In theory, there’s a lot to like about living outside the law. Making your own rules, getting by on your wits, having your fate entirely in your hands…
Problem is, that life is often nasty, brutal and extremely short. Even if you uphold your own code of honour, you’re dealing with people who just want money – usually yours. No surprise then that films looking at crime from the wrong side of the law can be some of the most exciting storytelling around. A life of crime is a life lived in constant danger… which makes for thrilling viewing.
Here's a look at some of the gritty tales in the collection.
Darkland / Darkland: The Return
How far would you go to avenge someone you loved? What sets this pair of Danish thrillers apart from the usual revenge fantasies is just how much Iraqi-born Dr. Zaid (Dar Salim) is willing to put on the line for his family. Zaid refused to help his junkie brother when he came looking for money; now he’s dead, and the well-off doctor is going to risk everything to put things right. The good news is, the doctor is also an accomplished martial artist who’s willing to train himself up to lethal levels; the bad news is, the local mob boss is equally skilled and even more ruthless. The second film sees Zaid behind bars and desperate to reconnect with what’s left of his family. There is a path that ends with him reunited with his son, but it leads back into the criminal world he thought he was finished with, and a confrontation with a threat that’s even more dangerous.
Darkland and Darkland: The Return are streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Darkland
drama • Crime drama • 2017
drama • Crime drama • 2017
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Darkland: The Return
drama • action • 2023
drama • action • 2023
Legend
Tom Hardy takes on dual roles of a lifetime as the notorious Kray brothers, twin kingpins of London crime in the 50s and 60s. Deadly to their foes – which could be anyone – and devoted to their mum, their nightclub was the place to see and be seen (just so long as you weren’t dragged out the back). It’s both a psychological drama and epic look at a pair of criminals who bent London to their will, reaching up to the highest levels of society while keeping their feet firmly planted on their rivals’ throats. At the centre of it all, Hardy gives two clearly distinct performances as two very different men, creating a surprisingly human take on the gangster duo who became UK icons.
Legend is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Legend
Crime drama • biography • 2015
Crime drama • biography • 2015
Undercover
When French anti-narcotics chief Francois Thierry was charged with using police resources to assist in large-scale drug smuggling in 2017, the scandal rocked a nation. That sensational true story is lightly fictionalised here – names have been changed to protect the guilty – creating a drama that sticks to the facts while using fiction to get to the deeper truth. Driven by the uneasy team of an investigative journalist who won’t let go and a former undercover cop who suspects he wasn’t always working for the good guys, this takes audiences through the lengthy investigation and legal proceedings around this astonishing case, bringing us up close to a justice system where the gears grind slowly but rarely let go.
Undercover is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Undercover
Crime drama • 2021
Crime drama • 2021
Lansky
Crime doesn’t pay… unless you’re Meyer Lansky, one of the USA’s most powerful and successful mobsters for over half a century. Harvey Keitel plays Lansky in retirement, but with his death (from natural causes) looming, he’d like to set the record straight. Enter journalist David Stone (Sam Worthington), who soon discovers that Meyer’s story still has a few chapters left to be written, including exactly where he stashed a $300 million fortune. It’s an epic look at American crime covering everything from the brutal reign of Murder Incorporated through to the founding of Las Vegas and the creation of the National Crime Syndicate, with Keitel – no stranger to playing tough guys and mobsters – giving a compelling performance as a gangster who’s seen it all and left it all behind him… often in a shallow grave.
Lansky is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Lansky
Crime drama • biography • 2021
Crime drama • biography • 2021
The Yellow Sea
Economic hardship and personal loss are never far from the surface of any classic crime story, and this gripping look at one man’s struggle to overcome both combines classic noir storytelling with the realities of life in China’s underclass. Gu-nam (Ha Jung-woo) was left adrift in rural China after his wife went to South Korea for work and never came back. Now a local crime boss gives him the chance to go look for her… so long as he’s willing to kill a man when he arrives. Things can only go wrong from there – and they do – but Gu-nam’s initial good fortune kicks off a wider circle of payback violence, and even as he realises he’s just part of a much bigger power struggle, Gu-nam refuses to let hopes of finding his wife die.
The Yellow Sea is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Yellow Sea
Crime drama • thriller • 2010
Crime drama • thriller • 2010
Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese’ Mafia epic remains the gold standard for crime films, an effortlessly energetic look at the rise and fall of a foot soldier – none of Henry Hill’s crime crew ever officially make it into the ranks of the Cosa Nostra – during the New York Mafia’s golden age. There are so many classic moments and unforgettable needle drops here it’s pointless to point them out: as Hill, Ray Liotta was never better, Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro are endearingly charming while playing amoral monsters in career-best performances, and the whole thing makes crime look like the best possible career choice… until suddenly it isn’t.
Goodfellas is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Goodfellas
Crime drama • 1990
Crime drama • 1990
Running with the Devil
This look at the drug pipeline from South America to the USA sees Nicolas Cage playing a quality control expert (of sorts) ordered to trace the journey of a shipment of cocaine to find out exactly why the drugs are leaving stateside users dead. Cage is in deadpan mode here (for a more traditionally energetic performance from him, see his bonkers work in Arsenal, also available in this collection) as his journey brings him in contact with a bevy of familiar faces, including Clifton Collins Jr, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser, and most importantly, an often wacked-out Laurence Fishburne. Fans of ZeroZeroZero or Sicario will recognise the story’s broad outlines, but this cocaine road trip still packs plenty of surprises.
Running with the Devil is streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Running With the Devil
Crime drama • thriller • 2019
Crime drama • thriller • 2019
Shinjuku Incident
It’s a fine line between action and crime on the big screen; the multiple Bruce Lee films also available in this collection are proof of that. Here, Jackie Chan leaps confidently from one genre to the other, taking on a role that uses his screen presence and physical power to create a very different kind of character. It’s the early 1990s, and a tractor mechanic known as Steelhead (Chan) has snuck into Japan illegally to find his fiancée. Taken in by the underworld, he’s determined to become a citizen and start a new life, but his skills lead him down a decade-long path of violence and gang warfare between rival factions. There are no winners in this gritty look at a world driven by poverty and need; even a life spent repairing tractors seems a dream too far.
Shinjuku Incident is streaming at SBS On Demand.
Stream free On Demand
Shinjuku Incident
Crime drama • thriller • 2009
Crime drama • thriller • 2009
MORE GRIPPING CRIME STORIES
SBS On Demand's Crime Drama Series Collection
