The best thrillers to watch on Netflix this February

Greetings, Polygon readers!

February is right here, and whereas the chilly climate could be starting to break, there’s loads of good thrillers on Netflix to watch in case you’re wanting to set your blood chilly. We’ve plunged again into the depths of the streamer’s catalog to carry you the very best of what Netflix has to provide when it comes to thrillers this month, and would possibly I say, these picks are good.

This month’s alternatives embrace a German martial arts thriller a few cage fighter punching his approach to his daughter’s birthday, a neo-noir crime drama starring Man Pearce and Russell Crowe, and one of many best conspiracy thrillers of the Nineteen Seventies. Right here’s our listing of the best thrillers to watch on Netflix in February.

Editor’s Choose: Sixty Minutes

Director: Oliver Kienle
Forged: Emilio Sakraya, Dennis Mojen, Marie Mouroum

Typically, what you need is a cost-effective thriller with a decent premise. That’s what the German Netflix authentic Sixty Minutes has to provide. In it, a fighter (performed by two-time German karate champion Emilio Sakraya) has precisely one hour to get to his ex-wife’s home for his daughter’s birthday celebration. If he doesn’t make it in time, she’ll file for sole custody. And the fighter has one other drawback: He’s about to step into the ring, and there are some seedy folks with a lot of cash on the battle.

Sixty Minutes executes this premise properly, leaning on Sakraya’s talent as a fighter and as an actor for a sub-90 minute thrill trip. Whereas nonetheless falling prey to a few of the tropes of the “custody thriller,” Sixty Minutes well subverts them by being practical concerning the protagonist’s shortcomings as a father. All of the whereas, it cleverly makes use of trendy know-how (like cell telephones and scooters) to advance the narrative, and delivers some kick-ass battle sequences alongside the way in which. When you’re in search of a simple piece of style cinema that is aware of precisely what it’s going for, examine this one out. —Pete Volk

L.A. Confidential

Picture: Warner Dwelling Video

Director: Curtis Hanson
Forged: Russell Crowe, Man Pearce, Kevin Spacey

When you, like myself, depend your self as a fan of interval detective thrillers like Chinatown and Satan in a Blue Costume, Curtis Hanson’s neo-noir crime thriller is a simple promote. Based mostly on James Ellroy’s novel of the identical title, the movie follows a trio of law enforcement officials in Nineteen Fifties Los Angeles whose respective investigations converge on a lethal conspiracy between organized crime and town’s authorities.

Man Pearce stars as Ed Exley, the son of a distinguished detective wanting to make a reputation for himself as an institutional reformer, who butts heads with Wendell “Bud” White (Russell Crowe), a veteran officer with a private vendetta and a penchant for… let’s simply say, lower than respected police ways. The animosity shared between the 2 and their opposing approaches is likely one of the nice propulsive forces behind the movie’s story, culminating in a explosive third act face-off that sees the pair grappling with each other by a misleading ploy on a part of the movie’s antagonist. High that off with a pair of wonderful supporting efficiency by Danny DeVito as a sleazy tabloid muckraker and Kim Basinger as cool and calculating name woman, and it’s no surprise L.A. Confidential is contemplating an everlasting traditional. —Toussaint Egan

The Parallax View

Picture: Paramount Dwelling Leisure

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Forged: Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels

The second installment in what would later come to be referred to as Alan J. Pakula’s thematic “paranoia trilogy,” The Parallax View is arguably the defining conspiracy thriller of the period that outlined the style. The movie stars Warren Beatty as Lee Carter, an investigative journalist who witnesses the assassination of an aspiring presidential candidate atop the Seattle House Needle. After a string of different witnesses start to die due to mysterious circumstances, Lee is inadvertently set on the path of a company he believes is accountable for orchestrating the assassination. Pakula’s movie is a taut, bracing political thriller complimented by memorable manufacturing design and Gordon Willis’ impeccable cinematography. When you’re in search of a chilling investigative thriller that’s brilliantly shot to boot, The Parallax View connects all these dots after which some. —TE