For almost a full century, the Academy Awards have stood as one of the defining beacons of film greatness, awarding the very best that the medium of film has to offer and cementing the legacy of many widely acclaimed classics. Many of the greatest films of all time have left their mark thanks to their nominations and wins at the Academy Awards, especially the coveted award for Best Picture. However, not every Best Picture winner is on the same level of quality, a facet that is brazenly apparent when it comes to the past 25 years of Oscar history.
There has been a massive variety in quality among the 25 different winners that make up 21st-century filmmaking, ranging from some genuinely brilliant masterpieces to some of the worst Best Picture winners in Academy Awards history. Among the Best Picture winners of the 21st century so far, only a select few can truly be considered complete masterpieces. These eight Best Picture winners are some of the most defining and impactful of the 21st century so far, and will continue to be celebrated as masterpieces as long as cinema as a medium endures.
8
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
The climax of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King brought together all the strengths of the trilogy to create one of the most compelling finales ever created. It fully delivered on all the expectations and excitement surrounding the film, managing to one-up the already spectacular previous films and quickly became an icon of fantasy filmmaking of the 21st century. The film managed to achieve unanimous delight and charm in a way few blockbuster films have ever been able to, resulting in one of the biggest Academy Award sweeps of the 21st century.
The inherent mastery and appeal of The Return of the King have only been further solidified in the years following its release. Indeed, the filmmaking craft and dedication used to bring the classic Tolkien story to life are largely appreciated by critics and audiences. While the film’s win and sweep is largely symbolic of celebrating the achievements of the entire trilogy, there is an inherent mastery to Return of the King that makes it one of the finest blockbuster achievements of the 21st century. The movie is the apotheosis of fantasy, an epic and larger-than-life triumph of modern cinema.
7
‘The Departed’ (2006)
The film that finally gave legendary director Martin Scorsese his long-deserved wins for Best Director and Best Picture, The Departed builds upon Scorsese’s entire career of compelling crime dramas to make for one of the best crime films ever made. The director takes advantage of top-of-the-line performances from across the board and uses fine-tuned editing and expert navigating of its tone and style to create a sleek, instantly engaging crime thriller that quickly became a classic of the era.
The Departed as a whole feels like a culmination and combination of every compelling and great aspect of the crime films that Scorsese created in the past, brought together and evolved to a modern setting with a powerful and engaging story. It also acts as this sort of glorious combination of talent across generations, with the on-screen dynamic of the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson creating some of the most electrifying sequences in crime thriller history. While Scorsese has continued to make masterpieces following his long-awaited Academy Award success, The Departed will forever remain one of his crowning filmmaking achievements.
6
‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
A dark and anxiety-fueled crime thriller that has become one of the most iconic Best Picture winners of the 2000s, No Country for Old Men‘s unanimous critical and audience praise was further compounded by its Best Picture win. The film blends top-notch performances, exceptional pacing and editing, and a gripping and compelling story that helps make the film the best Western of the 21st century. Even amidst the highly difficult competition that the film faced during the 80th Academy Awards against the likes of There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men maintains an effective legacy as a masterpiece of crime thriller filmmaking.
The film does just about everything right in terms of a compelling and captivating thriller, leaving audiences on the edge of their seat and having them fully engaged with its calculated, mesmerizing filmmaking. Its influence is still largely felt in crime thrillers to this day, most of which have attempted to recapture the magic and narrative strength that No Country utilizes from beginning to end. While the Coen Brothers have created a multitude of great films over the years, No Country for Old Men easily stands as their magnum opus and is a masterful display of the directing duo’s greatest strengths.
5
’12 Years a Slave’ (2013)
A deeply compelling and powerful period drama about one of the most painful eras in American history, 12 Years a Slave perfectly captures a feeling of emotion and compassion during an era of relentless pain and evil. While numerous different period films have tackled this era of pre-Civil War slavery-driven America in depth, 12 Years a Slave cuts directly to the heart of the vile nature of the antebellum period and doesn’t sugarcoat the disgusting acts on display. It brilliantly doesn’t make its characters watered-down caricatures, playing into the realism of the era in all of its unsuspecting evil as well as overwhelming emotional toil.
