All 10 Martin Scorsese Movies From This Century, Ranked

Martin Scorsese has long been considered a cinematic legend. He pioneered the gritty and organic style of filmmaking that many directors use today and left an indelible mark on the art. With a career spanning over fifty years, he has crafted masterpieces that not only explore the intricacies of the human conditions but also add nuance and complexity to stories of real individuals and history itself,

Scorsese first emerged as a fresh creative voice in the 70s and 80s and quickly established himself as a mainstay in the industry with seminal films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. Known for their stylized aesthetic, flawless pacing, and unforgettable lead performances, these movies made people believe Scorsese was at the height of his career back then. As it turns out, the director has continued to make movies that are layered with still-unmatched, rich and textured worlds.

As he entered the new century, Scorsese showed no signs of slowing down. He explored more fascinating characters and their equally mesmerizing narrative with his visual flair. In the 21st century alone, he has directed movies like Gangs of New York, Hugo, and The Wolf of Wall Street, with each movie receiving more widespread acclaim than the next. This list ranks all of Martin Scorsese’s 21st century films so far and looks at the best elements of these cinematic masterpieces.

10 George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)

Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary movie offered an intimate look into the life, musical journey, and spiritual side of former Beatle George Harrison. Through interviews from iconic figures like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, and Eric Clapton, as well as letters written by George to his friends and family, the movie chronicle’s his rise to fame and evolution as a solo artist. George left an enduring impact on music and culture and Scorsese captures it all.

A Soulful Tribute to a Musical Genius

The director has worked on several documentaries before, some related to music even. But George Harrison: Living in the Material World is his first documentary about a late subject. The movie was financed by Olivia Harrison and Scorsese assembled over a hundred interviews to construct a flawless biography, covering George’s journey as a musician as well as his travels to India. A solemn and reflective work, the film celebrates an icon and his legacy.

9 Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island saw Martin Scorsese adapt Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel of the same name. A psychological thriller set in 1954, it follows two U.S. Marshals named Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, arriving at a fortress-like asylum for the unwell, located on the titular island, to investigate the sudden disappearance of a patient. The location, dense with fog and paranoia, only makes the whole mystery more unsettling as new revelations surface.

Mind-Bending and Filled With Twists

Starring long-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio, with Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Mark Ruffalo, the movie is equal parts delicious and unnerving. It revolves around themes of paranoia, mental illness, memory manipulation and moral ambiguity. The shadowy backdrop of the island acts as a secondary character itself, making the reveals more complex and surprising as ever.

Although it was lauded for its plot twist and a decent exploration of the protagonist’s past, Shutter Island is not Scorsese’s greatest work.

8 Silence (2016)

An underseen work in the director’s vast database, Silence is a historical drama adapted from Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel of the same name. Scorsese turns to a religious subject matter as he tells the story of two Catholic missionaries, who travel to Japan in search of their mentor after he vanished to spread Christianity. There, they are forced to confront the crisis of faith when learning of the brutal prosecutions carried out by feudal lords or ruling samurai.

Exploration of Faith and Spirituality

With Silence, Scorsese crafted his most insightful and spiritually complex movies of all time. And as a matter of fact, it was in development for over 25 years. Depicting 17th century Portugal meant adding authenticity and the director made sure the cinematography was jarring enough to prove questions around faith, loyalty and sacrifice. Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver delivered performances of a lifetime, with Garfield standing out as a brilliant artist.

7 Hugo (2011)

Martin Scorsese’s movies have the reputation of being intense and psychologically complex. With Hugo, the director steers into the family-friendly entertainment landscape for the very first time. He draws inspiration from Brian Selznick’s novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and tells the story of an orphan boy named Hugo, who lives alone in a Paris train station. His late father left him an automation and he wants to unlock the mystery behind it.

Whimsical Love Letter to Youthful Curiosity

Hugo is also the director’s first foray into 3D filmmaking. For the particular project, Scorsese “found 3D to be really interesting, because the actors were more upfront emotionally.” The movie starred young Asa Butterfield as Hugo, Sacha Baron Cohen as an angry station inspector, and Chloë Grace Moretz as Isabelle, the shopgirl Hugo strikes a friendship with. By bringing Paris to life even for non-readers, Scorsese paid homage to our timeless curiosity and need for human connection.

6 Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

His 27th feature film and the most recent one to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Killers of the Flower Moon sees Martin Scorsese teaming up with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro once again. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the movie follows the true story of a series of serial murders that conspired in the oil-wealthy Osage Nations. To solve the cases, the Bureau of Investigation (which eventually became FBI) sent Agent Thomas Bruce White Sr.

