Thrillers have always been hugely popular with audiences and the 2000s were no exception. Filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh and the Coen Brothers continued to produce artful crime offerings. Meanwhile, M. Night Shyamalan emerged as an important storyteller of claustrophobic sci-fi, fantasy and horror thrillers.
While pictures like No Country For Old Men were extolled, many B-movies were unjustly dismissed by critics at the time. With hindsight, rediscovering their forgotten qualities, this list will provide thriller fans with suggestions meriting reconsideration.
1. The Way of the Gun (2000)
Desperadoes Longbaugh (Benicio del Toro) and Parker (Ryan Philippe) kidnap a pregnant woman (Juliette Lewis). She is being paid $1 million to be a surrogate mother for a mafioso’s child. The mafioso sends his bodyguards after the outlaws, chasing them into Mexico. The Way of the Gun was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Usual Suspects.
Unfairly maligned, The Way of the Gun is in fact the quintessential Benicio Del Toro movie and the height of the neo-western caper. Del Toro’s extraordinarily accomplished, mysterious acting effortlessly carries and bestows value to the film. James Caan and Juliette Lewis are equally brilliant, the latter for her naturalism and emotional depth. Where The Way of the Gun finds inventiveness is, rather than money, a pregnant woman’s unborn child is the object of value amongst gunplay, raising the emotional stakes.
Another of the film’s singular qualities is its restrained, minimalist structure, using few locations. Its atmospheric, contemplative tone is evoked through the melancholic, existential dialogue and grey-green colour palette. The signature is attained during the night in a modernist kitchen of stainless steal and in the bodyguards’ suits. Crucially, The Way of the Gun has probably the best final shootout of any movie. This is filmed in the same location as the finale of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
2. Reindeer Games (2000)
Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) and Nick Cassidy (James Frain) are friends and prison cellmates. Nick tells Rudy about the love letters he writes to a woman he has not yet met, Ashley Mercer (Charlize Theron). When Rudy is released, Ashely is waiting outside the prison. Rudy pretends he is Nick. Romance blossoms, until Ashley’s outlaw brother, Gabriel ‘Monster’ Mercer (Gary Sinise), believing Rudy is Nick, demands that Rudy works on his heist. Nick was a former employee of a casino Gabriel and his gang wish to rob. If Rudy refuses to help them, he will be killed. Reindeer Games was directed by the renowned John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Ronin).
Poorly received, Charlize Theron went so far as to dub Reindeer Games “the worst film she ever did.” This assessment is unfair, as, though no masterpiece, Reindeer Games is actually an enjoyable, be it derivative entry into the heist sub-genre. It opens with the questions raised by a man in a Santa costume smashed through a car windscreen. Akin to Fargo, Reindeer Games is endowed with a distinct regionality, texturally evoking its Michigan panhandle setting. Reliably, the talents of Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron make for entertaining watching.
They are assisted by always-interesting performances from Danny Trejo and Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump). Usually excelling as respectable authority figures, Sinise displays a very different side. This is noticed in his notorious character’s immense cruelty, during one of the film’s best scenes. Rudy and Ashley are escaping across a frozen lake. Gabriel fires his gun at the ice, cracking it. Rudy and Ashely fall in and get trapped under the ice, unable to find the opening. A Christmas action flick,
Reindeer Games’s array of double-crosses, well-executed genre tropes and revelations are, in fact, sufficient to satisfy thriller fans.
3. Bandits (2001)
Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy-Bob Thornton) are west coast-roving bank robbers. They are known as ‘The Sleepover Bandits,’ for taking bank managers hostage in their homes, the night before the robbery. Joe and Terry pickup the quirky Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) and she begins assisting their crimes. A love triangle develops as they are pursued by the cops.
Foremost, Bandits is the ultimate Bonnie and Clyde-style, picaresque heist movie, up there with the sub-genre’s best titles. The editing is an interesting feature, interweaving documentary interviews. It begins with a tense, intriguing flash-forward to Joe and Terry being shot during a caper, before rewinding. When building work is being completed upon their prison, Joe and Terry hijack a steamroller and escape, beginning their bank-robbing spree. Barry Levinson’s (Rain Man) professional direction permits the players to deliver their finest work.
Bruce Willis gives one of his illustrious career’s best performances, as the unshakeably confident Joe. The same is true of Billy-Bob Thornton, expertly bringing to life the nervous Terry. Terry has a long list of ailments and phobias. One of them is a fear of antique furniture: Thornton’s real-life phobia. Such individuality and realism is attributable to the great detail of the screenplay’s well-realised character studies. Thematically, it examines insecurity and self-esteem. Typically, Cate Blanchett is the film’s acting highlight. Her stupendous work reasserts why she is undeniably one of the world’s finest actresses. It is a joy to watch these superlative actors’ comedic exchanges, in what is un unfairly criticised opus from Levinson.
4. 29 Palms (2002)
Using a structure similar to Richard Linklater’s Slacker (1990), a bag of money serves as the main character. The bag is initially possessed by Jeremy Davies’ ‘The Drifter.’ It then changes hands across a violent cast of colourful characters.
With its premise, interweaving story and archetypal gangsters, 29 Palms is Tarantino-esque. This is also true of its stylish neo-noir cinematography. Making use of fluorescent casino lighting, it lushly portraits the nature and Native American culture of the southwest. 29 Palms is enlivened by cult legends Keith David (The Thing) and John Polito (The Big Lebowski).
However, Michael Rapaport (True Romance) is the comedic highlight, with his oddball, street-wise, New York babbling persona. Meanwhile, Russell Means brings authority and gravitas to his role as the casino boss. Another feature of 29 Palms’s enjoyability is its innumerable series of twists and double-crosses, maintaining consistent excitement and suspense. With lots of action, witty dialogue and personality, 29 Palms is an under-praised, B-movie hidden gem.
5. Steal (2002)
Steal concerns a band of outlaws, led by Stephen Dorff. They escape bank robberies using roller-skates and snowboards.
Badly reviewed, Steal actually has a lot to offer heist fans. Like its electronic score, the textbook storyline is paced to a sprinter’s pulse, with impressively choreographed action sequences. With its MTV editing, costumes and hair and makeup, Steal typifies the vibrant, freewheeling cultural atmosphere of the early-2000s. Stephen Dorff is also underestimated. In movies like this and City of Industry, he builds a watchable, nonchalant and impulsive action hero reputation, deserving of more mainstream notice.