Best Movies of 1997

These are the 48 best-rated movies released in 1997, led by Paul: The Emissary, Life Is Beautiful and Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion. Ranked by audience score, with cast, trailers and legal places to watch on every page.

1. Paul: The Emissary (1997)

★ 9.5/10

The path of Saul the angry zealot to Paul the servant of Christ, who will pay any price to bring his message to the world.
2. Life Is Beautiful (1997)

★ 8.4/10

A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp…
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)

★ 8.3/10

SEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of his sanity as he is forced to decide…
4. Princess Mononoke (1997)

★ 8.3/10

Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest…
5. Good Will Hunting (1997)

★ 8.2/10

Headstrong yet aimless, Will Hunting has a genius-level IQ but chooses to work as a janitor at MIT. When he secretly solves highly difficult graduate-level math problems, his talents are discovered by Professor Gerald…
6. Ghosts (1997)

★ 8.0/10

In the town of Normal Valley, an eccentric magician named Maestro entertains the local children every day in his spooky mansion. One stormy night, the town's mayor leads a group of angry citizens to the mansion in an…
7. Titanic (1997)

★ 7.9/10

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class…
8. L.A. Confidential (1997)

★ 7.8/10

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
9. Victoria Wood: Live (1997)

★ 7.8/10

Over half a million people packed into over 200 venues throughout the country during 1997 to see her best show ever. This tour included an unprecedented fifteen night sell-out run at the Royal Albert Hall, which the…
10. Fireworks (1997)

★ 7.7/10

Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack…
11. Cure (1997)

★ 7.6/10

A detective starts spiraling out of control when a wave of gruesome murders with seemingly similar bizarre circumstances is sweeping Tokyo.
12. Boogie Nights (1997)

★ 7.6/10

Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent…
13. Gattaca (1997)

★ 7.6/10

Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with…
14. The Fifth Element (1997)

★ 7.6/10

In 2257, a taxi driver is unintentionally given the task of saving a young girl who is part of the key that will ensure the survival of humanity.
15. Anastasia (1997)

★ 7.6/10

Ten years after she was separated from her family, an eighteen-year-old orphan with vague memories of the past sets out to Paris in hopes of reuniting with her grandmother. She is accompanied by two con men, who intend…
16. Happy Together (1997)

★ 7.6/10

A gay couple from Hong Kong takes a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning but instead begins drifting even further apart.
17. The Game (1997)

★ 7.6/10

In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of…
18. Hercules (1997)

★ 7.5/10

Bestowed with superhuman strength, a young mortal named Hercules sets out to prove himself a hero in the eyes of his father, the great god Zeus. Along with his friends Pegasus, a flying horse, and Phil, a personal…
19. Open Your Eyes (1997)

★ 7.5/10

Handsome 25-year-old Cesar had it all -- a successful career, expensive cars, a swank bachelor's pad, and an endless string of beautiful and willing women -- until he is thrown into a strange psychological mystery…
20. The Devil's Advocate (1997)

★ 7.5/10

Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far more evil planned.
21. Donnie Brasco (1997)

★ 7.5/10

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.
22. Love Jones (1997)

★ 7.4/10

Darius Lovehall is a young black poet in Chicago who starts dating Nina Moseley, a beautiful and talented photographer. While trying to figure out if they've got a "love thing" or are just "kicking it," they hang out…
23. Contact (1997)

★ 7.4/10

A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult…
24. Jackie Brown (1997)

★ 7.4/10

Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail…
25. As Good as It Gets (1997)

★ 7.4/10

Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction, is rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor, Simon. After Simon is brutally attacked and hospitalized, Melvin finds his…
26. Destiny (1997)

★ 7.3/10

Manga tries to tell his parents he is gay and in love with Sory, another 20-year old. His parents do not believe him and his mother attempts witchcraft.
27. Men in Black (1997)

★ 7.2/10

After a police chase with an otherworldly being, a New York City cop is recruited as an agent in a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth: the Men in Black. Agent K and new…
28. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

★ 7.2/10

Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of…
29. Starship Troopers (1997)

★ 7.1/10

Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against…
30. Live Flesh (1997)

★ 7.1/10

When Victor attempts to seduce Elena, all he gets for his trouble is a one-way, six-year ticket to prison, where he concentrates on strengthening his mind, his body... and his desire for vengeance on the man who put…
31. Lolita (1997)

★ 7.1/10

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed…
32. Face/Off (1997)

★ 7.0/10

In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge.
33. The Rainmaker (1997)

★ 7.0/10

When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate…
34. Breakdown (1997)

★ 6.9/10

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a…
35. Music for Montserrat (1997)

★ 6.9/10

Music For Montserrat is a concert, held on September 15, 1997 in the Royal Albert Hall. Musicians came together for Montserrat. Phil Collins, Ray Cooper, Carl Perkins, Jimmy Buffett, Mark Knopfler, Sting, Elton John…
36. Con Air (1997)

★ 6.8/10

Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure…
37. Cop Land (1997)

★ 6.8/10

Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s…
38. Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy (1997)

★ 6.8/10

Son Goku Jr. is the great-great-grandson of the legendary martial artist Son Goku. However, unlike his predecessor he's not a brave fighter. He's constantly picked on by school bullies, his grandmother Pan sees this…
39. Kundun (1997)

★ 6.8/10

The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful…
40. Ossos (1997)

★ 6.8/10

After a suicidal teenage girl gives birth, she misguidedly entrusts her baby’s safety to the troubled, deadbeat father, whose violent actions take the viewer on a tour of the foreboding, crumbling shantytown in which…
41. Koyla (1997)

★ 6.7/10

A village girl agrees to a marriage to a king she has never met after he sends her a photograph of himself. But the man in the photograph is not the king but his most loyal slave, the handsome but mute Shankar.
42. The Boxer (1997)

★ 6.7/10

Nineteen-year-old Danny Flynn is imprisoned for his involvement with the I.R.A. in Belfast. He leaves behind his family and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Maggie Hamill. Fourteen years later, Danny is released from…
43. The Beautician and the Beast (1997)

★ 6.7/10

A New York City beautician is mistakenly hired as the school teacher for the children of the president of a small Eastern European country.
44. Liar Liar (1997)

★ 6.7/10

Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.
45. On Guard (1997)

★ 6.7/10

France, 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIII. When a dear friend, the Duke of Nevers, is treacherously assassinated by a powerful relative, a skilled swordsman, the noble Henri de Lagardère, seeks his rightful…
46. Solomon (1997)

★ 6.7/10

David, now an old man, is still king of Israel. Among his sons, the ambitious Adonijah and the clever Solomon, fierce rivals, since both are prospective heirs to the throne and only one can be.
47. Conspiracy Theory (1997)

★ 6.6/10

A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
48. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

★ 6.6/10

Four years after Jurassic Park's genetically bred dinosaurs ran amok, multimillionaire John Hammond shocks chaos theorist Ian Malcolm by revealing that he has been breeding more beasties at a secret location. Malcolm…