Despite the ever-improving competition, Netflix has continued to set the benchmark for streamable movie content thanks to its large library of licensed films and original features.
The platform’s roster of available titles changes on a monthly basis, and Netflix makes room for new Netflix movies by necessarily bidding farewell to old ones just as often. This December, it’s a trio of star-studded thrillers in the firing line – all of which have occupied a spot on our list of the best Netflix movies at one time or another.
The three films we’ve picked out below leave the US version of Netflix on December 1, so you’ve got until November 30 to catch them.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
A remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name, Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Eleven stars George Clooney as a seasoned-but-stylish criminal who enlists the help of 10 former colleagues to pull off a $160 million Las Vegas casino heist. Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts also feature alongside Hollywood veterans Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould in the movie’s ensemble cast, which one can only imagine would cost an infinitely larger sum to assemble in 2022.
Ocean's Eleven is a relatively tame thriller compared to the other two films on this list – you’re unlikely to find yourself sweating with apprehension, for instance – but its pacing is pitch-perfect and its ending remains an all-timer. The movie’s sequels, Ocean’s Thirteen and Ocean’s Twelve, are also leaving Netflix on December 1.
Collateral (2004)
Judging by his recent turns in the likes of Top Gun: Maverick and the Mission: Impossible movies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Tom Cruise can only play action heroes. But in Collateral, director Michael Mann's underappreciated neo-noir thriller, the actor ditches his usual Hollywood charm for the uncomfortable menace of a ruthless assassin.
Cruise plays Vincent, a silver-haired hitman who gets more than he bargains for when he decides to take a Los Angeles cab driver, Max (Jamie Foxx), hostage for an evening of location-hopping 'work'. Heat is widely (and correctly) considered by many to be Mann’s best movie – but with Collateral, the director returned to the same stylized grit for which his 1995 masterpiece was so celebrated. Come for Cruise’s silver hairdo, stay for the film’s frenetic nightclub shootout and ultra-tense jazz discussion.
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow's searing bomb-disposal thriller, The Hurt Locker, returned to Netflix in June to take its place among the very best war movies on the streamer. But just as quickly as it arrived, the film is once again heading for the departure gate in December. This Best Picture-winning 2008 movie follows a group of Explosive Ordnance Disposal soldiers who, while fighting in the Iraq war, find themselves feeling the pinch of intense psychological stress.
The Hurt Locker stars Marvel regulars Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie (here’s how to watch the Marvel movies in order, if you’re interested) alongside the likes of Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce, and the film was recently selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Yes, it's really that good – and it’s as pulse-pounding as thrillers come.
For more Netflix-related content, check out our roundup of the best Netflix shows in 2022, as well as our guide on how to sign up to Netflix's cheaper, ad-supported subscription tier.
