The 28 Best Spy Thriller Movies on MGM+ (July 2026)

1

Casino Royale (2006)

IMDb 8.0 🍅 94% 2h 24m

Directed by Martin Campbell

✦ MovieMuse AI takeRedefines Bond's brutality through visceral parkour chase and emotional vulnerability, grounding spy craft in gritty realism.

Le Chiffre, a banker to the world's terrorists, is scheduled to participate in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where he intends to use his winnings to establish his financial grip on the terrorist market. M sends Bond—on his maiden mission as a 00 Agent—to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning. With the help of Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter, Bond enters the most important poker game in his already dangerous career.

2

Goldfinger (1964)

IMDb 7.7 🍅 99% Letterboxd 3.8 1h 50m

Directed by Guy Hamilton

✦ MovieMuse AI takeEstablishes the gadget-driven spy formula with Goldfinger's Fort Knox heist—turning espionage into elaborate, imaginative spectacle.

Special agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and outgun the powerful tycoon to prevent him from cashing in on a devious scheme to raid Fort Knox -- and obliterate the world's economy.

3

Marathon Man (1976)

IMDb 7.4 🍅 82% Letterboxd 3.8 2h 5m

Directed by John Schlesinger

✦ MovieMuse AI takeTransforms Manhattan into paranoid maze where innocent academic becomes hunted asset, weaponizing urban architecture itself.

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

4

From Russia with Love (1963)

IMDb 7.3 🍅 97% Letterboxd 3.6 1h 55m

Directed by Terence Young

✦ MovieMuse AI takePioneered spy thriller's seduction-as-weapon tradecraft with Rosa Klebb, making eroticism central to Cold War tension.

Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.

5

The Stranger (1946)

IMDb 7.3 🍅 97% Letterboxd 3.7 1h 35m

Directed by Orson Welles

✦ MovieMuse AI takeDisguises postwar paranoia in small-town Americana, turning domestic spaces into battlegrounds of ideological infiltration.

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi, who may be hiding out in a small town in the guise of a distinguished professor engaged to the Supreme Court Justice’s daughter.

6

GoldenEye (1995)

IMDb 7.2 🍅 80% Letterboxd 3.6 2h 10m

Directed by Martin Campbell

✦ MovieMuse AI takeWeaponizes nostalgia against Bond through former ally Trevelyon, making betrayal personal rather than geopolitical.

When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of Alec Trevelyan, AKA Agent 006, a former ally-turned-enemy, only James Bond can save the world from a dangerous space weapon that -- in one short pulse -- could destroy the earth! As Bond squares off against his former compatriot, he also battles Xenia Onatopp, an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon.

7

The Crying Game (1992)

IMDb 7.2 🍅 95% Letterboxd 3.6 1h 52m

Directed by Neil Jordan

✦ MovieMuse AI takeSubverts IRA thriller conventions by forcing moral ambiguity through captive-guard intimacy, rejecting heroic clarity.

Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.

8

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning poster

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)

IMDb 7.1 🍅 80% Letterboxd 3.5 2h 50m

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

✦ MovieMuse AI takeAI as invisible adversary infiltrating networks exemplifies contemporary spy thriller's evolution beyond human antagonists.

Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.

9

Jack Reacher (2012)

IMDb 7.0 🍅 64% 2h 10m

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

✦ MovieMuse AI takeSmall-town sniper manhunt inverts spy-thriller scale; maximum tension emerges from minimal stakes and intimate geography.

One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interrogation yields one written note: 'Get Jack Reacher!'. Reacher, an enigmatic ex-Army investigator, believes the authorities have the right man but agrees to help the sniper's defense attorney. However, the more Reacher delves into the case, the less clear-cut it appears. So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.

10

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

IMDb 7.0 🍅 82% Letterboxd 3.5 2h 5m

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

✦ MovieMuse AI takeNuclear submarine gambit orchestrates two superpowers' simultaneous deception with calculated Bond charm.

Russian and British submarines with nuclear missiles on board both vanish from sight without a trace. England and Russia both blame each other as James Bond tries to solve the riddle of the disappearing ships. But the KGB also has an agent on the case.

11

Suddenly (1954)

IMDb 6.8 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.3 1h 17m

Directed by Lewis Allen

✦ MovieMuse AI takeNot a spy thriller—domestic crime drama about assassination plot against presidential candidate.

The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.

