Daniel Craig loves doing crime … movies, that is.
His lengthy and eclectic filmography is dotted with spy thrillers, comedy capers, and mob movies that all ask something different of the scene-stealing star. Whether he’s thwarting bad guys as the smoothly sophisticated James Bond, inciting chaos as a mischievous, colorfully-cadenced detective in a Rian Johnson mystery, or taking part in poorly-planned motor speedway heists, crime is something Craig excels at on-screen. And with the Netflix release of yet another unforgettable turn in Johnson’s Knives Out follow-up, the time is exactly right to get up to speed on Craig’s criminally good filmography by watching some of the movies on this list.
Logan Lucky
Year: 2017
Cast: Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Trailer: Watch here
Plenty of entries on this list highlight Daniel Craig’s unrivaled ability to play a grim-faced anti-hero, but this isn’t one of them. In fact, Steven Soderbergh’s southern-fried crime caper sees Craig as far from his Bond persona as possible, to our collective benefit. The film follows a pair of small-town brothers (Adam Driver and Channing Tatum) who plan a heist at a local Nascar speedway. Craig’s in-car-cer-ra-ted bomb expert — aptly named Joe Bang — is a savant when it comes to explosives and he’s got a personality to match. Brash, cheeky, and a bit off-his-rocker, Bang is key to pulling off the brothers’ scheme, but he’s also one of the biggest liabilities in their plan, and Craig has a blast toeing that line.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Year: 2011
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 158 minutes
Director: David Fincher
Trailer: Watch here
This riveting murder mystery from David Fincher feels a bit like the darker, more austere cousin of a movie like Knives Out — at least where Daniel Craig is concerned. Like Rian Johnson’s crime comedy, this thriller sees Craig playing the role of investigator, visiting the estate of a wealthy Swedish family at the request of its patriarch — played, weirdly enough, by Christopher Plummer — to solve a murder. Here, he’s a disgraced journalist named Mikael Blomkvist who partners with a heavily tattooed and pierced research assistant named Lisbeth Sanders (an excellent Rooney Mara). The two must survive the machinations of paranoid family members to find the culprit of a heinous crime as Craig injects some much-needed levity and a kind of roguish apathy into his character that makes his unlikely friendship with Sanders even more interesting.
Layer Cake
Year: 2004
Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Burn Gorman, Colm Meaney, Tom Hardy
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Trailer: Watch here
This slick British gangster movie marks the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn and gives Craig the opportunity to play a cool, stylish drug dealer who takes his criminal exploits a bit too seriously. As XXXX, Craig gives a performance that likely helped land him the Bond role, playing a cocaine distributor forced to associate with the dull-witted henchmen of London’s criminal underground. He’s always one step ahead — despite his best-laid plans being thwarted by the idiot lackeys that surround him — and his strange code of ethics makes him one of the more memorable gangsters we’ve seen on film.
Road To Perdition
Year: 2002
Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Daniel Craig, Tyler Hoechlin, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Sam Mendes
Trailer: Watch here
Before Craig and director Sam Mendes would partner on two of the best Bond films made during the actor’s run as 007, they worked together on this thriller about a mob enforcer who goes on the run with his young son after his kingpin boss puts a target on his back. Tom Hanks plays the gun-toting dad while Craig inhabits a smaller but vital role as the boss’ son Connor, an ambitious, cutthroat criminal with dreams of usurping his father’s throne and running the outfit on his own terms. Craig’s completely unlikeable here, especially when he faces off against with Hanks, and his character is the kind of ruthless, irredeemable thug we rarely see the actor play anymore.
Knives Out
Year: 2019
Cast: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 130 minutes
Director: Rian Johnson
Trailer: Watch here
Rian Johnson’s whodunnit masterpiece wouldn’t work without Craig’s commanding performance as Detective Benoit Blanc, a sharp, perceptive investigator with a Southern twang and a flare for the dramatics. He’s called in to solve the murder of a wealthy novelist named Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) and is soon thrown into the deep end of exhausting family politics, questions of inheritance, and an Agatha Christie-sized mystery with more than one suspect. It’s a testament to Craig’s on-screen magnetism that he stands out amongst a cast that includes a spontaneously-vomiting Ana De Armas, an over-the-top entitled bimbo played by Toni Collette, a shrewd, calculating Jamie Lee Curtis, and a cable-knit wearing, sh*t-stirring Chris Evans.
Infamous
Year: 2006
Cast: Toby Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: R
Runtime: 110 minutes
Director: Douglas McGrath
Trailer: Watch here
This crime biopic had the unfortunate luck of following in the footsteps of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning Capote performance a year prior, but the weird timing doesn’t mean this often-overlooked crime movie isn’t worth a watch. Toby Jones plays the singular writer here as he researches the sensational true story that inspired his bestseller, In Cold Blood. Craig plays Perry Smith, one of the accused murderers in the brutal slaying of a farming family in Kansas, who Capote becomes close with while writing his book. The two share a fraught relationship, one that totters between genuine friendship and transactional trauma sharing, but through it all, Craig manages to keep you guessing as to his true motivations and feelings — about the writer and the terrible crime he’s accused of.
The Bond Films
Donning the tailored tuxedo of cinema’s most recognized spy couldn’t have been easy, but over nearly two decades and five films, Craig has managed to put his own mark on a role previously inhabited by greats like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Roger Moore. Craig’s bond is sly, skillful, filled with angst, and a consuming need to rebel against the very system that employs his talents. He’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, a need to prove his way is the only way, and yet, he’s as charming, charismatic, and suave as you’d expect. From his first entry as a roguish MI-6 newcomer in Casino Royale to his more vulnerable turns in Skyfall and Spectre and the stunning, action-packed conclusion of No Time To Die, Craig gave his Bond space to evolve and grow, forming relationships and finding purpose beyond just employing cool gadgets, driving slick cars, and wooing beautiful women. His Bond felt lived-in, real, and like the toughest iteration of the character we’ve seen thus far.
Glass Onion
Year: 2022
Cast: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn
Genre: Mystery, Comedy, Crime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 140 minutes
Director: Rian Johnson
Trailer: Watch here
Rian Johnson delivers a deliriously fun follow-up to his breakout 2019 murder-mystery with Daniel Craig returning to play famed detective Benoit Blanc. This time around, Blanc, equipped with a colorful new wardrobe and his same slow, Southern drawl, heads to Greece to investigate a murder amongst a group of friends reuniting for an island holiday. Most of the culprits are out-of-touch elites – to the nth degree – with stars like Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Edward Norton playing supermodels, Twitch streamers, politicians, and tech moguls who are as ridiculous as they are corrupt.
