Political Thriller Movies

Thriller about a new prosecuting magistrate in Sicily, who replaces his assassinated predecessor only to find himself the new target of corrupt killers within the government. Score by Ennio Morricone. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Based on the same real-life events that inspired Ranulph Fiennes' gripping best-seller The Feather Men, writer/director Gary McKendry's globe-trotting action thriller follows the adventures of an ex-special-ops agent (Jason Statham) as he emerges from retirement to track down his missing mentor (Robert De Niro). But accomplishing that goal won't be easy, because a master killer (Clive Owen) has dispatched a trio of fierce assassins to exterminate the hardboiled former agent by any means necessary. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The November 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy shocked the nation and the world. The brisk investigation of that murder conducted under the guidance of Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren distressed many observers, even though subsequent careful investigations have been unable to find much fault with the conclusions his commission drew, the central one of which was that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Instead of satisfying the public, one result of the Warren Commission Report was that an unimaginable number of plausible conspiracy theories were bruited about, and these have supported a sizeable publishing mini-industry ever since. In making this movie, director Oliver Stone had his pick of supposed or real investigative flaws to draw from and has constructed what some reviewers felt was one of the most compelling (and controversial) political detective thrillers ever to emerge from American cinema. Long before filming was completed, Stone was fending off heated accusations of artistic and historical irresponsibility, and these only intensified after the film was released. In the story, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Oswald (Gary Oldman), and he sets out to recreate the events leading up to the assassination. Along the way, he stumbles across evidence that a great many people had reason to want to see the president killed, and he is convinced that some of them worked in concert to frame Oswald as the killer. Among the suspects are Lyndon Baines Johnson (the next president), the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia. Over the course of gathering what he believes to be evidence of a conspiracy, Garrison unveils some of the grittier aspects of New Orleans society, focusing on the shady activities of local businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones). Garrison's investigations culminate in his conducting a show trial that he knows he will lose and which he is sure will ruin his career in order to get his evidence into the public record where it can't be buried again. This movie won two of the many Academy Awards for which it was nominated: one for Best Photography (Robert Richardson) and the other for Editing (Joe Hutshing). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Clint Eastwood delivers one of his finest performances, as a secret service agent haunted by his past in Wolfgang Petersen's taut thriller In the Line of Fire. Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a secret service agent who keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when, as an agent hand-picked by President Kennedy, he became one of the few agents to have lost a president to an assassin. Decades later, psychotic Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) is stalking another president (Jim Curley) running for re-election. He has spent long hours studying the psyche of Frank Horrigan, and he taunts Horrigan (feeling that there is a bond between them), telling him of his plans to kill the president. After his conversation with Leary, Horrigan makes sure he is assigned to presidential protection duty. Horrigan has no intention of failing his president this time around, and he is more than willing to take a bullet. But everything goes Leary's way -- he is smart and cagey and the president's aides refuse to alter the itinerary. As the election draws closer, Horrigan's chances to catch Leary look to be less and less a possibility, and he begins to doubt his own abilities -- both now and in the past, when Kennedy was murdered. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Hunt for Justice tells the story of a Canadian judge (Wendy Carson) who is appointed to a war crimes tribunal. With great determination, she overcomes a variety of dangers thrown her way in order to discover the truth about and punish those responsible for a variety of war crimes that transpires during the genocide in the Balkans. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Former government agent Jason Price (Dolph Lundgren) is at odds with the FBI hierarchy. He suspects he can't trust anyone, particularly after an important witness is slain by a sniper while on the witness stand during a secret grand jury session. He takes it upon himself to track down the sniper, find out who was behind the order for the assassination, and then take them down. Little does Price know just how deeply into the Bureau the conspiracy goes. He learns the hard way -- as do those who choose to help him -- just how deadly his mission is. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

