What comes to mind when you think of a thriller? Fast-paced chases through a bustling big city? A tense standoff in the isolated woods?
Maybe you're never more tense than when you're watching a nail-biting story unfold within someone's home.
But consider this: all of the psychological torment, ticking clocks, and desperation of all these scenarios…but in an office.
The Sunday Scaries are bad enough without having to contend with rampant conspiracies, virus outbreaks, and high-powered fixers complicating matters.
Here are eight corporate thriller movies that will make your next PowerPoint Presentation feel like a relaxing vacation.
The Social Reckoning
The Social Reckoning is in a unique position, because it’s based on a real corporation that we are all pretty familiar with. It’s also based on events that are less than a decade old.
This brings a lot of scrutiny and pressure, because involved parties are still around and active. However, it also allows the movie to assume the audience is familiar with the subject and alleviates some heavy lifting.
The result is an honest, albeit somewhat soft, look at corporate greed and wrongdoing. Classic Sorkin dialogue, brilliant acting performances, and compelling subject matter still make it a must-see for the modern age.
New Rose Hotel
Abel Ferrara is the master of grit. His 1998 corporate thriller New Rose Hotel is no different.
Ferrara blends cutthroat corporatism with espionage as two executives hire a sex worker to steal information from a rival. It’s trippy and beautiful.
At times, you will wonder what you’re watching, but at no point in time will you be tempted to look away. This is because the chemistry between Willem Defoe and Christopher Walken is captivating, as is the material they’ve been given to work with.
Boiler Room
The moral corrosiveness of greed and the stupidity of youth seldom pair well. In Boiler Room we see this on full display.
Giovanni Ribisi plays Seth Davis, who gets a job as an investment broker who will do anything to get rich and earn his father’s approval. It’s a classic Icarian tale of flying too close to the sun.
With a stacked cast of Ribisi, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel, and so many others, Boiler Room is like the greedy avengers.
The Belko Experiment
The Belko Experiment is 89 minutes of insanity.
When a bunch of employees at a remote office building in Colombia show up for work, they are confronted with a moral dilemma few could ever fathom. Kill two coworkers, or face consequences.
What follows is a harrowing look at what intense situations can do to otherwise normal people. As employees divide into factions and propose all sorts of ideas, the viewer is taken along for a very uncomfortable ride.
The Firm
Before Tom Cruise had fully become Ethan Hunt, he played a lot of characters who did cool stuff but still lived in the real world. Mitch McDeere in The Firm is one of those characters.
Cruise gets a job with a prestigious law firm and all hell breaks loose. Initially, he is forced to choose between his conscience and his job, but that choice quickly spirals into his conscience and his family’s safety.
Opposite Cruise are great performances from Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter and some other brilliant character actors.
Michael Clayton
Michael Clayton may be the ultimate corporate thriller. It features everything one could ask for in the genre.
It is anchored by an iconic performance from George Clooney as the titular Michael Clayton. Clooney’s character is a fixer for a prestigious law firm.
The movie follows him as he negotiates a high profile case with even higher stakes. The twist and turns are shocking and lead to a gratifying payoff, even if it makes you grapple with some uncomfortable ideas along the way.
The Insider
Any Mad Men fan knows the consequences for people who tried taking on big tobacco, regardless of their intentions.
The Insider uses electric performances from Russell Crowe and Al Pacino to tell the story of a research chemist who goes on 60 Minutes and takes a swing at the tobacco industry. The film earns its long run time as the ramifications of this conversation play out over almost two and a half hours.
Margin Call
Margin Call takes a harrowing look at the late 2000’s financial crisis through the eyes of a young risk management worker at an investment firm.
The film will give you whiplash not just from its thrilling storytelling, but also from its star laden cast with impressive performances at every turn. These performances include Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore and several others.
It’s the rare kind of film that is made better by the fact that you know what’s coming. Like Titanic, its thrills and compelling story are powered by impending doom.
That may be putting it mildly, as the film is as anxiety-fueled as one can be.
The corporate thriller genre is a rich one with many great films that have varied overlaps with other genres. Some are gory and violent, some horror, some dramatic, and some are a careful blend of many.
Work is a source of anxiety for so many of us, so it makes sense that it would be the perfect setting for so many thrillers.
