Even if film noir was a genre that only lasted from 1940 to 1958, its legacy lives on due to neo-noir movies. Film noir movies focused on shady characters, stories that often related to crime, and murky moral values, and usually used harshly contrasting black and white visuals with plenty of dramatic lighting. Neo-noir movies have similar aims but broaden film noir as a whole, mixing the detective and crime stories of old with new sub-genres, modern settings, and more explicit violence.
The neo-noir genre has essentially replaced film noir as a genre, but that's not a bad thing considering there are so many great neo-noir movies. There have been countless compelling neo-noir movies released since 2000, with the following films being some of the best among them. All have been instrumental in keeping the spirit of film noir alive well into the century currently being lived through.
1 'Drive' (2011)
Drive combines deliberate pacing and arthouse sensibilities with 1980s-esque synthpop and a crime/thriller story to intoxicating effect. It focuses on a getaway driver who falls a young woman in his apartment complex, though finds those feelings getting him into trouble when her partner is released from jail and asks the driver to help with a seemingly simple heist.
The soundtrack and bursts of extreme violence make this feel very different from film noir movies of old, but the story and characters do feel like they could have come from a traditional noir. It's equal parts throwback and its own thing - often to an uncompromising extent - making Drive an excellent 21st-century neo-noir.
2 'Looper' (2012)
Rian Johnson's first foray into neo-noir was not 2012's Looper, seeing as 2005's Brick also takes film noir tropes and transplants them to a new setting (a high school). However, Looper is arguably an even stronger and more ambitious film, taking elements from film noir and putting them in a science-fiction story about assassins who use time travel to take out their targets.
It's not a perfectly balanced movie, with a halfway plot switch that feels a little jarring. Both halves of the movie are compelling, yet each feels like they're from different movies. But then again, film noir has often been a little rough around the edges, and it's just cool to see a movie about assassins, crime gangs, and a tortured protagonist who likes to have internal monologues combined with a time-travel storyline.
3 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' (2007)
The final movie directed by the great Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a relentlessly intense and downbeat crime movie. It features a story involving two brothers who attempt to pull off a controlled robbery that they believe will have few consequences, though in true film noir fashion, there ends up being many.
Few movies capture a sense of continually building dread as well as Before the Devil Knows You're Dead does. Some old film noir movies have their impact lessened somewhat by the fact that they're 70-80 years old and therefore not as shocking to modern audiences, but this film genuinely knows how to deliver when it comes to those hard-hitting emotions. Get past the fact that Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman don't look like brothers at all and it's a great movie.
4 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)
No Country for Old Men is a movie that fully embraces the way neo-noir films can branch out into different genres. It does this by combining noir elements with a Western setting, taking place in Texas and revolving around a large amount of cash two men are desperate to obtain, all the while both are being tracked by an aging sheriff.
It's a violent and cold-blooded movie, but an exceptionally engaging and oftentimes riveting one. It builds tension expertly and does so whilst using next to no music, letting the pitch-perfect writing, memorable performances, and expert direction from the Coen Brothers do all the emotional heavy lifting.
5 'Sin City' (2005)
Few neo-noir movies are as close to being a classic film noir movie as Sin City is. It's a movie that feels like a hyper-noir, taking the look, feel, style, and stories of old-fashioned film noir movies and dialing everything up to 11.
It's most noticeable from the fact that the movie is largely in black-and-white (with some bursts of color in certain scenes), whereas most neo-noirs don't aim to mimic the black-and-white look of those 1940s and 1950s movies. The heavy use of voiceover and various short stories covered also lean heavily into old-school film noir, though the stylized, frenetic camerawork and brutal violence do end up allowing Sin City distance from traditional film noir movies.
6 'Bad Times at the El Royale' (2018)
Fully embracing the mystery aspects of film noir/neo-noir, Bad Times at the El Royale is a wonderfully unpredictable movie. It centers on an isolated hotel where a group of strangers meet, and while each one's there for their own reasons, their paths end up crossing in unexpected - and sometimes shocking - ways.
Given the film is about 2.5 hours long, Bad Times at the El Royale might feel like a slow burn to some, but the pay-off makes it worth it. And those who enjoy trying to guess where a complex plot is going - whilst not minding drawn-out, suspenseful sequences - should find a great deal to enjoy here.
7 'The Batman' (2022)
One thing's for sure when watching old film noir movies: you're unlikely to see many characters who could be described as superheroes. But of all the well-known superheroes out there, few could slip into the world of film noir as effectively as Batman, which is why the most recent depiction of the character, 2022's The Batman, ended up working so well when it embraced film noir conventions wholeheartedly.
It's a film that emphasized mystery, crime-solving, and psychological drama over having plentiful action scenes, and the approach worked well. This take on Bruce Wayne/Batman makes him feel more like a film noir protagonist than ever before, as he's tortured, initially has questionable morals, and lives in a dark and unforgiving world where crime is rampant and things seem on the verge of collapse.
8 'Oldboy' (2003)
Showing Oldboy to an average film noir watcher of the 1940s and 1950s might make their head explode. It's an exceedingly dark and unrelenting mystery film that sees its main character pursuing those who imprisoned him in a single room for 15 years. He wants to know why they did what they did, and then wants to exact vengeance because they did it.
A lone protagonist relentlessly pursuing a goal whilst also being in the dark for most of the movie sounds like film noir 101, but it's the content and style of Oldboy that takes things to another level. It is a confronting film, and while it has a reason to push boundaries and is ultimately a better movie for doing so, it is an extreme neo-noir that would shock those who've only seen more traditional examples of film noir.
9 'The Nice Guys' (2016)
Combining a buddy comedy with plenty of action and a film noir-inspired storyline ended up being a winning recipe for The Nice Guys. It's a crime-comedy set in the 1970s, centering on a private detective and an enforcer who get wrapped up in a complex plot involving murder, corruption, and the adult film industry.
Film noir movies often start simple and seemingly get more complex and high stakes with every passing scene, and this is something that The Nice Guys replicates exceptionally well, as a neo-noir. That it also does this while simply being a very fun and easy-to-watch action/comedy film makes it all the better.
10 'Nightcrawler' (2014)
Few neo-noir movies feature main characters who are quite as questionable as Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler. He starts the movie as an eccentric and dedicated cameraman who makes a living as someone who takes footage of violent crime scenes to sell to news stations. As things progress, he takes more and more risks, and does increasingly questionable acts, moving from an observer of violence to a perpetrator.
By having a flawed character who becomes more flawed as the film goes on (rather than growing or improving), Nightcrawler is an effective update of traditional film noir. Things are heightened and more horrifying than they might usually be in those older examples of film noir, but in presenting a twisted lead character living in an equally twisted world, it certainly works as a neo-noir.