Thrillers often take on a new level of meaning when they are based on real life, and their stories can be even more exciting. While it’s not too uncommon to see horror movies orcrime movies based on real life, there are surprisingly few which can deliver the kind of ecstatic entertainment of a true thriller. Any movie based on a true story invariably has to balance its dedication to the truth with its dedication to entertaining its audience. Not many movies succeed in both areas.
A good thriller needs to keep up the excitement throughout, and it should always have a dynamite ending. Real life rarely works out so neatly. The best thrillers based on true stories have taken stories from unusually intense settings, like bank robberies, clandestine military operations and serial murder investigations. Real life can offer cinematic thrills if the filmmakers know where to look.
10 Thriller Movies That Are Nearly Perfect
These great thriller movies are almost perfect but mishandled some things concerning their style or themes that keeps them from true greatness.
Zodiacis one ofDavid Fincher’s best movies, and it may represent the peak of his artistic examination of criminal pathology. He creates a tense atmosphere in a beautifully constructed vision of 1960s and 1970s San Francisco, as a newspaper cartoonist becomes obsessed with the case of the Zodiac killer.Zodiacis unlike most other crime movies, because the focus isn’t on the victims, the killer, or even the police really.It shows how mysteries can take hold of the public imagination, and how paranoia and fear are linked to morbid curiosity.
Zodiacrecreates some of the murders with a keen attention to detail, but most of the story follows Robert Graysmith’s prevailing theory that the killer was a man named Arthur Leigh Allen.Zodiacfollows Graysmith over the years as he becomes more obsessed by the case, and he ultimately puts himself in physical danger just to get an answer.Like the real-life case,Zodiacprovides no definitive answers, ensuring that the audience is left just as frustrated and intrigued.
Bonnie and Clyderepresented a big shift in American filmmaking, and it has since been recognized as a catalyst for the New Hollywood era. Audiences weren’t accustomed to seeing such graphic depictions of sex and violence at the time.Over 50 years later, the death scene is still a shocking sight.Bonnie and Clydeis also noteworthy for the sympathetic and nuanced way that it presents its criminal characters.
Bonnie and Clydesimplifies some details of the true story of the Barrow gang, and its depiction of some key law enforcement individuals strays far from reality. The movie uses the story of two famous outlaws from the 1930s to reimagine the gangster films of the era. It’s very much a Hollywood fabrication, and a gloriously entertaining one at that, but the broad strokes of Bonnie and Clyde’s ill-fated crime spree are true.
Tom Hanks is on top form inCaptain Phillips,a nautical thriller based on a hostage situation which took place off the coast of Somalia in 2009.The other standout actor is Barkhad Abdi, who earned a string of award nominations for his film debut as the leader of the Somali pirates. Paul Greengrass' shaky handheld camera movements and close-ups create an almost oppressively intense atmosphere, as the cargo ship acts like a pressure cooker.
Captain Richard Phillips himself has praised the accuracy of the moviebased on his own experiences, but some other members of the crew have criticized his portrayal. There have been some dissenting voices that have suggested that Phillips, along with the shipping company, didn’t protect their crew as best as they could, knowing that pirates were active in the area. The movie doesn’t explore this angle, as it’s more concerned with the frantic tension of the hostage situation.
There are plenty of fascinating stories that could be told about the Watergate scandal, andAll the President’s Menfocuses on the two Washington Post reporters who broke the news.Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman make a compelling duoas Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, following the money all the way to the White House.All the President’s Menis aclassic political thriller, and worthy of its subject.
All the President’s Menhas been cited as one of the most historically accurate movies ever made. It helps that there were just four years separating the actual scandal from the movie, and there were countless documents, photographs and audio recordings for the filmmakers to pore over. The attention to detail was so precise that the studio bought the exact same kinds of desks that were used in the Washington Post’s offices, and they were painted with the same brand of paint.
Zero Dark Thirtymixes political drama with hair-raising action, as it tracks the international manhunt of Osama bin Laden over the years. Jessica Chastain stars as a CIA analyst who heads the manhunt, placing herself in danger as she gets closer and closer to uncovering the truth. It’s a riveting thriller, and a superb display of Kathryn Bigelow’s mastery of show-stopping action.Zero Dark Thirtywas popular with both critics and audiences.
