10 Most Thrilling Historical Drama Movies, Ranked

Historical dramas so often lend themselves well to thrilling stories. Good storytellers can take real historical settings and events and tell thrilling stories with new twists. So much of history consists of wild events and wilder people who sometimes did unbelievable things. While historical dramas focus more on recreating historical events for modern audiences, there are some movies that show off the thrilling aspects history has always contained.

Some of the greatest historical dramas made into movies have the most thrills. For example, The Great Escape highlights the true stories of Allied soldiers who were part of daring escapes from a POW camp. Other historical epics, like Gladiator, focus on the thrills and drama that would have been a part of more remote time periods. The best historical thrillers highlight human stories, and how people have always done their best to adapt to the times they live in.

10 ‘Unforgiven’ (1992)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Unforgiven is a Western that follows Will Munny (Clint Eastwood), a retired outlaw who agrees to do one final job pursuing a group of cowboys. While Will used to be a bounty hunter himself, he expresses the fact that he would like to remain retired and focus on his family and quiet life. Unforgiven is a deconstruction and analysis of what makes the Western genre so well-loved, like gunslingers, fights, and a man who seeks a form of justice at all costs.

What makes Unforgiven so thrilling is the fact that it is a revenge story at its core. While there can always be something compelling about revenge stories, Unforgiven puts a unique human twist on the genre. The thrills in Unforgiven come in the tension that is built by the subversion of typical Western tropes. Rather than creating a heroic gunslinger seeking justice, Unforgiven gives an unflinching look at what the cost of violence has always been which makes it a thrilling watch.

9 ‘The Handmaiden’ (2016)

Directed by Park Chan-wook

The Handmaiden follows a man known as “Count Fujiwara” (Ha Jung-woo), who hires a young woman named Nam Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) to be a maid for Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). The story is presented in three chapters and follows Fujiwara’s quest to seduce Lady Hideko using her maid. The Handmaiden takes place in Japanese-occupied Korea and spotlights the choices everyone has to make to survive.

What makes The Handmaiden so thrilling is the fact that it is a deeply uncomfortable examination of the human psyche. While the twists and turns could have easily become over-indulgent, director Park Chan-wook tells a tight, empathetic story about what passion and desire can drive people to do. Park also navigates shifting tones to amp up The Handmaiden‘s thrills.

8 ‘Titanic’ (1997)

Directed by James Cameron

Titanic is considered a classic for many reasons. Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) love story takes place against the backdrop of the real tragedy of the Titanic sinking. While the romance is fictional, the story is based on a historical event that marked a turning point in the Twentieth Century. The movie mixes its fictional love story with the real people who survived the Titanic’s sinking, or met tragic ends.

While Titanic‘s love story is thrilling enough, it is truly heartstopping to watch the actual sinking play out. The tension built throughout the movie is one of the best parts of the story. From the beginning, most viewers will know exactly where Titanic will end. The movie builds a compelling story around this tragedy, which makes the inevitable that much more jarring. The combination of practical effects and a doomed love story gives Titanic its thrills.

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7 ‘Dunkirk’ (2017)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Dunkirk showcases the real events that occurred in 1940 during the Battle of France. The movie follows the chaos that accompanied the evacuation of Dunkirk after a German aerial attack. The British Royal Navy requests help from civilians with access to any boats to help evacuate British soldiers and sailors from the beaches of Dunkirk. Dunkirk highlights individual stories that represent the real drama that occurred to pull off this evacuation.

Dunkirk features so much of Christopher Nolan‘s signature visual style, giving the movie a thrilling quality. This is another example of a movie that spotlights dramatic human stories, which makes the thrills easier to invest in. The movie never shies away from showing what the stakes of this evacuation were. Dunkirk highlights the fact that real people faced truly dramatic stakes to survive and live to fight through the war.

6 ‘The Impossible’ (2012)

Directed by J.A. Bayona

The Impossible is based on the real story of a family that survived the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The features Tom Holland‘s in his debut role. The Impossible follows the Bennett family as they are separated after the tsunami strikes the resort where they are staying on vacation. The family has to navigate the destruction around them while finding a way to reunite. The Impossible is a story of tragedy, triumph, and how powerful nature is.

