Best Netflix Movies: the 20 best films you can stream in under two hours

It’s an experience we’re all familiar with. You’ve planned to sit down and watch a film, but between eating, drinking, parenting and the many other duties that you’ve got going on, things get delayed and delayed. 

Then, by the time you’re on the sofa and ready to watch, it’s much later than you’d hoped and any film with a hefty running time will have you watching into the small hours. 

With time already stretched, you don’t need to waste any more time picking out a film, only to find its running time is more than you’ve got in you. 

As the world’s biggest streaming platform, Netflix has a huge back catalogue of movies and lots of them are under two hours long. We’ve picked out 20 of the best of them. 

Some are recent classics, like Oscar winner 1917, some are new releases like action spectacular Kate, and some are old favourites. We cater for all tastes, just as long they don’t break the two-hour mark…

Arrival

(Image credit: Paramount/Sony)

Despite its hefty subject matter and cerebral feel, director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Arrival delivers a lot in a relatively short running time.

Before Villeneuve was entrusted with two of the most iconic sci-fi properties in Blade Runner 2049 and Dune, he proved his credentials with Arrival. 

An elegant, gentle, and truly innovative take on the genre, the film begins with the discovery of 12 extra-terrestrial spacecraft, which have begun to hover over various locations around the Earth.

The arrivals provoke different reactions in nations around the world, bringing to the surface old tensions. 

As nations teeter on the verge of global war, the US tries to establish communication with the new arrivals. 

To do this, they send in linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner).  

Time ticks away, giving Banks and her crew a race against time to find a way to communicate with the extra-terrestrial visitors and avoid catastrophe. 

Running Time: One hour and 56 minutes

1917

(Image credit: Netflix)

Fitting for a movie that’s all about racing against the clock, 1917 comes in just under the wire at one hour and 59 minutes. 

The film, which earned director Sam Mendes and his team 10 Oscar nominations and three wins, is a pacy thriller set in the muck and mire of World War I. 

We follow two British soldiers, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Game Of Thrones’ star Dean-Charles Chapman), on their mission to deliver an important message to call off a doomed attack and save hundreds of soldiers from certain death. 

Along the way, they overcome ever more difficult obstacles and more than one near-death experience of their own. 

Starring alongside MacKay and Chapman is an all-star British cast, including Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Daniel Mays, and Richard Madden. 

Running Time: One hour and 59 minutes

The Lighthouse

(Image credit: A24)

Given its intense, madcap and almost hallucinogenic feel, it’s probably a good thing that Robert Eggers’ 2019 drama doesn’t have an epic run time…

A two-hander with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, the film, which is entirely black and white, is set in the 1890s. 

Defoe and Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers who descend into madness when a storm has them stranded on the remote island where they are stationed. 

Part horror, part psychological thriller and part survivalist adventure, Eggers’ script, which he wrote with brother Max, manages to cram an awful lot into the runtime. 

Running Time: One hour and 49 minutes

Ghostbusters

(Image credit: Columbia)

Still the benchmark for the modern-day family blockbuster, the 1984 adventure is a beautifully scripted thrill ride and is done and dusted way under our benchmark. 

For the uninitiated, Ghostbusters stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis as Columbia University professors of paranormal and psychic phenomena Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler. 

After an encounter with a ghost at the New York Public Library, the university dean dismisses the credibility of their paranormal-focused research and fires them. 

Now jobless, the trio decide to establish Ghostbusters, a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse.

It turns out they’ve bitten off way more than they can chew…

Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes

Greed

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

Steve Coogan and director Michael Winterbottom have collaborated a lot over their careers, with some spectacular results. 

The pair’s team-ups have included glorious comedy The Trip, madcap Madchester retelling 24 Hour Party People and tender drama The Look Of Love, all of which work incredibly well. 

They continue the dynamic on Greed, a braying takedown of the ludicrous lifestyles of retail tycoons who build their fortunes on cheap foreign labour. 

Coogan plays Sir Richard McCreadie, a brash tycoon who is planning his lavish 60th birthday celebrations on the Greek island of Mykonos.

