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Best spy movie

The 16 movies of the “Best spy movie” bracket, with year, director, runtime and rating for each — then play the knockout tournament and let your own duels pick the winner.

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What is in this bracket

The bracket spans 59 years of cinema, from 1959 to 2018, with an average TMDB rating of 7.3/10. The dominant genres are Thriller (14 movies), Action (10 movies), Adventure (7 movies), Drama (6 movies). Paul Greengrass appears 2 times — a good sign of how much one filmography weighs on the outcome. Watching the whole line-up back to back would take about 34 hours. The 2000s are the best represented decade with 7 entries.

The highest-rated entry going in is North by Northwest (1959) at ★ 8/10 — but a bracket is not a ranking: it only takes one duel against a favourite of yours for it to go out in the first round.

The full line-up (16 movies)

Seeded in the order they enter the bracket. 16 titles means 4 rounds and 15 duels to a champion.

  1. Casino Royale 2006 · Martin Campbell · 144 min · ★ 7.6/10

    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 pok

  2. Mission: Impossible - Fallout 2018 · Christopher McQuarrie · 147 min · ★ 7.5/10

    When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to fulfill his original briefing, the CIA begin to question his loyalty and his motives. The IMF team find themselves in a race against time, hunted by assassins while trying to prevent a global catastrophe.

  3. The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 · Paul Greengrass · 115 min · ★ 7.4/10

    Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.

  4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 2011 · Tomas Alfredson · 127 min · ★ 6.6/10

    George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

  5. North by Northwest 1959 · Alfred Hitchcock · 137 min · ★ 8/10

    Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.

  6. The Lives of Others 2006 · Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck · 137 min · ★ 8/10

    In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

  7. The Bourne Identity 2002 · Doug Liman · 119 min · ★ 7.5/10

    Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

  8. Skyfall 2012 · Sam Mendes · 143 min · ★ 7.3/10

    When Bond's latest assignment goes gravely wrong, agents around the world are exposed and MI6 headquarters is attacked. While M faces challenges to her authority and position from Gareth Mallory, the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, it's up to Bond, aided only by field agent Eve, to locate the mastermind behind the attack.

  9. Mission: Impossible 1996 · Brian De Palma · 111 min · ★ 7/10

    When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has penetrated the CIA, he's surprised to learn that he's the prime suspect. To clear his name, Hunt now must ferret out the real double agent and, in the process, even the score.

  10. Three Days of the Condor 1975 · Sydney Pollack · 117 min · ★ 7.3/10

    When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.

  11. The Bourne Supremacy 2004 · Paul Greengrass · 108 min · ★ 7.3/10

    A CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

  12. From Russia with Love 1963 · Terence Young · 115 min · ★ 7.1/10

    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 se

  13. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold 1965 · Martin Ritt · 112 min · ★ 7.1/10

    British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.

  14. Munich 2005 · Steven Spielberg · 164 min · ★ 7.1/10

    During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

  15. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 2015 · Guy Ritchie · 116 min · ★ 7.1/10

    At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German

  16. Spy Game 2001 · Tony Scott · 126 min · ★ 6.9/10

    On the day of his retirement, a veteran CIA agent learns that his former protégé has been arrested in China, is sentenced to die the next morning in Beijing, and that the CIA is considering letting that happen to avoid an international scandal.

How this tournament works

  1. 16 movies enter a knockout bracket.
  2. Two titles face off at a time — you pick the one you would rather watch.
  3. Winners advance round by round until one champion is left: your pick for tonight.

There is no “right” answer and no algorithm deciding for you: the bracket only forces a series of small, easy comparisons instead of one impossible choice in front of a catalogue. You can also play it with friends — everyone votes the same duels from their own phone in a Brawl Room.

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