Top 10 Favorite Murder Mystery Movies
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has started its limited release this week before its release on Netflix next month. And with myself seeing it, I thought it would be fun to share my 10 murder mystery movies of all time. Let’s get started!
10. Murder Mystery: If you’ve noticed on my blog I haven’t really talked about Adam Sandler’s movies, and there is a simple reason for that. I’m not the biggest Adam Sandler fan, but this is a movie that I actually do really enjoy. One summer evening my mom and I were scrolling through Netflix looking for something to watch and we put this one and both of us thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought that Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston had great chemistry with one another, they were both funny together and by themselves. And as a murder mystery, this is a murder mystery that did keep me guessing from when the murder happens to when it’s revealed who it is. The supporting cast with Luke Evans and Terrance Stamp do a nice job of filling out the rich family present in this movie. It’s not great, it’s not an all time classic for me. But as a piece of Netflix’s cannon, this one did its job. And I am excited for the sequel coming soon (maybe next year).
9. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery: After loving the first movie, I was very excited for this movie and it was my most anticipated movie for fall 2022. And I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and thought it was just a lot of fun. It gave me everything that I wanted from this movie, and this movie delivers everything that you liked about the original movie. It delivers a great mystery, a great cast, and great humor to keep you entertained and engaged from beginning to the end of the movie. Once again, this movie gives you a great set of actors playing these larger than life characters that are kind of jerks. It’s of course great to see Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc once again. He gets some really funny moments sprinkled through-out the movie, especially some fish out of water stuff. And as we are talking about murder mysteries, I thought this movie deliverd a great mystery. That raised a bunch of questions, misdirects your view towards certain characters. And once you think you have it figured out, it throws another curve ball at you. So I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I think fans of the first movie will not be disappointed by this movie.
8. Scream (2022): I did make a bit of a mistake here with not having seen the previous four movies before watching this one, because it does spoil the twist for the original. But besides that, I really dug this movie. I was kind of just shocked that this movie kept me laughing and invested from beginning to the end. And I thought the final reveal as to who Ghostface is working for, I was surprised by it and didn’t see it coming. The meta commentary focuses on how so many horror sequels are doing the legacy sequel route, and going back to the original movie. Them commenting on that is pretty funny, and it did make me laugh. The cast and characters all around were great, I thought all of them had something about them that worked. David Arquette and Jack Quaid were the two standouts for me. And so in general, this is a movie that I had a really good time with and is still one of my favorite movies of the year.
7. The Fugitive: For me this is one of Harrison Ford’s best movies, and it’s not one of his big franchise films. The basic set up is Harrion Ford is framed for the murder of his wife is being taken to jail but escapes when the bus gets into an accident and becomes the fugitive. And it’s a great thriller as you are on the edge of your seat waiting for what’s going to happen next, the twists and turns all work and are shocking. Tommy Lee Jones is the police officer that is out to get Ford, and this is the best that Tommy Lee Jones has ever been. And that’s coming from someone who enjoys Tommy Lee Jones a good bit, and this pre Batman Forever and Men in Black time in his career. I believe he even won the best supporting actor for his performance. Julianne Moore, Jane Lynch, and Joe Pantoliano all have parts in the movie. So if you haven’t seen this movie it’s one of the great thrillers, murder mysteries, and 90s movies of all time.
6. A Few Good Men: Honestly, between this and Top Gun: Maverick these are my two favorite Tom Cruise movies. Both of them are great at what they do, but are very different from one another. And I wasn’t originally going to include this movie because I don’t immediately think about this movie as being a murder mystery. But if you think about it…it is one. And it is a great movie that was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. Tom Cruise is charming in this movie. He does deliver a great performance and you buy him as this guy who wants to prove himself but is never really given a good shot at living up to his potential. Of course the “you can’t handle the truth” is truly iconic with some great acting by both Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. But everybody in the movie is great with Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Kiefer Sutherland. But this is one of the great movies of all time with great scenes, arcs, and performances.
NOTE: The top 5 here are pretty interchangeable for me, I had a really hard time deciding which movie would go where. So I’m not 100% sold on this list, so it might change if I ever update this list.
