The heist film genre is a bona fide subgenre of crime and action films and an audience favorite when done right. The recipe is quite familiar: a ragtag team of experts, the person that brings them all together, and one determined detective hot on their trail. However, with the proper twists, direction, and performances it can always rise anew and original.
Some classics of the genre include The Italian Job (1969), Heat (1995), and Inside Man (2006). But due to the closure of the decade we will look at brilliant heist films from 2010-2019 according to IMDb. The ties were settled by number of user ratings (sadly, Widows did not make the cut, purely because of its slightly low -in relation to the list's films- IMDb score; also, potential spoilers follow).
American Animals (2018) - 7.0
Real life and drama intermingle in this indie heist film that packs many unusual elements, amongst them the object of desire of the robbers itself: not money from a bank, not diamonds from a safe deposit box, but rare and valuable books from a university library.
Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, and Jared Abrahamson portray the four students that tried to pull off this admittedly ill-conceived plan, while the actual people involved (Warren Lipka, Spencer Reinhard, Chas Allen, and Eric Borsuk) appear in between scenes in interviews. This is a rare example where the robbers are not triumphant, but regretful – a more realistic approach, considering also that it’s based on a true story.
Logan Lucky (2017) - 7.0
This film by Steven Soderbergh (famous for the also heist films of the Ocean’s trilogy and Out Of Sight) tells the story of brothers Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) in their plans to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway, since Jimmy was fired from working in the tunnels there and possesses intimate knowledge of the place.
The film features a great ensemble cast (including Daniel Craig and Katie Holmes), as well as cameos from famous NASCAR drivers. Interestingly, in the film the heist is dubbed “Ocean’s 7-11” by the media. One knows they are a successful director when they can make intradiegetic references to their other movies and everyone gets them.
Heroic Losers / La Odisea De Los Giles (2019) - 7.5
This Argentinian film by Sebastián Borensztein is first and foremost anti-establishment with some elements resembling the legend of Robin Hood. A social commentary on the Argentinian Great Depression of 1998-2002, the film follows a group of ordinary people that lost all their bank savings due to the “Corralito” (colloquial name for the financial measures implemented at the closure of 2001 that almost entirely froze bank accounts).
This team of friends and neighbors devises a plan to claim what’s theirs. With some great twists and messages about justice and solidarity, this is a well-regarded example of modern South American cinema.
The Town (2010) - 7.5
This crime thriller, starring and directed by Ben Affleck, takes place in Boston (usually a good indicator for quality) and follows friends Doug MacRay, Jem Coughlin, Gloansy MacGloan, and Dez Elden who rob a bank together.
Doug approaches assistant manager Claire later to see what she has told the police and if she can in any way identify them. However, the two fall in love and that makes Doug clash with his gang and the whole criminal underbelly of his town, while re-evaluating the life of crime he has led so far. The film was highly praised, especially for its tension, good writing and Affleck’s direction.
Metro Manila (2013) - 7.6
This film was a British production by Sean Ellis, but set in the Philippines with dialogue spoken mainly in Filipino. It tells the story of Oscar Ramirez, a man down on his luck who moves with his family to the capital city of Manila for better prospects.
He lands a good job with Manila Armored Couriers, given the advantage of his military background. His partner and new friend Ong takes him under his wing, but Oscar soon realizes that Ong is implicated in shady deals and discovers the deep corruption that enshrouds the city of Manila.
Victoria (2015) - 7.6
This film is part of the quite limited list of movies that are comprised of one actual shot (as opposed to being edited to appear as one continuous shot). This German film follows a fateful night in the life of Victoria, a Spanish girl that lives in Berlin. She meets four German boys after a night out at a club and volunteers to follow them to some shady business that turns out to be a bank robbery.
A lot of the dialogue was improvised (but turned out very well) with a script that comprised of only 12 pages, and this movie was the hit of the 2015 German Film Awards.
Hell Or High Water (2016) - 7.6
In this Neo-western film worlds collide as Texan brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) are reunited after years of estrangement to raid branches of a bank that threatens to foreclose their land. They see their criminal activities as a last resort to grasp again a future that is slipping away, a way to claim what is theirs.
Fortune appears to be on their side, until they draw the attention of Texas Ranger Marcus (Jeff Bridges), who was eager for one final major chase before his retirement, and his partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham). The film performed very well and received four Academy Award nominations.
Baby Driver (2017) - 7.6
This stylish heist film by Edgar Wright (famous for “The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy” and for writing and co-producing Marvel’s Ant-Man) tells the story of Miles, a.k.a. Baby, a for-hire getaway driver who has deep love for and knowledge of music.
Baby, who was orphaned very young, works for Doc and his gang as a driver to repay his debt to him and takes care of his adoptive father Joseph. He falls in love with Debora and, his debt being repaid, he tries to leave his criminal life behind, but Doc will not make it so easy.
Drive (2011) - 7.8
Drive tells the story of the Driver (not unlike The Bride, his name is not revealed), played by Ryan Gosling, who works as a stunt driver and moonlights as a for-hire getaway driver. He develops a close relationship with his neighbor Irene and her son Benicio. However, when her husband Standard is released from prison owing money and the lives of Irene and Benicio are threatened, the Driver offers to help Standard with a robbery that he is forced to perform to repay his debt.
Mysterious dealings ensue as the Driver uncovers something that goes deeper than a simple robbery. Many critics picked Drive as their best film of the year; it was highly praised for its gritty atmosphere and stylized violence and won its director, Nicolas Winding Refn, the Best Director Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Inception (2010) - 8.8
This film wins by a landslide – both in the list and in general. A ground-breaking science fiction and crime film, it brought more prominence to the already impressive career of director Christopher Nolan. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Dom Cobb, a for-hire “extractor” who infiltrates the thoughts of his clients' competitors to perform corporate espionage.
Cobb has a criminal record that prevents him from seeing his children, but powerful businessman Saito offers to clear it in exchange for the completion of an ostensibly impossible mission: embedding an idea in a rival's subconscious, the so-called “inception." It won four Academy Awards and was nominated for four more, including Best Picture.