Action / Crime / Suspense
By Shane Rivers
If you’re looking for action/crime/suspense movie reviews or action/crime/suspense essays, you could do a lot worse than starting with the movies listed below.
1. In the Line of Fire – (1993, Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo) A thrilling cat-and-mouse game about a Secret Service agent matching his wits against a psycho threatening to kill the president.
2. L.A. Confidential – (1997, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, Kim Bassinger, Danny DeVito) Incredibly intriguing crime story. Oscar for best supporting actress (Bassinger) and adapted screenplay (Curtis Hanson).
3. Traffic – (2000, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Dennis Quaid) A patch work of stories about drugs: a Mexican cop caught in a web of corruption, DEA agents trying to capture drug dealers, a wealthy drug baron in suburban America, and the U.S. President’s new anti-drug czar. Oscars for best directing (Steven Soderbergh), supporting actor (del Toro) and adapted screenplay (Stephen Gaghan).
4. Jurassic Park – (1993, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum) Based on a Michael Crichton book, an entrepreneur builds an amusement park with DNA-cloned live dinosaurs as the main attraction. However, when the dinosaurs get loose, everyone is on the run. Oscar for best sound, visual effects and sound effects.
5. The Perfect Storm – (2000, George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane) A commercial swordfishing boat confronts three merging hurricanes.
6. First Blood – (1982, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna) After being arrested for a petty crime he did not commit, a Green Beret, Vietnam war survivor defends himself against the small town police force intent on abusing him.
7. Die Hard – (1988, Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman) New York cop John McClane fights terrorists holding hostages in a Los Angeles office building. Among the best action/crime/suspense movies ever made.
8. Training Day – (2001, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke) A veteran detective escorts a rookie on his first day with the Los Angeles Police Department’s tough inner-city narcotics unit. Oscar for best actor (Washington). Take a look a the rest of our site for more action/crime/suspense movie reviews.
9. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995, Denzel Washington, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle) One of Washington’s most unknown, underrated movies. Set in 1948 in Los Angeles, private eye Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins searches for the missing mistress of a mayoral candidate. A complex, racially-charged story involving politics, double-crossings, blackmail and murder. Based on Walter Mosley’s crime series, this one could have a whole series of action/crime/suspense movie essays written about it.
10. What Lies Beneath - (2000, Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) A housewife’s life takes a turn for the worst as she obsesses to find out why a ghost is haunting her. If this movie doesn’t put you at the edge of your seat, no movie will. One of the best action/crime/suspense movies of the new century.