by Released : 2024-02-16
1. The Departed (2006)
This film has been talked about to death, so I won't say much here. One of the best mafia and cop movies of all time, the film finally landed Martin Scorcese a best director oscar. Leonardo Dicarpio was curiously nominated for Blood Diamond instead of this film. Mark Whalberg got a much deserved oscar nomination although Nicholson, Martin sheen, and Alec Baldwin deserve more praise for their work here. Look up the theory about Matt Damon’s character being gay if you want to look at this film in a different way.
2. Training Day (2001)
David Ayer helped usher in a new era of cop and hood movies in the 2000s. He worked on six more cop movies after this. Denzal won the oscar for Training Day!
3. Zodiac (2007)
An all star cast RDJ, Mark Ruffalo, and Jake Gyllenhaal in one of the most realstic serial killer movies of all time.
4. Memories of murder (2003)
Before, Parasite fame Bong Joon-ho best known film to international audiences was this this masterpice. The film follows the true story of the unsolved murders in 1986 in a small South Korean Province. The leads have amazing chemistry and the film contains one of the most haunting endings of all time.
5. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
Inspired by Harvey Keitel's Bad Lieutenant, Nic Cage gives one of the best performances of his carrer in this zany cop film. The film was also one of Val Kilmer's last speaking roles. Despite being a crtical succes the film was a huge flop making only $10 mm against a $25 mm budget.
6. Insomnia (2002)
Pacino channels his cop characters from Sea of Love and Heat. While Robin Williams plays against type in one of Nolan's earliest and best films.
7. Narc (2002)
Ray Liotta was robbed of an oscar nomination for his work in this film. The film was unable to secure theatrical distribution after its release at sundance and was headed for straight to DVD. Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty praised the film, helping it get circulated to Tom Cruise. Cruise loved the movie so much he came on as an executive producer and helped it get a 3 million dollar distribution deal from Paramount. Cruise would later court director Joe Carnahan to take over Mission Impossible 3 after David Fincher dropped out. Narc tells the story of a suspended Narcotics officer Nick Tellis (played by Jason Patric) who spies on Ray Liotta whose previous partner had been killed in the line of duty. One of the most realistic cop movies ever, this grimey cop thriller will make your stomach churn.
8. Lonely hearts (2006)
One of the biggest flops of the 2000s, this film and the similarly themed Black Dahlia and Hollywoodland all flopped, effectively killing big budget period detective films. The film had an 18 million budget, but only made 2.5 million. Both Jared Leto and Salma Hayek give deliciously evil performances here, while Travolta plays one of his most somber roles to date. Instead of using his usual charm and big smile, here Travolta gives an understated performance as a weary grieving detective. James Gandolfini is also great here in his best movie during his Sopranos era. Solid direction, great narration from Gandolfini, and glorious production design a good old fashioned crime caper.
9. Dark blue (2003)
Set in 1992 Los Angeles leading up to the Rodney King Riots, the film stars Kurt Russel, Ving Rhames, Scott Speedman, and Brendan Gleeson. Written by James Ellroy, best known for the Cop classic LA Confidential. The film was in development in the early 90s with Russel intended to star, but did not get made until 2002. David Ayer, after the success of Training Day, provided a rewrite film. Kurt Russel as Eldon Perry gives arguably the best performance of his career as a racist violent cop. Ron Shelton, best known for sports films, provides a deft touch behind the camera. An underrated cop film that received mixed reviews and bombed at the box office. However, Roger Ebert enjoyed the film giving it a (¾).
10. I robot (2004)
An underated SCFI Will Smith cop film featuring a young Shia Labeouf the film has some of the best CGI ever and is even more timely today with it's message on AI.
Honorable mentions:
