Top 5 Thrillers and why

My Top 5 Thriller Movies

Mission Impossible : Fallout

This is one of my favourite films as it stars Tom Cruise. He is one of the most prestigious actors having won 3 golden globes over his career. However for the 6th instalment of the 'Mission Impossible' franchise he decided to co - produce the film with JJ Abrams. At the box office MI6 grossed 791M with a 168m budget, making it the franchises most popular film. The soundtrack was nominated for a BAFTA. What I really enjoy about this movie is the high intensity of action and it doesn't waste time with an elaborate protagonist back story that a lot of crime thrillers have. It gets to the main plot line early on. In which Ethan Hunt played by Tom Cruise is a spy working for the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is given the mission to obtain Plutonium before the antagonist can. However this goes wrong and the plutonium ends up in the wrong hands. The CIA then assigns August Walker to Hunt to keep an eye on him and help him out. Hunt ends up posing as the antagonist to try and obtain the plutonium from the White Widow who wants Ethan to break the main protagonist out of his police convoy and deliver him to a London safe house. August Walker then try to frame Hunt for being the unknown villain and threatens to harm his ex-wife if he doesn't comply. However Hunt has a tracker in the villain and located him in India as he was trying to contaminate the water supply in Asia. Ultimately Hunt spoils his plan by diffusing the bombs and they end up celebrating in the final scene. This movie ends on a really strong note which can lead into the 7th instalment in 2021.

Silence of the lambs

This is known as one of the greatest thrillers of all time. It won many academy awards and a golden globe and it was the first movie containing horror that's done this. It was directed by Jonathan Demme who has won academy awards for his directing alone and was known for his work in dramatic close ups within which the character looks directly at the camera to create suspense. Anthony Hopkins stars in Silence of the lambs, he is also known for his performance as Odin in the Thor franchise. An FBI trainee called Clarice is asked to take part as a questioner to Dr Hannibal who is an imprisoned psychiatrist to try and discover information about another suspect of many murders. Clarice is asked to do this as she is a women similar to the killers victims it could spark an emotional response therefore gathering intel. However even though she is gaining intel it requires her to open up emotionally which can be tough. Clarice continues to uncover secrets about the killer until she has enough information to discover him. I really enjoyed this movie as it was very intense and it shows the representation of women in the past and especially how they are treated in the workplace.

21 Bridges

This is a movie from 2019 which is a more modern approach at a crime thriller. The main star is Chadwick Boseman notable for his work as T'challa in Avengers and Black Panther. Playing the role of Andre Davis, he is a policeman who's father was killed in duty in his childhood, therefore leading to him joining the force. The film is directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo who are known for Avengers infinity war and other MCU movies. This combination of Boseman and the Russo's had the potential to make 21 bridges a great thriller. However most critics were underwhelmed upon release as they thought it could've been much more. The film consists of a cocaine theft which catches the attention of local police and ends up in a shootout with many officers dead. On these conditions Davis asks to lockdown Manhattan island for a maximum of overnight to try and find those responsible. This meant closing NYC's 21 bridges and subways. However Davis discovers that it's not just a heist but is actually a New York precinct that is trafficking and selling drugs. This is due to the harsh reality that in order for them to support their families they needed another source of income. I really enjoyed this movie as a big marvel fan as I found it interesting to see Boseman play a very different type of role and really enjoyed his performance. Furthermore, I found that the representation of police officers showed a sense of verisimilitude.

Now you see me

This is a really exciting movie as it links magic to thriller which brings in a large audience that don't normally watch thrillers. I am one of these viewers as I never particularly liked thrillers but when I was forced to watch this by my parents it instantly became my favourite movie at the time. It won a peoples choice award for best thriller in 2014 highlighting that the viewers enjoyed this different take on a thriller. The film is based on 4 magicians who are contacted by an unknown benefactor with hologram technology which could enable them to do even more advanced tricks. A year later they perform in a show with their final trick as a bank heist. An audience member is transported inside of a vault in a different country and empties it back into the theatre in which they are performing in. This is scene as an optical illusion however when the vault in France is discovered empty it raises some questions about their heist. The antagonist played by Morgan Freeman who is a magic debunker who claims that they used a fake vault and had already stole the money before it was even moved to the vault. This would mean that the money inside the vault was fake all along. Thaddeus (Morgan Freeman) claims this but cannot link them to the heist. They continue to steal money through other shows and once Thaddeus thinks he catches them for a heist he is framed and jailed for supposedly stealing the money. Dylan played by Mark Ruffalo had been assisting the case the whole time and revealed that he was the unknown benefactor. Consequently he invites the magicians to join a mythical group of magicians called "the eye".

6 Underground

Recently I watched this film as it was suggested to me by Netflix as I always watch action movies. It was released Netflix and was quickly one of its most popular original titles even though it was reviewed poorly by rotten tomatoes. Ryan Reynolds funded and produced the project and is also the main character called "1". The movie consists of 6 people who are declared dead but actually fight crime and try to better the world from the shadows. However the group runs on a numbered name basis so each person has a number, no name or information about the person or their past is shared to the rest of the group. This is done by 1 (Reynolds) to try and make sure the group don't become attached as any one of them could die at any moment. Early on 6 (the driver) dies and they require a new recruit renamed as "7". The focus of the unknown protagonists was to overthrow a corrupt leader leader in the Middle Eastern Turgistan. The antagonist has a brother who deserves to rule and the public of Turgistan feel the same. During assassinating the Antagonists generals 4 is nearly killed until 7 breaks goes against rules and helps to save 4. After this 1 and 7 have a disagreement about the anonymity about their jobs and reveals his true name. However the plan remained to overthrow the dictator so the team had to kidnap his brother and hijack national TV to inspire the public to revolt against the dictatorship and to put his brother Murat in charge. Once this is achieved Murat becomes the new president and the team goes back into the shadows until needed again. I enjoyed this film as I hadn't seen a group of presumed dead mercenaries battle to save a Middle Eastern country and it was a different approach to an action/thriller

During this research I had to watch summaries of movies to remind myself of the techniques used. When I originally watched these filmed I had not studied into what a thriller is. This allowed me to understand why certain types of editing and camera work was used in these films.