Search for Thriller

Labor Day weekend is arguably the worst time of the year for a U.S. movie release. Films set to open at the end of August/beginning of September are given up for dead by their distributor. This is typically for one of two reasons: the production is...

It is accepted practice that a comedy, even the most outrageous one, must have some sort of skeletal plot structure. Most of these are nonsense and sometimes impede the viewer's ability to enjoy the film's humorous antics. Such is the case with C...

Tag line #1: "An action-packed international thriller starring Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver, and soon-to-be Superman Henry Cavill." Tag line #2: "A box office disaster with perhaps the most uncharismatic action hero of the decade in a preposte...

Those going to Cold Pursuit expecting a typical early-year Liam Neeson action thriller may be disconcerted by what Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland delivers. On the surface, this is a standard-order revenge movie: a snow-plow driver, Nels...

Collateral is a classic example of how casting against type can sometimes result in a remarkable success. Here we have Tom Cruise, who has spent the majority of his career playing the good-looking, likeable, action/romantic lead, placed into the r...

It started ten years ago in 2008. Call it the “Liam Neeson Action Hero First Quarter Movie.” With Taken, Pierre Morel and Luc Besson tried an experiment: put a suave, respected actor in a B-grade action movie and see how audiences reacted....

Con Air, producer Jerry Bruckheimer's generic follow-up to 1996's blockbuster, The Rock, is the kind of motion picture that critics refer to when they moan about the "dumbing down" of American cinema. This movie is a perfect example of what's wron...

For his follow-up to City of God, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles has elected to adapt John Le Carré's The Constant Gardener into movie form. A slow-burn thriller simmering with international intrigue, the book would at first seem too long ...

Rarely has the question "What the hell?" been more appropriate. An uneven amalgamation of the brilliant and the preposterous, Constantine left me by turns intrigued, confused, and wary. The recipe calls for some ingredients that are compelling, o...

For his sophomore effort, filmmaker Rod Lurie turned his attention to the Oval Office. The Contender, a low-key political thriller that relies primarily on character interaction to develop tension, is a close cousin to Lurie's debut cinematic ...