427 Best Crime Movies to Watch (Page 29)

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421. Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale, 2024

Stilted and awkward from the beginning, the first two episodes of Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale that were watched for this review promise a rough start for a series that just doesn't have enough of its own personality. Characters and conflict are introduced in ham-fisted fashion, with this fantasy world never given enough shape to make the magic elements feel significant to the story. It's not necessarily a problem that the show functions more as a small-town crime drama—it can be interesting to have magic be so normalized in this setting—but even these hints of mystery feel obligatory, rather than motivated to explore more of its story.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Actor: Amy De Bhrún, Elaine Cassidy, Hazel Doupe, Kelly Campbell, Stephanie Levi-John, Stephen Lord, Valerie O'Connor

Rating: TV-MA

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422. Trap House, 2023

After his brother's gruesome death at the infamous drug den, Trap House, Detective Grant Pierce is removed from the case to find its creator. He goes rogue and recruits a teenage drug dealer working for the Trap House with a plan to infiltrate. Whatever the film lacks in intrigue is not compensated by good writing or interesting traps/scares/twists that would befit its horror categorization. Even expectations to match its counterparts in the escape room genre are quickly lowered thanks to uninventive traps and shallow characters whose deaths weigh nothing in the grand scheme of the plot. The potential of a trap house horror/thriller to comment on addiction, race, poverty, or anything substantial outside of "crackheads are crazy" is ultimately wasted. Instead, there's stilted dialogue, caricatures of drug addicts, and a narrative that is hard to sit through, much less enjoy.

Genre: Crime, Horror, Thriller, TV Movie

Actor: Anthony Timpano, Benjamin Wilkinson, Bruce Crawford, Fletcher Donovan, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Jaime M. Callica, Jason Tremblay, Peter Bundic, Ryan Mah

Director: Nicholas Humphries

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423. 10 Days of a Good Man (2023)

The fact that 10 Days of a Good Man feels so similar to many other hard-boiled detective stories still means there are reliable thrills to be had here for fans of the genre. But twists and turns and a suitably gruff lead performance by Nejat Isler can't make up for how the film seems so convinced of its own coolness. The more that they emphasize that Sadik is really a modest kind of tough guy with a big heart and an energy that just seems to draw women and dangerous people towards him, the more insincere it comes across. And as the convoluted central mystery continues to pile on details without engaging in much actual investigation, the more the whole thing feels like posturing to champion a very traditional and superficial idea of masculinity that Sadik embodies.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Actor: Nejat İşler, Nur Fettahoğlu, Şenay Gürler

Director: Uluç Bayraktar

Rating: R

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424. Hard Broken, 2023

Netflix is no stranger to murder mysteries, having a whole catalog of films and series in the genre from around the world. Because of this, it can be hard for lesser known, non-English titles from the streamer to get their work noticed, and we at A Good Movie to Watch try to find the best of these hidden gems. Unfortunately, Hard Broken is not one of them. The latest six-episode Lebanese series feels rushed, often containing plot points that don't make sense, with stock characters that feel so one-dimensional. With the quality of other murder mysteries on the platform, it’s strange that Netflix decided to produce this series.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Elie Mitri, Muhanned Al Hamdi, Rasha Bilal, رودريغ سليمان, طلال الجردي

Director: Elie F. Habib

Rating: TV-MA

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425. Devil’s Advocate, 2023

Quick to start and slow to deliver, Devil's Advocate follows Bader, a renowned football player who is tried for being the primary suspect in his wife Dalal's murder. After the series' initial commentary on how the court of public opinion affects a case, nothing else about it stands out. It's mostly just the lawyer Loulwa desperately proving Bader's innocence, going against her father (the prosecutor), and avoiding her ex-fiance (the officer assigned to the case). All of those things collectively sound like a good setup, but they somehow have no impact. In two of the six episodes, there are countless conversations and baseless speculating, and yet nothing progresses past emphasizing Dalal's mental illness. So our two options, by that point, are to trust Bader or (if you can) believe that Dalal stabbed herself 14 TIMES. There's certainly more to the story, but the allure is no more than an ignorable simmer.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Actor: Haya Abdulsalam

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426. 10 Days of a Bad Man (2023)

At first it really seems like 10 Days of a Bad Man has learned from the mistakes of its unoriginal, self-satisfied predecessor. This sequel has a more distinct personality in general, with a better overall look and a more unique central mystery that doesn't only deal with edgy underground trafficking rings. But it doesn't take long to realize that this film still has the exact same attitude towards its protagonist Sadik, who refuses to develop in any meaningful way and whom the movie still lionizes as some impossibly charming but sexily flawed example of masculinity.

And throughout this ultimately pointless and hastily resolved mystery that makes no impact at the end, this 50-year-old man can't even confront his grief in an interesting way—choosing instead to strike up a relationship with an 18-year-old girl whose only function in the story is to try and seduce him. Because nothing says getting over the death of a loved one than grooming the young woman whom you've known since she was a minor.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Actor: Erdal Yildiz, Ilayda Akdogan, Nejat İşler, Nur Fettahoğlu, Şenay Gürler

Director: Uluç Bayraktar

Rating: R

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427. Sheroes, 2023

There is a germ of an idea here, and executed well, Sheroes had the potential to be camp and crude and unapologetically fun in the way only films about female friendship can be (see: Girls Trip, Booksmart, Bridesmaids). Instead, with what looks like a negative production budget and zero commitment from the cast, the resulting film is unwatchably bad. The needle drops are excessive, the cinematography is straight out of a stock image site (what a waste of Thailand’s vibrant beauty!), and the acting, if you can call it that, is wholly unbelievable, with perhaps Isabelle Fuhrman and Skai Jackson standing out as the only exceptions. The chemistry of these so-called friends feels canned, making their montages of supposed fun look stiff and stilted. We’re supposed to believe these girls who can’t even hug right are friends? They’re out here dipping in the pool and sipping beers while thinking of ways to save their tied-up-in-the-middle-of-nowhere friend, so again I ask, we’re supposed to believe they're best friends? Let’s be real, because this film surely isn’t.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime

Actor: Isabelle Fuhrman, Jack Kesy, Joseph Angelo, Kelly B. Jones, Prinya Intachai, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Sasha Luss, Skai Jackson, Wallis Day

Director: Jordan Gertner

Rating: R

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