Best Mystery and Thriller Movies of 2024
Whether you headed out to theaters or streamed at home, 2024 was a great year for mystery and thriller movies. Some veteran filmmakers turned out high-quality new movies, and some exciting new voices made their debuts. From heavy dramas to comedic capers to horror-tinged nightmares, here are my picks for the best crime-focused movies of the year.
Rebel Ridge
Director Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room) is a master of brutal thrillers, but he offers a different kind of brutality in this First Blood riff starring Aaron Pierre as a military veteran who faces off against a corrupt small-town sheriff (Don Johnson). Terry Richmond (Pierre) just wants to post bail for his cousin, but he ends up uncovering an elaborate kickback scheme with the help of a local paralegal (AnnaSophia Robb). Pierre is fantastic as the determined, highly capable Terry, who uses exclusively non-lethal means to take down the sleazy, condescending sheriff and his legally sanctioned goons.
The Fall Guy
Loosely based on the 1980s TV series, this action comedy is a tribute to the often unsung work of stunt performers. Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, the former stunt double for a superstar actor who’s gone missing from a major film production directed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt). Colt reluctantly agrees to track down the absent star, while also attempting to reconcile with his ex. Gosling and Blunt have excellent chemistry, and the dialogue is clever and self-aware. The Fall Guy mixes romance and humor with impressive large-scale practical stunts that celebrate the ingenuity of movie-making.
Drive-Away Dolls
This solo directing effort from Ethan Coen has a lot of the chaotic energy of classic Coen brothers comedies. Set in 1999, the movie stars Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as a pair of lesbian best friends who take an impulsive road trip while inadvertently carrying sensitive cargo that could bring down a conservative senator. The crime plot is mostly an excuse for the main characters’ freewheeling adventures, in an engaging and funny story that celebrates sexual liberation and queer solidarity, with a surprisingly wholesome central relationship.
MaXXXine
The third movie in director Ti West’s retro-style grindhouse trilogy (following X and Pearl) features the return of Mia Goth as the title character, now living in 1985 Hollywood and attempting to make it as an actress. A mysterious killer is taking out Maxine’s friends just as she’s scored her possible big break. This is an ambitious movie about the sleaze and grandeur of Hollywood myth-making, channeling influences including Brian De Palma and Italian giallo movies into its expertly crafted nastiness.
The Order
Jude Law stars as an FBI agent investigating a white supremacist militia in early 1980s Washington state, with Nicholas Hoult as the leader of the terrorist group that staged bank robberies, bombings and murders. Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel is known for his austere, intense movies based on real-life criminals, but The Order strikes a more effective balance between nihilism and accessible thrills. The movie retains a detached procedural tone, while boasting strong performances and an evocative sense of time and place. It succeeds by letting a bit of humanity in with the bleak violence.
In Theaters Now
The Last Stop in Yuma County
Writer-director Francis Galluppi captures the spirit of 1990s post-Pulp Fiction cinema with his twisty, largely single-location thriller about an armed standoff at a roadside diner in Arizona. A pair of bank robbers on the run encounter a much more complicated situation than they anticipated when they hold the diner patrons hostage while waiting for a fuel truck to arrive. Galluppi keeps the audience guessing about various characters’ motives, building suspense via a series of confrontations and consistently taking the story in unexpected directions.
The Beekeeper
Action star Jason Statham does what he does best in this revenge thriller that’s exactly as ridiculous as it needs to be. Statham plays a retired member of an ultra-secret, ultra-elite group of operatives known as Beekeepers, who are so fearsome that even the director of the CIA won’t touch them. Statham’s Adam Clay springs back into action after his sweet landlady is driven to suicide by online scammers, providing a very timely target for his elaborate attacks and enjoyably corny bee-related puns.
Thelma
Like The Beekeeper, writer-director Josh Margolin’s film takes on the scourge of scams targeting senior citizens, but the title character (June Squibb) doesn’t have a badass secret agent to enact vengeance on her behalf. Instead, Thelma takes matters into her own hands, recruiting an old friend (Richard Roundtree) to help her track down the culprits who stole her money. At 94, Squibb revels in playing the action hero, while the movie offers an amusing and heartwarming story about the vibrancy of old age.
Trap
Josh Hartnett plays a seemingly bland suburban dad taking his 12-year-old daughter to a pop star’s concert, only to discover that the entire show has been set up to catch him, since he’s secretly a notorious serial killer. The concert feels like a genuine arena pop show, and the movie’s second half goes in some unexpected directions without relying on just one major twist, as viewers might anticipate from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. Hartnett gives a committed, entertaining performance, in a movie that finds Shyamalan continuing to take big creative risks.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Eddie Murphy effectively steps back into the role of Detroit police detective Axel Foley, who once again heads to the upscale environment of Beverly Hills, this time out of concern for the safety of his estranged daughter (Taylour Paige). He teams up with a younger detective (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and previous series stars including Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot all return. Murphy is still hilarious, the supporting cast is solid, and the action sequences are surprisingly well-crafted. It’s the best you could hope for from a decades-later franchise extension made for a streaming service.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, Tom’s Guide, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.