The 2010s were a great decade for thrillers, with several outstanding movies that shook up the genre and became instant classics. Directors like David Fincher and Martin Scorsese returned to the genre to make some of their best movies yet, but there were also plenty of brilliant movies by emerging talents.
This new crop of filmmakers helped shape the thriller genre’s miniature boom in the 2010s. Movies likeBlack SwanandNightcrawlerbrought new ideas to the psychological thriller genre and tried out new structures and techniques. The current state of thrillers wouldn’t be the same without these groundbreaking movies.
Black Swanfollows a ballerina as she gets the role of her lifetime, but the mental strain of preparation starts to play tricks on her mind.Darren Aronofsky enhances this effect with a few tricks of his own, placing the audience inside Nina’s increasingly frantic mind until it’s unclear what’s supposed to be real and what’s merely imagined.
It takes a while to catch one’s breath after the dramatic final flourish.
Natalie Portman delivers a powerhouse performance inBlack Swan.She keeps the emotional aspect of the drama in focus as the mind games get more complex and more sinister.Black Swan’s endingensures that it leaves a lasting impression, but it takes a while to catch one’s breath after the dramatic final flourish.
Adam Sandler’s performance inUncut Gemswas widely praised when the film came out, with people remarking on the comedian’s dramatic prowess. In truth, his performance is just as funny as most of his other movies, but in a much darker, more mature way. Howie is a tragic figure, butthe line between tragedy and comedy is awfully thin inUncut Gems.
Aside from Sandler’s performance,Uncut Gemssets itself apart from the competition with its breakneck pace and suffocating atmosphere. It’s a movie that often feels claustrophobic, as Howie’s gambling debts cause his world to fold in on itself, and he steadfastly refuses to change. Theending ofUncut Gemsprovides some closure, but not much catharsis.
There’s a scene inParasitein which the working-class Kim family enjoy the Park’s family’s luxurious home as if they own it. They cheer and laugh as the mother relives her athletic glory days by winding up and executing a hammer toss out of the frame and into parts unknown. This highlights the dark humor of Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winner, but it also hints at the danger lurking beneath the surface.
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Thrillers have captivated audiences since the early days of Hollywood. While some titles are mainstream, there are many hidden gems in the genre.
Parasiteonce again demonstrates Bong’s mastery of genre, flicking from an intoxicating social satire to a volatile crime thriller in an instant. Still, it doesn’t lose its pace or its vitality for a moment. One reason this works so well is that the context of the comedy enhances the more dramatic moments, and vice versa. This leaves audiences to chew over themeaning ofParasitefor a long time after the credits roll.
BeforeGet Out,Jordan Peele was primarily known as a sketch comedian, so the fact that he created an outstanding horror movie came as a shock. Peele himself has spoken openly about the similarities between comedy and horror, suggesting that both genres are predicated on surprising the audience, and there are undoubtedly some funny moments inGet Out.
For all its dark humor,Get Outbecomes claustrophobic and unnerving at the right time. After a stunning twist and some ambitious visuals that one might not expect from a first-time director,Get Outdraws toward a terrifying finale that wipes the smiles from its audience’s faces.
Many ofDavid Fincher’s best moviesare thrillers or other crime movies, andGone Girlis no different. It’s a domestic thriller about a wife who plots her disappearance as part of an elaborate scheme to frame her husband for murder, with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike both giving great performances.
There are shades of Alfred Hitchcock toGone Girl,not just with the aesthetic similarities, like the blonde bombshell and the everyman protagonist. It’s a movie full of unpredictable twists, and a story that revolves around moral choices which manifest in bursts of shocking action. The strange ending is intentionally anticlimactic, as life goes on for both the criminal and the victim.
Denis Villeneuve has made a few brilliant thrillers in his career.Prisonersis just one example, showcasing Villeneuve’s willingness to subvert genre conventions to arrive at something unique and surprising. The set-up is simple enough, as two fathers take matters into their own hands when a police investigation into their missing children fails to bear fruit. From this starting point,Prisonerstakes several unpredictable turns.
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Thrillers have continued to captivate audiences since Hollywood’s early days. Some films of this nature feature plot twists that nobody saw coming.
Through some viscerally upsetting scenes of intimidation and torture,Prisonersposes some uncomfortable questions to its audience. It asks where the line should be drawn on detectives trying to extract information from a subject to save a child’s life, and it probes at the facets of true justice that law enforcement is unequipped to handle.Prisonersdoesn’t dictate the answers to any of these questions, leaving them open to interpretation.
Ben Affleck’s heist thrillerThe Townadheres to many of the tried and true conventions of the genre, butit also has a lot to distinguish itself from the competition.Of course, the main hook is the relationship between the gang’s mastermind and the only witness who can put him behind bars, but there’s as much tension within the gang as there is from outside sources.
Jeremy Renner turns in one of his most compelling performances as the gang’s most volatile member, constantly rubbing against his associates thanks to his warped ideas of loyalty. There’s a message about inequality and underserved communities inThe Town,but its intelligent commentary never overshadows the film’s kinetic action scenes.
Ryan Gosling plays a more subdued, thoughtful character than usual inDrive, and he serves as a steady center to Nicolas Winding Refn’s anxiety-inducing crime thriller. He plays a Hollywood stunt driver who makes some extra money on the side as a getaway driver for the city’s most ambitious bank robbers.
Driveis stunningly beautiful, thanks to Refn’s unorthodox shot compositions, which often frame his subjects in opposite corners to emphasize the emotional distance between the two sides of the driver’s life. The driving scenes are even more breathtaking, using ambient noise and moments of disturbing silence to ratchet up the tension.
Nightcrawleris a dark journey into the world of freelance film journalism, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as an unhinged grifter who discovers a lucrative income filming the aftermath of accidents and crimes in Los Angeles. Gyllenhaal is often at his best when his characters are eccentric and hard to relate to, but he still brings plenty of nuance and grit to his performance.
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The best thrillers sink their hooks into the viewer and don’t let go until they end, making for an unforgettably harrowing experience all the while.
Nightcrawler’s villain protagonist keeps the narrative unpredictable, and it also brings the audience uncomfortably close to the mind of a sociopath. Lou is shown trying to turn the charm on when he interacts with people who might help him, but nothing hides his true malice. The dark streets of Los Angeles prove to be the perfect setting for an unsettling story of greed and individualism.
Shutter Islandis a slightly unusual offering from Martin Scorsese, but it once again proves his range and his penchant for surprising his audience. It’s a psychological thriller about a detective who visits an isolated mental health facility to solve the case of a missing patient, and to describe it in much more detail would be to spoil the film’s twisty narrative.
Shutter Islanddeepens its intrigue with every step.
Scorsese does enough in the early stages ofShutter Islandto sow the seeds of mystery, and the air of uncertainty lingers throughout. With a captivating performance from Leonardo DiCaprio,Shutter Islanddeepens its intrigue with every step.Shutter Island’s endingis the kind that can leave audiences floored, and it set up a fascinating rewatch.