Zero Dark Thirtyoften plays fast and loose with the truth. It imagines certain details which remain highly-classified government secrets, and it invents or combines some key characters to streamline the narrative. Jessica Chastain’s analyst, for example, is a composite of many different people involved in the manhunt.Zero Dark Thirtyhandles some extremely sensitive political topics, like the use of torture and America’s military activities overseas.It’s been the topic of heated political debate ever since its release.
Movies about serial killers often take some inspiration from real-life murderers, like inPsychoandThe Silence of the Lambs. However, they take on a different complexion when they directly tell the story of notorious serial killers. Bong Joon-ho’sMemories of Murderdetails the investigation into South Korea’s first confirmed serial killer.The phenomenon of serial killing is much less common in South Koreathan it is in America, so the case was especially impactful.
At the time that Bong madeMemories of Murder, the culprit of the Hwaesong serial murders remained unknown.Memories of Murderends on the uneasy note that the detectives never managed to close the case.Lee Chun-jae was eventually identified as the killer in 2019,decades after his last murder.Memories of Murderrecreates some of the most disturbing details of his crimes.
Brian De Palma’s mastery of the crime genre shines through once again inThe Untouchables,a riveting drama about Eliot Ness' efforts to enforce prohibition laws and take down Al Capone. Kevin Costner stars as the conflicted Ness, and he is supported by a great cast that includes Robert De Niro chewing the scenery as Capone and Sean Connery in an Oscar-winning performance as a humble beat cop who acts as a guardian angel.
The real story behindThe Untouchablesis just as fascinating, and it’s detailed in Ness' book of the same name. Ness had a taste for the spotlight, aiming to present himself as a hero cop cleaning the streets. Capone was also a prominent face in the media, so their battle played out all over the tabloids. David Mamet’s script adds a few dramatic flourishes to the tale, but the bloodshed and the spectacle are all taken straight from history.
The Fugitiveis one ofHarrison Ford’s best movies, as he stars in a cross-country game of cat-and-mouse with Tommy Lee Jones. Ford plays a heart surgeon falsely convicted of his wife’s murder, while Jones is the no-nonsense US Marshal hunting him down after he escapes from custody.It’s a non-stop thrill ride with shades of Alfred Hitchcockand an element of mystery that gives the action another dimension.
The Fugitiveis based on a TV show from the 1960s, but this show initially took inspiration from the real-life case of Sam Sheppard, an osteopath accused of murdering his wife in the 1950s. The trial turned into a national media circus, and Sheppard was convicted before being acquitted by the Supreme Court many years later.The Fugitivetakes this starting point and spins an original story from it that imagines what might have happened if Sheppard had escaped.It’s a very loose connection, but a vital one nevertheless.
The term “caper” is often used to describe some lighthearted scheme on-screen, butArgo’s depiction of the Canadian Caper trades in nerve-shredding tension instead. Ben Affleck delivers his finest directorial effort yet, and he also stars as the CIA Officer who puts his life on the line to rescue six American fugitives from Iran after the embassy was raided.The airport sequence is excruciatingly nervy, and it delivers on the anxiety that builds throughout Argo.
The idea that the Americans could be extracted from Iran by pretending to be filmmakers scouting locations for aStar Wars-style sci-fi movie is almost laughable, but this is exactly how the operation took place.Argohas been accused of a few historical inaccuracies, such as downplaying the role of Canadian intelligence in favor of building up the role of the CIA.Despite a few factual flaws,Argois still a masterful thriller.
Al Pacino was initially reluctant to star inDog Day Afternoonafter filmingThe Godfather Part II.Rather than dropping out,he channeled his exhaustion into one of his greatest performances. He plays Sonny, a man who plans a simple in-and-out robbery of a New York City bank. Before too long, the heist attracts hundreds of police officers and a media circus. There aren’t manyheist movies based on real life, butDog Day Afternoonis an exception to that rule.
Although Sidney Lumet gradually ratchets up the tension,Dog Day Afternoonstarts out as a comedy. In the first half, Pacino’s ball of nervous energy is hilarious to watch, as he slides around the bank trying desperately to turn the tide of fate. It’s only when the laughs gradually die out that the real danger ofDog Day Afternoonstarts to sink in. This is when the movie reminds its audience that the events depicted genuinely took place in Brooklyn in 1972, and real lives were under threat.
