Movies from the 2000s are now entering the age at which they can reasonably be considered classics.
This year 2005 releases are hitting the twenty-year mark and, inexplicably, 2000 releases are going to hit a quarter century.
This was a decade filled with experiments and innovation as cinema desperately searched for a post-1990s identity.
That search led to some mind-bogglingly bad films. However, it also led to some absolute gems that will be revered by movie lovers for decades to come.
Here are the ten best thrillers from the 2000s.
Children of Men
Children of Men is a movie that I think would benefit from having its own publicist. I am shocked at how good this film is every time I watch it but I am also shocked that we don’t talk about it way more.
It has a premise that is so deviously simple and intriguing that one could forgive the filmmakers for phoning in the execution to let the premise do the heavy lifting like The Purge.
Children of Men takes place in a dystopian world where human beings can no longer get pregnant. The youngest person in the world is a teenager who is celebrated as a celebrity.
Clive Owen gives an incredible performance as he risks his life to protect a young lady who is the first one to get pregnant in almost two decades.
It is a devastating look at how horrible humans can be—even in the face of our own demise.
Mystic River
Mystic River has one foot firmly in the nineties while also embracing its role in new-millennium cinema.
On the surface, it has all the grit and darkness of nineties thrillers while also utilizing modern cinematography and exploring human themes at a much deeper level.
This film takes great pains to teach us things about survivor’s guilt, trauma, abuse, parenthood, friendship, and the heartbreaking concept of growing apart from people you once loved.
Three friends are permanently linked via an unspeakable tragedy one of them suffered as a child. They are brought together again when another of them suffers something equally horrible as adults.
Anybody caught in the middle of a feud between friends or family members can relate to the third friend.
Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, and Sean Penn give masterful performances in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Memento
This is another 2000s thriller reluctant to let go of the 90’s. Trippy storylines and confusion give way to sadness and awe as this time jumper unfurls.
Memento uses non-linear storytelling, as well as, unforeseen twists as good as any movie, this decade or otherwise. Guy Pearce and Joe Pantoliano deserve immense props for anchoring this film to the ground.
In the hands of another director and cast, it’s easy to see how this could have gone off the rails.
What makes Memento so great is how it uses our expectations from nineties thrillers and subverts them.
Taken
From the trippiest film on the list to perhaps the most straightforward, Taken needs to be studied by film scholars the world over. On its surface it is a basic story of a father trying to rescue his daughter from a foreign kidnapper.
The power and influence this film exerted in action thrillers is insane. This is probably due, in no small part, to memorable quotes such as “I have a particular set of skills” and “I will find you and I will kill you.”
However, it goes far beyond that. One could argue that Taken has also contributed to a nationwide paranoia around international travel. This movie also launched an almost twenty-year run of Liam Neeson as a bankable action star.
Taken is immensely rewatchable and enjoyable.
The Prestige
Christopher Nolan has gone on to insane heights since the 2000s. However, he always could tell unique stories and reveal twists.
The Prestige is less confusing (and mind-blowing) than Memento but I think it was a pivotal moment in Nolan’s career as he seemed to have perfected the style he found in Batman Begins.
The Prestige uses ego, show business, love, and the Icarian pursuit of greatness to force us to examine how much we would be willing to sacrifice for success, while also taking us on a thrilling adventure.
This is a chess match playing out between two rival magicians that doesn’t let you take a breath until the credits have finished rolling.
Gone Baby Gone
The journey that began with Memento and Mystic River in the first half of this decade was completed by Gone Baby Gone in 2007.
This movie is the epitome of a 2000s thriller because in synopsis alone it could be a 1990s thriller. However, it is very much a 2000s one.
Part of that is acting, part is the skillful directing of Ben Affleck in his debut, but what makes it stand apart the most is the brightness. The subject matter is dark, but this movie is well-lit and produced almost to the point one could call it polished, or even over-produced.
However, it is still brilliant and still a fun, thrilling adventure that tackles the inner struggle over doing the right thing when the right thing is not that obvious.
Phone Booth
There isn’t a lot of profound commentary to make about Phone Booth. A man is stuck in a literal glass phone booth on the phone with a sniper who won’t let him leave.
The claustrophobia and tension in the film produce a physical reaction in the viewer.
Kiefer Sutherland gives an amazing performance with only his voice on the other end of a telephone. Colin Farrell is also brilliant as the man trapped inside the phone booth with seemingly no recourse.
While now it’s so commonplace, appearing in films as big as the MCU, Phone Booth is one of the earliest movies I can recall that features an antagonist who believes they are actually doing something good by making the main character pay for prior sins.
28 Days Later
While on the surface, this is a zombie-centric horror thriller. But what separates it from the pack of other horror thrillers is how effectively it shows us that no matter what external circumstances are going on in the world, mankind will always find a way to be worse.
28 Days Later is as uncomfortable a zombie film as there is. It's fast-paced, yet idyllic; it’s grounded, yet huge.
Seeing the apocalypse play out through the eyes of the “every man” allows the viewer to put themselves in his shoes.
While its sequel is pretty good, the original is a staple text in the canon of films about how the apocalypse is really just about how quick we are to turn on one another and how the only way to save ourselves is to resist those baser instincts to do so.
Inside Man
While I don’t want to say Spike Lee left his comfort zone to make Inside Man, because he can do anything, I think it is safe to say he left the comfort zone of his fans.
It was an extra risk considering he had just done this four years earlier with The 25th Hour. He also absolutely nailed both.
Inside Man is a heist movie that expertly handles all the tropes while escalating it far beyond a story about good guys trying to stop bad guys from stealing stuff.
Everything about this movie works and works together.
A History of Violence
A History of Violence is one movie til a certain point and then it fills and becomes another entirely. We follow a close-knit, loving family as the husband, played deftly by Viggo Mortensen, and his wife, Maria Bello, navigate parenthood, intimacy, and careers.
Then suddenly, after being thrust into an insane situation we learn that Viggo’s character is not who we (and more importantly) his family believe he is.
The second half of this movie is basically small-town John Wick—and it never gets old.
Featured still from “Inside Man” via Universal Pictures
