Hinds made his feature film debut in John Boorman's "Excalibur" in 1981. He played Captain Frederick Wentworth in Jane Austen's "Persuasion" in 1995, Jonathan Reiss in "" and John Traynor in "Veronica Guerin", both in 2003, and Firmin in the film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" in 2004. Hinds also played Carl, a professional assisting a group of assassins, in Steven Spielberg's political thriller, "Munich" in 2005. In 2006, he appeared in Michael Mann's film adaptation of the 80's television show, "Miami Vice", and as Herod the Great in "The Nativity Story". In the 2006 film "Amazing Grace", Hinds portrayed Sir Banastre Tarleton, one of the chief opponents of abolition of the slave trade in Parliament. He starred in "Margot at the Wedding", alongside Nicole Kidman, Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a comedy-drama about family secrets and relationships. He also appeared in 2007's "There Will Be Blood", directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.