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These 10 movies are among the heaviest crime movies ever made, with bleak and downbeat storylines that will leave you feeling anxious and disturbed. From the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong in No Country for Old Men to the hunt for a serial killer in Se7en, these films are not for the faint of heart. With their dark themes, gruesome violence, and unrelenting tension, they are sure to leave you feeling unsettled and disturbed. But if you're a fan of crime movies and are looking for something that will challenge you and keep you on the edge of your seat, then these 10 movies are definitely worth checking out.
Since a good many crime movies have a crime doesn't pay thing going on, especially those made some time ago, it's not exactly the happiest of genres.
Even crime movies that focus on good people can showcase bad things happening to them, and then the really effective ones can also make you feel bad for people who themselves are doing bad things. There's a real variety here, and so even if all these movies stand out for being particularly bleak, they are downbeat for a wide range of reasons.
They're all among the heaviest crime movies ever made, and there will be an attempt not to go into too much detail, as far as spoilers are concerned. Knowing something is heavier than might be expected could be a spoiler, sure, but there will be an avoidance of too many details, especially regarding stuff that happens toward the end of these movies.
The plot of No Country for Old Men concerns the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong, with a man discovering the site and a large quantity of cash left abandoned there. Things get complicated because there's also a ruthless assassin out to collect the money, and then an older sheriff is also following - and trying to solve - the whole messy case, but is continually at least one or two steps behind the assassin.
Technically, No Country for Old Men is a Western, or more specifically, a neo-Western. Either way, it ranks among the most distressing and anxiety-inducing Westerns of all time, and since it involves criminal characters and then has at least one prominent character on the right side of the law, it also fits quite neatly into the crime genre.
However you want to classify it, the whole film is kind of a nightmare, albeit a very compelling one that's nightmarish without technically belonging to the horror genre. Se7en is one of the best crime/thriller movies of the 1990s, and also a top-tier one as far as films that focus on a hunt for a serial killer are concerned.
That's almost another sub-genre in itself, with Se7en sticking out from the pack because its central killer is someone who's basing all their murders on the seven deadly sins, and then also standing out further because of how grim it's willing to get. The entire film is thematically dark while also being visually dark and despondent, with a good deal of dread early on that increases in severity and intensity - infamously so - right near the film's end.
Se7en gets a lot of things right, and even if you don't really like feel-bad movies, it's still one worth checking out at some point, since it's incredibly well-made on top of being, at times, incredibly morbid. Uncut Gems is notoriously stressful, albeit willing to balance all the anxiety with some very dark comedy, in that sense, Adam Sandler is well-utilized, since he gets some opportunities to be funny in a somewhat unusual manner here.
Basically, the whole film is about a man who gets himself in continually worsening trouble with various shady individuals, but he brings it on himself, since he's chasing an unattainable high, and doing so involves gambling, hustling, and borrowing risky amounts of money. You Were Never Really Here is also notable for clocking in at just an hour-and-a-half in length, but it's fair to assume it's the kind of thing that'll stick with you long after it, rather quickly, comes to a close.
The Godfather Part II goes a fair way in correcting any romanticization of the mafia that might be present in The Godfather, and is a pretty much perfect gangster movie in its own right. Trying to find a problem with The Godfather is difficult, since it's a pretty much perfect gangster movie and all.
Maybe there's a romanticization of the mafia, to some extent, which could very slightly/gently rub people a way that's, if not quite wrong, then isn't exactly right, but it's a stretch. If that was a flaw, though, or if you feel it was a flaw, then The Godfather Part II goes a fair way in correcting it
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No Country For Old Men Se7en Uncut Gems You Were Never Really Here The Godfather Part II Crime Movies Bleak Storylines Dark Themes Gruesome Violence Unrelenting Tension
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