Riveting Western-Noir Masterpiece

With a script from Eric Roth and cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto, Scorsese captured a time that came to be known in history as the “Reign of Terror.” The movie had a sweeping scope, took a slow-burn approach towards storytelling, and did not hold back in showcasing the country’s haunting past. Blending genres like detective drama and Spaghetti Western, Killers of the Flower Moon gained massive praise from critics and audiences alike.

5 The Aviator (2004)

From the beginning of the 21st century itself, Scorsese moved his focus from Robert De Niro as the lead actor in most of his films to Leonardo DiCaprio. In The Aviator, DiCaprio starred as an eccentric millionaire named Howard Hughes, who had an ambitious decades-long career as a pioneer of film in the late 1920s as well as the pre-Code war epic Hell’s Angels.

He even pursued aviation, which was a growing industry at the time. But along the way, he battled with his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Oscar-Winning Biopic

Nothing short of a visual spectacle, The Aviator transported its audiences back to Hollywood’s golden era. The meticulously-created set pieces, Howard’s glamorous world, his knack for innovation and his gradually declining mental state captured our attention to the point where we all believed the movie would finally earn Scorsese an Academy Award for Best Director. While that didn’t happen, the movie did win Best Picture and was hailed as a masterpiece.

4 The Irishman (2019)

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s award-winning gangster film starring Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, a truck driver turned labor union leader and alleged hitman who was involved in the disappearance and death of Jimmy Hoffa. Based on Charles Brandt’s book I Heard You Paint Houses, the movie spans decades as it recounts Sheeran’s friendship with Hoffa and his former alliance with the Bufalino crime family.

A Perfect Blend of Themes and Stars

Few movies nail the attainment of absolution as The Irishman, which is so complex that watching the de-aged version of the stars pulls you away from the crime, until the deeply affective culmination, which reminds you that Scorsese really had something remarkable in mind.

Critics praise the movie for being “clever and entertaining, to the point where you may think that’s all it’s going to be.” Created for Netflix with a script penned by Steven Zaillian, The Irishman is one of Scorsese’s richest achievements.

3 The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Despite being extremely fast-paced, The Wolf of Wall Street never feels like it’s rushing to be somewhere. It is wildly entertaining, viciously satirical, and baffling. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, whose hunger of success leads to an eventual downfall in 1990s New York.

From being head of his firm, Stratton Oakmont, to taking the most reckless and fraudulent steps towards his own downfall, Belfort leaves no stone unturned on his path towards self-destruction.

An Outrageous Satire on Capitalistic Greed

The Wolf of Wall Street was the director’s first film since turning 70 and the epic scope of it proved that the movie was Scorsese unleashed. His fifth collaboration with DiCaprio, it commercialized awe-inspiring debauchery and poked holes in capitalism and the idea of the American Dream in a comical, lurid and toxic way. Well-constructed and never misleading, the movie definitely deserves a spot in the director’s top three works to come out of the 21st century.

2 Gangs of New York (2002)

Set in 1863 New York City, when tensions between Catholics and Protestants were rising in the country, this epic crime drama follows a young man named Amsterdam Vallon returning to the Five Points to exact revenge upon Bill “The Butcher” Cutting and his gang for the slaughter of his parents years ago. As Amsterdam trains and prepares himself for the confrontation, the events of the Civil War lead him to a bloody and climactic showdown.

Epic Tale of Betrayal and Unity

Scorsese adapted a nonfiction book and brought the gritty streets of 1863 Manhattan to the big screen with his signature aesthetic and vibrant use of colors. He balanced the character-driven drama and gang warfare through epic production design, period set pieces, and a star-studded cast made up of Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz.

While the movie shed light on forgotten history, Gangs of New York was a rather divisive work in Scorsese’s filmography due to behind-the-screen debates with producer Harvey Weinstein.

1 The Departed (2006)

The fact that Martin Scorsese finally won his Best Picture Oscar with a movie that is a conventionally entertaining one is quite fascinating. A tense crime thriller and remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, The Departed plays out against the backdrop of a crime-riddled Boston and follows an undercover cop infiltrating the mob. Simultaneously, a mole worms his way into the police force. A dynamic and escalating game of cat-and-mouse affects people on both sides of the law.

Perfectly Crafted Thriller That Won Scorsese an Oscar

Featuring an all-star cast made of Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon (and Mark Wahlberg with his epic one-liners for good measure), the movie is flawlessly paced and bursting with intrigue.

Obviously, DiCaprio and Damon were breakouts as the bad guys, while an otherwise controlled Nicholson gave his most chilling performance till date. The story was anchored by Scorsese’s terrific direction, where every frame cracked with tension. Enough to rank the movie as a classic in his film career.