12

F/X (1986)

IMDb 6.7 🍅 88% Letterboxd 3.3 1h 49m

Directed by Robert Mandel

✦ MovieMuse AI takeFlips agency betrayal into cat-and-mouse art form where special effects become literal survival tool against government.

A movies special effects man is hired by a government agency to help stage the assassination of a well known gangster. When the agency double cross him, he uses his special effects to trap the gangster and the corrupt agents.

13

Executive Decision (1996)

IMDb 6.5 🍅 62% Letterboxd 3.1 2h 12m

Directed by Stuart Baird

✦ MovieMuse AI takeClaustrophobic 747 thriller that trusts audience to decode hidden motives before climactic revelation.

Terrorists hijack a 747 inbound to Washington D.C., demanding the release of their imprisoned leader. Intelligence expert David Grant suspects another reason and he is soon the reluctant member of a special assault team that is assigned to intercept the plane and hijackers.

14

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon poster

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

IMDb 6.5 Letterboxd 3.1 1h 8m

Directed by Roy William Neill

✦ MovieMuse AI takeHolmes embodies espionage tradecraft: dead drops, disguises, and double-agent manipulation during wartime.

In the midst of World War II, Sherlock Holmes rescues the Swiss inventor of a new bomb-sight from the Gestapo and brings him to England, where he quickly falls into the clutches of the evil Professor Moriarty.

15

Who Dares Wins (1982)

IMDb 6.4 Letterboxd 3.1 2h 5m

Directed by Ian Sharp

✦ MovieMuse AI takeExplores SAS infiltration tactics and the moral ambiguity of undercover operatives embedded in terrorist cells.

When SAS Captain Peter Skellen is thrown out of the service for gross misconduct due to unnecessary violence and bullying, he is soon recruited by The People's Lobby, a fanatical group aiming to hold several US dignitaries hostage. But Skellen's dismissal is a front to enable him to get close to the terrorist group. Can he get close enough to stop the Lobby from creating an international incident?

16

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

IMDb 6.2 🍅 37% 1h 58m

Directed by Edward Zwick

✦ MovieMuse AI takeReacher's outsider-operative status challenges institutional intelligence structures through independent righteous investigation.

Years after resigning command of an elite military police unit, the nomadic, righter-of-wrongs Reacher is drawn back into the life he left behind when his friend and successor, Major Susan Turner is framed for espionage. Reacher will stop at nothing to prove her innocence and to expose the real perpetrators behind the killings of his former soldiers.

17

The Saint (1997)

IMDb 6.2 🍅 30% Letterboxd 2.8 1h 56m

Directed by Phillip Noyce

✦ MovieMuse AI takeWeaponizes thief-as-spy archetype while playing seduction and geopolitics as high-stakes con game.

Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.

18

The Whistle Blower (1986)

IMDb 6.2 🍅 91% Letterboxd 3.2 1h 40m

Directed by Simon Langton

✦ MovieMuse AI takeAuthentic Cold War paranoia: civilian navigating Byzantine intelligence bureaucracy to expose internal corruption.

A war veteran tries to investigate the murder of his son who was working as a Russian translator for the British intelligence service during the Cold War. He meets a web of deception and paranoia that seems impenetrable...

19

Last Embrace (1979)

IMDb 6.0 🍅 58% Letterboxd 3.2 1h 42m

Directed by Jonathan Demme

✦ MovieMuse AI takeExplores psychological toll of spycraft through asylum setting—trauma becomes paranoia becomes operational liability.

Secret agent Harry Hannan suffers a mental breakdown when a botched mission in Mexico results in the death of his wife. He is sent to a mental asylum, after which he eventually returns to work. But, once again, he begins to doubt his sanity when he receives a bizarre death threat written in Hebrew. Not knowing which of his colleagues wants to kill him, Hannan teams up with pretty young college student Ellie Fabian to attempt to unravel the mystery.

20

Billion Dollar Brain (1967)

IMDb 5.9 🍅 57% Letterboxd 3.1 1h 51m

Directed by Ken Russell

✦ MovieMuse AI takeCold War absurdism: supercomputer espionage exposes ideology's mechanical nature with delicious genre confusion.

A former British spy stumbles into in a plot to overthrow Communism with the help of a supercomputer. But who is working for whom?

