There can never be too many thrillers in Hollywood. The industry has more than one way to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. For decades, staples like The Silence of the Lambs, Fargo, and Pulp Fiction have differed in style, but they all deliver that same adrenaline rush in theaters.
Over time, the thriller genre has evolved to reflect the anxieties of modern society. Each decade introduces new fears and pressures, which often translate into high-stakes situations that test the human psyche. With that in mind, here are the 10 best thriller movies of the last 20 years, ranked.
1
‘The Raid: Redemption’ (2011)
Iko Uwais as Rama in The Raid RedemptionImage via PT Merantau Films
The Raid: Redemption follows Rama (Iko Uwais), a rookie officer part of an elite police squad tasked with raiding a high-rise apartment block controlled by crime lord Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy). Inside, criminals rule every floor, forcing residents to obey for survival. When their cover is blown, the team becomes trapped, fighting through waves of armed attacks to reach the top.
There is something claustrophobic about fighting in enclosed buildings. The moment the squad enters those doors, there’s no way out. Within tight corridor spaces, machete-wielding brutes can jump on you at any second. There is no grace in fighting, just the urgency to fend off as many attackers as possible, with adversaries literally coming from all four directions.
2
‘Shutter Island’ (2010)
Michelle Williams turning around in Shutter IslandImage via Paramount
Shutter Islandstarts with U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) investigating a patient’s disappearance from Achecliffe Hospital. Drawn there for personal reasons, he suspects the doctors are hiding sinister practices. Denied key records, Teddy presses on as a hurricane isolates the island. With dangerous inmates loose and clues mounting, he begins to question his memory and sanity.
The isolation of being confined to a mental facility on a stormy island does things to the mind. When someone’s head is in a daze, it’s hard to differentiate what’s real and what isn’t. Hence, the psychological aspect of Shutter Island. As the claustrophobia kicks in and Teddy’s senses are tested, a series of frightening hallucinations begins to taunt him.
3
‘No Other Choice’ (2025)
Yeom Hye ran holding a weapon in disbelief in ‘No Other Choice’Image via Neon
Unemployment makes people do the craziest things in No Other Choice. Veteran papermaker Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) loses his job when his company is taken over. He struggles for over a year to find work in the industry while his family faces growing financial strain. When he spots an opening at a rival company, he does everything to eliminate the other candidates and secure his future.
South Korea is best known for critiquing class anxiety, and No Other Choice — despite the absurdity of Man-su’s actions — reflects just that. As realistic as thrillers go, nothing is more relatable than the fear of being laid off after years of dedication. And when viewers are at Man-su’s age, that anxiety only intensifies.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
4
‘The Secret Agent’ (2025)
Image via Vitrine Filmes
The Secret Agent is set in 1977 Recife, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, where former researcher Armando (Wagner Moura) arrives during Carnival under a false identity, secretly reconnecting with his young son and a network of political dissidents. Living among refugees and underground activists, he becomes caught up in surveillance, corruption, and escalating threats.
While this sounds like fiction, there are unfortunately real threats faced by those who speak out against capitalist corporations. These dangers still exist today. The real horror comes from the idea that people in the highest socioeconomic positions can view the working class as insects they can easily dispose of.
5
‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
In the aftermath of Batman Begins, Batman (Christian Bale) partners up with Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to take down an elusive mob accountant. However, when the three hit a dent in their investigation, they have no choice but to turn to the Joker (Heath Ledger). Little do they realize, the green-haired menace has plans to take over Gotham.
The real highlight of The Dark Knight is every interaction between Batman and the Joker. It’s not even the fight scenes, but the moments inside the Gotham City Police Department that bring the most adrenaline. As Batman nearly breaks him physically, the Joker sits back, clearly enjoying the fact that he’s winning the battle where it matters most — inside Batman’s head.
6
‘Gone Girl’ (2014)
Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) in a scene from ‘Gone Girl.’Image via 20th Century Studios
Gone Girl is an extreme case of a marriage gone wrong. Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returns home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing days before their anniversary. As media scrutiny intensifies, his seemingly perfect marriage dissolves in the public eye. Under growing suspicion, Nick becomes the main suspect of the investigation, not realizing that Amy has orchestrated the entire ordeal.
No backstabbing is worse than character assassination. Sometimes, being dead feels like a better option — at least the buried don’t have to listen to the opinions of others. But Nick is put through the wringer when he is falsely accused of being abusive. Sometimes, the best weapon isn’t murder — it’s word of mouth.
7
‘Inception’ (2010)
Leonardo DiCaprio looking up in InceptionImage via Warner Bros.
The surreal thriller Inception follows Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), a master thief specializing in extracting secrets from dreams. Offered the chance to reclaim his life, Dom is willing to take one last job. Instead of stealing information, this time, he must perform inception — planting an idea within a target’s subconscious.
There are virtually no limits in Inception. Entering the dreamscape feels like a surreal ride, and the film captures this through its large-than-life landscapes. From a zero-gravity hallway fight that spins endlessly to a dream world where an entire city block explodes piece by piece, it proves that thrillers can be just as visually stunning as they are heart-pumping.
8
‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
No Country for Old Men – 2007 – Javier Bardem looking scaryImage via Miramax Films
The chaos in No Country for Old Men begins when ordinary welder Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers drug deal carnage and takes two million dollars. Meanwhile, a psychopathic killer named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) hunts him down, murdering anyone in his path. As Moss tries to hide his tracks by going high and low in Texas, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell gets to the bottom of the case (Tommy Lee Jones).
The thrill in No Country for Old Men comes from just how eerily still the movie moves. There’s no explosive buildup. Instead, it throws viewers off by putting together the most ordinary of scenarios that, within a second, become a deadly affair. Case in point: Chigurh’s polite conversation at the gas station turns into a life-or-death coin toss situation.
9
‘Parasite’ (2019)
Image via Neon
Parasite follows the struggling Kim family, who live in a cramped semi-basement and fold pizza boxes for scrappy pay. When Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) lands a tutoring job he is clearly unqualified for, he gains access to the wealthy Park family. Slowly, he brings each family member into the household under fake identities as they infiltrate this world of privilege.
Parasitechallenges audiences to rethink their views on social class. At first, the film seems to “villainize” the Kims for lying their way into a wealthy household. However, it also reveals that they are victims of an unequal capitalist system. While they may be difficult to fully empathize with, their actions reflect a harsh reality where “faking it until you make it” becomes their only way out of poverty.
10
‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)
Adam Sandler wearing glasses and grinning in a somewhat maniacal way in close-upImage via A24
Uncut Gems kicks off with jeweler Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) buried in debt and addiction. Instead of putting a pause on his gambles, he’s constantly high on the next big win. When he acquires a rare Ethiopian opal, he stakes everything on a high-risk plan involving an NBA player’s performance.
Before Uncut Gems, Sandler was known as Hollywood’s quintessential funny man — which is why seeing him play a menace is both shocking and refreshing. The film doesn’t hold your hand. Viewers are thrown straight into high-anxiety situations where people are constantly in each other’s faces, and it always feels like someone could pull a gun at any second.
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