I decided I
wanted to list my top 25 favourite films of the 2000s. Once I compiled the list
I realized it ended up sort of looking somewhat like most best of 2000s lists,
but that just shows these films are deservingly here. Now please do keep in
mind that there are a lot of films that I have now seen from the 2000s, that
many probably think should be on here. Also I will admit that I am maybe
cheating a bit, by putting trilogies in here, but I only do it because I think
every film is equally deserving of a spot.
25) The
Bourne Trilogy (2002, 2004, 2007) Directed by Doug Liman (first one only) and
Paul Greengrass (last two)
Like I
said, I´m cheating, but you know what? I don’t care, because this is my list.
Now I remember seeing The Bourne Identity
on TV in 2006 or something and it was just something I hadn’t really seen
before at the time. It was a film that just hooked you from minute one and
never let go until I got The Bourne
Ultimatum for Christmas in 2007. The whole series (not the spin-off) is
just a great mash-up of great writing, story and character, with extraordinary
action scenes.
24) The
Incredibles (2004) Directed by Brad Bird
I remember
loving this as a kid, but then again, I was a kid, however re-watching it not
too long ago, I realized how amazing this film is. It´s not just a fun family flick,
it´s a Pixar film (duh), combined with a superhero film, combined with a James
bond film, and it works perfectly. Not only is this film both cleverly funny
and heart-warming, it has some of the most exciting action sequences of the
decade!
23) The
Hurt Locker (2009) Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
From James
Cameron´s ex-wife, comes the film that (deservedly) beat Avatar for the Best Picture Oscar. A lot of people hate this film,
but personally I find it amazing, but it´s a film, which is really difficult to
compliment, beyond its technical marvels. The film is incredibly tense and
display war in a way that is rarely seen in Hollywood, despite some inaccuracy
that war vets gladly point out on the Imdb boars, again and again, this film
felt very real, mostly in it´s depiction of everyday life and showing that it´s
not all shootouts and explosions everywhere, but instead it´s very quiet and
moody for the most part.
22)
Gladiator (2000) Directed by Sir Ridley Scott
Another
Best Picture winner, which some people strongly disagree with. The film may not
be the most original of the decade, but it is the definition of a Hollywood
Epic. For me, Maximus is one of the characters of the decade that have done the
best job of making me cheer for him, as he has been treated so incredibly
unfairly and you really want him to succeed on his quest. It is a film that is
enjoyable every time I watch it, due to it´s amazing performances and
technicality within the directing, cinematography, editing, score and just
overall epicness.
21) Kill
Bill (2003, 2004) Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Now this
isn’t really cheating, because despite being released in two parts, it was made
as one four-hour movie. I kind of surprised myself by putting this film on the
list, because it really isn’t my kind of movie, yet there is just something I
love about it. I love the fact that it is so crazy over the top insane, but it
doesn’t really become silly. The film doesn’t have an incredibly interesting
story, but it does have some very cool character, but most of all, it is just
so much fun.
20) Harry
Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004) Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
That´s
right you heard me, a Harry Potter film, one of the biggest cultural phenomenon’s
of the 2000s, but you know what? While none of the Harry Potter films are bad,
none of them are truly amazing either, except for this one. Cuarón just
completely nailed the tone of the film, giving the film a mood and visual style
that really should have been kept by all of the film. The film is also one of
the more character driven films of the series as Harry is old enough to
understand more of what is going on, yet he also has so much rage connected to
his parents death and Sirius Black. His relationship with Lupin also brings
some great character moments. It is a shame Cuarón didn’t sign on for another,
because he really made Harry Potter more then just Harry Potter with this film.
19) Shaun
Of The Dead (2004) Directed By Edgar Wright
A romantic
comedy with zombies, do I need to say more? Oh ok fine I will. This film just
never gets old; I must have watched it at least 20 times and it just never
stops being funny. Combining hilarious humour with zombie horror with a romance
between a man and his favourite bar (or girlfriend, either works) with the
unique style of Edgar Wright, giving us one of the most clever and funny
comedies of any decade.
