With the recent releases of A Walk Among The Tombstones and The Equalizer, the crime film is as present as ever in our cinemas. Tombstones is a brutal, gritty mystery, seemingly tailor made for Liam Neeson's brand of tough, haunted heroism. Those who enjoy a taut, page-turning thriller novel will love it (which is appropriate, considering it is based on a series of books by Lawrence Block). The Equalizer satisfies as a more heightened, bombastic crime story, featuring Denzel Washington excelling as an ingeniously badass defender of the downtrodden who takes on the Russian Mob pretty much single-handedly. These films seemingly exist at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they show just how much room for manoeuvre there is in the crime genre, with potential for many varied types of story to be told. Many observers and fans of the genre would say that the 1970's were the heyday of the crime film, and they are probably right, with classics such as The Godfather, The French Connection and Serpico pushing the very limits of what could be accomplished with these stories. But the genre has never gone away, and the new millennium has seen plenty more worthy additions make their way on to our screens. It seems that audiences love watching tough characters existing in a world full of bad men, morally suspect choices and the ever-present threat of violence. Click "next" below to kick off the list...
