Greetings, Polygon readers!
February is here and even though the cold weather is starting to break in, there are plenty of good thrillers on Netflix to watch if you want to get your blood under control. We’ve delved once again into the depths of the streamer’s catalog to bring you the very best that Netflix has to offer in terms of thrillers this month, and I want to say these picks are it Good.
This month’s selection includes a German martial arts thriller about a cage fighter who fights his way to his daughter’s birthday, a neo-noir crime thriller starring Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe, and one of the best conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s. Here’s our list of the best thrillers to watch on Netflix in February.
Editor’s Tip: Sixty minutes
Director: Oliver Kienle
Pour: Emilio Sakraya, Dennis Mojen, Marie Mouroum
Sometimes you want a business thriller with a tight premise. This is the German Netflix original Sixty minutes has to offer. In it, a fighter (played by two-time German karate champion Emilio Sakraya) has exactly one hour to get to his ex-wife’s house for his daughter’s birthday party. If he doesn’t make it in time, she will file for sole custody. And the fighter has another problem: he’s about to get into the ring and there are some shady people with him much money for the fight.
Sixty minutes executes this premise well, relying on Sakraya’s skills as a fighter and actor for a thrill ride that lasts under 90 minutes. While it still falls victim to some “custody thriller” tropes, Sixty minutes cleverly undermines it by realistically assessing the protagonist’s shortcomings as a father. It cleverly uses modern technology (like cell phones and scooters) to advance the narrative, while delivering some jaw-dropping fight sequences along the way. If you’re looking for a straightforward piece of genre cinema that knows exactly what it wants, check this out. —Pete Volk
LA Confidential
Director: Curtis Hanson
Pour: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey
If, like me, you are a fan of historical detective thrillers Chinatown
Guy Pearce plays Ed Exley, the son of a prominent detective who wants to make a name for himself as an institutional reformer and who clashes with Wendell “Bud” White (Russell Crowe), a veteran officer with a personal vendetta and a penchant for… .let’s just say, less than serious police tactics. The animosity shared between the two and their contrasting approaches is one of the major driving forces behind the film’s story, culminating in an explosive third-act encounter in which the two grapple with each other through a deceptive ploy by the film’s antagonist. When you top it off with two excellent supporting performances from Danny DeVito as a smarmy tabloid muckraker and Kim Basinger as a cool and calculating call girl, it’s no wonder LA Confidential
The parallax view
Director: Alan J. Growing up
Pour: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels
The second part of what later became known as Alan J. Pakula’s thematic “Paranoia Trilogy”. The parallax view probably The defining conspiracy thriller of the era that defined the genre. The film stars Warren Beatty as Lee Carter, an investigative journalist who witnesses the assassination of an aspiring presidential candidate at the Seattle Space Needle. After a number of other witnesses begin to die due to mysterious circumstances, Lee accidentally gets on the trail of a company that he believes is responsible for orchestrating the assassination. Pakula’s film is a taut, suspenseful political thriller complemented by unforgettable production design and impeccable cinematography by Gordon Willis. If you’re looking for a spooky investigative thriller that’s brilliantly shot to boot, then this is it The parallax view connects all of these points and more. -THE