.png)
![‘Companion’ Ending Breakdown: Director Drew Hancock Tells All About the Film’s Showdown and Potential Sequel: ‘That’s the Future I Want for [Spoiler]’](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/MCDCOMP_WB028.jpg?#)
10 Essential Action Thrillers, Ranked
Oldboy, The French Connection, and Zero Dark Thirty are among the best and most essential action thriller movies.
Being essential is about so much more than being good. Essential films are those that push boundaries, set standards, provoke discussions, or do all of that and more. While the importance and value of some films, like Heat, feel obvious due to their reputations and achievements, the essential nature of others is harder to quantify.
