of the agents’ mission.
2. Mission Impossible (1996)
Director: Brian De Palma
Where to watch: Netflix
The three most recent Mission: Impossible films may stand as the best action and spy films of all time, but the original set the feel and pattern of the movie that would follow it. This is where Tom Cruise made his debut as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, a role he has played for over 20 years.
Its main achievement is its hair-raising heist scene, which constantly raises the risk of the agents being caught. This creates one of the most famous scenes in movie history: Ethan Hunt hanging dangerously from the pressure-sensitive floor of a safe room.
1. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Where to watch: Vudu, Netflix, Prime Video, Apple Tv
Kathryn Bigelow delivers a masterful, understated spy drama with Zero Dark Thirty. Dreadful but gorgeous (big up on Greg Fraser’s breathtaking cinematography), the film narrates the CIA’s extensive search for Osama bin Laden and its contribution to the obsessive operatives behind the mission.
Jessica Chastain’s stunning lead performance as Maya, the lone agent tasked with supervising an impossible murder, deserved her a well-deserved Best Actress nomination and an immediate shot at stardom.
But Zero Dark Thirty is the farthest thing from a Hollywood spy thriller. It’s about doing a dirty job and the survivalism of torture, sleepless nights, self-doubt, and all.
It’s all about the mission when there’s a cost. Bigelow and Chastain portray that value in Maya’s face, which seems ready to crumble at any moment, just by her determination, even in moments of triumph.