Best Neo-noir recommendations?

Here’s another one that popped into my head from when I was a kid. Directed by Cimin, starring Mickey.

Year of the Dragon (1985)

Then there’s Johnny Handsome (1989). Also Mickey. 😁

just another one of better ☕

Just caught frantic starring Harrison Ford. Honestly? It’s giving me major Fugitive vibes.
Not half bad, I guess.

Neo-noir is easily my favorite genre—if we're even calling it a genre at this point—and I’d go as far as to say a lot of modern neo-noirs actually outshine those old-school 40s and 50s classics... provided they don't trip over their own clichés. For me, these are the heavy hitters that actually nail what neo-noir is supposed to be:

Mulholland Drive
Dark City
Blade Runner
Devil in a Blue Dress
Angel Eyes
The Usual Suspects
L.A. Confidential
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Sin City
Watchmen
Minority Report
The Spirit
Reservoir Dogs
Dog Star
Nocturnal Animals
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Blue Velvet
Chinatown

To my mind, true noir consists strictly of those black-and-white classics featuring detectives and murder, set against a backdrop of shadowed streets and scenes drenched in darkness, rain, or storms—complete with trench coats, fedoras, and revolvers. I cannot fathom how so many modern films lacking these fundamental characteristics have been rebranded as noir. Frankly, they fail to hold my interest. Neo-noir strikes me as little more than a passing trend; people simply inventing new styles to stay relevant.

Jeffrey Howard79 said:To me, true noir means black-and-white films featuring detectives, murders, rain-slicked streets, shadows, trench coats, fedoras, and revolvers. I have no idea how movies lacking those elements ended up being labeled as noir, and frankly, they don't interest me anymore. Neo-noir feels like nothing more than a trend—people just making up new styles to stay relevant.

I'm somewhat on board. You need a lot of elements to align—atmosphere being the biggest one—for something to actually earn the neo-noir label. It can't just be about some tense affair. If that were the case, you could throw Max Payne, John Wick, and half of all comic book movies into that same category.

Jeffrey Howard79 said:To me, noir means black and white—detectives, murders, dark alleys, shadows, rain, trench coats, fedoras, and revolvers. I don't get how movies without those tropes even qualify as noir anymore. Honestly, they don't interest me. Neo-noir feels like a fashion statement... just people making up styles for the sake of it.

Man, I actually find neo-noir way more interesting specifically because it bends the genre. You can dress up basically any film style in neo-noir clothing—from utopian futurism (Blade Runner) to straight-up pulp superhero flicks (Sin City).

Get ready—there's a new neo-noir coming from del Toro!

Brick and Gordon-Levitt.

Jeffrey Howard79 said:To me, noir means those classic black-and-white flicks with detectives and murders, all set in dark streets under heavy rain or storms—you know, the whole trench coat, fedora, and Colt revolver vibe. I honestly don't get how so many modern movies without those traits ended up being called noir. They just don't grab me anymore. I guess neo-noir is mostly just a trend. It feels like people are just making up styles for the sake of it.

You forgot the little detectives! The ones who always lie to themselves because of some femme fatale who doesn't give a damn about them, leading them straight into trouble.

this is gonna be stuck in my head forever

if you ask me, it's basically the definition of neo-noir

Jeffrey Howard79 said:To me, noir is those black-and-white flicks—you know, the ones with detectives and murders, dark alleys, shadows everywhere, rain or storms, trench coats, fedoras, and revolvers. I honestly don't get how so many movies without those specific tropes ended up being called noir... they just don't do it for me anymore. Neo-noir feels more like a trend, really. Just people making up new styles to stay relevant.

Look, noir evolved just like any other genre does. And you can't talk about these films without mentioning the literature behind them. Pure noir is depressing. There aren't any heroic detectives or moral winners in those stories—think along the lines of D.O.A. or Sunset Boulevard. Then you’ve got Raymond Chandler stepping in to create Philip Marlowe, which gives us The Big Sleep, moving into that hardboiled territory. By the 70s and 80s, the two genres started blending together. You get this bleak, depressing look at modern society (that's the noir side) mixed with films like Harper (more hardboiled), where you actually have a protagonist you can root for—someone with a bit of a moral compass. In my opinion, neo-noir is actually a more legitimate successor to hardboiled films than to pure noir, since "real" noir hasn't really existed since the 30s or 40s...🙂

I honestly think Blood Simple is such a top-tier neo-noir.

Or maybe even Night Moves by Penn.

Mulholland Drive is easily the heavyweight champion in that category—honestly, I don't know when a movie has ever gripped me quite like that one does, and isn't that exactly what noir is supposed to do?

As for Blade Runner, I see it more as an incredible piece of sci-fi rather than a true noir.

Movies are usually just a big mix of different genres anyway, right? Even neo-noir isn't any different—you’re going to find bits and pieces of everything in there. Honestly, I don't waste my time stressing over whether a specific flick is "pure" neo-noir or if it hits some perfect definition of the genre. That's just too much work. I just enjoy watching movies with that specific vibe and mood every once in a while.

I don't think anyone even brought this up. Road to Perdition Even Tom Hanks would fit right into this category.

Even if you've seen the plot before, this movie still absolutely rips.👍

It’s a genre that gets slapped onto just about everything. I even saw people trying to shove The Terminator into this category. WTF.

briskhound2 said:Noir evolved just like any other genre. And you can't talk about these movies without talking about literature. Pure noir is depressing. You don't get detectives or moral winners there. Think movies like D.O.A. or Sunset Boulevard. Then comes Raymond Chandler, who creates Philip Marlowe, and suddenly you have The Big Sleep, which is actually hardboiled. Moving through the 70s and 80s, the two genres start to blend. You get that dark, bleak look at modern society (noir) mixed with stuff like Harper (hardboiled), where you actually have a hero you can root for—someone with a bit of a moral compass. Honestly, neo-noir is a much more legitimate successor to hardboiled films than actual noir is. Real noir hasn't really existed since the 30s or 40s. 🙂

But The Big Sleep came out before both those movies you mentioned. 😁 Not to mention the whole Marlowe thing. 😁

So where does that leave the 60s? I've read in a few places that Chinatown is considered the first neo-noir, but there was stuff way before that. You've got Boorman's Point Blank, or even earlier, Blast of Silence and those Samuel Fuller films from the early 60s (Underworld USA, Naked Kiss, and Shock Corridor). Now, those are still black and white, and Fuller even shot one of the last noirs back in '59, The Crimson Kimono... Personally, I call those early neo-noirs—the ones that popped up right at the tail end of the classic era—"post-noir."