Best of the Decade: Ten Must-Watch Thrillers

We’re still continuing our review of the last ten years in movies, and while Gordon and Mat have already shared their personal picks for the best of the 2010s, here we’re looking at selections of films from a specific genre. We’ve already told you about ten horror hidden gems and ten unmissable action movies, so for this feature we pulled ten thrillers from the MovieViews database that are well worth your time.

If you’re interested in a more detailed opinion on two films from our selection, why not take a look at Gordon’s full reviews of Ex Machina and Nightcrawler?

Movie	Year	Comments	Reviewer
Blade Runner 2049	2017	Looks, sounds and more importantly feels like a Blade Runner movie. After Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve is the new master of thoughtful sci-fi. I can't wait to see if he can make the hattrick.	Gordon
Ex Machina	2015	One of the most stylish films of the year. Ex Machina delivers an interesting and intriguing take on not only the moral and ethical questions of artificial consciousness, but also on the power of information in the Google age.	Gordon
Icarus	2017	A fascinating documentary of two halves. Starting as an expose into beating drug tests in cycling, it ends up a thriller about the Russian state sponsored doping regime.	Gordon
Joker	2019	An origin story with a first half was so dark it won't be for everyone, Phoenix puts in arguably the all time best performance of Joker and from the moment he comes out of his shell the film is mesmeric.	Gordon
Money Monster	2016	A film I knew nothing about turns out to be one of the best thrillers of recent years. Nail-bitingly tense from start to finish with great twists and brilliant performances from the whole cast. Only the rather predictable ending lets it down a little.	Mat
No Escape	2015	Owen Wilson steps out of his comedic comfort zone and does a convincing job in a gritty, gripping thriller that is genuinely edge of the seat stuff for the most part.	Mat
The Gift	2015	You have to wonder what's going on in Joel Egerton's mind, casting himself as a creepy weirdo in his own film, but his performance is great in an unnerving thriller that has a great twist at the end.	Mat
The Wave	2015	Some fantastic Norwegian scenery is destroyed in impressive fashion in this dramatic disaster movie, which works well by focusing the story on one family and features decent production values considering the budget.	Mat
Unthinkable	2010	Gripping, yet hard to watch due to the torture scenes, this thriller features brilliant performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Sheen and may prompt interesting discussions about where your moral compass points.	Mat