18) Black
Hawk Down (2001) Directed By Sir Ridley Scott
There are
few war films that match the intensity and the horror (oh the horror) of Black Hawk Down. I remember one time
when watching this film with a friend and at the scenes at the beginning he was
talking about how cool it would be to be in the military, but after the film
was over… well he didn’t want to join the military after that. Realistic or
not, this paints a horrifying picture of war, based on a real event tries to
follow it pretty closely. The film isn’t strong on characters, yet you really
feel a connection, but that is because you feel you are in this mess with them,
this living hell. The fact that it is true only makes it all the more
frightening.
17) Requiem
For A Dream (2000) Directed by Darren Aronofsky
With one of
the most recognizable soundtracks of the decade this is also one of the most
depressing films of the decade. Whilst Black
Hawk Down is a sort of War-Horror, is
Requiem For A Dream a drug-horror. No sane person would consider starting
drugs after seeing this film, unless your idea of fun is being chased by your refrigerator. It´s not something you watch to be entertained, but in its
strange depressing style showing a very real image of junkie life, it is
brilliant.
16) Let The
Right One In (2008) Directed By Tomas Alfredson
The story
of a vampire who sort of falls in love with a human. Anyone who thought of Twilight, please slap yourself. It is a
vampire-romance of sorts, and it is a horror of sorts, but this Swedish film is
something truly fresh within the vampire and horror genres. It borders on the
line between beautiful and horrifying, with the child actors do a great job of
taking part in the tragic love story. The film is so quiet for the most and
filled with such innocence in the main characters, so that when the horror is
there, it is unexpected and horrifying, especially when you see the contrast to
the sweet little girl Eli is for the most.
15) Triples
of Belleville (2003) Directed By Sylvain Chomet
A pretty
much dialogue free French animated comedy, and what a strange film it is. The
plot centers around a boy living with his grandmother, forced to work towards
Tour de France. His first year in the Tour, he and two other bikers are
kidnapped by the mafia and used for gambling. His grandmother and her
overweight dog try to find… yeah it is as fantastic as it sounds. With
fantastic animation and music this is an animation oozing with great subtle
comedy and some touching moments. Besides it´s always nice to see hand drawn
animation nowadays.
14)
Children Of Men (2006) Directed By Alfonso Cuarón
Cuarón
makes his second appearance on the list, with this brutally honest film about
the future. He has said he didn’t want to make this like Blade Runner, but rather makes it as similar to he present as
possible. The difference between the two, which both predict a future where
earth has gone to hell, is Blade Runner
tried to foresee what the future could be like, while this film pretty much
didn’t change anything from what it looks like today, which makes the film all
the more frightening. The film never feels like it is the future, it feels like
it is now and the world has gone to hell. Cuarón shaped one of the most
believable futures ever portrayed on film. The film also contain some of the
most ground-breaking tracking shots, with almost every shot in the film being a
tracking shot, which is actually hard to notice because it is so seamless and
so well done that it´s not just showing off.
13) The
Prestige (2006) Directed By Christopher Nolan
Before
Nolan gave us dreams within dreams, he gave us diaries within diaries. A
majority of the film is Christian Bale´s character reading Hugh Jackman´s
diary, who is writing down his reactions to Bale´s diary, it´s pretty
overwhelming at first, but once you get into the way the film works you get a
masterfully crafted puzzle. Featuring a good performance from none other then
David Bowie, the film keeps tricking you and as it is a film about magic, which
is all about tricking people, the film constantly tricks you. Michael Caine
opens with a monologue about watching closely, where he pretty much says that
if you watch closely you can find the secret, but even if you try you won´t
really be able to watch closely, because you want to get fooled and that’s
pretty much a good way to describe the film. One of my favourite puzzles of the
2000s
12) Bronson
(2008) Directed By Nicholas Winding Refn
One critic
called this the A Clockwork Orange of
the 21st Century, and he´s not that far off. This film is very
obviously inspired by Kubrick´s masterpiece, yet stands on it´s own legs as a
masterpiece. While it might not reach the heights of Clockwork Orange, it is a brilliantly odd film fuelled by a
breakthrough performance from Tom Hardy. What really sets the film apart is the
way it is told, which is by Bronson (Tom Hardy) himself standing on a stage
performing for an audience and telling the story of his life, it is something I
haven’t quite seen before, but it´s works beautifully making this film part
exciting, part funny and part horrific.
