The Best Crime Movies of 2017, Ranked
Gritty Thrillers and Masterful Heists of the Year
Explore the best crime thrillers and mystery films from a standout cinematic year. Features top-rated neo-noirs, action-packed sequels, and indie gems.
About 2017 Crime Movies
Looking back at the cinema of 2017, it is easy to get lost in the noise of the massive franchise shifts and the social horror revolution. However, the year served as a masterclass in the versatility of the crime genre. It was a twelve month stretch where the traditional heist movie was pulled apart, the neo-noir was polished to a neon sheen, and the gritty street thriller found a new, kinetic heartbeat. If 2017 proved anything, it was that crime films didn't need to choose between being high art and high octane; they could comfortably inhabit both spaces at once.
The standout of the year, and perhaps the film that best defined the frantic energy of the era, was the Safdie Brothers' Good Time. Robert Pattinson delivered a career-defining performance as Connie Nikas, a low-level bank robber spiraling through a neon-soaked New York City nightmare. The film stripped away the glamour often associated with celluloid criminals, replacing it with a claustrophobic, synth-driven sense of dread. It was a crime movie as a panic attack, proving that the genre still had plenty of room for raw, independent voices to disrupt the status quo.
On the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, Edgar Wright gave us Baby Driver. This was crime cinema as a choreographed ballet. By syncing every gunshot, gear shift, and coffee run to a curated soundtrack, Wright reminded audiences that the heist subgenre could be joyful and rhythmic. It was a technical marvel that felt like a love letter to the getaway driver archetypes of the past while injecting a modern, pop-music sensibility that felt entirely fresh.
While Wright was dancing through the streets, Taylor Sheridan was taking us into the frozen silence of Wyoming with Wind River. As a conclusion to his thematic frontier trilogy, this film leaned into the procedural elements of crime to tell a devastating story about jurisdiction, isolation, and systemic neglect. It represented the more somber, literary side of the genre, where the mystery is merely a lens used to examine the scars left on a specific landscape and its people.
We also saw the return of the master of the low-stakes heist, Steven Soderbergh, who came out of retirement for Logan Lucky. Often described as Oceans Eleven for the working class, it brought a tactile, blue-collar charm to a genre that is often preoccupied with high-tech gadgets and multi-million dollar casinos. By shifting the setting to a NASCAR race in North Carolina, Soderbergh proved that the mechanics of a perfect job are universal, regardless of the tax bracket of the participants.
In the international space, S. Craig Zahler delivered the brutal and methodical Brawl in Cell Block 99. It pushed the crime film toward the edge of grindhouse exploitation, focusing on the physical consequences of a life of violence. It was a stark reminder that 2017 was a year of incredible range. From the stylized pop of Baby Driver to the punishing weight of a prison yard brawl, the crime genre was not just surviving; it was mutating. It was a year where filmmakers stopped following a single blueprint and instead decided to burn the old maps of the underworld entirely.
Psych: The Movie
2017The ambitious friends come together during the holidays after a mystery assailant targets one of their own. A comedic thrill-ride follows, as the wild and unpredictable Psych team pursues the bad guys, justice … and, of course, food!
Papillon
2017Henri “Papillon” Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, where he forges a strong friendship with Louis Dega, a counterfeiter who needs his protection.
Mommy Dead and Dearest
2017Child abuse, mental illness, and forbidden love converge in this mystery involving a mother and daughter who were thought to be living a fairy tale life that turned out to be a living nightmare.
I Can Quit Whenever I Want 2: Masterclass
2017Pietro Zinni is asked by the police to revive the old gang to create a task force that will stop the spread of smart drugs.
Memoir of a Murderer
2017A former serial killer with Alzheimer's fights to protect his daughter from her mysterious boyfriend who may be a serial killer too.
The Book of Henry
2017Susan, a single mother of two, works as a waitress in a small town. Her son, Henry, is an 11-year-old genius who not only manages the family finances but acts as emotional support for his mother and younger brother. When Henry discovers that the girl next door has a terrible secret, he implores Susan to take matters into her own hands.
The Insult
2017After an emotional exchange between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee escalates, the men end up in a court case that gets national attention.
Midnight Runners
2017Two apathetic police academy recruits who become best buddies through the tough training together witness a woman being abducted right before their very eyes. As they were taught in the academy, they quickly report the incident to the police, but the police are in no hurry to jump on the case. So the duo decide to take the matter into their own hands and rescue the woman.
Mom
2017After her stepdaughter is sexually assaulted at a party, a furious mother sets out to destroy the lives of the four perpetrators who walked free.
The Outlaws (The Roundup)
2017In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.
Fabricated City
2017In real life, Kwon Yoo is unemployed, but in the virtual game world he is the best leader. Kwon Yoo is then framed for a murder. With the help of hacker Yeo-wool, he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder case.
V.I.P.
2017A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.
Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Blood Spray
2017A yakuza boss hires Goemon Ishikawa, a modern day samurai, to protect him aboard his cruise ship casino. Everything goes sideways when the famous thief, Lupin the Third, tries to rob the vessel. Lupin's being hunted by a powerful and mysterious man: the so called “Ghost of Bermuda.” With Goemon's employer dead in the ensuing chaos, his honor is at stake, and the only way to preserve it is with blood. But this opponent is like no other, and to make things right, Goemon may need to sharpen not only his sword, but himself as well!
