Best Movies of 2003

These are the 48 best-rated movies released in 2003, led by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Oldboy and Memories of Murder. Ranked by audience score, with cast, trailers and legal places to watch on every page.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

★ 8.5/10

As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the…
2. Oldboy (2003)

★ 8.3/10

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
3. Memories of Murder (2003)

★ 8.1/10

During the late 1980s, two detectives in a South Korean province attempt to solve the nation's first series of rape-and-murder cases.
4. The Best of Youth (2003)

★ 8.1/10

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following…
5. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

★ 8.0/10

An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
6. Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live (2003)

★ 8.0/10

Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live presents the complete 2003 Milan concert from Peter Gabriel's tour based around the album Up, featuring 17 tracks across 134 minutes. Literally central to a memorable show is a revolving…
7. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Live at the Olympic (The Last DJ) (2003)

★ 8.0/10

Recorded on October 16th, 2002 at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, this film features the band's 2002 album The Last DJ performed in its entirety. Also featured are several of the band's other songs, and "You…
8. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

★ 7.9/10

On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
9. Dogville (2003)

★ 7.8/10

A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

★ 7.8/10

After Port Royal is attacked and pillaged by a mysterious pirate crew, capturing the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann in the process, William Turner asks free-willing pirate Jack Sparrow to help him locate the…
11. Big Fish (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will…
12. Finding Nemo (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Nemo, an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef home to a dentist's office aquarium. It's up to his worrisome father Marlin and a friendly but forgetful fish Dory to bring Nemo…
13. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

★ 7.8/10

An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
14. Lisbela and the Prisoner (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Lisbela is a young woman who loves going to the movies. Leléu is a con man, going from town to town selling all sort of things and performing as master of ceremonies for some cheesy numbers, such as the woman who gets…
15. Tupac: Resurrection (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
16. Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities…
17. Cirque du Soleil: Varekai (2003)

★ 7.8/10

Icarus is the main character of Varekai, who falls to the ground, breaking his legs as he does. He is suddenly in a strange, new world full of creatures he has never seen before. Parachuted into the shadows of a…
18. The Fog of War (2003)

★ 7.7/10

Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor…
19. Mystic River (2003)

★ 7.7/10

The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them suffers a family tragedy.
20. The Last Samurai (2003)

★ 7.6/10

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the…
21. Carandiru (2003)

★ 7.6/10

When a doctor decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo - Carandiru, he meets the future victims of one of the darkest days in Brazilian…
22. Touching the Void (2003)

★ 7.6/10

The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
23. The Classic (2003)

★ 7.6/10

Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her…
24. The Corporation (2003)

★ 7.6/10

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film…
25. 3 Deewarein (2003)

★ 7.6/10

Three inmates on death row become the reluctant subjects of a documentary made by Chandrika. Gradually, they begin to trust her and reveal their stories.
26. Love Don't Co$t a Thing (2003)

★ 7.5/10

A high school outcast pays a cheerleader to pose as his girlfriend so he can be considered cool.
27. Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

★ 7.5/10

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to…
28. The Second Renaissance Part I (2003)

★ 7.5/10

Tells the early history of how conflict began between the humans and machines. Part 1 of 2.
29. The Second Renaissance Part II (2003)

★ 7.5/10

The battle for Earth turns against the humans, despite their infamous desperate act of blackening the skies.
30. The Man Who Copied (2003)

★ 7.5/10

A young photocopier operator becomes infatuated with his neighbor and, unable to afford anything from her shop, turns to shady schemes to make money.
31. Book of Days (2003)

★ 7.5/10

A grief-struck life insurance salesman rails at God for not stepping in to save his bride; but the tables are turned when a mysterious book is delivered to him, an ancient volume listing names and death dates, dates…
32. Uncle Nino (2003)

★ 7.5/10

A distant, slightly dysfunctional family is brought closer together when the father's long-estranged Uncle Nino comes from Italy to Chicago for a surprise visit.
33. The Station Agent (2003)

★ 7.4/10

When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
34. The Life of David Gale (2003)

★ 7.4/10

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
35. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)

★ 7.4/10

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.
36. Lost in Translation (2003)

★ 7.4/10

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from…
37. Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

★ 7.4/10

An uptight MBA student falls for the charismatic new neighbor who charms her troubled family – but he has a secret that forces him to push her away.
38. Harvie Krumpet (2003)

★ 7.4/10

The odd biography of Harvie Krumpet, a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck - but still optimistically lives own way and enjoys…
39. Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (2003)

★ 7.3/10

A friend of Fred's, Alejo Otero, invites the Scooby gang to Veracruz, Mexico. There they find a monster, El Chupacabra, terrorizing the town.
40. Brother Bear (2003)

★ 7.3/10

When an impulsive boy named Kenai is magically transformed into a bear, he must literally walk in another's footsteps until he learns some valuable life lessons. His courageous and often zany journey introduces him to…
41. 21 Grams (2003)

★ 7.3/10

Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together…
42. Radio (2003)

★ 7.3/10

In the racially divided town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976, football coach Harold Jones spots a mentally disabled African-American young man nicknamed Radio near his practice field and is inspired to befriend…
43. Infernal Affairs II (2003)

★ 7.3/10

In this prequel to the original, a bloody power struggle among the Triads coincides with the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, setting up the events of the first film.
44. Playing 'In the Company of Men' (2003)

★ 7.3/10

A troupe of actors rehearse a play. In the play-within-the-film, an ambitious son and his distant father fight for control of an armaments firm and are pushed to eventual destruction by dangerous outside forces and…
45. Peter Pan (2003)

★ 7.2/10

In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story…
46. Identity (2003)

★ 7.2/10

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to…
47. American Splendor (2003)

★ 7.2/10

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
48. Monster (2003)

★ 7.2/10

An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.