Best movies — crime on Netflix : our Top 20

2012 · James McTeigue

A respected banker convicted in the 1940s of killing his wife and her lover is sent to Shawshank Prison, where he puts his financial expertise at the service of a corrupt warden. Over many years behind bars, his moral steadiness and relentless optimism earn him the respect and friendship of his fellow inmates, particularly an older man named Red.

With John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McNally, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jimmy Yuill

2008 · Christopher Nolan

Batman pushes his campaign against Gotham’s underworld to the next level, joining forces with Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent to systematically break apart the last criminal networks. Their cooperation brings hope for a safer city, but a cunning new antagonist who calls himself the Joker sparks a spiral of violence and anarchy that threatens to overwhelm them all.

With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman

2010 · Shim Hyung-rae

Young-goo, the bumbling son of Don Carini, is dismissed as unfit for the inner circle of his father's criminal empire. Determined to change that perception, he begins rigorous training under Tony V to prove himself worthy of inheriting the family. Soon after, he unwittingly becomes involved in the rescue of Nancy, the only daughter of Don Bonfante, leader of a rival clan. Unbeknownst to Young-goo, Vinnie, a scheming underboss within the Bonfante organization, has actually abducted her and conspires to pin the crime on him. Vinnie’s deception ignites a deadly confrontation between the two families.

With Shim Hyung-rae, Harvey Keitel, Michael Rispoli, Jason Mewes, Jocelin Donahue, Blake Clark and Jon Polito

1994 · Quentin Tarantino

A burger-obsessed hitman, his introspective partner, a drug-addled gangster’s companion and a fallen prizefighter cross paths in a sprawling, darkly comic crime caper. Their tangled exploits unfold across three interwoven episodes that cleverly leap through time, peeling back secrets, rivalries and unlikely loyalties as past and present collide.

With John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel and Eric Stoltz

1972 · Francis Ford Coppola

Set from 1945 to 1955, the story follows the fictional Italian‑American Corleone crime family. When the family’s head, Vito Corleone, narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, his youngest son Michael takes matters into his own hands—tracking down those responsible and launching a ruthless campaign of retaliation that irrevocably changes him and the family’s destiny.

With Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden and John Marley

1974 · Francis Ford Coppola

Across two eras, the film charts Vito Corleone’s path from a Sicilian childhood to an immigrant coming-of-age in 1910s New York. Decades on, his son Michael maneuvers to reshape and expand the family’s power, setting his sights on Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba during the 1950s.

With Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire and Lee Strasberg

1990 · Martin Scorsese

Based on the real-life rise of Henry Hill, a Brooklyn youth of Irish and Sicilian parentage who is taken under the wing of local mobsters and, mentored by Jimmy Conway, climbs the hierarchy of a Mafia crew.

With Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, Frank Sivero and Tony Darrow

1991 · Jonathan Demme

A promising trainee at the FBI Academy, Clarice Starling is chosen by her superior, Jack Crawford, to question the incarcerated Dr. Hannibal Lecter — a brilliant psychiatrist infamous for his violent psychopathy and serving life for multiple murders and acts of cannibalism. Crawford believes Lecter may possess crucial leads on an active investigation, and he suspects that Clarice’s youth and composure might be exactly what it takes to penetrate the doctor’s guarded mind. Tasked with drawing out the reluctant genius, she must navigate a dangerous psychological game to extract the information needed.

With Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Brooke Smith and Diane Baker

1999 · Frank Darabont

On death row in a Southern penitentiary, a towering, soft-spoken inmate named John Coffey harbors a baffling ability to lift illness and suffering from others. When Paul Edgecomb, the cell block’s chief guard, witnesses Coffey’s restorative gift, he becomes obsessed with preventing the condemned man’s execution. Battling institutional forces and his own uncertainty, Edgecomb mounts a desperate attempt to save a man whose power challenges everything they thought they knew.

With Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter and Graham Greene

1998 · Tony Kaye

Released after a three-year prison term for the racially motivated murders of two Black men, Derek Vineyard returns determined to leave his violent past behind. Once a skinhead leader whose white supremacist gang spread terror across Los Angeles, his earlier actions profoundly shaped his younger brother Danny. Told through Danny’s narration, the film follows Derek’s struggle to break all ties with his former comrades and shield Danny from repeating the same destructive path as he seeks redemption and faces the consequences of his past.

With Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Lien, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk and Avery Brooks

2015 · Robert Fontaine

In Braxton, New York, a violent hate crime leaves five migrant laborers beaten, shot, and abandoned, shattering the fragile balance of a town built on fragile multicultural coexistence. Fear, grief, and suspicion ripple through neighborhoods and institutions, exposing buried prejudices and forcing residents to confront the consequences of silence, complicity, and fractured alliances.

With Robert Fontaine, Michael Brainard, Grant Boyd, Michael Derek, Lily Autumn Page, Angel Valle Jr. and Ariane Rinehart

2019 · Todd Phillips

In 1980s Gotham City, a struggling stand-up comedian crushed by rejection and isolation spirals into madness, shedding his former life to become a calculating, unhinged criminal whose theatrical violence and anarchic schemes plunge the city into fear.

With Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham and Bill Camp

1983 · Brian De Palma

Granted U.S. residency after carrying out an assassination for Cuban officials, Tony Montana rises through Miami’s underworld, seizing control of the cocaine trade by brutally eliminating rivals. As he becomes the city’s dominant drug kingpin, intensifying law enforcement scrutiny, violent clashes with Colombian cartels and his own addiction-fueled paranoia set in motion the catastrophic unraveling of his empire.

With Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Miriam Colon and F. Murray Abraham

2000 · Guy Ritchie

Ruthless boxing promoters, brutal bookmakers, a Russian mobster, bungling amateur thieves and jewellers rumored to be Jewish collide in a chaotic scramble to recover a priceless stolen diamond.

With Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham, Dennis Farina, Alan Ford, Benicio del Toro and Vinnie Jones

2003 · Quentin Tarantino

Shot and left for dead by her merciless boss Bill and his circle of killers, a seasoned assassin survives and embarks on a patient, calculated campaign to settle the score.

With Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Julie Dreyfus

2003 · Quentin Tarantino

Wounded by her merciless boss Bill and betrayed by their tight-knit circle of killers, a seasoned hitwoman survives and quietly begins to orchestrate a ruthless plan for revenge.

With Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Julie Dreyfus

2014 · Wes Anderson

During the interwar years, a celebrated concierge at a storied European hotel forges a close bond with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. Their partnership is drawn into a daring plot when an invaluable Renaissance painting is stolen, setting off a fierce struggle to recover the work and to claim a vast family inheritance. As they navigate danger, loyalty, and social ritual, they witness the continent’s gradual decline and then rapid convulsions that reshape Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

With Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum and Harvey Keitel

2002 · Steven Spielberg

Before his nineteenth birthday, Frank Abagnale Jr. assumes a string of high-profile identities—posing as a Pan Am pilot, a doctor and a lawyer—to cash millions in fraudulent checks. A relentless FBI agent makes it his mission to catch him, but Frank stays several moves ahead, thriving on the thrill of the chase and his ability to slip away.

With Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James Brolin

2004 · Quentin Tarantino

Determined and relentless, the Bride continues her brutal quest for vengeance against the squad of killers who tried to end her life and her unborn child. She hunts down each former ally in turn, striking the five names from her revenge list until only one target remains: Bill.

With Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, Michael Parks and Perla Haney-Jardine

2003 · Clint Eastwood

When a devastating family tragedy strikes one member of a trio of childhood friends, their tightly knit lives begin to unravel as they confront grief, fractured loyalties, and the decisions that will redefine their futures.

With Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Kevin Chapman