Reeling after a damaging public inquiry, McCreadie wants to use the party to relaunch his brand and his image. Sadly, things quickly begin to unravel…

Quirky, funny and very poignant, the film never strays into lecturing you. It’s also done in under two hours. 

Running Time: One hour and 44 minutes

Moonrise Kingdom

(Image credit: Indian Paintbrush)

Wes Anderson is a tidy filmmaker. Not once in his career has he released a film that tips over the two-hour mark. 

Moonrise Kingdom is particularly tidy and classic Anderson in its tenderness and eccentricity. 

We follow Sam Shakusky, an orphan boy who escapes from a scouting camp on the fictional island of New Penzance, to try and find his pen pal, who he hopes to woo. 

After leaving, Master Ward, the overzealous scout leader tells Sam’s fellow scouts to use their skills to set up a search party and track him down. 

Led by newcomers Kara Howard and Jared Gilman, who play Bishop and Shakusky, the film also has a killer supporting cast of Anderson’s favourites, including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Jason Schwartzman.

Running Time: One hour and 34 minutes

The Truman Show

(Image credit: Future)

Jim Carrey’s chilling prophecy about the blurring of the line between ordinary life and entertainment still remains a must-watch. 

With a tidy running time of well under two hours, we watch on as Carrey’s Truman Burbank goes about his daily life, unaware that he is the star of The Truman Show, a reality television program filmed 24/7 through thousands of hidden cameras. 

But, after a spotlight falls out of the sky and Truman reunites with an old friend with a story to tell, Truman slowly begins to question everything he’s ever known. 

Running Time: One hour and 43 minutes

Dunkirk

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

Christopher Nolan’s tense and tension-filled re-telling of the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II is another shortish watch. 

Nolan’s hugely acclaimed drama tells the story of the evacuation through the perspectives of the land, sea, and air.

Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, and Mark Rylance are in key roles in this starry drama, which scored eight Oscar nominations, going on to win three awards. 

Running Time: One hour and 46 minutes

Kong: Skull Island

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The behemoth blockbuster, which laid the foundations for last year’s almighty dust-up Godzilla vs Kong, is another flick with a tidy running time. 

Set in 1973, the film sees an all-star cast, led by Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, and Corey Hawkins, play a team of scientists and Vietnam War soldiers who travel to the uncharted Skull Island. 

The team, under the impression that their mission is to oversee geological research, soon find that the island’s wildlife will render that impossible, especially when they meet Kong… 

Running Time: One hour and 58 minutes

The Nest

(Image credit: Netflix)

Jude Law and Carrie Coon lead this tense drama, which slowly eviscerates a seemingly happy marriage in just under an hour and 50 minutes. 

Law plays Rory O’Hara, an English trader living with his American wife, Alison, and their two children in New York. 

Convinced that he could be making more money in his native land, Rory persuades the family to uproot and move across the pond. 

Once there, they take up residence in a crumbling mansion and start to build a new life. 

Sadly, it’s not long before everything begins to crumble…

Running Time: One hour and 47 minutes

Nightcrawler

(Image credit: Netflix)

Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a standout performance in this jet black drama. 

Gyllenhaal portrays Louis “Lou” Bloom, a petty criminal who chances upon a car accident and discovers he can make money by selling the footage to a local news station. 

Inspired by this new scheme, Bloom pursues it relentlessly and taking himself down a very dark path…

Running Time: One hour and 57 minutes

Red Notice

(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix’s own glossy drama is a high-octane, super-fun watch and does not outstay its welcome. 

Led by the handsome trio of Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds, Red Notice is a big-budget, globe-trotting caper with its tongue firmly in its cheek. 

Johnson plays John Hartley, a criminal profiler for the FBI who is forced to strike a devil’s bargain with Reynolds’ Nolan Booth, an international art thief he has just helped to capture. 

The two are forced together as they attempt to bring down Gadot’s Sarah ‘The Bishop’ Black, a thief who has her eye on one of the world’s lost treasures.  

