Thriller: 228

The Tourist (2010), an American romantic thriller movie co-written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, follows the story of Elise Clifton-Ward, a British woman. As she walks through downtown Paris, she is trailed by French police working with Scotland Yard under the command of Inspector John Acheson. Acheson has tirelessly searched for Alexander Pearce, Elise’s boyfriend who owes £744 million in unpaid taxes. Pearce is also being pursued by Reginald Shaw, a mobster from whom he stole $2.3 billion and who wants revenge. In a Parisian café, Elise receives instructions from Pearce to board a train to ...

Love Crime (2010), is a French thriller, featuring Ludivine Sagnier and Kristin Scott Thomas. Directed by the late Alain Corneau, it revolves around Isabelle, an ambitious and talented executive at an American corporation’s Paris office. Her boss, Christine, is equally driven and has a habit of taking credit for Isabelle’s work to secure a promotion to the New York branch. Feeling frustrated with this dynamic, Isabelle teams up with her colleague Daniel to surprise Christine with a successful project that ...

The Silence (2010) is a German thriller film directed by Baran bo Odar, adapted from the novel of the same name by Jan Costin Wagner. In summer 1986, Pia, an 11-year-old schoolgirl, was killed in a wheat field near a small provincial German town. One man carried out the murder while another watched silently from his passenger seat. The victim’s body was then placed in the trunk of a red car while her bicycle was left behind. Fast forward to 2009, when 13-year-old Sinikka Weghamm disappears from the local fair and her bicycle is found in the same location as ...

Fair Game (2010) is a biographical political drama film directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. Valerie Plame, employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, keeps her job secret from everyone outside of her husband and parents. She is an intelligence officer involved in numerous sensitive and potentially hazardous undercover operations abroad. Her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, formerly served as the U.S. ambassador to Gabon with a previous diplomatic history in Niger. Plame’s colleagues at the CIA ...

The Town (2010) is an American crime thriller film co-written and directed by Ben Affleck, adapted from Chuck Hogan’s 2004 novel Prince of Thieves. Four lifelong friends from the neighborhood of Charlestown, Boston, Douglas ‘Doug’ MacRay, James ‘Jem’ Coughlin, Albert ‘Gloansy’ MacGloan, and Desmond ‘Dez’ Elden, rob a bank wearing masks. Against Doug’s wishes, Jem takes bank manager Claire Keesey hostage but later releases her unharmed. After finding out that Claire lives in their neighborhood, Doug ...

Daniel & Ana (2009) is a gripping Mexican thriller directed by Michel Franco. The highly anticipated film had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival on May 18th. Starring Darío Yazbek Bernal and Marimar Vega, it tells the story of two siblings who are abducted and the devastating aftermath that follows. In Mexico City, Daniel and Ana reside with their wealthy parents. While Daniel is in a committed relationship with Mariana, Ana is set to marry Rafa who plans to move to Spain for work. However, their lives take a horrifying turn when they are kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to engage in sexual ...

Changeling (2008) is a gripping American film about a real-life mystery. Directed, produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski, the story is based on the tragic 1928 Wineville Chicken Coop murders in Mira Loma, California. Set in Los Angeles during the same year, the film follows Christine Collins, a single mother who returns home to find her 9-year-old son, Walter, missing. In a desperate attempt to find him, Reverend Gustav Briegleb publicizes her situation and criticizes the LAPD for their incompetence and corruption. Despite this ...

Traitor (2008) is an American spy thriller film written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, based on a story by Steve Martin. Samir Horn, an Arabic-speaking Sudanese-American and devout Muslim, lost his father to a car bomb in his childhood. As an adult, he becomes an arms dealer and gets arrested during a deal in Yemen. Samir’s friendly relationship with Omar, who later arranges their escape from jail together, introduces him to Fareed, a leader of the terrorist organization al-Nathir. FBI Special Agent Roy Clayton starts suspecting that Samir has become ...

Untraceable (2008) is an American psychological thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit. Its protagonist, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Marsh, is a widowed single parent residing in a suburban Portland home with her daughter, Annie Haskins, and her mother, Stella Marsh. By night, Jennifer works alongside her colleague Griffin Dowd in the FBI’s cybercrime division, tackling cases of identity theft and other similar crimes. One particular night, they receive an anonymous tip leading them to a troubling website called KillWithMe.com. This site features disturbing live videos of animal cruelty and can’t be taken ...

Daylight Robbery (2008), a British crime film directed by Paris Leonti and starring Paul Nicholls and Geoff Bell, follows Alex and his gang of unlikely robbers as they devise an ambitious plan to steal millions in untraceable banknotes from the underground vaults of the London Exchange Bank. To create an alibi, they pretend to be joining the mass exodus of England supporters traveling to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. However, instead of boarding their flight, they make their way to Central London. There, they block ...

