6 Most Intense Movies Released Since 2000

What makes a movie intense? It could be having the constant pressure of sky-high stakes, or the nail-biting tension of well-built suspense, or a fast-paced narrative that just doesn’t let up. Regardless, from 2000 until the present, there have been plenty of films so incredibly intense that they’re bound to go down in history as some of the greatest thrillers, action movies, and survival dramas in the history of 21st-century cinema. In a few decades’ time, cinephiles are bound to speak about these masterpieces in the same breath as paragons of high-intensity cinema like Se7en or The Wages of Fear.

These can be huge genre blockbusters like Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller‘s momentous return to the Mad Max franchise after a whopping three decades; or even smaller—yet equally legendary—indie features like the groundbreaking character study Memento. Regardless of how it is that a great modern film builds intensity, what really sets it apart is the ability to keep that intensity high and constant for the entire duration of the runtime. These immensely suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat films are proof of just how much intensity can help in making a movie unforgettable.

6

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

After the tragic passing of his close friend and long-time producer partner Byron Kennedy, George Miller decided to distance himself from the Mad Max franchise after the lukewarm critical reception of Beyond Thunderdome. The idea for Fury Road had been floating in his mind since the ’80s, but it wouldn’t be all the way until the 2010s that the idea would finally materialize. In the end, the result turned out to be not just the greatest Mad Max film to date by a decent margin, but perhaps even one of the greatest action movies of the 21st century.

It’s certainly one of the best sci-fi action movies in film history, directed with the utmost creativity and authority by Miller at the top of his game. Full of over-the-top world-building and surprisingly complex character development considering the virtual lack of dialogue, Fury Road nevertheless stands out mostly because of its tremendous intensity. The film is two hours of pure high-octane adrenaline, a perfectly shot and perfectly edited chase sequence that ends up feeling far shorter than it actually is. Hugely entertaining and visually stunning, it ends up being one of the most unforgettable action flicks of the 2010s.

5

‘Memento’ (2000)

Image via Newmarket Films

Nowadays, Christopher Nolan tends to be recognized as one of the leading spearheads of the Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking game. Even the greats have to start somewhere, though, and Nolan was no exception. Once upon a time, a young up-and-coming indie director named Christopher Nolan premiered Memento at the Venice Film Festival, earning nothing but praise and critical love all across the board. A whopping 26 years—and many far bigger thrillers—later, many would still confidently call this gem Nolan’s magnum opus.

There are many R-rated psychological thrillers that are masterpieces, and Memento is most certainly one of them. Its revenge story about an amnesiac man trying to unravel the mystery of his wife’s murder would be naturally intense in a vacuum, but it’s the incredibly creative way in which Nolan executes that premise that really transforms Memento from a great thriller into a downright masterpiece. There aren’t very many feature films out there that are structured in reverse-chronological order, and that’s because it’s a concept that’s nigh-impossible to execute well. Not only does Nolan pull it off, he turns it into the foundation of one of the most emotionally powerful, thematically strong, and dramatically intense thrillers the 2000s ever saw.

4

‘Gravity’ (2013)

Image via Warner Bros.

Alfonso Cuarón has spent his whole career proving himself to be one of the most chameleonic filmmakers in both Mexico and Hollywood, as perfectly demonstrated by the sci-fi survival thriller Gravity. Though it leans much more heavily toward the “science” part of the genre rather than “fiction,” it’s still a must-see for fans of modern sci-fi movies. Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Cuarón’s first for Best Director, it has aged wonderfully as one of the most essential survival dramas of the 21st century so far.

It’s also one of the best hard sci-fi movies since 2000, anchored by a trifecta of elements without equal: Cuarón’s intense, nail-bitingly suspenseful direction; the strongest, most emotionally potent performance of Sandra Bullock‘s career; and the jaw-dropping visual effects that once led a Mexican reporter to ask Cuarón what it was like to shoot in space. These elements, along with virtually every other one of Gravity‘s spotless technical and narrative qualities, all help make Gravity a genuine edge-of-your-seat thriller all about grief, rebirth, and the heroism inherent to survival and resilience.

3

‘Whiplash’ (2014)

Damien Chazelle so far only has a handful of feature films under his belt, but they have been more than enough to establish him as one of the most exciting young voices currently working in Hollywood. That reputation was established as far back as 2014, when Chazelle’s sophomore feature directing effort, Whiplash, hit theaters. Based on Chazelle’s own 2013 short film of the same name, this Oscar-winning masterpiece is one of the most thrilling movies released since 2000, a testament to just how intense character-driven dramas can get when done and written with enough momentum.

Whether or not Whiplash is Chazelle’s best film or not is irrelevant; the fact of the matter is that it’s easily his most intense, and perhaps even the single most intense movie about music and artistic obsession that the world has seen in decades. Strongly bolstered by Miles Teller‘s potent, transformative performance and a villainous turn from J. K. Simmons that just oozes intensity, it’s not only one of the best-acted dramas of the 2010s, but also one of the most tense. Whiplash is proof that memorable dialogue, strong acting, and rapid-fire pacing are all it takes for a movie to be incredibly intense.

2

‘Oldboy’ (2003)

Image via Tartan Films

South Korean cinema has always been full of absolutely exceptional thrillers, but it has been since 2000 that the country’s thriller output has gained particular international notoriety. And as far as hyper-intense South Korean thrillers go, it doesn’t relly get much more notorious or harrowing than Oldboy by Park Chan-wook, the man behind several of the most intense movies the 21st century has thus far seen. Oldboy is generally regarded as his magnum opus, and even though its reliance on shock value definitely makes it unfit for the faint of heart, it’s nevertheless one of the most essential action thrillers of modern times.

What’s not to love about Oldboy? The action sequences are impeccably directed and relentlessly violent, the plot twists are all among the most genuinely shocking in film history, and the character writing is as complex and layered as it is absolutely gut-wrenching. For all of those reasons and more, Oldboy is one of the most disturbing crime movies in history. It also happens to be a masterclass in how to nail pretty much every kind of intensity that a motion picture can exhibit: Intensity in emotions, in action, in suspense, in twists, in performances, and definitely in the all-around feel of the finished product.

1

‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)

Image via A24

There’s one thing that both Josh and Benny Safdie specialize in, and that’s making some of the most intense movies the world has ever seen. Case in point: Uncut Gems, their most widely-celebrated film, starring Adam Sandler in what may well be the greatest performance of his career—and is most definitely the most intense. Impeccably directed by the Safdies, Uncut Gems is one of the most suspenseful thrillers of the last 100 years, a thriller composed of pure suspense, anxiety, stress, and paranoia.

Fueled exclusively by these emotions, the film creates an experience that’s incredibly disquieting yet absolutely impossible to look away from. Its themes of greed and of the ever-consuming nature of addiction are quite clear, but executed with such artful complexity and such tremendous intensity that it’s impossible not to keep thinking about them even long after the credits roll. Probably the single most suspenseful movie of the last 26 years, Uncut Gems is the sort of thriller which proves just how intense films can get.

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Uncut Gems

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Release Date

December 25, 2019

Runtime

136 minutes

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Director

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

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