MY 20 FAVORITE THRILLER MOVIES

MY 20 FAVORITE THRILLER MOVIES

The thriller genre is defined by a story that keeps the viewer on edge of their seat by generating an atmosphere of suspense, tension or anxiety.

As with any favorites list, this one is subject to change, but this is where things rate with me right now.

1. THIRTEEN DAYS (2000) - The world teeters on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis
2. THE COURIER (2020) - a British businessman is recruited to make contact with a Russian who claims to have vital intelligence during the period leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis
3. CRIMSON TIDE (1995) - a US ballistic missile submarine sorties when a nationalist military leader attempts a coup in Russia.
   
4. ARRIVAL (2016) - UFOs appear around the world and nations scramble to determine what they are and what their intentions may be.  
5. PRESSURE (2026) - General Eisenhower and his military council must decide whether to give the order for the Normandy Invasion to proceed or not, but that depends entirely on what the weather forecast may be.
6. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990) - A Soviet admiral and his officers attempt decide to defect to the west and take their new ballistic missile submarine with them. 
7. CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013) - A commercial ship is boarded by pirates off of the horn of Africa.
8. CONTAGION (2011) - CDC and UN medical personnel are dispatched to respond to an outbreak.
9. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1994) - A US President acts out of anger and illegally sends an elite military unit into Columbia to target the cartel.        
10. DEEP IMPACT (1998) - A large meteorite is on a collision course with earth.
11. WARGAMES (1983) - A boy hacks into a military central computer.
12. SNEAKERS (1992) - A security specialist finds himself targeted by organized crime.
13. THE FINEST HOURS (2016) - An oil tanker breaks up off of the Atlantic coast in the 1950s, and a small US Coastguard boat is dispatched to rescue the crew.
14. BRIDGE OF SPIES (2015) - A US lawyer is sent to East Germany to try to negotiate the exchange of downed spy pilot Gary Powers for a soviet agent. 
15. THE ITALIAN JOB (2003) - A group of thieves who carry out a sophisticated heist band together again to carry out a mission of revenge.
16. THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (2002) - A Neo-Nazi group detonates a nuclear weapon in the US, and the President thinks the Russians were behind it. 
17. PATRIOT GAMES (1992) - A former marine in London disrupts the kidnapping of a member of the royal family by the IRA, and as a result he and his family become a target themselves. 
18. BREACH (2007) - A young FBI agent is tasked with spying on his new boss in an attempt to catch him in the act of passing secrets to the Soviets/Russians. 
19. PAYCHECK (2003) - A tech mogul hires a brilliant engineer to back engineer a new piece of hardware, but at the same time, the engineer suspects that more is happening than meets the eye. 
20. RUNAWAY JURY (2003) - A man maneuvers himself to be named to a jury that is hearing a gun-rights case.