The film, The Bank Job (2008), is a heist thriller directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It is based on the true story of a burglary in Baker Street where Lloyds Bank safety deposit boxes were targeted. MI5, the British Security Services, had taken notice of this particular branch in 1971 due to a safety deposit box belonging to Michael X, a notorious black gangster. The box contained incriminating photos of Princess Margaret and was used as insurance to keep the authorities at bay. ...

The British television adaptation of The 39 Steps (2008) is a thrilling adventure based on the novel by John Buchan. The story begins in 1914 with Richard Hannay, a former mining engineer and intelligence officer. Dissatisfied with his return to England after serving in Africa, he finds society to be cliquey, class-bound, and dull. While trying to evade German spies, a man named Scudder shows up at Hannay’s flat and confesses to being a betrayed agent of the British Secret Service Bureau. He has been tracking a German espionage ring headquartered in Scotland and has uncovered plans to assassinate a European royal ...

Directed and produced by Ridley Scott, and written by William Monahan, Body of Lies (2008) is an American spy action thriller film. In Manchester, England, anti-terrorism police teams are preparing to raid a house. As they enter the house, the terrorists inside hear them and one of them triggers an explosion with a button on his cell phone, destroying the entire house. While tracking a high-ranking terrorist leader named Al-Saleem in Iraq, CIA case officer Roger Ferris encounters Nizar – a member of the terrorist organization who offers information in exchange for ...

Imprint (2007), an independent drama/thriller directed by Michael Linn and produced by Chris Eyre, stands out as one of the few American films featuring an indigenous Native American lead role. Actress Carmelo, of Tongva-Kumeyaay descent, portrays Shayla, an attorney in South Dakota who initially convicts a young Lakota boy for homicide. Troubled by the case’s toll on her, Shayla seeks refuge at her family home on the Lakota reservation. However, upon her return she experiences visions that she believes are messages from her ...

Michael Clayton (2007) is an American legal thriller feature film that marks Tony Gilroy’s directorial debut. The movie revolves around the life of Michael Clayton, a ‘fixer’ for a prestigious law firm in New York City. He uses his extensive connections and knowledge of legal loopholes to benefit his clients. One evening, Michael interrupts a poker game to assist a client who had hit a pedestrian with his car in Westchester County. On his way back home, while passing by some barren trees atop a hill, he notices three horses and stops to take a closer look. Little did he know that behind him, an ...

The Company (2007) is a three-part serial based on the best-selling 2002 novel by Robert Littell, following the activities of the CIA during the Cold War. Ken Nolan penned the teleplay adaptation and received a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted. The story begins in 1950 as Jack McAuliffe, Leo Kritzky, and Yevgeny Tsipin graduate from Yale and venture down different paths. While Jack and Leo join the CIA under Frank ‘The Wizard’ Wisner’s guidance, Yevgeny returns to Moscow where he is recruited by KGB spymaster Starik and ...

The thriller drama series, Traveler (2007), aired on ABC in the United States from May to July 2007. Produced by Warner Bros. Television, it follows the story of Jay Burchell and Tyler Fog, graduate students who are suspected of bombing the Drexler Museum in New York while playing a prank. Their friend and roommate, Will Traveler, seems to have set them up for the crime before disappearing without a trace. Now on the run as accused domestic terrorists, Jay and Tyler search for clues about Will’s past in hopes of understanding his betrayal and proving their innocence. Meanwhile, Traveler embarks on a similar quest for answers. ...

The American road thriller film, The Hitcher (2007), features an all-star cast including Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, and Zachary Knighton. It is a remake of the 1986 film with the same title. Two college students, Jim Halsey and Grace Andrews, are on their way to meet friends for spring break in New Mexico. On their first night of driving, they almost hit a hitchhiker standing in the middle of the road. After swerving to avoid him, they continue on their journey. However, fate has other plans as Jim comes across the hitchhiker ...

88 Minutes (2007) is an American thriller film directed by Jon Avnet. In 1997, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm provides crucial testimony and expert psychiatric opinion at the trial of suspected serial killer Jon Forster, known as ‘The Seattle Slayer’ to the police. Gramm’s testimony leads to Forster’s conviction for the attempted killing of Janie Cates and the murder of her sister Joanie, who was drugged, hanged upside down and killed in their apartment. As Forster receives a guilty verdict from the jury, he taunts Gramm with the words ‘Tick-tock, Doc’. Nine years later, as ...

Awake (2007) is an American conspiracy thriller film written and directed by Joby Harold. Clay Beresford, Jr., a young billionaire, has fallen for his mother’s personal assistant, Samantha ‘Sam’ Lockwood. In need of a heart transplant, Clay turns to his friend and heart surgeon, Dr. Jack Harper. He also asks Dr. Harper to help him elope with Sam, and the two exchange vows privately in the middle of the night before Clay heads to the hospital for his operation. However, something unexpected happens during surgery – Clay experiences anesthesia awareness. Despite the intense pain, he has a moment of ...