Best Investigation Movies List

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Aggregate Rating: 225 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 90 | Earnings: $64.60M

Lead Role: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, | Director: Curtis Hanson,

As corruption grows in 1950s LA, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.

Shutter Island (2010)

Aggregate Rating: 198 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 63 | Earnings: $127.97M

Lead Role: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, | Director: Martin Scorsese,

In 1954, a U.S. Marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderer, who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.

Super 8 (2011)

Aggregate Rating: 192 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 72 | Earnings: $126.98M

Lead Role: Elle Fanning, AJ Michalka, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney, | Director: J.J. Abrams,

During the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.

I, Robot (2004)

Aggregate Rating: 188 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 59 | Earnings: $144.80M

Lead Role: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk, | Director: Alex Proyas,

In 2035, a technophobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.

Blue Velvet (1986)

Aggregate Rating: 181 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 76 | Earnings: $8.55M

Lead Role: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, | Director: David Lynch,

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Aggregate Rating: 180 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 72 | Earnings: $20.30M

Lead Role: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, | Director: Ben Affleck,

Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

Watchmen (2009)

Aggregate Rating: 174 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 56 | Earnings: $107.50M

Lead Role: Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, Malin Akerman, | Director: Zack Snyder,

In 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.

Wind River (2017)

Aggregate Rating: 173 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 73 | Earnings: $33.80M

Lead Role: Kelsey Asbille, Jeremy Renner, Julia Jones, Teo Briones, | Director: Taylor Sheridan,

A veteran tracker with the Fish and Wildlife Service helps to investigate the murder of a young Native American woman, and uses the case as a means of seeking redemption for an earlier act of irresponsibility which ended in tragedy.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Aggregate Rating: 173 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 70 | Earnings: $36.25M

Lead Role: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer, | Director: Shane Black,

In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.

Flight (2012)

Aggregate Rating: 171 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 76 | Earnings: $93.75M

Lead Role: Denzel Washington, Nadine Velazquez, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, | Director: Robert Zemeckis,

An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.

Insomnia (2002)

Aggregate Rating: 170 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 78 | Earnings: $67.26M

Lead Role: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, | Director: Christopher Nolan,

Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

Gosford Park (2001)

Aggregate Rating: 168 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 90 | Earnings: $41.30M

Lead Role: Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, | Director: Robert Altman,

The lives of upstairs guests and downstairs servants at a party in 1932 in a country house in England as they investigate a murder involving one of them.

Quiz Show (1994)

Aggregate Rating: 166 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 88 | Earnings: $24.82M

Lead Role: Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Paul Scofield, | Director: Robert Redford,

A young lawyer, Richard Goodwin, investigates a potentially fixed game show. Charles Van Doren, a big time show winner, is under Goodwin's investigation.

Black Friday (2004)

Aggregate Rating: 164 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 76 | Earnings: $0.03M

Lead Role: Kay Kay Menon, Pavan Malhotra, Aditya Srivastava, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, | Director: Anurag Kashyap,

Black Friday is a film about the investigations following the 1993 serial Bombay bomb blasts, told through the different stories of the people involved --police, conspirators, victims, middlemen.

The Guard (2011)

Aggregate Rating: 162 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 78 | Earnings: $5.36M

Lead Role: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Ronan Collins, | Director: John Michael McDonagh,

An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is partnered with an up-tight F.B.I. agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Aggregate Rating: 162 | Imdb: 6 | Metascore: 54 | Earnings: $310.68M

Lead Role: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee, | Director: George Lucas,

Ten years after initially meeting, Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé, while Obi-Wan investigates an assassination attempt on the Senator and discovers a secret clone army crafted for the Jedi.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Aggregate Rating: 158 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 65 | Earnings: $101.07M

Lead Role: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, | Director: Tim Burton,

Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of 3 people with the culprit being the legendary apparition, the Headless Horseman.

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Aggregate Rating: 158 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 64 | Earnings: $234.76M

Lead Role: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, | Director: Martin Brest,

A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.

Deja Vu (2006)

Aggregate Rating: 156 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 59 | Earnings: $64.03M

Lead Role: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer, | Director: Tony Scott,

After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.

Inherent Vice (2014)

Aggregate Rating: 155 | Imdb: 6 | Metascore: 81 | Earnings: $8.09M

Lead Role: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, | Director: Paul Thomas Anderson,

In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.