Best of the decade
The Best Thriller Movies of the 2010s
Thriller movies from the 2010s, ranked by audience score and the weight of the vote behind it.
NetflixMovies.com
Thrillers in the 2010s borrowed freely from other forms, and the decade's strongest are only loosely related to one another. Tension comes from a chase in one film and from a conversation in another. Some of these are crime stories, some are mysteries, and one is a musical. What holds the attention is the same in each case, a director with a firm grip on pace and a cast that can hold a scene without raising its voice.
The order rests on audience score, with extra weight given to the films that thousands of people have rated, so a small devoted following cannot lift a title above a wide audience. Feature length only, and a film needed several hundred votes to qualify.
Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair gives Uma Thurman the role of the Bride, a former assassin shot at her wedding rehearsal who wakes from a coma four years later with revenge on her mind. Lucy Liu and Vivica A. Fox are alongside her.
A chorus girl named Christine Daaé steps in for a soprano who walks out, and the Phantom beneath the opera house has secretly trained her voice. That is the setup for The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, a musical directed by Nick Morris, with Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser.
Joker brings Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix together over Arthur Fleck, a party clown in Gotham City with ambitions as a comedian and laughing fits he cannot control. Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz are in support.
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1. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2011)
4h 14m • Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 8.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 100%
- Our score 4.7/5
A former assassin called the Bride is shot at her wedding rehearsal by Bill and the Deadly Vipers. She wakes from a coma four years later and vows revenge.
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2. The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
2h 40m • Drama, Music, Musical, Romance, Thriller
- IMDb 8.8/10
- Our score 4.4/5
Paris, 1881. Chorus girl Christine Daaé takes the stage at the Opéra Populaire after its soprano walks out. The Phantom, who lives beneath the opera house, has secretly trained her voice.
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3. Joker (2019)
2h 2m • Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 8.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.8/5
In 1981 Gotham City, party clown and aspiring comedian Arthur Fleck has uncontrollable laughing fits. After he kills three men on a subway, protesters wear clown masks in his image.
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4. Shutter Island (2010)
2h 18m • Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.8/5
U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule cross to Shutter Island to investigate a patient's disappearance from its hospital for the criminally insane. Daniels has his own reason for the trip.
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5. Prisoners (2013)
2h 33m • Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 81%
- Our score 4.1/5
Keller Dover's daughter Anna and Joy Birch vanish at Thanksgiving. Detective Loki arrests Alex Jones, but the evidence is weak, and Keller loses faith in the search.
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6. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
2h • Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 97%
- Our score 4.5/5
In a desert wasteland, Max Rockatansky is captured by Immortan Joe's War Boys and used as a blood donor. Imperator Furiosa drives a war rig off course, taking Joe's five wives.
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7. Gone Girl (2014)
2h 29m • Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.2/5
On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne comes home to a shattered table and no sign of his wife, Amy. The police and the media turn their attention to him.
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8. Room (2015)
1h 58m • Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 93%
- Our score 4.4/5
Jack, five, lives in a shed he calls Room with his mother, Joy Newsome. A man they call Old Nick keeps them there. Jack believes only Room is real.
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9. Black Swan (2010)
1h 48m • Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 8.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 85%
- Our score 4.1/5
Nina Sayers dances with a New York City ballet company staging Swan Lake. She wants the lead, but artistic director Thomas Leroy doubts she can play the black swan; newcomer Lily can.
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10. The Imitation Game (2014)
1h 54m • Biography, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 8.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 90%
- Our score 4.3/5
In 1939, Alan Turing joins Britain's code-breakers at Bletchley Park and builds a machine to crack the German Enigma cipher. Commander Denniston refuses funding, and the code resets nightly.
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11. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
2h 44m • Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 8.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.2/5
K, a replicant blade runner, retires rogue models. A buried box proves replicants could reproduce, and his search for the child leads him to Rick Deckard, missing for thirty years.
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12. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)
1h 29m • Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 8.0/10
- Our score 4.0/5
In 1895, Inspector Lestrade brings Sherlock Holmes the case of Emelia Ricoletti, a consumptive bride who shot passers-by from a balcony and then herself. That evening her husband is shot dead.
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13. Knives Out (2019)
2h 10m • Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 97%
- Our score 4.4/5
Crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead in his study after his 85th birthday party. Detective Benoit Blanc is anonymously hired, and the nurse Marta Cabrera is questioned in the inquiry.
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14. Get Out (2017)
1h 44m • Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 98%
- Our score 4.4/5
Chris, a Black photographer, travels upstate with his girlfriend Rose Armitage to meet her family. Her parents are overly accommodating, and their groundskeeper and housekeeper behave oddly.
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15. Skyfall (2012)
2h 23m • Action, Adventure, Thriller
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.3/5
In Istanbul, James Bond chases the mercenary Patrice, who has escaped with a hard drive listing undercover NATO agents. A shot from Eve hits Bond, and M faces calls to step down.
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16. Nightcrawler (2014)
1h 57m • Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 95%
- Our score 4.3/5
Lou Bloom, a Los Angeles thief, becomes a nightcrawler, filming crashes and crime scenes to sell to TV news. He buys a camcorder and a scanner and hires Rick as his assistant.
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17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
2h 38m • Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 86%
- Our score 4.1/5
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate Harriet Vanger's disappearance from the family's island forty years ago. Hacker Lisbeth Salander lives under a state-appointed guardian.
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18. Captain Phillips (2013)
2h 14m • Adventure, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 93%
- Our score 4.3/5
Captain Richard Phillips takes command of the unarmed Maersk Alabama for a run to Mombasa. Off Somalia, pirate skiffs give chase, and their leader, Abduwali Muse, refuses to turn back.