Running Time: One hour and 57 minutes

I Kill Giants

(Image credit: Netflix)

A unique and tender take on high-fantasy, this loving 2017 adaptation of Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura’s graphic novel remains a must-watch.

We follow 12-year-old Barbara Thorson who escapes from the bullies at her school by instead delving into a fantasy world inspired by her love of Dungeons & Dragons. 

She spends her days creating weapons and traps to fend off giants who she believes are coming to attack her from other worlds. 

Over the course of the film, a new friend, a kind counsellor and her sister try to establish whether these are grand delusions or if the giants are all too real…

Madison Wolfe, who plays Barbara, is outstanding and is supported by a great cast that also includes Imogen Poots,  Jennifer Ehle, and Zoe Saldana.

Running Time: One hour and 46 minutes

Official Secrets

(Image credit: Netflix)

Keira Knightley and Matt Smith spearhead this political thriller, which retells the saga of intelligence analyst Katherine Gunn. 

Set in 2003, the story follows Gunn, who took the decision to leak a memo exposing a plan to potentially blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on a resolution regarding the invasion of Iraq.

In the process, she breached the Official Secrets Act and found herself facing time in prison. 

Running Time: One hour and 52 minutes

Good Time

(Image credit: Madman Entertainment)

Before they made 2019 nerve-jangler Uncut Gems, directing brothers Josh and Benny Safdie cut their teeth on this madcap movie. 

Starring Robert Pattinson and Barkhad Abdhi, it followed Pattinson’s Connie, who is faced with a dilemma after a botched bank robbery that lands his disabled younger brother in prison. 

To get him out, Connie must embark on a twisted odyssey through New York City’s underworld…

Running Time: One hour and 41 minutes

The Farewell

(Image credit: Amazon)

Awkwafina headlines this touching comedy-drama, which began its life on hit podcast, This American Life, where writer-director Lulu Wang opened up about an old family story. 

The film follows a Chinese-American family who, upon learning their grandmother has only a short while left to live, decide not to tell her and schedule a family gathering before she dies. 

It’s a decision that has unintended and hilarious consequences…

Running Time: One hour and 40 minutes

Extraction

(Image credit: Jasin Boland)

Chris Hemsworth takes charge of this explosive action thriller. 

The Thor star plays Tyler Rake, an Australian black ops mercenary who is charged with leading a mission to save an Indian drug lord’s kidnapped son. 

As you might expect, the job does not go to plan and Rake and his team are forced to pick up the pieces. 

With a script from Avengers: Endgame overseer Joe Russo, the film is an action-packed spectacle that rockets into life quickly and never lets up. 

Running Time: One hour and 57 minutes

Dallas Buyers Club

(Image credit: Netflix)

The multi-Oscar winning drama remains an essential and heartbreaking watch. 

The film follows Matthew McConaughey’s Ron Woodroof, an electrician and rodeo cowboy who was diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s. 

After discovering a cocktail of drugs that dramatically approve his health, Woodroof begins to smuggle unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas and distributes them to fellow people with HIV, in so doing establishing the “Dallas Buyers Club”. 

The film was nominated for six Oscars with McConaughey winning Best Actor and co-star Jared Leto winning Best Supporting Actor. 

Running Time: One hour and 56 minutes

tick, tick…BOOM!

(Image credit: Netflix)

Musical kingpin Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his feature film directorial debut with this drama, which, fittingly, tells the story of a man trying and struggling to write a musical. 

Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson, a young theatre composer in 1990 who is combining a job in a New York City diner with trying to write what he hopes will be the next great American musical. 

Days before he’s due to showcase his work in a performance that could make or break his career, Jonathan begins to crack under the pressure…

Running Time: One hour and 55 minutes

Kate

(Image credit: Netflix)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead finds herself facing certain death in the bloody and brutal action thriller. 

Winstead plays the titular Kate, an assassin who has been tasked with killing a high-ranking yakuza boss. 

During the mission, she discovers that she has been secretly poisoned and has, at most, a day to live. 

With time now finite, Kate sets about using her last hours to get revenge and find out who set her up…

Running Time: One hour and 46 minutes