The Best Spy Movies of the 21st Century

Times are tough for the thriller fan who likes to see spies practice, well, spycraft. More than ever, the best spy movies are actually TV shows—grounded small-screen gems like Slow Horses, The Agency, or The Night Manager. Meanwhile, secret agents at the movies seem to have taken to heart Ian Fleming’s original characterization of James Bond as a “blunt instrument”: they mostly excel at blowing stuff up.

In reality, a successful spy’s body count is, by definition, zero. Instead, what’s at stake are secrets—and, more often than not, the agent’s own sanity. It’s hard to say what caused the classic espionage thriller to go the way of the buddy-cop movie—shrinking attention spans? The current mess of a geopolitical situation? Tony Gilroy being too busy with Andor?—but here we are.

Not to worry, though. A few filmmakers are carrying the torch for realistic tradecraft, first lit by Martin Ritt’s 1965 adaptation of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, well into the 21st century. Here are ten of my favorite “they don’t make ’em like they used to” spy movies since 2000.

Allied (2016)

Brad Pitt (playing a Québécois!) and Marion Cotillard star as lovers in an underappreciated WWII thriller whose second half elegantly flips the first on its head. Director Robert Zemeckis opens on a parachutist over the Sahara, shot in a way that keeps messing with the sense of scale; it’s a mission statement for a film getting ready to knock the ground from under you.

Beirut (2018)