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19. Gravity (2013)
1h 31m • Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 96%
- Our score 4.3/5
Dr. Ryan Stone, on her first shuttle mission, works outside with veteran commander Matt Kowalski. Debris from a destroyed satellite strikes the Explorer and leaves the two stranded in orbit.
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20. Argo (2012)
2h • Biography, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 96%
- Our score 4.3/5
Militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and six Americans hide with Canada's ambassador. CIA specialist Tony Mendez proposes flying them out as a crew scouting for a science fiction movie.
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21. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
2h 27m • Action, Adventure, Thriller
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 97%
- Our score 4.4/5
The Apostles seize three plutonium cores when Ethan Hunt saves a captured teammate instead of stopping them. John Lark plans to build nuclear bombs, and a CIA agent joins the hunt.
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22. Wind River (2017)
1h 47m • Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 87%
- Our score 4.1/5
Cory Lambert, a tracker for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, finds the body of Natalie Hanson on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and FBI agent Jane Banner arrives to investigate.
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23. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
2h 42m • Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 85%
- Our score 4.0/5
Los Angeles, 1969. Fading Western TV star Rick Dalton leans on stunt double Cliff Booth while his agent pushes him toward Italian Westerns. Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski live next door.
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24. Bridge of Spies (2015)
2h 22m • Biography, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 91%
- Our score 4.2/5
Rudolf Abel is arrested in New York City in 1957 and charged with spying for the Soviet Union. Lawyer James B. Donovan is appointed to defend him.
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25. End of Watch (2012)
1h 49m • Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 85%
- Our score 4.0/5
Brian Taylor films his patrol shifts for a college class, riding with his partner Mike Zavala through South Central Los Angeles. A traffic stop puts them in the Sinaloa Cartel's path.
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26. Hell or High Water (2016)
1h 42m • Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, Western
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 97%
- Our score 4.3/5
Toby Howard recruits his brother Tanner, out of prison a year, to rob Texas Midlands branches and save the family ranch from foreclosure. Two Texas Rangers take the case.
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27. Searching (2018)
1h 42m • Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.2/5
David Kim's sixteen-year-old daughter Margot never comes home from a study group. When the police case stalls, he opens her laptop and traces her messages, videos and accounts to find her.
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28. Dark Waters (2019)
2h 7m • Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 89%
- Our score 4.1/5
Wilbur Tennant, a West Virginia farmer, asks Robert Bilott, a corporate lawyer in Cincinnati, to look into the deaths of his dairy cattle. Tennant blames DuPont.
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29. Hotel Mumbai (2018)
2h 3m • Action, Drama, History, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 76%
- Our score 3.8/5
At the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, waiter Arjun begins his shift under chef Hemant Oberoi. Guests Zahra, David, baby Cameron and nanny Sally are staying there. Terrorists attack the city.
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30. An Inspector Calls (2015)
1h 28m • Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.6/10
- Our score 3.8/5
Brumley, 1912. Inspector Goole interrupts the Birling family's dinner for Sheila's engagement. He says a young woman has taken her own life, and he asks the guests whether they knew her.
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31. John Wick (2014)
1h 41m • Action, Crime, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 86%
- Our score 4.0/5
Retired hitman John Wick mourns his wife Helen, who left him a beagle puppy, Daisy. Iosef Tarasov and his men break into his home, kill the dog and steal his 1969 Mustang.
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32. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
2h 26m • Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 90%
- Our score 4.1/5
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return to District 12 as victors of the 74th Hunger Games. President Snow demands that Katniss calm the districts her defiance has stirred.
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33. The Conjuring (2013)
1h 52m • Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 86%
- Our score 4.0/5
Roger and Carolyn Perron move into a Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971 with their five daughters. Clocks stop at 3:07, the dog will not enter, and Carolyn calls Ed and Lorraine Warren.
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34. Source Code (2011)
1h 33m • Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.2/5
Army pilot Colter Stevens wakes on a Chicago commuter train in another man's body. Captain Colleen Goodwin sends him into the eight minutes before the blast to identify the bomber.
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35. The Town (2010)
2h 5m • Crime, Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 92%
- Our score 4.2/5
Four friends from Charlestown, Boston, rob a bank and briefly take its manager, Claire Keesey, hostage. Doug MacRay gets close to her to learn what she has told the authorities.
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36. The Impossible (2012)
1h 54m • Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 82%
- Our score 3.9/5
Maria and Henry Bennett and their sons arrive in Khao Lak, Thailand, for Christmas 2004. On December 26, the Indian Ocean tsunami hits the coast and sweeps the family apart.
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37. Upgrade (2018)
1h 40m • Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 88%
- Our score 4.1/5
Grey Trace and his wife Asha visit Eron Keen, who shows them a chip named STEM. Driving home, their hacked self-driving car crashes and four men kill Asha and paralyze Grey.
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38. Disconnect (2012)
1h 55m • Drama, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 70%
- Our score 3.6/5
A reporter interviews Kyle, an underage runaway who strips in an adult video chat room. Two boys pose as a girl online, and a couple hunts the identity thief.
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39. Remember (2015)
1h 34m • Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- IMDb 7.5/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.6/5
Zev Guttman, an Auschwitz survivor with dementia, is asked by a fellow survivor to find and kill the man who murdered both their families. A letter of instructions guides his search.
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40. Limitless (2011)
1h 45m • Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
- IMDb 7.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes 68%
- Our score 3.6/5
Eddie Morra, a struggling writer, is handed a sample of NZT-48, a pill that gives him perfect recall. Money and attention follow, along with people who want the drug.
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