12 Years a Slave finds itself largely elevated by a brilliant lead performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose wide range and evolution is a sight to behold, bringing a sense of raw emotion to the already powerful story. While the film was already being heralded as a masterpiece of filmmaking upon its initial release, its legacy and strengths have only been further cemented in the years following its Best Picture win. 12 Years a Slave has quickly become the defining period piece of this era of American history and transformed director Steve McQueen into a household name.
4
‘Moonlight’ (2016)
A beautiful and deeply personal story of identity and growth throughout a lifetime, Moonlight is a generational work of art that is arguably at the level of the greatest Best Picture winners of all time. The film is much more than a drama from a perspective that is rarely emphasized in filmmaking, but a seamless story of self-discovery that has an emotional punch and strength in each of its three distinct chapters. It has a raw, unfiltered sense of filmmaking and craft that works on all fronts to tell its dynamic and complex story of navigating a seemingly uncaring world while at the same time coming to terms with oneself.
While its Best Picture win was initially surrounded in controversy due to the infamous scandal and reading of the wrong winner with La La Land, time has proven that Moonlight easily stands as the better film and more deserving winner of the two. It touches on an important and ever-relevant topic of modern America and has become one of the most emotionally impactful films in recent memory, thanks to its countless strengths. Almost a decade later, Moonlight‘s legacy has built up, with many even considering it one of the greatest filmmaking achievements of the 21st century.
3
‘Parasite’ (2019)
Breaking new ground as the first foreign language film to win Best Picture, Parasite is a perfect blend of crowd-pleasing comedy, dynamic themes of capitalistic greed, and engaging thrills and twists that made it an instant all-timer. The film’s undeniable strengths and storytelling helped it surpass the language barrier and become a massively successful and acclaimed film across the globe, connecting and resonating with its timely story of class divide. The years since its release have only made Parasite‘s strengths that much more masterful, as it is often considered not only one of the best films of the 21st century, but one of the greatest films of all time.
Each rewatch and aspect of Bong Joon-ho‘s masterclass has something new to fall in love with, further emphasizing and solidifying its masterpiece status. Indeed, Parasite‘s legacy has achieved a life of its own, growing to be one of the defining films of the modern era. Even outside of the messaging and class divide themes, the core story and characters are so effective and engaging that Parasite always has an inherent appeal to all audiences, even those not in touch with its deeper themes.
2
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)
A chaotic and high-energy sci-fi action comedy masterpiece that breaks new ground thanks to its unrestrained creativity combined with a powerful emotional core, Everything Everywhere All at Once is easily among the most cathartic and entertaining Best Picture winners of all time. The sci-fi banger makes the absolute most out of the multiverse concept, using all the inherent creativity to create exceptional action choreography, wild and unpredictable worlds, and a great blending of comedy and action. However, it’s the unexpected emotional side and messages of familial trauma that have helped it strike a chord with audiences worldwide and become such a resounding phenomenon.
It’s certainly easy for a film with so many different moving pieces and chaotic concepts to crack under the pressure of too much happening at once. Yet, Everything Everywhere All at Once strikes a great balance between the manic sci-fi worlds and the grounded, compelling characters at its center, brought to life through Oscar-winning performances from Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. The film is working on all fronts to be as entertaining and wild as possible, creating a glorious masterpiece experience that gets more entertaining and enjoyable on each rewatch.
1
‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)
Christopher Nolan is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed filmmakers of all time, thanks to his various masterpieces released during the 2010s. However, Oppenheimer feels like the culmination of all of his filmmaking strengths in one glorious historical epic. Everything that made Nolan such a standout filmmaking icon is on full display here, from mesmerizing visual spectacle to dynamic, non-linear storytelling and a deeper focus on performances and characterization. Oppenheimer amplifies all of these facets and brings out the best in Nolan’s filmmaking style, creating a glorious story of the past that manages to be deeply relevant and important in the modern day.
The three-hour biopic doesn’t falter in its energy and interest for even a second, keeping the audience engaged and compelled by its story and characters from beginning to end in a masterful feat of editing and pacing. It’s the type of glorious achievement in cinema that combines modern possibilities and technology with classic tendencies and features of the past. Oppenheimer shows that this type of classic, high-scale historical period piece can still flourish in the modern day. Even with its win only occurring a few years ago, the film has already been heralded as one of the greatest Best Picture winners of the 21st century.