Billed as a female version of Deliverance, Guardian of the Frontier is an allegorical thriller that takes place in the scenic but menacing Slovenian countryside. The film has as its protagonists Zana, Simona, and Alja, three college students who decide to spend part of their summer vacation on a canoe and camping trip down the Kolpa, the river separating Slovenia and Croatia. The three embark on their trip with a farewell to Alja's boyfriend, and before you can say "Go Fish," Alja and Zana are engaged in a sweaty affair that shocks Simona, a sexual naïf. Things get even weirder after Simona meets an ostensibly pleasant fisherman; soon, the three young women realize something isn't right in the woods, and that they are being followed by someone or something who hasn't been invited along for the trip. Guardian of the Frontier was screened at the 2002 Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

When politicians pose as college professors in a bid to gain political influence, the unassuming students become pawns in a far-reaching game of governmental corruption. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Hard-drinking newspaper reporter John McWhirter (Fred Ward) finds himself in the middle of a messy political assassination plot when he is compelled to keep in his house an on-the-lam Palestinian operative, Armiti Khalq (Rachel Ticotin). McWhirter, who is being heavily pressured by his editor (Virginia Madsen) to come up with a scoop, has no choice but to keep the woman safe as a payback to two old friends he apparently betrayed when they were university radicals during the turbulent 1960s. The overreaching FBI bureau chief, Robert Lecker (Christopher Plummer), is anxious to find the woman and send McWhirter and his companions away -- unless they happen to die first. Meanwhile, a manic hit woman, Michelle (Penelope Ann Miller), discovers Armiti's hiding place and closes in for the kill, just as McWhirter returns home. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

Fourteen scriptwriters spent five years toiling over a movie adaptation of war correspondent Vincent Sheehan's Personal History before producer Walter Wanger brought the property to the screen as Foreign Correspondent. What emerged was approximately 2 parts Sheehan and 8 parts director Alfred Hitchcock--and what's wrong with that? Joel McCrea stars as an American journalist sent by his newspaper to cover the volatile war scene in Europe in the years 1938 to 1940. He has barely arrived in Holland before he witnesses the assassination of Dutch diplomat Albert Basserman: at least, that's what he thinks he sees. McCrea makes the acquaintance of peace-activist Herbert Marshall, his like-minded daughter Laraine Day, and cheeky British secret agent George Sanders. A wild chase through the streets of Amsterdam, with McCrea dodging bullets, leads to the classic "alternating windmills" scene, which tips Our Hero to the existence of a formidable subversive organization. McCrea returns to England, where he nearly falls victim to the machinations of jovial hired-killer Edmund Gwenn. The leader of the spy ring is revealed during the climactic plane-crash sequence--which, like the aforementioned windmill scene, is a cinematic tour de force for director Hitchcock and cinematographer Rudolph Mate. Producer Wanger kept abreast of breaking news events all through the filming of Foreign Correspondent, enabling him to keep the picture as "hot" as possible: the final scene, with McCrea broadcasting to a "sleeping" America from London while Nazi bombs drop all around him, was filmed only a short time after the actual London blitz. The script was co-written by Robert Benchley, who has a wonderful supporting role as an eternally tippling newsman. Foreign Correspondent was Alfred Hitchcock's second American film, and remained one of his (and his fans') personal favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This second feature from writer-director Francisco Athie (Lolo) carries a stylish cyber-candescence throughout, courtesy of techno-twists added by production designer Chu Uroz (cables, surveillance cameras, TV monitors, and other electronic gear). Athie's tense politico-thriller begins with a trade-union chief's murder. His Brazilian mistress Claudia is framed, with bumbling Magana on as her defense lawyer and reporter Marco doing a journalistic investigation. As it becomes evident that both Magana and Marco are pawns and Claudia's innocent former lover is set up as the murderer, the web of intrigue expands. Shown at the 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A hard-line junior senator with a tough anti-terrorism policy finds her outspoken politics have made her the target for a determined sleeper cell of murderous terrorists in a tense political thriller starring Lauren Holly, Lacey Chabert, and Angus MacFadyen. Maggie Davidson is a politician on a mission to make the American public feel safe on their own soil. When Davidson's plan to stomp out terrorism raises the ire of a dangerous group of terrorists just waiting for the right moment to strike, their plan to quiet her with a "dirty bomb" planted in the Mall of America leaves the entire city of Bloomington, MN, on high alert. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi