23 best movies that make you think and will blow your mind

23 best movies that make you think and will blow your mind

Movies are a majority of people’s favourite options for entertainment. There are different genres of movies, and therefore, everyone can be sure to find what suits their preferences. Sometimes, while watching a film, you may come across thought-provoking ideas or stories that are out of the norm. Such movies are entertaining yet puzzling. Discover some of the best movies that make you think.

Movies that make you think
A young woman sitting in front of a laptop. Photo: pexels.com, @christinamorillo (modified by author)
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Have you ever watched a movie that left you with endless questions in mind? Movies that make you think will leave you scouring the internet for answers. Besides offering great entertainment, they elicit discussions about various topics.

Best movies that make you think about life

If you want to watch the best thought-provoking movies, it is tedious to select them, especially if you have a busy schedule. Here is a compilation of films you can watch with meaningful life lessons.

1. Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club is one of the most thought-provoking movies that stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Brad feels his capitalistic lifestyle is boring and quits his job to start an underground fight club with Norton, a soap salesman. However, things take a different twist and their venture spirals to other sinister things.

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2. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Malcolm Crowe is an American child psychologist. He begins working with one of his patients, Cole Sear and soon discovers that the 9-year-old can see and talk with people who have died. After developing a close friendship with the boy, Cole helps Malcolm to reconcile with his estranged wife after talking to her in her sleep.

3. Se7en (1995)

Se7en is among the movies that leave you thinking. This is a 127-minute crime-mystery film. Two detectives, a newcomer in the city and a veteran about to retire, are paired to investigate crimes. They realise that a serial killer is behind the trail of murders, seemingly following the biblical seven deadly sins.

4. Gone Girl (2014)

Writer Nick Dunne returns home on their fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife Amy missing. Her mysterious disappearance attracts media attention since the couple is portrayed as a happy family. Nick realises that he is a person of interest in the case, and soon details of their marriage begin to unravel.

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5. Inception (2010)

Dom Cobb is a unique thief who can steal people’s dreams and secrets. He becomes highly sorted in the corporate world as he steals information from his targets. Saito pledges to clear his criminal history as payment if he plants an idea in his sick competitor’s son.

6. The Prestige (2006)

Two friends turn against each other, and a bitter rivalry ensues, threatening the lives of people around them. They are magicians, and their enmity begins after an assistant dies, and one of them performs the ultimate trick, teleportation. They do everything possible to outdo each other for fame, but the consequences are dire.

7. Black Swan (2010)

Nina is a dedicated ballet dancer. She seemed the perfect choice for the role of White Swan for the opening production of Swan Lake. However, she faces stiff competition from newcomer dancer Lily, who personifies Black Swan. Nina’s dark side is revealed as the rivalry intensifies.

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8. Prisoners (2013)

After Keller Dover’s daughter Anna and her friend go missing, detectives arrest the only suspect, a motorhome driver. He is later released due to a lack of evidence, and Keller is forced to take matters into his hands. He begins a desperate search to find the truth and his daughter.

9. V for Vendetta (2005)

V for Vendetta is another good movie that makes you think. Post-world war, the police rule London, and a determined individual known as V is fighting for freedom from the oppressive police. After rescuing Evey from the police, they join hands, and she helps him in his mission to bring the government down and save the people.

10. The Dark Knight (2008)

Gordon, Dent and Batman team up to keep Gotham City free from crime. However, the mobs are determined to cause chaos, and they sort the help of Joker, a psychopathic criminal mastermind, who pledges to destroy Batman and bring the city under the reigns of the mobs.

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11. The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Usual Suspects narrates the story of five criminals, Kint and his four partners, who meet after being rounded up by the police. After being released, they plot a multi-million-dollar heist during which an explosion occurs in San Pedro Harbor, killing several people.

12. Memento (2000)

Leonard is in pursuit of a person who defiled and killed his wife. However, his quest to get the killer is jeopardised by his short memory. While he can remember things that happened before the condition began, he cannot recall events that occurred a short while ago.

13. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Following the double murder of Andy Dufresne’s wife and her love, Andy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. While serving his sentence at the Shawshank prison, he becomes an unconventional prisoner, adapting to life in prison and making friends with the warden.

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14. 12 Monkeys (1995)

James Cole is imprisoned, and while serving his term, he voluntarily joins a mission and travels back in time. His objective is to collect information about a virulent disease about to wipe out a significant portion of the world's population.

15. Mystic River (2003)

After Katie, Jimmy Marcus’ daughter, is murdered, Sean, a detective, begins an investigation. Jimmy suspects his two childhood friends, one of them, Dave, a blue-collar worker. He decides to undertake a parallel investigation and concludes Dave is the culprit.

16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Mikael Blomkvist is hired to help investigate the murder of a woman. Lisbeth Salander, an ingenious investigator, joins the investigation, and later, the two uneath shocking details, getting more than they bargained for—this is among those best deep movies that will leave you thinking for hours.

17. Arrival (2016)

Gigantic scape-ships land in 12 different places on the earth, and no one can interpret the aliens' language. A linguistic expert, Louise Banks, leads a team of linguist professionals to find a way of communicating with the aliens before a possible world war starts. In her quest, she endangers her life and everyone else. This alien-like movie also falls under the most thought-provoking movies you can watch.

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18. The Machinist (2004)

The Machinist is a good movie that makes you think about insomnia and its possible effects. Trevor Reznik, an insomniac factory worker, experiences problems at work and home. His problems deepen when he causes an accident that severely injures a co-worker. He descends into paranoia and points an accusing finger at Ivan, an enigmatic figure.

19. The Game (1997)

Nicholas Van Orton, a successful banker, receives a strange birthday gift from his estranged brother. He reluctantly accepts the gift, a gaming voucher, and later realises he is in trouble. At first, the real-life game seems harmless, but later it becomes personal and dangerous.

20. Shutter Island (2010)

Two US marshals, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, are sent to an asylum on an island to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous woman patient at a hospital. They discover a trail of terrible deeds committed by the woman. Later, they realise that they are trapped on the island and must confront their fears to survive.

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21. Predestination (2014)

In 19975, a temporal agent is assigned to stop a bomb attack in New York. He has to travel back in time to make it possible, but the mission becomes almost impossible. Predestination is also among the good movies that make you think harder about life.

22. Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar is a movie that will make you think about man's future. When the conditions on the earth make it inhabitable in the future, an ex-NASA physicist is working to find an alternative for human habitat. He plans to transport the human population through a wormhole to another habitable planet. He must first send a team of researchers through the wormhole to check which planets are habitable.

23. The Departed (2006)

An undercover cop infiltrates a criminal gang after gaining their trust. On the other hand, a career criminal enters the police department and obtains information. Ultimately, the criminal and undercover cop must find each other’s identities and save their lives.

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It is difficult to understand movies that make you think when you watch them for the first time. For such films, it is normal to repeat watching them to comprehend the storyline. They change your perception of many things, increase your imagination, and form the best discussion topic among your friends.

Legit.ng recently published dog movies on Netflix. Watching dog movies, you will learn many amazing things about the man’s best friend. They are compassionate and selfless animals.

Netflix has numerous dog films. If you are a dog lover and want to learn the different behaviours of the animal, you can watch many movies on the platform telling dog stories.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Muhunya Muhonji avatar

Muhunya Muhonji (Lifestyle writer) Muhunya is a graduate of Agricultural Economics from Egerton University, Class of 2014, with a passion for storytelling and content creation. Since joining Legit.ng as a writer in July 2021, he has covered diverse topics such as entertainment, technology, business, and biographies. His journalism journey has seen him complete multiple professional courses, including the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (2023), the Google News Initiative course (March 2024), and Fact-Checking and Research training (September 2024). Email: muhunyah@gmail.com

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