21

La Cage aux Folles II (1980)

IMDb 5.8 🍅 57% Letterboxd 2.9 1h 41m

Directed by Édouard Molinaro

✦ MovieMuse AI takeComedy, not spy thriller—mistaken-identity farce lacks espionage apparatus or intelligence operations.

In a move to make his partner, Renato, jealous, the flamboyant Albin waits in a local cafe - dressed as a woman - hoping to be picked up. But Albin gets more than he bargains for when the fly he catches in his web is actually a spy, who uses him as an unwitting courier of secret microfilm. Now on the run from ruthless agents, Albin and Renato flee to Italy where they attempt to hide out on a farm, with Albin posing as Renato's wife. Can Albin escape the deadly pursuit of these relentless spies or does he have to sustain this charade - as a woman - forever?

22

Avenging Force (1986)

IMDb 5.8 Letterboxd 3.1 1h 44m

Directed by Sam Firstenberg

✦ MovieMuse AI takeAction film, not spy thriller—retired operative hunting terrorists lacks espionage plot mechanics.

Martial arts expert Matt Hunter was one of the most promising operatives in Army intelligence until his parents were killed by terrorists, and he retired to the family's farm in Louisiana to take care of his 12-year-old sister Sara and their grandfather Jimmy. Larry Richards, a black man running for the Senate, is one of Matt's best friends. Larry has become the target of The Pentangle, a racist organization led by a man named Glastenbury, and Glastenbury doesn't want Larry to be elected. In an attempt on Larry's life during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, The Pentangle kills one of Larry's sons. Matt lets Larry, his wife Daisy, and his other son move to the remotely located farm so they can hide from Glastenbury and the Pentangle, but the Pentangle strikes again, setting the farmhouse on fire. Matt and Sara escape as the only survivors. Then the Pentangle kidnaps Sara, sending Matt on a mission to rescue Sara from Glastenbury and the Pentangle

23

Weekend in Taipei (2024)

IMDb 5.7 🍅 52% Letterboxd 2.5 1h 41m

Directed by George Huang

✦ MovieMuse AI takeRomantic thriller, not spy thriller—personal reunion subplot dominates intelligence agency operations.

A former DEA agent and a former undercover operative revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.

24

Company Business (1991)

IMDb 5.7 Letterboxd 2.9 1h 38m

Directed by Nicholas Meyer

✦ MovieMuse AI takeCold War hostage exchange captures classic espionage tension: agent caught between competing intelligence powers.

An aging agent is called back by "the Company" to run a hostage trade of a Soviet spy for an American agent.

25

The Fourth War (1990)

IMDb 5.5 🍅 64% Letterboxd 2.9 1h 31m

Directed by John Frankenheimer

✦ MovieMuse AI takeBorder cat-and-mouse between superpowers creates Cold War standoff defining geopolitical spy thriller stakes.

Cold War adversaries Col. Jack Knowles and his Russian counterpart, Col. Valachev, are stationed on opposite sides of the German-Czech border. Both men are responsible for a group of troops in their remote settings, and both have been shaped by their combat experiences and a shared aversion to their superiors' ways of doing things. After a defector is killed, things escalate into a full-fledged battle with serious geopolitical ramifications.

26

Scorpio (1973)

1h 54m

Directed by Michael Winner

✦ MovieMuse AI takeParanoid masterpiece: aging operative hunted by former ally embodies CIA betrayal and moral compromise.

Cross is an old hand at the CIA who often teams up with Frenchman Jean “Scorpio” Laurier, a gifted freelance operative. After their last mission together, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross, leaving him no choice but to obey.

27

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine poster

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)

IMDb 5.1 🍅 29% Letterboxd 2.8 1h 28m

Directed by Norman Taurog

✦ MovieMuse AI takeCampy spoof, not genuine spy thriller—absurdist robot seduction plot parodies espionage conventions.

In this campy spy movie spoof Dr. Goldfoot (Vincent Price) has invented an army of bikini-clad robots who are programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets. Secret agent Craig Gamble (Frankie Avalon) and millionaire Todd Armstrong set out to foil his fiendish plot.

28

Breaker! Breaker! (1977)

IMDb 4.4 Letterboxd 2.5 1h 26m

Directed by Don Hulette

✦ MovieMuse AI takeCrime thriller, not spy thriller—truck driver investigation lacks intelligence agencies, surveillance, or espionage elements.

Truck driver searches for his brother, who has disappeared in a town run by a corrupt judge.

Best Spy Thriller Movies on MGM+