Tarantino Crowns ‘Black Hawk Down’ the Best Film of the 21st Century
As 2025 draws to a close, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has revealed his definitive ranking of the 20 greatest movies of the 21st century, culminating in a top 10 reveal on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast. The celebrated director, known for his meticulous approach to cinema, established a single-director rule for his list, ultimately selecting Ridley Scott’s 2001 war epic, Black Hawk Down, as his favorite film of the millennium thus far.
Tarantino’s list demonstrates a broad cinematic palate, though a clear preference for Western filmmaking emerges in his top selections. While films 11 through 20 showcase a wider range of international cinema – including Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale and prachya Pinkaew’s Chocolate (“a movie you probably never heard of… People getting fucked up in the most spectacular of ways…”) – his top 10 are dominated by established Western directors. These include Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Paul Thomas Anderson’s There will Be Blood, and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. He specifically praised Black Hawk Down as the only movie that actually goes completely for an Apocalypse Now sense of purpose and visual effect and feeling.” This selection marks a shift from his 2020 assessment, where he declared David Fincher’s The Social Network the greatest film of the 2010s, stating simply, “It’s number one because it’s the best, that’s all! It crushes all the competition.” This year,though,he favors Fincher’s Zodiac,ranking it at number six,noting a transformative viewing experience after encountering segments on cable television. “It was a whole different experience from that point on. I found myself, every six or seven years, watching it again.”
This evolution in his preferences underscores a key point: even the most discerning film enthusiasts are open to reevaluation. As one observer noted, Tarantino, “like all film nerds, is allowed to change his mind with the passing of time (and additional viewings).”
Despite remaining tight-lipped about his tenth and perhaps final film, Tarantino remains actively engaged in several projects.He is currently collaborating with Fincher on a Netflix sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, with Fincher directing a script penned by Tarantino for The Adventures of Cliff Booth. Moreover, fans can revisit the director’s iconic Kill Bill in a newly re-released “Whole Bloody Affair” edition, hitting theaters on December 5th, and Tarantino has even hinted at a potential Kill Bill prequel.
Quentin Tarantino’s Top 20 Films of the 21st Century
- West Side Story
- Cabin Fever
- Moneyball
- Chocolate
- The Devil’s Rejects
- The Passion of the Christ
- School of Rock
- Jackass: The Movie
- Big Bad Wolves
- Battle Royale
- Midnight in Paris
- Shaun of the Dead
- mad Max: Fury road
- Unstoppable
- Zodiac
- There Will Be Blood
- dunkirk
- Lost in translation
- Toy Story 3
- Black Hawk Down
