Summer is getting warmer, even as the cash register cools down. You’d rather stay home and watch a movie this weekend, right?
Every month we hand-pick a few thrillers on Netflix that fit well with that time of year. Maybe there is a connection with a new release. Maybe it’s a good summer viewer. Maybe it’s new on Netflix. Or maybe it’s just that good.
This month’s selections include a new shark movie, a thriller comedy new to Netflix, and a standout Liam Neeson thriller from the creator of The Queen’s Gambit And Mr. Spade.
Editor’s Choice: A walk among the gravestones
Photo: Atsushi Nishijima/Universal Pictures via Everett Collection
Director: Scott Frank
Form: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook
This dark neo-noir is a bright spot in the late career of Liam Neeson, who focuses on action and action-oriented thrillers. He plays a retired NYPD detective who now works as a private investigator. When he is hired to investigate a brutal murder case, he finds himself drawn into a dark web of crime and conspiracy.
Based on the novel by Lawrence Block, it’s the rare Neeson action (or action-adjacent) vehicle that allows the Oscar-nominated actor to hone his acting chops. Neeson’s Matt Scudder is troubled, but determined… and you really don’t want to mess with him. Add to that an attractive supporting cast of Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook and David Harbour, and you have a modernized legacy of a detective film.
There are a few reasons for that A walk among the gravestones is relevant this year: Director Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) recently teamed up with Clive Owen for another PI throwback on the AMC Plus show Mr. Spade. Frank also co-wrote Loganwhich I think is relevant again Deadpool and Wolverine around the corner. And it was a Dan Stevens summer, with Abigail, Godzilla x Kong: The New EmpireAnd Cuckoo are all coming out this year.
A content warning: This film is partly about sexual violence and directly addresses that subject. —Piet Volk
A simple favor
Photo: Peter Iovino/Lionsgate via Everett Collection
Director: Paul Feig
Form: Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Henry Golding
A simple favor every ounce is the delightful thriller-comedy you want and more. It helps that the film knows – and loves – what it is. Single mom and mommy vlogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) makes a surprising friendship with the ultra-cool and stylish Emily (Blake Lively), but Emily suddenly disappears completely. That sounds like any pulpy lit mystery, but… A simple favor has a smile and an edge, those stories don’t. As Stephanie becomes more attracted to Emily’s husband, Sean (Henry Golding), in the aftermath of her disappearance, the film wraps its plot around the characters as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are tied to a pole. The result is a fun, rousing little murder mystery thriller, with great costumes (Awesome costumes) and a gal far beyond his veneer. —Zosha Millman
Under Paris
Image: Netflix
Director: Xavier Gens
Form: Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Léa Léviant
This is hands down the best thriller on this list that starts with a quote “based on Charles Darwin.” And for those craving the thrash and chomp of a good shark movie: Under Paris (by Bend! director Xavier Gens) will certainly be satisfying – although it takes some time to build up. Three years after losing her team to a shark attack, Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) has retreated to Paris to recover. But trouble, like a shark in the Seine, haunts her home and threatens the city’s prosperity.
If you think, How much trouble can a shark in the Seine really cause? — Under Paris would like to make this clear to you. Delicately balanced as a film that takes the threat just seriously enough to help you cheer when a shark majestically leaps out of the water with a Parisian in its jaws. Under Paris is a platonic ideal of seeing sharks tear through the heart of the city of love. —HM