See You Up There
2017In November 1918, a few days before the Armistice, when Lieutenant Pradelle orders a senseless attack, he causes a useless disaster; but his outrageous act also binds the lives of two soldiers who have nothing more in common than the battlefield: Édouard saves Albert, although at a high cost. They become companions in misfortune who will attempt to survive in a changing world. Pradelle, in his own way, does the same.
Bad Genius
2017Lynn, a brilliant student, after helping her friends to get the grades they need, develops the idea of starting a much bigger exam-cheating business.
Forgotten
2017When his abducted brother returns, seemingly a different man with no memory of the past 19 days, Jin-seok chases after the truth behind the mysterious kidnapping.
Small Crimes
2017A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.
Brawl in Cell Block 99
2017After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.
Suburbicon
2017In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and murder.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at Bill Willoughby, the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Jason Dixon, an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.
John Wick: Chapter 2
2017John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle against some of the world’s most dangerous killers.
Chad Stahelski refines the grammar of the action genre with a sophisticated neon-noir palette and an unparalleled commitment to tactical choreography. This sequel manages to deepen its fascinating underworld lore while maintaining a relentless, balletic focus on the art of the kill.
When an attack on the Kingsman headquarters takes place and a new villain rises, Eggsy and Merlin are forced to work together with the American agency known as the Statesman to save the world.
Expanding its universe with a garish, hyper-stylized Americana, this sequel doubles down on the choreographed ultraviolence that defines modern spy-fiction satire. It remains a vibrant exercise in tonal tonal audacity, blending gentlemanly etiquette with cartoonish, high-tech carnage.
Baby Driver
2017After being coerced into working for a crime boss, a young getaway driver finds himself taking part in a heist doomed to fail.
Edgar Wright transforms the getaway flick into a high-octane musical where every gunshot and tire screech is meticulously choreographed to a flawless soundtrack. It is a technical marvel that elevates pure style into a visceral, rhythmic language of its own.
Genius Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of an American tycoon aboard the Orient Express train.
Kenneth Branagh revitalizes the drawing-room mystery with a maximalist visual flair and a deep focus on the moral weight of retribution. The film succeeds by treating its high-concept ensemble not just as suspects, but as a collective study in grief and colonial-era tension.
Shot Caller
2017A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.
Ric Roman Waugh avoids the typical tropes of prison cinema by offering a grim, meticulously researched study on how institutionalization reshapes the human psyche. It is a harrowing look at the cyclical nature of criminality and the heavy toll of survival behind bars.
Good Time
2017After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.
This neon-soaked descent into urban chaos burns with the kinetic energy of a panic attack captured on celluloid. The Safdie brothers craft a relentless, anxiety-driven odyssey where every desperate choice spirals into a vivid, heart-pounding symphony of New York grit.
You Were Never Really Here
2017A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, his nightmares begin to overtake him, and a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
Lynne Ramsay strips the vigilante trope down to its rawest nerves, offering a hallucinatory portrait of trauma that pulses with fractured percussion and brutal brevity. Joaquin Phoenix provides a masterfully internalized performance in a film that values sensory impact over traditional narrative catharsis.
Logan Lucky
2017Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Steven Soderbergh returns to the heist genre with a blue-collar precision that trades slick glamour for dusty, methodical ingenuity. It is a subversively intelligent caper that finds rhythmic beauty in the clockwork mechanics of an unlikely rural uprising.
The Snowman
2017Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous looking snowman.
Despite its fractured production, the film persists as a fascinatingly dissonant piece of Nordic Noir that leans into a surreal, disjointed aesthetic. Its coldness is its greatest asset, presenting a winter-locked nightmare where the environment feels more predatory than the culprit.
Wind River
2017An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.
Taylor Sheridan delivers a haunting masterclass in atmospheric dread, utilizing the desolate Wyoming wilderness as a crushing weight against a visceral investigation of systemic neglect. It is a rare procedural that prioritizes the soul over the shock, grounding its violence in profound, agonizing silence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts
- The list highlights neo-noir elements strongly in films like "You Were Never Really Here" and "Good Time," where moody atmospheres and complex antiheroes redefine the genre. These films blend intense psychological drama with stylistic cinematography to deliver fresh takes on noir.
- Mystery plays a central role in movies such as "The Snowman" and "Murder on the Orient Express," both of which unravel intricate crime puzzles with suspenseful narratives. These films keep audiences guessing with their atmospheric storytelling and compelling character dynamics.
- This list showcases a broad spectrum of crime films from gritty thrillers like "Shot Caller" and "Brawl in Cell Block 99" to more lighthearted entries like "Logan Lucky" and "Kingsman: The Golden Circle." It illustrates how the crime genre in 2017 successfully blended drama, action, comedy, and mystery.
- Yes, films like "Baby Driver" and "John Wick: Chapter 2" fuse high-octane action sequences with crime-driven plots, creating adrenaline-fueled experiences. Their stylish direction and innovative choreography helped redefine crime action movies in 2017.
- "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "Wind River" delve into complex explorations of justice, vengeance, and ethical conflicts. These movies combine intense character studies with social commentary, highlighting moral ambiguity within crime narratives.
- Indie films like "You Were Never Really Here" and "Good Time" offer raw, intimate perspectives on crime, often featuring unconventional storytelling and character-driven plots. Their critical acclaim underscores the creative innovation present in the 2017 crime genre.
- Thriller and suspense are integral to many entries such as "The Snowman" and "Shot Caller," heightening tension with unpredictable storylines and psychological depth. These elements enhance viewer engagement by delivering chilling and gripping cinematic experiences.
