Cillian Murphy is back on screens in new movie Steve, which has just arrived on Netflix. The drama is adapted from screenwriter Max Porter's own book Shy, and takes place in a school for boys with behavioural challenges.
Murphy plays the titular headteacher over the course of one fateful day, as he tries to keep afloat while the school faces closure, while student Shy (Jay Lycurgo) struggles with mental health difficulties.
Steve has largely garnered acclaim from critics, sitting at 77% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Observer calling it "gripping and exhausting", while the movie and Murphy's performance are "in a class of their own".
Empire added that the film makes full use of Murphy's "emotional range", adding: "Steve is a rallying, railing portrayal of a broken education system – and contemporary cinema’s worthy answer to Dead Poets Society."
If you're looking for more showcases of Murphy's talents, we've rounded-up 7 of his best movies that you can watch right now via streaming.
Oppenheimer
One of the actor's most notable roles, 2023's Oppenheimer saw Murphy win an Academy Award for his turn as the titular theoretical physicist, who was dubbed the father of the atomic bomb.
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The movie also won Best Picture at the Oscars alongside a big haul of other statuettes, and charts J Robert Oppenheimer's life from university to overseeing the Manhattan Project – which developed the first nuclear weapons – and later his controversial security clearance hearing.
One of the actor's many collaborations with director Christopher Nolan, Digital Spy said that Murphy gives a "career-best performance" in the movie.
Available to stream on Netflix and Sky Cinema.
28 Days Later
The first movie in the horror franchise was a breakout role for Murphy, starring as a bicycle courier called Jim who wakes up from a coma to find that a virus has destroyed society.
28 Days Later was called "one of the great horror classics of the early '00s" by The Movie Sleuth, and sits at an impressive 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie also spawned a sequel that Murphy wasn't involved in, though the star is due back in the next instalment of the ongoing 28 Years Later trilogy.
Available to stream on NOW with a Sky Cinema membership.
Sunshine
Following his work on 28 Days Later, Murphy collaborated with director Danny Boyle once again in 2007 sci-fi Sunshine, which follows a group of astronauts in the mid-21st century as they're tasked with sending a nuclear bomb into the sun to reignite the dying star. However, things take an unexpected turn during the mission.
Appearing alongside the actor are a star-studded cast including Marvel's Chris Evans and Benedict Wong, fellow Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, Platonic's Rose Byrne and Shōgun's Hiroyuki Sanada.
Sunshine was called "a knuckle-gnawingly tense, glorious action thriller" that "marks yet another genre nailed by Danny Boyle" by Empire.
Available to stream on Disney+.
Inception
The hit 2010 Christopher Nolan movie features Murphy in a supporting role alongside the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The twisty sci-fi thriller focuses on a thief who steals information by entering the victims' dreams, though is given a chance to wipe his record clean by implementing an idea into the subconscious of a CEO (played by Murphy).
Inception boasts an 87% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus calling it "smart, innovative, and thrilling".
Available to stream on NOW with a Sky Cinema membership.
Batman Begins
Another Nolan collaboration, Murphy played the villainous Dr Jonathan Crane (aka The Scarecrow) in the first of the director's Dark Knight trilogy, reprising the role briefly in its two sequels.
Batman Begins charts the origins of the Caped Crusader as he tries to stop the Scarecrow and another major baddie from destroying Gotham via a hallucinogenic drug in the city's water supply.
The blockbuster "transforms the superhero genre and transcends its limitations" according to Deep Focus Review, who called it "a moving, emotionally involving, and exciting experience".
Available to stream on Prime Video and ITVX.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
This acclaimed 2006 drama, which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and boasts a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, sees Murphy play one of two Irish brothers who join the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.
However, a few years later the County Cork siblings find themselves on opposite sides during the Irish Civil War.
Directed by I, Daniel Blake's Ken Loach, The Wind That Shakes the Barley also features performances from Game of Thrones' Liam Cunningham, Knightfall's Pádraic Delaney and The Young Offenders' Orla Fitzgerald.
Available to buy and rent on Prime Video.
A Quiet Place Part II
The 2020 sequel to acclaimed horror A Quiet Place sees Murphy play Emmett, a reclusive survivor who is a friend of the late Lee (John Krasinski), as the family from the first movie cross paths with him. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe return.
Like the first film, Part II drew widespread acclaim – sitting at an impressive 91% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes – with Digital Spy saying it "matches the tension and horror of the first movie and manages to deliver something new that expands the world, too" in our review.
Available to stream on Paramount+ and buy and rent on Prime Video.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