The Impossible is thrilling because it showcases how hard humans can fight to survive. While the story is based on the true story of a family that survived the tsunami, the movie highlights how much danger they were in. Through fictional characters, The Impossible highlights how difficult survival was during one of the most destructive natural disasters on record. This family’s journey is worth rooting for.

5 ‘All the President’s Men’ (1976)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula

All the President’s Men is the true story of the journalists who uncovered the Watergate Scandal. Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) were Washington Post journalists who uncovered the conspiracy to break into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and how this was directly connected to President Richard Nixon. All the President’s Men highlights how journalism can be a force for good at uncovering the truth that people need to know.

All the President’s Men is a political thriller at its core. The real story that this movie is based on had far-reaching consequences for American society. All the President’s Men is thrilling because it shows how much work good journalism takes. There is a lot of tension built up in watching these two journalists work methodically to get to the bottom of what ends up being a massive conspiracy. As the story continues, it is clear that the stakes were personal for all Americans.

4 ‘True Grit’ (2010)

Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

True Grit is a remake of the imovie starring John Wayne of the same name. The Coen brothers put their unique spin on this classic western. The story follows Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) as she seeks to find the man who killed her father. She eventually hires Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a Marshal Mattie believes has the skills to help her. True Grit is both a buddy-cop story, and a moving narrative about redemption, revenge, and the meaning of family.

True Grit‘s thrills come from the fact that it is a classic road trip movie. The protagonists are tested physically and emotionally throughout the story. While there is a lot of humor in watching a group of misfits set off on a quest, there is a tension that’s built throughout the story. True Grit presents believable characters who are all empathetic in spite of their flaws. The movie has built in thrills that allow the characters to fully develop as the story evolves.

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3 ‘The Great Escape’ (1963)

Directed by John Sturges

The Great Escape chronicles the true story of a group of Allied soldiers who escaped from a German prison camp during World War II. The movie is based on the book of the same name by Paul Brickhill. The soldiers are led by Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen), who leads several escape attempts while imprisoned. The Great Escape features a classic battle of wills between Hilts and the German prison guards.

The Great Escape may be a highly fictionalized version of true events. However, the movie captures the real-life drama that came from soldiers banding together in this way. The thrills in The Great Escape come from rooting for these soldiers to outsmart and outrun their prison guards. The prisoners have a war to finish, so it’s easy to cheer for them to succeed. The story is made all the more thrilling by the fact that it is clear they were always going to emerge as victors.

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2 ‘Gladiator’ (2000)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Gladiator is a historical epic that follows the story of the fictional Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe). He becomes caught up in the schemes of Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). After Commodus murders his father, Marcus Aurelius, Maximus is arrested and made a slave when he will not swear loyalty. Maximus becomes a gladiator in the Colosseum. Along the way, he befriends other gladiators in the arena while seeking revenge against Commodus.

What makes Gladiator so thrilling is the fact that it uses actual historical events to create new, compelling characters to follow. Maximus’s quest for revenge is painted as justified. Watching him rise through the ranks and succeed even after being beaten down is thrilling. Gladiator could have easily been a melodrama about a man who would stop at nothing to avenge his family. Instead, the movie has a lot of empathy for a man who lost everything but is determined to continue fighting.

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1 ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Oppenheimer is a biographical drama that follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), an American physicist known for developing the atomic bomb. The movie features flashbacks to Oppenheimer’s early career and recruitment by the American military to develop a weapon that would end the war. He is forced to reckon with the consequences of his actions even as he is hailed an American hero.

Oppenheimer is thrilling because it humanizes a man who was considered an American legend. The thrills come from the dread of watching the fact that he would ultimately succeed. Oppenheimer paints a picture of a man who was too caught up in his own success to realize the fact that he was about to unleash horror on the world. Oppenheimer creates thrills by creating a character who audiences can both cheer for and against.

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