Top 25 Films Of The 2000s

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 21^st 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