11) Moon
(2009) Directed By Duncan Jones
Another film
with some very obvious inspiration from Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey this time. Directed by the son of none other
then David Bowie, this theme heavy film beautifully portrays isolation and
brings up moral and philosophical dilemmas that will keep stirring around in
your head for some time after the movie is over. Sam Rockwell gives an amazing
and touching performance, one of his best, and we really feel his struggle.
Moon is a brilliant, thought-provoking and philosophical film that is horribly overlooked.
10) The
Lord Of The Rings (2001, 2002, 2003) Directed By Peter Jackson
Don´t act
like you weren’t expecting this to appear on the list. The magnificent trilogy
that defined the 2000s became the Star Wars of the generation and won a total
of 17 Oscars between them. Peter Jackson did marvels in bringing this fantasy
world to life and giving us very strong characters. I once watched all three
films in Extended Edition in three days and it was a beautiful experience,
watching all the three film together, you can tell they were made as one and
was meant to be viewed as one. The effects were great then and hold up to today’s
standards and while being a film stuffed with CGI, the story and characters are
always the main focus.
9) District
9 (2009) Directed By Neil Bloomkamp
This
South-African sci-fi took me by surprise. Despite its obvious Apartheid
parallels, the film is something incredibly fresh within sci-fi. The lead
performance is brilliant, but odd and somehow we do kind of feel for him
despite him being quite an unlikable character. By the end of this film you are
so emotionally invested to this film and this would never be possible if they
didn’t do such a great job of selling this story. Opening in a documentary
style we get an interesting look of the world where aliens have been living in
South-African slums for 28 years since they arrived. From there, the story and
characters moves along in a great pace and never feels predictable. Like Moon or The Children Of Men it is a story unlike anything we have quite
seen before.
8) Up (2009)
Directed By Pete Doctor
The cute
animated film with a dog that talks, that deals with themes such as growing old
and loosing your loved ones. I would say that is a natural fit. A lot of people
seem to be crying by the first 10 minutes or so of this movie and with good
reason. The first 20 minutes or so is a montage of a young man and woman who
get married and grow old together before she eventually dies of old age and he
has life on sad and alone. No, no I´m serious, this is a children´s movie, well
it is Pixar, but still it has talking dogs that like to chase squirrels… that
being said, an adult will enjoy this much more then a child and there is a lot
to enjoy.
7) Batman
Begins/The Dark Knight (2005, 2008) Directed By Christopher Nolan
Yeah so
this is probably cheating since it´s not even a complete trilogy (though if the
third film was released in the same decade it would be here), but I think they
work so well together and I wouldn’t really put one over the other, as they are
both amazing. Nolan really made Bruce Wayne a character with these films,
giving him depth as well a morally conflicted mind. The first film is proper
atmospheric film, relying heavily on atmosphere and mood to tell the dark
story, however it is also a very character driven film. It takes quite a while
before we actually get Batman, however it is because we spend so much time with
this damaged character that the whole trilogy works so well. Then there is the
second film, which took the action to a new level, not focusing as much on
atmosphere or character, but theme heavy nonetheless as well as one of the most
accomplished action-thrillers of all time. The film showed the world what was
possible with a comic-book film. The film is perfectly paced, making two and
half hours feel like nothing, and of course the film also contains one of the
most memorable performances of the decade from Heath Ledger (rest in peace) as
the Joker.
6) Oldboy
(2003) Directed By Chan-Wook Park
All you
really need to know is that the film contains a man eating a living octopus…
but I´ll praise it some more. This South-Korean revenge film has arguably the
best fight sequence of the decade. In one long 6-minute take we get an amazing
scene where the main character fights about twenty guys or so with a hammer…
just thinking about how much rehearsing that´s required for that to go well
without any injury and works as well as it does, is insane. The film really
shines in every department from music to visuals, giving something you haven’t
quite seen before.
