10 Must-Watch Spy Thrillers from the 2010s That Still Hold Up
Most spy movies these days feel like knockoffs. Polished, over-edited, and packed with tech that looks like it came from a phone commercial.
And somehow, even with all the explosions and car chases, they're still boring. You get two scenes of someone whispering into an earpiece, three double-crosses you saw coming a mile away, and then it's credits.
But the 2010s had a different energy. That decade gave us spy thrillers that actually thrilled. They were tense, grounded, and ruthless—built on paranoia, not CGI. Directors actually let silence build dread. You didn't always know who was lying, who was watching, or if anyone was going to make it out alive. That's the good stuff.
And that's exactly what this list is. Not big franchise fluff. Not sanitized reboots. These are the ones that actually understood the assignment.
Every movie in this batch earned its place. Some went under the radar. Some got buried behind flashier blockbusters. But they all do one thing right: they spy. No capes. No supercomputers. Just real people caught in real danger, doing whatever it takes to survive a game they probably never wanted to play in the first place.
So if you've been craving something sharp, tense, and smart enough not to hold your hand—these are the 10 spy thrillers from the 2010s you absolutely shouldn't miss.