The best thrillers to watch on Netflix this May 2024

We’re halfway through May and on the cusp of several big releases that kick off the summer season. If you’re looking for a trio of chilling, adrenaline-pumping and heartbreaking thrillers to tide you over to this year’s summer blockbusters, look no further.

This month’s selection includes Todd Haynes’ 2019 legal thriller based on real events, an explosive action thriller starring Scott Adkins, and a steamy neo-noir with a charismatic performance from a young Jeff Bridges.

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Editor’s pick: Dark Waters

Photo: Mary Cybulski/Focus Features

Director: Todd Haynes
Pour: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins

Fans of Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and director Todd Haynes all seemed to miss one of their finest works of recent years: Dark watera legal thriller that’s worth Teflon pans All the president’s men done for the president’s men.

Based on an equally captivating New York Times Magazine reveal and adapted by Matthew Michael Carnahan (The kingdom), Dark water Ruffalo stars as Robert Billet, a real-life corporate defense attorney who is essentially driven by guilt and investigates a series of unusual deaths in West Virginia. But as he reluctantly looks around, Billet discovers that every death is attributable to a DuPont chemical plant, and what turns out to be one of the greatest atrocities committed by a major corporation on American soil. Billet knows he can’t stay calm, but this turns his career and home life upside down.

It’s a simple but compelling drama, conducted by Haynes in an unusually buttoned-up style (fans may be expecting the psychological delirium of secure or May December). In other hands, with no sense of human need and no curiosity about how breaking a case like this actually works, Dark water would be fodder for Peacock docuseries. But Ruffalo, distraught and unrelenting, and Hathaway, playing an almost disposable role as his supportive but drained wife, dig in so much deeper than what an hour law and order could do. And yes, I threw away all my Teflon pans afterward. —Matt Patches

One more try

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Director: James Nunn
Pour: Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Alexis Knapp

The film 2021 A shot has dared an experiment: a tactical military action thriller, all presented in one shot. Star Scott Adkins and director James Nunn reunited for the sequel. One more try, which takes the solid foundation and ideas of the first film and expands them into a more successful end result. Crucially, the sequel is set in an airport, which adds a different dimension to the action and one-shot gimmick. It was also a major logistical effort since the film was shot at a working airport. The fights are great (especially one on a moving train where the handrails are used as weapons and mobility aids), and Adkins’ physical performance in these films is breathtaking. It’s one of the more immersive action thrillers you’ll find. –Pete Volk

Against all odds

Image: New Visions/Columbia Pictures

Director: Taylor Hackford
Pour: Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods

If you’re looking for a steamy, slow-paced drama with picturesque sights and great performances, Taylor Hackford’s 1984 thriller is for you. Based on the novel by Daniel Mainwaring, Against all odds Jeff Bridges plays Terry Brogan, an aging football player who is cut from his team after a serious injury. With no other choice, he accepts an assignment from Jake (James Woods), a notorious gambler, to find his ex-lover Jessie (Rachel Ward), who happens to be the daughter of Terry’s ex-boss.

Bridges and Ward have great on-screen chemistry as their relationship deepens, and Woods predictably makes his presence known as a good-natured villain with a talent for deceit and manipulation. As if that wasn’t enough, the film itself was crucial to the making of 2010 Tron: Legacy – director Joseph Kosinski modeled the character of CLU after Bridges’ appearance in Against all odds. All in all, it’s a pretty damn solid thriller. –Toussaint Egan