The Best Mystery and Thriller Movies of 2025
While sophisticated films for adults continue to struggle at the box office, there are still plenty of worthwhile mystery and thriller movies being released, even if many of them open in a small number of theaters or head straight to streaming. The best mystery and thriller movies of 2025 include vintage closed-door murder mysteries and spy stories, plus plenty of gonzo action, gritty violence and rewarding plot twists.
Black Bag
This sleek espionage thriller from prolific filmmaker Steven Soderbergh features just one explosion, but it’s more exciting than the entirety of many big-budget studio action movies. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett star as married government agents attempting to discover a traitor among their ranks, in a movie that’s essentially Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as a horny comedy. The plot is just intricate enough to sound like high-level intrigue without being completely impenetrable. The deceptions in personal relationships are given equal weight to the deceptions in espionage, and the revelations in each area are equally entertaining.
Wake Up Dead Man
The third movie in director Rian Johnson’s series about eccentric consulting detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is another satisfying mystery with strong performances and a bracing strain of social commentary. This time, Blanc investigates a murder at a small-town church run by a tyrannical Catholic priest (Josh Brolin). Josh O’Connor plays the church’s junior priest, a sensitive and sometimes tortured young man who serves as a guide and sounding board for Blanc. Like previous Blanc movies Knives Out and Glass Onion, Wake Up Dead Man is full of unexpected twists, along with a profound meditation on the nature of faith.
Influencers
Writer-director Kurtis David Harder’s sequel to his delightfully twisted 2022 thriller Influencer brings back Cassandra Naud as the sociopathic grifter known as CW, destroying the lives of another set of social-media wannabes. The sequel leans into the parallels between CW and Tom Ripley, showing her emotional vulnerability and need for companionship, which is undermined by her narcissism and violent impulses. It’s tough to make a sequel to a movie that relies so much on surprises, but Harder strikes an effective balance, expanding on familiar plot points and characters from the first movie while retaining the off-kilter narrative structure.
She Rides Shotgun
Taron Egerton breaks out of his mainstream pretty-boy persona with a strong performance as a small-time criminal who desperately wants to be a good father but only puts his young daughter in ever-increasing danger. Egerton’s Nate McClusky has just been released from prison but is still being targeted for death by a white supremacist gang who are not above killing a child for revenge. She Rides Shotgun features solid suspense and an especially memorable car chase, but the movie really rests on the shoulders of child actress Ana Sophia Heger, and she’s consistently captivating.
Drop
Meghann Fahy plays a widowed therapist who’s just started dating again, only to end up on the world’s most terrifying first date. While she’s out at a fancy restaurant with a seemingly nice guy, she starts getting hostile messages on her phone threatening the life of her son if she doesn’t carry out a series of tasks. Director Christopher Landon builds tension while limiting the action almost entirely to a single location, as everyone in the restaurant is a potential suspect for the mysterious mastermind. Drop is stylish and fast-paced, keeping the audience on edge right alongside the protagonist.
Fight or Flight
Josh Hartnett continues his refreshing comeback with this ridiculous action movie set mostly on an international flight full of international criminals. Hartnett’s disgraced Secret Service agent is recruited by his ruthless ex (Katee Sackhoff) to retrieve a rogue hacker aboard a flight from Bangkok to San Francisco. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s far from the only interested party, and he has to contend with a parade of well-armed adversaries while trying to discover the hidden agenda behind his mission. Hartnett has fun with his dissolute character, and the movie is full of gleefully over-the-top action.
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One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson’s extremely loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland is one of this year’s top Academy Awards contenders, but it’s also a well-crafted political thriller that places its characters constantly on the run. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as aging left-wing activist Bob Ferguson, who’s mostly given up his youthful revolutionary activities to focus on raising his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti). Sean Penn plays the unhinged military commander who’s determined to bring them in, and the supporting cast is full of offbeat characters who populate the thriving world of passionate but pragmatic activists.
Caught Stealing
Director Darren Aronofsky makes a sharp departure with this crime caper that plays more like an early Guy Ritchie movie. Based on the novel by Charlie Huston, Caught Stealing is set in 1998 New York City, where down-on-his-luck bartender Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is inadvertently drawn into a war between rival underworld figures when his neighbor leaves behind a stash of drug money. The freewheeling plot takes some dark turns, but Aronofsky keeps it lively, anchored by Butler as the hapless everyman who just wants to live his simple life without being constantly beaten up and shot at.
Nobody 2
The initial shock of seeing comedian and Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk as an action hero is gone, but this sequel to the sleeper hit is still a playfully brutal good time. Everyone in his family now knows that Odenkirk’s seemingly mild-mannered suburban dad Hutch Mansell is secretly an assassin for hire, and he can’t escape those commitments even while trying to enjoy a weekend getaway. In a rundown resort town, Hutch takes on a corrupt sheriff (Colin Hanks) and a psychopathic crime boss (Sharon Stone), without letting the copious bloodshed get in the way of family fun.
Novocaine
Jack Quaid plays introverted bank manager Nate, who suffers from a rare genetic condition that makes him unable to feel pain. Just after he opens himself up to a romance with his co-worker Sherry (Amber Midthunder), a group of criminals rob the bank and take Sherry hostage. Nathan decides to take advantage of his condition, to go after the criminals and save Sherry. That leads to some inventive action sequences, as Nate takes horrific damage without much concern, while delivering amusing quips. Both stars are charming, and the overall experience is energetic and fun — and completely painless.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for the Boston Globe, Vulture, Tom’s Guide, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.