5) The
Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007) Directed By
Andrew Dominik
Probably
one of the more spoiler heavy titles on this list, however it actually works in
the films favour, because the fact that we know how it is going to end, makes
it all the more exciting. The whole film relies the relationship between Jesse
James and the obsessive Robert Ford, played brilliantly by Brad Pitt and Casey
Affleck respectively, and watching Robert Ford growing from a humble fan to an
obsessive creep is very exciting and slightly creepy. The film is very slow,
however it is paced perfectly and exactly as long as it needs to be for the
character development. Even the supporting characters get some development and
have some depth to them and the characters are really what make this so great.
That being said, great characters alone don’t make a masterpiece, but the fact
that everything else works is what really gives the film its extra push towards
greatness.
4) No
Country For Old Men (2007) Directed By Joel And Ethan Coen
The only
performance challenging Heath Ledger as the most memorable of the decade is
Javier Bardem as mass-murdering Anton, and he most certainly has the creepiest
haircut. Pretty much without any music throughout the film, it becomes one of
the most haunting films ever. There is something slightly scary about a film
that never has music, and we just get the sound of footsteps or cars driving
etcetera, and that really makes it all the more creepy and gives it an
immensely atmospheric feel. Some people really hate the ending of the film,
however I think the ending is absolutely genius and I think the film wouldn’t
have worked as well with a more closed ending.
3) Memento
(2000) Directed By Christopher Nolan
A film told
backwards, while at the same time having another time being played
chronologically until the two eventually meet in the middle for one important
moment and surprising reveal. It may sound like a gimmicky story-telling
device, however it works flawlessly, because it is very relevant to the story
and main character. The main character has lost the ability of creating new
memories and so we slowly get to see everything he has forgotten, as we
gradually understand more and more of what is going on. Similarly to Nolan´s
first film on the list, he carefully give us hints throughout the film, but you
won´t even think about these before viewing it a second or third time, which
might be necessary to fully appreciate this brilliant puzzle.
2) Pan´s
Labyrinth (2006) Directed By Guillermo Del Toro
This
Mexican film is one of the most beautiful films ever. Not necessarily in its
visuals, but in its ideas. Telling the story of a young girl trying to escape
the horrors of her stepfather and World War II, she starts creating a fantasy
world where she tries to escape reality. Her stepfather, General Vidal, is such
a monster that the monsters she meet in her fantasies becomes comforting in
comparison. Del Toro said that when he pitched the ending to the film´s
producer, Alfonso Cuarón who has two films on this list, they both started
crying which is understandable as the film truly has one of the most beautiful
endings in any film I have seen. The camera is almost constantly moving and Del
Toro somehow managed to perfectly match fairy-tale visuals with those of a grim
WWII film.
1) There
Will Be Blood (2007) Directed By Paul Thomas Anderson
Maybe not
the most inspired choice for best of the decade, but it absolutely deserves it.
Led by one of the most layered performances of the decade by Daniel Day-Lewis
as the greedy oil-tyrant Daniel Plainview. The film is a difficult film to
watch, but also one that demands your attention. The score by Jonny Greenwood
(Radiohead) is one of most unique scores for quite some time and one that the
film wouldn’t quite be the same without. This Kubrick-inspired masterpiece is
more multi-layered then any film I have seen of the decade, it is infinitely
re-watchable as there is so much complexion around the themes of the film and
you will equally blown-away every time. I know there is no such thing as a
perfect film, but this is for me the closest we get to a perfect film, as I can
never find anything worth critiquing in the film. If you want a little more on
the film you can read the review I wrote for it in September, but all you need
to know is that you need to watch the film, end of case.
Honerable mentions: Departures, Etearnal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Star Trek, Hunger, Juno, The Departed
I want to
start off by talking about taking artistic liberties. It really aggravates the
way filmmakers, like Ben Affleck who take creative freedom in their films, gets
so much hate for it. It is important to remember that they are making a movie,
not a documentary to tell the truth, but a movie made to entertain people. We
must also remember that at the beginning of the film it says based on or
inspired by real event, which in no way means everything displayed in the film
is grounded in reality, the filmmaker uses the information that helps him or
her making the best film possible. So yes a lot of this film is fictionalized,
but that is the way they have decided to do it and it works so please just deal
with it.
