I spy with my little eye, something beginning with “spy.” If you guessed “spy thrillers” then congratulations, you win! Now you not only have the love and respect of your peers but also our picks for the 13 best modern spy thrillers. These are the greatest espionage movies since the year 2000, packed with action, or intrigue, or stunts, or all three.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch all of these spy movies and report back to us. We think it’ll be easy for a special agent like you!
‘The Tailor of Panama’ (2001)
Pierce Brosnan’s best spy movie isn’t about James Bond. He plays a despicable espionage agent in John Boorman’s riveting and intelligent “The Tailor of Panama,” based on a novel by spy writer extraordinaire John le Carré (who co-wrote the screenplay). Geoffrey Rush plays the title character, a tailor who makes suits for the wealthy and powerful in Panama, who passes along intelligence to Brosnan’s spy. When the stories aren’t good enough he starts making them up, accidentally creating an international incident that turns deadly. “The Tailor of Panama” reminds us that espionage stories aren’t always fun, they’re often severe and tragic. The whole cast is great, but Brosnan steals the show as a spy completely unlike his unflappable 007 persona.
‘The Bourne Identity’ (2002)
Robert Ludlum’s classic spy tale about an agent with amnesia who pieces together his old life and last mission was drastically rewritten for the big screen in Doug Liman’s game-changing action classic. Liman strips away most of the contrivance, focusing the narrative on the identity crisis Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) becomes obsessed with, and his tireless efforts to become a better person than he clearly used to be. The film undermines blockbuster spy movie convention, opting for minimalism whenever possible, and delivering one of cinema’s best car chases by refusing to give the hero a cool car, instead knocking a ramshackle lemon down staircases. Paul Greengrass’ sequels are more popular nowadays, and the spinoff “The Bourne Legacy” is laughable, but it’s the original that changed the action movie industry and works best on its own. Even James Bond had to step up in response to this movie’s success.
‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ (2002)
George Clooney’s directorial debut is based on one of the weirdest autobiographies on record. Sam Rockwell stars as the real-life game show producer and TV celebrity Chuck Barris, who collectively lowered our cultural standards with hit series like “The Newlywed Game” and “The Gong Show.” The strange thing is that Barris insists that he was simultaneously working for the CIA, using his entertainment career as a cover for clandestine spy missions. Clooney takes Barris’ claim at face value, crafting a strange and confident feature that’s as hard to believe as it is engrossing. Sam Rockwell wasn’t a big star when “Confessions” came out, but this film made it clear that was going places.
‘The Sum of All Fears’ (2002)
The fourth adaptation of Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan” novels had the worst possible timing, telling a story about a successful and catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil right after the horrifying events of 9/11. The release date was pushed back but it was hard to unsee the parallels, and at the time it was almost harder to believe the film’s claims that white supremacists might rise to power again and threaten global politics. Ironically, and tragically, that part has aged weirdly well. “Field of Dreams” and “Sneakers” director Phil Alden Robinson directs a slick and gripping adaptation, with Ben Affleck doing a respectable job as a young version of the hero previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford.
‘Black Book’ (2006)
“RoboCop” and “Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven gave Hollywood the middle finger in the 2000s, returning to his Dutch filmmaking roots after over 20 years. “Black Book” was a sharp and riveting return to form, an espionage thriller starring Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”) as a Jewish woman who goes undercover, seduces a Nazi and feeds the Resistance vital intelligence during World War II. The slick sheen of Verhoeven’s American films gives “Black Book” an epic quality. The down to earth, conflicted morals and uncompromising physicality makes it stand out against blockbuster pabulum.
‘Casino Royale’ (2006)
James Bond responded to “The Bourne Identity” by going back to formula, adapting Ian Fleming’s grounded first 007 spy novel into a lean, mean, rugged action movie. Daniel Craig plays a younger James Bond, not quite the suave power fantasy he would one day become, as he brute forces his way through what should be delicate situations, breaking as much as he fixes along the way. Eva Green plays the only real love of Bond’s life, if this movie is to be believed, and matches Craig’s dashing sneer with coy charisma. The Bond movies immediately got big and ridiculous again, and while “Skyfall” is bigger and shinier and arguably more exciting, “Casino Royale” is the film that truly captured the essence of the franchise and its hero.
