Crime movies follow the usual formula. Criminals commit a crime out of passion, insanity, or for some unjustified or undetermined reason. Police investigate the crime, which is at first mundane, then sometimes worse than expected. Criminals outrun the police, and the police give chase. The police catch the criminals red-handed. Criminals and their crimes are indivisible, but the real anomalies are those unlawful few that get away with it all.
10 Chinatown (1974) - Noah Cross
Chinatown follows the California Waters Wars in the 1940s between the city of Los Angeles and its farmers. Among the rising tensions over water rights, private investigator Jake Gittes researches the death of Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
He suspects foul play from Mulwray's business partner, Noah Cross. Gittes gets a lead on Cross' plan to dry up the land and develop it for himself. Under the protection of corrupt cops, Cross gets his slice of the city.
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9 Ichi the Killer (2001) - Ichi
Ichi the Killer is based on the manga series of the same name by Hideo Yamamoto. Ichi is the unlikeliest of killers, spending his time pleasuring himself to prostitutes. He is framed for the murder of Yakuza boss Anjo before defending a lady of the night from her abusive pimp. Ichi tries to sexually assault her, but he kills her instead.
The Yakuza clan Ichi belongs to uses him to start a turf war and kill on their behalf. Ichi cannot be tamed by the criminal underworld due to the sexual repression and violence forced upon him. Ichi survives his manipulation and becomes the Yakuza's worst nightmare.
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8 Natural Born Killers (1994) - Mallory and Mickey Knox
Natural Born Killers is about volatile partners in crime Mallory and Mickey Knox. The criminal couple kill morally corrupt people before killing for pleasure. The media attention they receive tout them as heroes until they kill an innocent man in the desert.
They are bitten by rattlesnakes, forcing them to visit, and kill, a pharmacist who cannot treat them. The duo later incite a prison riot, escape with the TV journalist who made them infamous, and shoot him dead. Mallory and Mickey, still at large, now have kids.
Rent on Apple TV
7 No Country for Old Men (2007) - Anton Chigurh
No Country for Old Men is a modern Western involving the money trail of a failed drug deal. The relentless hitman Anton Chigurh is searching for a briefcase filled with two million dollars. Texas welder Llewelyn Moss takes the money while avoiding Chigurh.
Mexicans find Moss and kill him when he attempts to give the case to his wife Carla Jean elsewhere. Chigurh confronts her and reaches an impasse, fleeing the scene after bribing witnesses to remain quiet.
Stream on Showtime
6 Ocean's Eleven (2001) - Everyone but Danny Ocean
Ocean's Eleven is a team of criminals, led by ex-con Danny Ocean, planning to pull off a heist at three Las Vegas casinos. They study the operations and security of the Bellagio resort, going so far as to create a replica of the vault they will steal from.
The men execute their mission, baiting and fooling the casino owner, Terry Benedict. Danny is the fall guy who violates his parole for the rest of the group to start and finish the job. After Danny is arrested, the others celebrate in front of the Fountains of Bellagio.
Rent on Apple TV
5 Pulp Fiction (1994) - Jules Winnfield
Pulp Fiction is a crime film told in caricature through self-righteous hitman Jules Winnfield. His moral code is a strange one, as he is neither saint nor sinner. Jules will interrogate a henchman and proselytize his version of the Bible before filling him with lead.
Jules considers his line of work an act of God. After surviving a recent brush with death, he believes the experience was a miracle. Jules takes it as a sign to get out of the business, scot-free.
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4 Swordfish (2001) - Gabriel Shear
Swordfish is a techno-thriller about anti-terrorist defense worker Gabriel Shear, who entraps ex-con hacker Stanley Jobson to siphon money from the U.S. government. Jobson develops a malware program for Shear, completing the transfer.
To cover his tracks, Shear stages a heist while leaving behind a corpse in his likeness. Terrorist attacks are later orchestrated to divert attention away from his disappearance. Shears gets his money before escaping to Monte Carlo.
Rent on Apple TV
3 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Hannibal Lecter
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The Silence of the Lambs is a psychological horror film exploring the mind and motives of the cannibal psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter. He complies and compromises his way to breaking out of prison without FBI trainee Clarice Starling knowing it.
Lecter learns more about Sterling while leading her investigation of serial killer Buffalo Bill into dangerous territory. Starling almost dies catching Buffalo Bill, while Lecter makes his escape to the Bahamas just in time for dinner.
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2 The Usual Suspects (1995) - Keyser Söze
The Usual Suspects is a neo-noir of misdirection by the disabled con artist Roger "Verbal" Kint. He explains to the LAPD that their small gang was intercepted by the mysterious crime lord Keyser Söze. He and one other criminal survived the ordeal.
The latter had previous run-ins with Argentinian and Hungarian mobsters at the crime scene. Feigning sheepish innocence, Verbal admits that the second man is Söze before being released. The police learn too late that Verbal lied and was Söze the entire time as he gets into his getaway car.
Stream on Tubi
1 Zodiac (2007) - The Zodiac Killer
Zodiac is a dramatization of the Zodiac Killer case beginning in the late 1960s. A serial murderer known as Zodiac commits his crimes in San Francisco, leaving behind coded messages that taunt the police, media, and his victims.
His string of murders and egotistical letters led to a manhunt. The identity of the Zodiac Killer is still unknown 50 years later; a true crime still waiting to be solved, and a criminal still waiting to be caught.
Stream on Showtime
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