5. The Batman: For me, this is still my favorite movie of the year. It’s a movie that does have a lot to offer. As a fan of the Batman character for as long as I could remember and as somebody who was looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced this movie lived up to the hype. They delivered a movie that takes more inspiration from David Fincher movies rather than other comic book movies. It's a detective noir film that is mysterious, dark, and thrilling from beginning to the end. And seeing Batman be a detective is great because it’s something that other versions of the character had kind of been missing even though it’s one of the things that he’s most known for. So I’m so glad we went to this movie because it’s everything that I wanted and more.
4. The Silence of the Lambs: One of the great psychological horror thrillers of all time. Where it’s easy to forget that this movie is actually a murder mystery with Clarice Sterling going to Hannibal Lecter for help catching Buffalo Bill. And they use Hannibal Lecter in just such a great way where he’s the stand out character but he’s a character that doesn’t have a lot of screen time. He’s there through-out the movie to help our hero, so you might think that Hannibal Lecter is the villain of the movie. But he’s not, Buffalo Bill is the character doing all of the evil things. And of course this movie top to bottom is fantastically cast with some world class actors playing these characters. Jodie Foster as Sterling is great casting, she can play all of the sides of the sides of the character really well. And you believe her as this young detective working on this case. And of course, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter might be the greatest casting of all time. So this is easily one of the greatest movies of all time.
3. Knives Out: Moving in a very different direction from The Silence of the Lambs and the top two movies on the list. And of all of these movies this is the one that I’ve rewatched the most and find the most entertaining. Where Rian Johnson made a movie that is entertaining and tells the audience a lot of information but does it in a way where you can remember everything that happened. The direction by Rian Johnson is also great with the way he transitions from scenes, and the atmosphere and fun tone he creates is also great. I also just love the cast for this movie, it is one of my favorite movie casts of all time. Seeing both Daniel Craig and Chris Evans play characters that are so different from what we normally see them as is a lot of fun. This was my introduction to Ana de Armas who has become a very solid actress in the last couple of years. So all in all, this is a movie that is entertaining and one of my favorite movies of all time.
2. Se7en: “What’s in the Box?” That is a good question and if you’ve seen the movie then you know what’s in the box. And this is a movie that is probably David Fincher’s best directed movie where it’s mysterious and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. And what’s kind of the magic and brilliance of this movie and David Fincher is that the set-up and plot is like any other murder mystery. It follows all of the familiar set-ups and characters of other movies but does it with excellence. And part of the mystery side of it is that we don’t know who the killer is, the killer isn’t revealed until the last 30 minutes of the movie. So it just adds this sense of tension and forward momentum from beginning to end. The performances all around are fantastic with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman hunting down Kevin Spacey’s John Doe. All leading up to one of the greatest movie scenes of all time and quite possibly the greatest finale movie scene in cinematic history. So easily, this is a top tier murder mystery movie. And it kind of breaks my heart that this movie isn’t higher on this list.
1. Gone Girl: For me I go back and forth between this movie and Se7en as David Fincher’s best movie. And as of now, I think I have to go with Gone Girl as David Fincher’s best movie. And this is a movie that I watched with my mom and my grandparents. And if you have seen this movie, then you know that this is quite the movie to watch with family. And this is a movie that is so much fun to watch with people who haven’t seen the movie, because the back half of the movie is so bonkers and crazy. But all in all, this is a movie that is really fantastic and has a lot to offer. It’s a movie that builds this sense of mystery, where you don’t know where it’s going. You don’t know if Ben Affleck’s character actually did it or not. And what’s so great about this movie is that the big twist happens about half way through the movie, but the back half is still engaging and thrilling. And I think this movie is a perfect example as to why David Fincher is one of the greatest directors of all time. Because he’s somebody that can build tension and craft fantastic mystery thrillers. He’s also able to evoke so many great performances in this movie. Rosamund Pike gives one of the best female movie performances of all time in this movie. She’s just so creepy, mysterious, and somebody that you know has a dark side about her. Even seeing two comedy actors with Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry in this movie is great, and they are great. So all in all, this is a movie that is thrilling, mysterious, and has great performances inside of it. So as of now, this is my favorite murder mystery of all time.
There you have it, my 10 favorite murder mysteries of all time. What is your favorite murder mystery? Also, what are some other genres you would like to see my favorite movies of? I do have some fun ones planned for next month and 2023, but let me know of any others. Thanks for reading!
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