Political/Spy thrillers/dramas?

kraggy

Hey,

I love this genre, when it's done right. Very often, it's not.

I recently watched Margin Call and absolutely loved it. The suspense, the drama, the tension, the dialogue. One of the movies of the year for me.

I also loved The Insider. The Bourne movies are quite good but wouldn't be as good as the other films I've just mentioned. I know they are quite differnet but for the sake of this post, I'll lob spy and poitical in together.

So can anyone recommend some other tense dramas like the Insider and Margin Call?

Political, cold war, spy, that sort of thing.

Thanks.

Riddle101

A lot of Tom Clancy books are political, and have been made into movies like the Sum of all Fears, and Red October. The latter movie takes place in the cold war. Also K-19, which is also set in the cold war and has some political elements to it.

krudler

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be one of the most recent, its either a taut thriller or a dull film with old men talking a lot depending on who you talk to.

cos i only watched it recently, Crimson Tide does sorta fall into that, its tense, there's political parts to it, nature of right and wrong in war and all that.

Icarus Wings

+1 for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I loved it and received a lot of acclaim from the critics, although some people feel that it's too much of a slow-burner. Some great suspense and intrigue in there.

You could also try Spielberg's Munich - a portrayal of the search for justice after the murder of Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Here's the trailer -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doX2E1vNtY8

Also saw Ridley Scott's Body of Lies recently and it's quite good. It follows an agent's attempts to track and capture a terrorist leader in Jordan. Quality performances from DiCaprio, Crowe and Strong.

saintsaltynuts

The Firm with Tom Cruise is very good.

thegreengoblin

The Lives Of Others is as good as it gets for me. Great story, brilliant performances and a real feel for the era it was set it in (1980s East Germany for those who haven't seen it).

charlie_says

The best spy film I have seen in ages is

Farewell (2009 French language)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0806029/

and of course North by Northwest

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/

also thought the Lives of Others was excellent.

rednik

Try a few old classics

The Parallax View
Three days of the condor
All the Presidents men
Arlington Road
Betrayed

All worth a look

MakeEmLaugh

John Frankenheimer The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

If you can swallow some of the more implausible coincidences, this is a classic. Some great camerawork, performances, dialogue, and a very suspenseful conclusion.

Also, if you like political movies, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) is a must-see in terms of historical importance. It's about the guerrilla war between militant Arab separatists the FLN and French colonial police in Algeria.

kitakyushu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_Who_Came_in_from_the_Cold_(film)

Padraig Mor

It ain't exactly the best movie of all time but I have a soft spot for The Fourth Protocol, based on a Frederick Forsyth book.

Jumboman

Does mark wahlbergs shooter count as Political ?