From Robert De Niro playing the hitman who is supposedly responsible for the unsolved murder of Jimmy Hoffa to Adam Sandler playing a jeweler who drives the audience crazy with his reckless behavior, the 2010s brought some terrific entries in the crime film genre. But as always, the decade’s crime movies weren’t all great.
From John Travolta bragging about Caesar salad in the role of John Gotti to Michael Fassbender chasing a serial killer in a thriller with missing scenes, there were some real duds along the way, too. So, here are the five best and five worst crime movies from the 2010s.
Best: The Irishman (2019)
With its nonlinear storytelling, constant voiceover narration, and cautionary tale about mafia life, The Irishman is a lot like one of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s previous collaborations, Goodfellas. But the story of Frank Sheeran is a much more mature and cerebral film than the duo’s earlier work.
It’s slower-paced, clocking in at around three-and-a-half hours, but not a second is wasted in Scorsese’s rounded portrait of the lonely existence of a sociopathic hitman.
Worst: Gangster Squad (2013)
A movie about the LAPD task force that brought down Mickey Cohen starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn (as Cohen), and Nick Nolte sounds awesome. But it’s let down by Will Beall’s underdeveloped script.
Ruben Fleischer brought plenty of stylistic flourish to the movie’s aesthetic, but that ultimately wasn’t enough to elevate Gangster Squad above its thinly drawn script.
Best: Drive (2011)
Ryan Gosling shed his post-The Notebook image as a sappy heartthrob with his subdued performance as the Driver in Nicolas Winding Refn’s masterfully crafted neo-noir, Drive.
Combining shocking violence with earnest romance grown out of Gosling’s incredible on-screen chemistry with co-star Carey Mulligan, Refn made the quintessential L.A. noir.
Worst: Only God Forgives (2013)
Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling seem to have gotten a little drunk on critical acclaim after the success of Drive, because their next movie was a pretentious arthouse dud.
In Only God Forgives, Gosling plays Julian, a vengeful drug smuggler with twice the psychopathy of the Driver and half the smoldering intensity.
Best: Baby Driver (2017)
Edgar Wright created a whole new genre with Baby Driver: the action crime comedy jukebox musical. Ansel Elgort stars as Baby, a getaway driver with tinnitus who needs to blast rock ‘n’ roll hits on his iPod while he’s driving to get in the zone.
As usual, Wright delivered an airtight story populated with lovable characters and told it with dazzling visuals and rapid-paced cinematic energy.
Worst: The Counselor (2013)
Before The Counselor hit theaters, it would have seemed impossible for a crime movie directed by Ridley Scott, scripted by Cormac McCarthy, and starring great actors like Michael Fassbender and Javier Bardem to suck. However, now that such a movie has been released, it seems very possible.
The plot revolves around a lawyer getting embroiled in a drug deal before his wedding, but that doesn’t really matter, because the movie itself loses sight of the plot as it seems more interested in increasingly gruesome violence.
Best: Brawl In Cell Block 99 (2017)
In S. Craig Zahler’s sophomore directorial effort, Brawl in Cell Block 99, simplistic storytelling is the undeniable MVP. Vince Vaughn stars in an unusually serious role as an ex-con who’s struggling to find work in time for the birth of his daughter. He’s caught up in a drug deal and sentenced to serve jail time well into the beginning of his child’s life, but he makes peace with that.
However, the stakes are raised when his girlfriend is kidnapped and threatened with abortion unless he can get himself transferred to a much worse prison and murder his way through a crime syndicate. It’s one of the grittiest, gnarliest, most ultraviolent crime movies in recent memory. It’s hard to watch, yet it’s hard to look away.
Worst: The Snowman (2017)
Michael Fassbender clearly didn’t have a very good decade for crime movies. In this adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman, he plays a detective chasing a serial killer. The movie is cliché-ridden and fails to engage the audience.
Plus, the rushed production schedule meant that when the editing began, the filmmakers realized way too late that parts of the story were missing. It might’ve turned out differently if its original director, Martin Scorsese, didn’t drop out.
Best: Uncut Gems (2019)
This movie has been described as a two-hour anxiety attack, and that’s a pretty apt description. Adam Sandler stars as jewelry dealer Howard Ratner, who gets off on the thrill of gambling away his future, in one of his all-time greatest performances.
The Safdie brothers mixed non-professionals in with their actors, so Sandler and his co-stars were surrounded by genuine heavies, which made the danger feel real with a layer of authenticity.
Worst: Gotti (2018)
The life of John Gotti, one of the most infamous crime bosses in New York history, is ripe for a biopic. Unfortunately, John Travolta and the guy who played E in Entourage were not the right guys to bring that story to the screen.
Kevin Connolly’s movie was met with a rare 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes and got showered with Razzie nominations. It’s clear from the muddled plot, clichéd dialogue, and Hollywood fakeness that this movie changed hands between various different directors and producers on its way into production.