5 Action Thriller Movies Better Than Sicario

Sicario has come to be seen as one of the best thrillers of the 21st Century, which it absolutely is; that said, there's a small group of movies that beat it out. Taylor Sheridan's "American Frontier" trilogy consists of Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River. All three are Neo-Westerns that took a harsh look at modern-day America, and all the social, racial and political turmoil that comes with it.

Sicario is a 10/10 modern classic, and while it was met with praise upon release, it's only gotten better with age. The film is an almost unbearably taut thriller following Emily Blunt's FBI agent as she's pulled into a task force whose true purpose she barely understands. This Denis Villeneuve movie is a masterclass in economical storytelling, with some incredible setpieces like the freeway standoff.

Sicario earns its regular spot in any list of the best thrillers ever made. However, there are a select few thrillers from yesteryear that rank slightly higher. These are movies that almost appear effortless in how well they fit together, from the great action to screenwriting and beyond. In some cases, they broke ground for the genre itself and even served as inspiration for Sicario.

5 Heat (1995)

Heat's place on this list should come as zero surprise. This Michael Mann epic has almost become the movie everybody thinks of whenever the word "thriller" is deployed. It's a near three-hour saga following the inevitable collision course between a dedicated cop (Al Pacino) and thief (Robert De Niro), and how this clash affects all the people in their lives.

Mann had developed Heat for a solid decade before filming it, and even shot a prototype version with the failed TV pilot L.A. Takedown. While the film is praised for its setpieces and technical aspects, it's a fantastic story, first and foremost. Despite the large cast of characters, it's always easy to keep track of the various, interweaving plots, and it's got an impeccable cast who all do great work.

Heat has a lot on its mind, from people being consumed by their obsessions (and the emotional fallout that causes) to how thin the line between cop and criminal can be. While not an action film per say, it has some of the best heist sequences ever put onto screen. This includes the bank heist shootout, a contender for the best big-screen shootout of all time.

Heat rewards multiple rewatches too, as it's always possible to catch new details or nuances on new viewings. The movie should be required for any burgeoning film fan, and there is a reason it's been so relentlessly homaged and ripped off by films like The Town or Den of Thieves in the years since.

4 Sorcerer (1977)

Coming off the back of The French Connection and The Exorcist, director William Friedkin could have made just about anything he wanted. He elected to remake the classic French thriller The Wages of Fear, which has arguably the purest thriller hook ever: a group of desperate men are hired to transport unstable dynamite to a raging oil fire, and must navigate dangerous terrain while hoping the dynamite doesn't just suddenly explode.

Sorcerer arrived the same summer as a little film called Star Wars, and was intended to be a huge blockbuster. There might be an alternate universe where Sorcerer was a huge hit while Star Wars underperformed, but that wasn't the case. Friedkin's thriller was a huge bomb and was quickly forgotten while George Lucas' space opera became a cultural landmark.

Leaping ahead nearly 50 years, Sorcerer has come to be seen as a masterpiece. It could be Friedkin's greatest work: a sweaty, muscular action thriller where a small band of anti-heroes is forced to work together to overcome near-impossible odds. It also has a legendary score by Tangerine Dream, which adds to the movie's vibes-heavy atmosphere.

Sorcerer was also shot practically under especially grueling conditions, and every inch of the pain that went into making it is infused into the movie. If you thought Sicario's freeway sequence was tense, wait till you see the bridge crossing in this underrated '70s gem.

3 Man On Fire (2004)

Denzel Washington was a late bloomer when it came to action movies, and Man on Fire is the film that made him an unlikely icon of the genre. This adaptation of the A. J. Quinnell novel cast Washington as bodyguard Creasy, who goes on a murderous rampage in Mexico City when the girl he was protecting gets kidnapped.

Man on Fire has two other adaptations - a 1987 movie and a 2026 Netflix show - but Tony Scott's film remains the definitive version. Needless to say, Washington is superb, with his Creasy starting as an isolated burnout, before finding a new lease on life via his job, before finally becoming a human Terminator.

It's chiefly a fantastic character study, and Washington is supported by an excellent cast, including Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke and, of course, Dakota Fanning. The bond that grows between Creasy and Fanning's Pita feels genuine and earned, and viewers will be equally devastated by her kidnapping and supposed death as Creasy is.

Ever the innovator, Scott really uses the camerawork and editing to get inside the increasingly fractured mindset of its main character. Man on Fire is also gifted with a solid script, which gifts Washington with suitable badass quotes like "Forgiveness is between them and God. It's my job to arrange the meeting."

2 Wind River (2017)

Wind River was technically Taylor Sheridan's directorial debut (he has disowned his credit on the cheapie horror movie Vile) and is the best thing he's made. It's a powerful, emotionally devastating thriller where a murder investigation inside a reservation uncovers dark secrets.

There's a stark simplicity to both the filmmaking and storytelling that makes Wind River work so well. It also gave Jeremy Renner his best leading man vehicle - and that includes The Hurt Locker. He's perfect casting for the film's heartbroken but emotionally reserved protagonist, and Sheridan gives Renner some great monologues to chew over.

Wind River's casting, in general, is spot-on, which includes Elizabeth Olsen, Jon Bernthal and Yellowstone's Gil Birmingham. Ultimately, the murder investigation isn't that hard to solve, but it does lead to one of the intense standoffs Sheridan has ever staged, which then leads to a ferocious firefight.

Wind River's ending sees that justice is done, but it doesn't bring the grieving any real solace either. After overseeing his sprawling TV empire for so long, it would be nice to see Sheridan returning to the stripped-back style of his 2017 masterpiece.

1 No Country For Old Men (2007)

Josh Brolin might quietly be the king of the Neo-Western genre, as both Sicario and No Country for Old Men prove. This Coen Brothers outing is a mix of thriller, action movie and even existential horror, as Brolin's Moss unknowingly damns himself and everyone he cares about after stealing a money from the site of a botched drug deal.

Soon, a near-supernatural hitman named Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is on his trail. While some movies that get showered with awards can age poorly, No Country for Old Men is a huge exception. It's perfect from frame one, from the gorgeous cinematography to its blend of dry humor with an impending sense of doom.

No Country for Old Men might also be the closest thing the Coens came to a straight actioner. They stage some excellent shootouts, including Moss and Chigurh exchanging shots in a hotel. The film has way more on its mind than being an action flick though. It's a movie pondering the inevitability of death, aging and questioning whether justice even exists.