The thriller genre, in all its manifestations, is one of the most popular and highest quality in the US film industry. And no wonder, as contemporary filmmakers draw on the powerful legacy of classic Hollywood and the new era of filmmakers of the 1970s. Themes of post-war trauma, paranoia, world conspiracy, loneliness, and treachery are the most sought-after to this day as they fascinate us even more than jackpots at slots en ligne. Here are 10 American movies in the thriller genre that will not leave you indifferent.
Hypnotic
Texas detective Rourke retells a therapist a memory of his daughter being snatched from the playground. The wound has yet to heal, but Rourke continues his service: he goes to a call about a bank robbery. On the spot, the team deduces the culprit, who turns out to be the sinister hypnotist Leo Delraine. Surprisingly, he came to take a photo of Rourke’s daughter from the box. Now the cop will have to figure out how the hypnotist, able to subdue people with a word, is connected with the kidnapped daughter.
Robert Rodriguez’s return to big movies. But the director prepared the script Hypnotic back in 2002. This happened when the hits at the box office were paranoid thrillers like Dark City by Alex Proyas, Stay by Marc Forster and Memento by Nolan. Now the thriller doesn’t look as fresh as it could, but by now Ben Affleck has developed a convincing sadness in his eyes, and Rodriguez has honed in on the details that make the movie memorable.
Payback
Christian Wolff is a math genius. By day, the protagonist works as a tax consultant, and by night he spectacularly solves the problems of criminal organizations. When the official authorities turn on him, Wolf faces a difficult moral dilemma.
Ben Affleck’s screen image is associated with imperturbable and slightly detached characters. In the thriller Gavin O’Connor his role is revealed brightest of all. Largely because of the fact that he was given the task of portraying a man with autism spectrum disorder. This image paradoxically contrasts with the sharpness and lightning speed of the episodes, so unusual for movies about financial fraud. Payback can also be interpreted as a fantasy about the second life of a stale accountant.
Gone Girl
Everyone knows Nick and Amy as a loving and happily married couple. But in reality, Nick, frustrated by life, has been thinking about a bachelor life for a long time. On Nick’s birthday, his wife disappears without a trace. All that the husband and the police manage to find is a mess in the house, in other words, signs of violence. Nick’s life turns into hell: frenzied reporters chase everywhere, and an inveterate detective is ready to press charges. But Affleck’s character unexpectedly discovers new facts in Amy’s biography.
Its Hitchcockian variation on the theme that in any of us — even among the nicest neighbors — there is a potential for the manifestation of the dark side. Which can turn into a domestic murder or a cleverly planned revenge scheme.
Kandahar
Tom Harris is an undercover CIA agent who successfully blew up a nuclear facility in Iran. After the mission, he heads to London for his daughter’s graduation. However, his plane is delayed in Dubai, and at a local party an old friend asks the protagonist to go to Afghanistan for another case. Meanwhile, Iranian special services expose the bomber and open a hunt for him. Harris has only 30 hours to get across the desert to the evacuation in Kandahar.
An abstract in the spirit of “spy thriller with Gerard Butler” can already be safely read as a kind of label that gives a sufficient idea of the movie. However, Rick Roman Waugh’s project turns out to be far from the most ordinary action movie about rescue from a hot spot.
Promising Young Woman
Pretty Cassie at 30 still lives with her parents, doing nothing much. But she has a peculiar hobby: at night she transforms into a sexy girl in heels and goes to nightclubs, where, pretending to be drunk and lonely, she catches men who want to “take care” of her. As a result, unsuccessful macho awaits at best disgrace. The mission of the protagonist is interrupted by a former classmate, a kindly man played by Bo Burnham, with whom she starts dating. But it turns out that Cassie’s path of retribution has not yet come to fruition.
Emerald Fennell’s debut can’t be called a pure revenge thriller. The movie, like the heroine in the wonderful performance of Carey Mulligan, constantly changes mood: comedy and witty outbursts are abruptly replaced by a serious tone with the final bloodshed on the screen. Fennell also takes the time to explain Cassie’s motivation. Who is she: a fighter for women’s rights? Or is she driven by personal revenge? All of these questions and the film’s inventive plot helped Promising Young Woman win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and become the undisputed feminist hit of 2020.
Get Out
Chris, a photographer from New York, travels with Rose to the country house to meet her parents. Rose hasn’t told them he’s dark-skinned, citing the triviality of the news, but Chris is wary. After all, her parents are white American aristocrats. In Chris’s place are odd and textured characters who seemingly show no disgust, but praise his physical attributes with a sly smile.
Jordan Peele’s debut made him one of the most fashionable horror makers of our time — not the least of which was his Oscar statuette for Best Screenplay. What’s the gist of it? A typical comedy story — meeting the parents — turns into a thriller about racism and body snatching. Peele makes a so-called sloburner out of this plot, playing with our expectations: is there really something wrong with this family, or is Chris overreacting to domestic racial tensions?
