The best thrillers to watch on Netflix in July 2023

Polygon readers, happy July!

The summer is in full swing, and it’s the perfect time to have an outdoor barbecue, go to the beach, or stay at home and watch the Tour de France. There are many great options to enjoy summer films at home in-between all the fun.

Each month, we pick five thrillers from Netflix’s catalog to highlight as particularly good viewing selections that month. Maybe they’re new releases, maybe they’re seasonally appropriate, maybe they’re in conversation with what’s going on in the world right now, or maybe they’re just plain good.

Enjoy! Here are the five picks of this month. Enjoy!

Extraction 2.

Photo: Jasin Boland/Netflix

Year: 2023
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Sam Hargrave
Cast:Adam Bessa, Golshifteh Farahmani, Chris Hemsworth

Chris Hemsworth’s partnership with stuntman turned director Sam Hargrave has been fruitful for both collaborators and for Netflix. Extraction was one of the biggest successes in the streaming platform’s history of original productions, and Extraction 2. The movie that followed was a much superior film.

The piss yellow filter that was used to indicate the first film took place in South Asia is no more. Instead, Extraction 2. Chris Hemsworth is featured in this action-packed stunt show, where he punches guys while his hands are on fire and shoots a helicopter using a miniature gun, all the while standing atop a moving train. It’s pretty much 122 minutes of nonstop action, including a breathtaking 21-minute one-take action sequence that was incredibly difficult to film.

Extraction 2.Also, it gives Golshifteh Farajani a larger role. She plays half of the dynamic duo of siblings (alongside Adam Bessa), which adds another dimension to these new action stars. It’s one of the standout action movies of the year, and the ending sets up quite the intriguing premise for a potential Extraction 3.. —Pete Volk

Run Rabbit Run

Image: Netflix

Year: 2023
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Daina Reid
Cast:Sarah Snook Lily LaTorre Neil Melville

If you’re looking for a psychological horror concerned with maternal dread and barely repressed familial trauma à la The BabadookThis new film by director Daina (The Handmaid’s TaleYou’ll love ).

Run Rabbit Run stars Sarah Snook (SuccessionSarah is an aging fertility doctor, single mom and grieving widow who recently lost her dad. When Sarah’s daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) begins exhibiting strange behaviors identical to her late sister Alice, who disappeared years prior, Sarah’s mental and emotional state rapidly begins to unravel as she attempts to understand her daughter and reconcile her own conflicted past. The film is fairly standard in that it follows the same old tropes associated with trauma-focused horror. Run Rabbit Run certainly stands out as one of the better recent entries in the subgenre wholly on part of the strength of Snook’s performance, with haunted expressions and piercing dialogue delivered with quivering affectation that draws the audience in and holds them right up to the film’s heart-sinking conclusion. —Toussaint egan

Annihilation

Paramount Pictures

Year: 2018
Run time: 1h 55m
Director: Alex Garland
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez

Alex Garland’s adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s critically acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy is an engrossing work of psychological horror that forces the viewer to not only ponder the limits of love (and human biology) but the future of a species potentially facing its own imminent extinction. Natalie Portman is Lena – a biologist, who’s soldier husband Kane has been gone for a whole year. The mission was kept secret. Upon his miraculous return, Lena learns that Kane’s mission involved exploring the Shimmer, an anomalous zone in Florida filled with hostile entities mutated by the radiation of a nearby meteor. Fearing for her husband’s life, Lena volunteers to explore the Shimmer alongside a new expedition team in search of answers, only to be brought face to face with a world beyond her wildest fears.

Like the meteor that strikes the lighthouse in the opening moments of the film, Garland’s AnnihilationThis film transforms the original text into a cinematic adventure rife in phantasmagorical delight and existential terror. It’s a horror film that exists squarely within the territory of thrillers, one that will keep you on your toes and drawn to the screen throughout every minute. —TE

Dunkirk

Warner Bros.

Year: 2017
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast:Fionn whitehead, Tom Glynn Carney, Jack Lowden

Is Christopher Nolan’s 2017 war drama the best movie of his career? Perhaps. Does it rank among the top thrillers available on Netflix? It’s a must-see. With Nolan’s historical drama OppenheimerWhat better time to catch the show than right now? Dunkirk?

This film tells the story of how thousands of British troops tried to flee the French beaches at Dunkirk, France during World War II. Resources were running out and Nazi forces closed in. Dunkirk Follows the perspective of several soldiers who attempt to survive what is considered one of most significant battles in the history of 20th-century warfare.

Even if you don’t count yourself as a history buff, Nolan’s film is an exhilarating watch. With brilliant set-pieces conveyed through deft cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema, a tense and immersive score by Hans Zimmer that brilliantly iterates on the leitmotif of a ticking clock to convey the desperation of the film’s characters as they race against time, and excellent performance by an ensemble of actors including Fionn Whitehead, Cillian Murphy, and Tom Hardy, DunkirkThe simple act of surviving is the key to a beautiful war drama in which hope and joy are found amid despair. —TE

Mule

Warner Bros.

Year: 2018
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast:Clint Eastwood Bradley Cooper Laurence Fishburne

Clint Eastwood’s recent movies have been among his most empathetic and thoughtful, often unfairly dismissed based on perceptions of Eastwood or his age. The film is loosely based upon a true tale. The Mule This is a nuanced and deft portrayal of the human condition, aware of prejudices while refusing to succumb to them.

The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us The MuleEastwood, a famous horticulturist who has been forced into retirement when his company fails, is an acclaimed horticulturist. With his home foreclosed on and his family no longer speaking to him after years of prioritizing his work over them, he gets recruited to be a drug mule by a cartel — they reason an 80-something white man without a criminal record is among the least likely candidates to be pulled over by police.

The Mule is a standout example in a strong run that has extended from 2014’s Jersey Boys to 2021’s Cry Macho — for my money, it’s right behind Sully You can also find out more about the following: Richard Jewell as the strongest movies from this period of Eastwood’s career. The legend has been working on Juror 2, which is set to be the final movie of his illustrious career, so there’s no better time than now to catch up with some of his great recent work. —PV