‘Salt’ (2010)
Lots of action movies begin with our dashing hero falsely accused of a crime, and “Salt” is no exception. Angelina Jolie plays the title character, a CIA agent accused of being a Russian sleeper. The twist is that she actually is a Russian spy, and we’re now following a character who would normally be the villain as she tries to fight her way through an impossible mess. There are twists and turns aplenty in “Salt,” and the film often borders on the absurd, sometimes crossing the threshold entirely. But although Angelina Jolie is a celebrated action star for films like “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Wanted,” this film is the pinnacle of her motion picture badassery. She carries Phillip Noyce’s film the way only a great movie star could.
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ (2011)
There’s no sense trying to explain the whole plot of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” since it’s labyrinthine to an almost comical degree. Then again that’s the point, that the world of realistic espionage is a Gordian knot of conflicting goals and information, informed not just by politics but also tedious bureaucracy and human failings. Gary Oldman stars as George Smiley, a retired spy enlisted to hunt down a mole within British intelligence, which is easier said than done. The cast is almost overwhelming — Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, the list goes on — and Tomas Alfredson’s chilling direction, combined with John le Carré’s intricate storytelling, is damn near hypnotic.
‘Argo’ (2012)
Ben Affleck is back in the spy game, this time directing the mostly true story of one of the C.I.A.’s most interesting operations. He also stars as real-life CIA agent Antonio Mendez (sit with that for a moment), whose mission was to extricate American diplomats from Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis in 1981. His ingenious scheme involves creating an elaborate cover story, working with Hollywood insiders to announce and build buzz for an upcoming “Star Wars” knockoff called “Argo,” and claiming the diplomats were actually just location scouts. In reality the mission went off with a hitch, and Mendez’s complex cover was hardly even questioned, but Affleck knows that’s not much of a movie so he revs up the finale with some pulse-pounding, very contrived suspense. Damned if it doesn’t work though. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture.
‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ (2015)
In the wake of the success of the original James Bond movies, Hollywood churned out one knockoff after another. Few were as beloved at the time as “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” an odd couple television series co-created by Ian Fleming himself, about an American agent and a Russian agent who are forced to join forces at the height of the Cold War. By the time Guy Ritchie got around to rebooting the franchise in the mid-2010s mainstream audiences had largely forgotten the series and the would-be blockbuster bombed. And that’s a shame because the new “U.N.C.L.E.” is a masterfully witty, stylish, exciting affair, starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer (I know, I know, look, we can’t uncast him now) who care almost as much about Swingin’ Sixties style and fashion as they do about saving the day.
‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (2015)
There are currently seven films in the “Mission: Impossible” movie series (eight if you count 1967’s “Mission: Impossible vs. The Mob,” which you should). All of them are arguably great, except maybe “Mission: Impossible II,” and each of them is probably someone’s favorite, except maybe “Mission: Impossible II.” The point is that it would be pointless to include them all, and whichever film we picked to represent this stunt-heavy, much-beloved series would piss somebody off. So we’re going with “Rogue Nation,” which is the film that gets every part of the formula just right. A memorable ensemble cast, staggeringly dangerous stunts, a plot you can actually follow, and surprises galore. Bonus points for introducing Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, the most exciting supporting character these movies ever had, and stealthily the real star of this particular installment.
‘Phantom’ (2023)
Half historical drama, half spy thriller, and half old-fashioned whodunnit, Lee Hae-young’s luscious and feminist “Phantom” is intense and exhilarating cinema. During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s, a revolutionary group attempts to assassinate a visiting official, setting off a chain of events that turn chaotic and deadly. Everyone suspected of being a spy is corralled into a single hotel. Soon they’re all sneaking around and uncovering each other’s secrets, and eventually it explodes into stylish violence. A gorgeous spy thriller, exciting to watch and, in true spy movie fashion, a little difficult to follow after a while. Not that you’ll care about that. You’ll be too swept up in its period detail and empowering queer heroics.
‘Black Bag’ (2025)
One of the hallmarks of the spy genre is illicit affairs, in part because it’s fun to watch sexy people doing sexy things, but also because it’s part of the job. In Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” we learn that agents who sleep together — and apparently they all do — are just as insecure as the rest of us, and when all of your sexual partners are professional liars it’s bound to mess with your head eventually. Michael Fassbender leads a first rate cast — including Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Marisa Abela, Regé-Jean Paige and Tom Burke — as he tries to root out the traitor in their midst. Icy, sexy, intelligent, and psychologically complex. And hey, it’s also got Pierce Brosnan in it! The circle is finally complete.
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