Fledgling streaming service HBO Max may be the new kid on the block, but their extensive catalog of Warner Bros. films means it’s loaded with cult classics, heart-racing thrillers, and so much more. A cursory glance at what HBO Max has on offer reveals just how extensive their range of movies is.
Thrillers, in particular, are in huge supply at HBO Max, with both oldies and newer contenders available to subscribers. In fact, there are so many that it may be handy to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for before diving deeper into HBO’s enormous film library.
10 Training Day
A tale of crooked cops in a police department constantly under scrutiny for widespread corruption, Training Day stars Denzel Washington as Detective Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, both of whom work for the Los Angeles Police Department’s narcotics division. Jake, who embodies more of an altruistic, good cop personality, grapples with Alonzo’s dirty tactics.
Training Day takes viewers on a ride-along through the streets of LA, meeting gangsters and crooked cops along the way. And for those interested, there are tons of behind-the-scenes facts to discover about the movie.
9 The Bourne Film Series
When secret agent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) loses his memory, he embarks on a mission to uncover what happened. The problem is that his former boss at the CIA isn’t happy about this development, and Bourne soon finds himself on the run from European law enforcement, American assassins, and more.
While not all Bourne films are created equal, the first three in the series — The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum — are great thrillers, taking audiences on a fatal romp across Europe, Russia, India, and New York.
8 V For Vendetta
Based on the graphic novel written by Watchmen author Alan Moore, V For Vendetta reveals a dystopian, 1984-like future for the UK where the government surveils its citizens, arrests and tortures them in secret, and is universally feared. Masked vigilante V (Hugo Weaving) dons a Guy Fawkes mask as he battles his corrupt government.
Branded a terrorist by the state (V does in fact blow up a few buildings in the film), V takes on an apprentice of sorts, Evey (Natalie Portman), as he continues his crusade to rid the UK of its dictatorship. A film that’s even more prescient now than when it was first released, V For Vendetta can hold its own against today’s blockbuster films.
7 Blade Runner (1982) & Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic centers on a cop named Deckard (Harrison Ford), a “blade runner” who seeks out and “retires” (i.e. kills) replicants, cyborg-like entities that look like humans but which possess strength many times that of their creators. The mashup of gothic Los Angeles architecture, flying cars, and skyscraper-sized electronic billboards makes for an iconic setting for one of Scott’s crowning achievements.
HBO Max also hosts the film’s sequel, Blade Runner 2049. Directed by Dennis Villeneuve, 2049 follows a replicant named K, who is working for LAPD as a blade runner. K, suspecting he has a hidden past, sets off across the hellscape of future LA and Las Vegas to find answers.
6 Inception
Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending, dream-manipulating Inception is an all-around great movie. With incredible performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and the film’s ensemble cast, a thrilling soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and jaw-dropping action sequences across an exotic range of environments, Inception isn’t just a must-see film — it’s great to watch again and again.
The film follows Cobb (DiCaprio), who steals secret information from the minds of his clients’ targets by invading their dreams. With the promise of being able to see his kids again, Cobb agrees to a high-risk mission: go into a dream within a dream in order to subconsciously convince his target to break up his corporate empire. A stunning film all-around, fans are still guessing the meaning of the film’s cryptic ending.
5 The Matrix
While The Matrix may be more of an action movie than a thriller, the film that started it all has some incredibly tense moments and is full of surprises for the uninitiated. Programmer Thomas Anderson, a.k.a. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is presented with a choice: learn the chilling truth about the world, or continue living like a sheep headed to the slaughter.
Confronted by a group of powerful computer programs led by the sinister Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), Neo and his mentor Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) risk everything to save humanity. A revolutionary film when it released, The Matrix is known for its introduction of slow-motion “bullet time” action sequences, which had a major impact on filmmaking.
4 The Fugitive
When Harrison Ford isn’t busy fighting Nazis as Indiana Jones or protecting the galaxy as Han Solo, he apparently enjoys running from the law as an escaped convict. In The Fugitive, which spent six weeks as the #1 movie in America, Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford) returns home to find his wife murdered by a man with a prosthetic arm.
The police don’t buy his story, and Kimble is sentenced to death. But as fortune would have it, Kimble manages to escape from custody when his bus crashes. Determined to find his wife’s killer and clear his name, Kimble has the odds stacked against him as both law enforcement and the real killer close in.
3 The Town
Before he was Batman, Ben Affleck was Doug MacRay, a career criminal hiding in plain sight. A native of the Charlestown neighborhood in Boston, Doug catches feelings for an unlikely person: the hostage he and his crew took in his last heist.
As the hardened criminal inside him begins to soften, Doug is pulled back and forth between a life of crime and becoming an upstanding citizen. Nevertheless, he still feels an incredible sense of camaraderie and brotherhood with his crew — a relationship that will test him when things get hairy. A gritty crime thriller, The Town is a must-watch for any cinema fan out there.
2 Argo
Another film starring Ben Affleck, Argo tells the bizarre true story of the CIA’s mission to rescue a group of Americans during the Iran hostage crisis. When the Iranian Revolution leaves the U.S. Embassy in peril, six Americans find refuge with the Canadian ambassador.
CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) drums up a plan to rescue the captives: a fake movie called Argo, which would see the hostages disguised as the studio’s film crew. A daring tale of bravery, ambition, and risk, Argo won three well-deserved Academy Awards despite some recent criticism regarding Affleck playing a Mexican-American character.
1 No Country For Old Men
Based on the novel by the legendary Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men is a grizzly, savage, and honest look at the darkest depths of humanity. When Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across a briefcase with $2 million inside, he suddenly finds himself on the run from a hitman (Javier Bardem) who will stop at nothing to get a drug cartel’s money back.
Written and directed by the Coen Brothers, this extremely violent film will leave viewers shaking in their seats as they wonder what might happen next. This odyssey across southern Texas and northern Mexico isn’t just a great film: it’s a fascinating exploration into what drives us all as humans.