12 crime movies you shouldn’t miss in 2023

On average, over 300 films are released in Britain each and every year. That’s quite a lot. While some of them are blockbusting popcorn flicks, a whole heap of them are indie films you’ll likely never hear of, let alone see.

But how many will be crime films? And how many will be crime films worth seeing? The number may not be huge, but it’s big enough to keep us all entertained for a good twelve months…

Here’s our pick of new crime movies to watch out for in 2023.

Sympathy for the Devil

Nicolas Cage is currently in one of his many career renaissances, with a couple of years’ worth of quality – if a little odd – projects behind him. His next interesting choice is the newest film from Israeli filmmaker Yuval Adler (Bethlehem, The Secrets We Keep).

In it, Cage plays ‘The Passenger’, a man who forces Joel Kinnaman’s character to drive… somewhere. For some reason. At gunpoint, that is. He’s not just a friend cadging a lift. The producers are calling it ‘a high stakes game of cat and mouse’. We’re calling it one of the most exciting new crime movies to keep an eye out for.

Luther

Rumours of a movie version of the BBC’s popular detective series have circulated for some time, with Idris Elba remaining as tight-lipped about it as he usually is about his chances of being cast as James Bond. 2023 will see the Luther film released – though we’ve still no idea about the Bond casting yet, sorry…!

Written by the series showrunner Neil Cross, it’ll hit Netflix in March and should see Elba and his grey coat returning to track down a twisted killer. Plot details are scarce, but we can tell you that Cynthia Erivo (Widows, The Outsider) and Andy Serkis (The Batman, Black Panther) will co-star.

The Critic

Gemma Arterton, Ian McKellen, Mark Strong, Lesley Manville and Ben Barnes star in this adaptation of Anthony Quinn’s 2015 whodunit novel Curtain Call. Set in the Theatreland of 1930s London, expect a hunt for a killer, a Faustian pact, thrills, laughs and – given its cast – some excellent performances.

It’s being brought to the big screen by playwright and screenwriter Patrick Marber (Closer, Notes on a Scandal), so we’re expecting quality viewing.

Inside

Willem Dafoe is Nemo, an art thief who becomes trapped in a swanky New York penthouse during a botched heist. Locked in with no way out, he has to hatch a plan to escape using only his guile and wits.

This claustrophobic thriller looks seriously tense and more than a little anxiety inducing. It also looks great.

Cocaine Bear

2023’s wildest new film comes in the shape of a giant black bear that ingests an enormous quantity of Class A drugs and goes on the rampage. Because of course it does. News of the film’s greenlighting went viral a while back. The trailer of the film went viral more recently. Its release should see plenty of hype and memes too.

For all the fun and madness, the trailer hints at a rather good film hiding under the crazy. Elizabeth Banks directs a ensemble cast – including Ray Liotta’s final performance – in the telling of the story of a bear that finds a stashed duffel bag of cocaine and promptly eats it before going on a terrifying murder spree about a Georgia town. Oh, yeah. We forgot to say – it’s also based on a true story. Seriously.

Heart of Stone

Not a huge amount is known yet about the plot of this spy thriller, but we’re working on the assumption that the involvement of director Tom Harper (War & Peace, Wild Rose) almost guarantees quality.

Early indications give off slight 007 vibes. Gal Gadot leads, with Matthias Schweighöfer, Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo and Alia Bhatt backing her up. With the success of the similarly expensive but successful The Gray Man in 2022, Netflix will be hoping this big budget effort hits the same levels with its audiences in 2023.

Killers of the Flower Moon

The latest film from Martin Scorsese has been promised to those waiting for it for some years now. After some delays, it seems as though we’ll finally get to enjoy it in cinemas in 2023.

Based on David Grann’s non-fiction work Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, this $200m movie stars Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow and Jack White. It tells the story of how members of the Osage Native American tribe were murdered in Oklahoma under mysterious circumstances back in the 1920s. Expect this to be of epic proportions and hopefully heading our way in May with no further delays.

Transfusion

Crime, action and family matters combine in this Aussie thriller starring Sam Worthington. The Avatar star plays a former special forces type who’s lured into some shady private work by his former special forces type old man. All so he can earn enough to provide for his own son.

Some of the best new crime movies of the last decade have come from Down Under. So if you like your entertainment gritty, Transfusion should be on your radar.

Misanthrope

An unusual trio of Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies), Ben Mendelsohn (Killing Them Softly) and Ralph Ineson (The Office) combine in this crime thriller about a talented but troubled police officer – played by Woodley – recruited by the FBI to help track down a serial killer.

Sharper

Out in February, this Benjamin Caron (Wallander, Sherlock, Andor) film takes a wry look at fraud, as a brilliant con artist targets the billionaire set of Manhattan for juicy marks.

It’s an Apple TV+ original production and will star Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith and John Lithgow.

The Equalizer 3

Critics may be somewhat dismissive of Denzel Washington’s Equalizer film series, but fans and casual viewers enjoy the straightforward high octane vigilante action fun.

This time out Washington reunites with Dakota Fanning for the first time since they made Man on Fire, one the best action thrillers of the 21^st century. Antoine Fuqua is back behind the camera in what may very well be Robert McCall’s last ever big screen outing.

Boston Strangler

It may seem like an odd choice, to make a film about Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler – partly because he’s rarely spoken of nowadays in terms of infamous serial killers, but mostly because the 1968 film about the Massachusetts murderer starring Tony Curtis is so famous.

This film, however, tells a slightly different tale. While DeSalvo (Prisoners’ David Dastmalchian) does feature, this is more about the story of the reporter who broke the story, Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley). It’s also a look at the rank sexism of the era and how it impacted the investigation.