Who doesn't love a conspiracy theory film? These are the 17 movies that will have you checking over your shoulder and Googling the facts
Rom-coms and chick flicks are all well and good but sometimes we have a craving for something darker and that really gets our minds going.
Binge watching TV showsis great but sometimes there is nothing quite like an edge of your seat conspiracy theorymovie. They are the sort of films that makes us feel like we’re being watched or followed, that there’s something not quite right about our seemingly ordinary lives and the things we thought were a 'given.' In conclusion they make us question just about EVERYTHING and make us second guess every character's actions. And the best news is, if you want to get your brain cells going there are plenty of conspiracy theory movies.
But why are we so obsessed with them? It's frankly a great escape or they are able to tap into our consciousness at a time when our trust in economic and political institutions seems to have ebbed to an all time low.
The best conspiracy theory films manage to create nail-biting tension throughout. There are those that have the balance of being completely out-there-bonkers and just-believable-enough to keep us guessing and those based on real life conspiracy theories that get us Googling as the credits roll.
If you’re looking for a classic, The Bourne Trilogy is a good place to start - it was recently voted the best conspiracy theory film series of all time with Matt Damon starring as Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from amnesia who tries to piece together memories of his old life. There’s a total of five films to get through and they’re all as tension-inducing as the next.
Take The Interpreter which we recently watched on Netflix. The film stars Nicole Kidman as Silvia Broome, an interpreter for the UN who claims to overhear a plot to assassinate an African head of state. The trouble is, no one believes her. Instead, the US government assign a secret service agent (played by Sean Penn) to follow her, investigate her, and find out where the truth really lies.
If you love a movie that is based on an actual conspiracy theory you need to watch Amazon Prime Video movie,The Reportwhere Adam Driver plays FBI agent Daniel Jones who launches and investigation into the CIA's use of torture on suspected terrorists following the 9/11 attacks where it has now been widely proved they adopted new interrogation techniques.
Of course, there are loads more to have on your watch list too - some more realistic than others, with cover-ups, whistle-blowers and murders galore. Here are some of the best conspiracy theory films to ever grace the silver screen…
17 best conspiracy theory movies
The Interpreter (2005)
Nicole Kidman is captivating as Silvia Broome, a UN interpreter who says she overhears an assassination plot – but Homeland Security don't believe her. They assign a U.S. Secret Service agent (Sean Penn) to investigate her, and find out who is telling the truth.
Angels & Demons (2009)
The adaption of Dan Brown's bestselling novel, Angels & Demons sees professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) following a trail of ancient symbols in order to prevent the Illuminati's deadly plot against Vatican City.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
This Oscar-winning adaption of John le Carré's novel stars Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, a man on a mission to find out why his wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) was brutally murdered in northern Kenya. He soon learns that the truth is buried in a conspiracy more unbelievable and dangerous than he could've imagined.
The Bourne Trilogy (2002-2007)
The first three of the Bourne series are the real classics starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacyand The Bourne Ultimatum), a secret CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia who must figure out who he is, based on the novels by Robert Ludlum.
The X Files (1998)
Starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Mulder and Scully who are sent to investigate the bombing of a building and the destruction of criminal evidence. They uncover what appears to be a government conspiracy attempting to hide the truth about an alien colonisation of Earth.
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
A murder in Paris' Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that could rock the very foundations of Christianity. Based on Dan Brown’s book, the blur between fact-and-fiction has caused controversy.
Enemy of the State (1998)
When a videotape containing footage of congressman Phil Hammersley's unlawful murder by a corrupt National Security Agency official is planted on lawyer, Robert Dean, he’s framed for murder. With the help of an ex-intelligence agent, Dean attempts to prove his innocence.
The Firm (1993)
Based on a John Grisham novel, Tom Cruise plays bright, newly-minted lawyer Mitch McDeere, who gets a very generous out-of-the-box job offer from Memphis firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke. Of course, things do not go as planned after he finds himself embroiled in a murder case.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw is praised by his bosses for putting up a brave front during the Korean War. However, only his troupe knows the fact that he was behind the murder of two missing soldiers with a race to uncover the truth.
The Matrix Trilogy (1999- 2003)
This sci-fi trilogy follows the story of Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer, who is led to fight an underground war against powerful computers who have constructed his entire reality with a system called the Matrix.
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Based on a true story, Julia Roberts plays Erin, a single mother who becomes a legal assistant and stumbles upon some medical records placed in a real estate file. She eventually discovers a cover-up involving contaminated water in a local community which is causing devastating illnesses among its residents.
The Negotiator (1998)
When a prominent police negotiator is accused of corruption, he takes people hostage to buy himself time and search for evidence that will clear his name. This is one that will have you on tenterhooks.
JFK (1991)
Looking into the alleged cover-up of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Kevin Costner plays prosecutor Jim Garrison who doesn’t believe that a lone gunman killed JFK; his theory is that a widespread network, the "deep state," is behind the assassination.
The Post (2017)
There are on screen partnerships and then there is Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. In this movie the pair play, Washington Post publisher Katharine and her editor-in-chief Ben. Both put the paper and their careers on the line by publishing a report on secrets about the war in Vietnam.
Based on a true story this Oscar winning movie follows the journalists at the Boston Globe newspaper who pursued a story about child molestation charges that were being bought against the local Catholic church. Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams star in this momentum building movie that is a must watch.
The Report (2019)
You may have missed this movie on Amazon Prime Video but it is Adam Driver at his best! Adam stars as an FBI agent who secretly works on a report that outlines the CIA's use of torture on suspected terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It's shocking and heartbreaking in equal measures as we see Adam prove that a conspiracy theory is in fact a factual.
Minority Report (2002)
Tom Hanks LOVES an action movie, but this one was a seasoning of conspiracy. In this early noughties film, Tom plays a police officer who uses a future technology that allows the police to catch criminals before they have committed a crime. But it isn't long until Tom himself is accused and has to prove his innocence - is he being framed OR is he a criminal all along?
