You can go back about 100 years and still find movies that are honestly pretty exciting, like The General, which is mind-blowing for 1926, and also kind of mind-blowing for 2026, really. The 20th century was a good time to be thrilled at the movies, if that was your thing, what with Alfred Hitchcock doing his thing, action movies really taking off, as a genre, post-Seven Samurai, and then cinema getting more exciting and risk-taking in nature from the late 1960s onwards.
Below, though, is a focus on thrillers made after the year 2000. The 21st century’s most exciting thrillers might not have come out yet, because there are still 70+ years of the century to go, but for now, these are about as good as things get. Also, the focus here is on thrillers, or movies that are primarily thrillers with a few other genres (like action, horror, or crime) potentially thrown in for good measure. It’s not the same as saying these are the best thrillers of the 21st century so far, nor is it like saying they’re the most exciting movies of any genre made/released after 2000 so far.
10
‘Grindhouse’ (2007)
Could be cheating a bit, seeing as Grindhouse is sort of two movies, but that was the whole gimmick, with Planet Terror and Death Proof indeed being an intentional double feature, at least originally. They’re now far easier to watch apart from one another, and on their own, there are longer cuts, but both movies are at their fastest and most relentless when you watch them as originally intended.
Planet Terror has a bit more by way of excitement, and a lot more as far as over-the-top violence is concerned, but Death Proof still has some jaw-dropping sequences, and the climactic car chase trumps just about anything found in Planet Terror (might well be even better than all the Grindhouse fake trailers, too). Taking everything together, it’s a homage to grindhouse cinema and exploitation movies that is almost too good of a homage; it kind of elevates this whole strange and schlocky sub-genre.
9
‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ (2022)
Image via Neon
They called a movie “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” That’s pretty cool/daring. Technically, there was a book with more or less that title beforehand (How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire), but that was a non-fiction book, and How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the film, was more inspired by some of the ideas explored in that book, not really being a straight adaptation or anything.
The movie itself is no-nonsense, like its title. There’s a group of environmental activists, and they enact a plan to blow up a pipeline as a form of extreme environmental justice. It was about timely and continually significant things, but sort of came and went, or got otherwise forgotten about. That’s a little unfair because How to Blow Up a Pipeline has a lot to offer as a thriller, and even if you’re not in love with what it’s putting down thematically, it could still prove to be a compelling watch as an interesting spin (of sorts) on the heist genre.
8
‘Wild Tales’ (2014)
One more underrated or potentially lesser-known thriller,Wild Tales is, like How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a very honestly titled movie. You know what you’re in for, in other words: some tales that are wild. It’s an anthology movie as well, and the segments are linked tonally because they’re all darkly funny and kind of uncomfortable to watch in one way or another.
If you’re the kind of person who really liked say the first season of Breaking Bad, or wanted to see something like that show but on fast-forward and a few times over then Wild Tales is for you. Each segment has a bad situation that spirals out of control in continually tense and ultimately rapid ways,and the film gets away with effectively telling the same joke over and over again because it’s a very funny joke and it doesn’t really get old, at least for the two hours the film goes on for.
7
‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
One Battle After Another is a very recent film at least at the time of writing though it feels like it has a pretty good chance of enduring as something well-liked and remembered going forward. Most of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s other movies live on and hold up well proving memorable for enough people to keep his name a recognizable one. It might be too bold a claim to say One Battle After Another will definitely be a classic but maybe it could happen.
It feels very much of its time like a quintessential movie about the 2020s made while the 2020s are still ongoing functioning like a less mean-spiritedEddington(which is also very good just going for a very different thing).One Battle After Another is chaotic but also very effectively helmed and executed with the contrast between the gonzo plot (and eccentric characters) and precise filmmaking proving genuinely exciting to watch. That it’s also very funny and occasionally moving on top of always being thrilling makes it all even better.
6
‘Fast Five’ (2011)
Image via Universal Pictures
The sixth installment in this franchise might be dismissed by some due to its ridiculousness but it pushes boundaries while delivering an entertaining heist narrative. The action sequences are well-paced making it stand out among others in its series.
