Best movies like Cell 211
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, psychological, intense, tricky, rough, bleak, clever, dramatic, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Cell 211 (2009):
Similar in 81%
Eye for an Eye (2019)
Plot Summary:
Mario, an exemplary man, lives in a village on the Galician coast. In the old people’s home, where he works as a nurse, everyone appreciates him. When the best known narco in the area, Antonio Padín, recently released from prison, enters the residence, Mario tries to make Antonio feel at home. Now, Padín´s two sons, Kike and Toño, are in charge of the family business. The failure of an operation will put Kike in jail and cause them to owe a large debt to a Colombian supplier. Toño will turn to the nurse to try to convince his father to assume the debt. But Mario has his own plans.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, realistic, disturbing, psychological thriller, suspense, twist ending, hispanic
Similar in 76%
El nino (2014)
Plot Summary:
Two youths, Niño and Compi, enter the world of drug smuggling in the Strait of Gibraltar; while two police officers, Jesús and Eva, try to eradicate the contraband.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain, France
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, realistic, social, hispanic, thrilling
Similar in 76%
The Escapist (2008)
Plot Summary:
Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Ireland
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, psychological thriller, mindfuck, sincere, mind bending
Similar in 82%
Chess Game (2014)
Plot Summary:
Mina (Priscila Fantin) is arrested for defrauding the Social Security and beyond to defend the other inmates need to escape from the prison director of surveillance (Tuca Andrada). The crime involved a Senator (Antonio Calloni), trying in every way to prevent your participation to surface.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Brazil
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, bleak, realistic, psychological thriller
Similar in 82%
Ghosted (2011)
Plot Summary:
‘GHOSTED’ tells a story of survival inside a British Prison. Jack a model prisoner, has kept his head down and done his time. After his wife confirms that she is leaving him, on the anniversary of their son’s death, the only thing that keeps him from going under is the new prisoner, Paul. Jack’s cell mate Ahmed, attempts to guide him on a path of salvation, a path that involves saving Paul from the clutches of the wing beast, Clay.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 660
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, serious, bleak, tense, realistic
Similar in 90%
Toro (2016)
Plot Summary:
Toro (Spanish for "Bull") is a young con man and the right hand of Romano, a powerful mob boss in Torremolinos, Málaga (Andalusia, south to Spain). After Toro decides to leave Romano to get a life free of crime, his last sting fails, resulting one of his brothers dead and he sent to jail. Five years later, Romano realizes that López, Toro's older brother, is robbing him money from his tourism business and he orders to kidnap Diana, López's little daughter, until this one get back the money. Without options, López visits Toro, now a touristic driver with the third grade prison close to get the parole, who only wants to be free to marry his girlfriend Estrella. When Toro accepts to help López and both meet Romano looking for a solution, Toro ends attacking Romano's men and fleeing with Diana, trying to escape from Romano's revenge. But Romano starts a ruthless searching for they three, meanwhile Toro counts the hours to back the prison according to the third grade.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, hood, perverse, noir
Similar in 76%
The Experiment (2010)
Plot Summary:
20 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, tense, disturbing, reflective, thought provoking, stylized, visually appealing, clever, brutal
Similar in 79%
Get the Gringo (2012)
Plot Summary:
A career criminal (Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 111000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: intense, clever, brutal, entertaining, exciting, rough, suspenseful, witty, action packed, humorous
Similar in 76%
An Innocent Man (1989)
Plot Summary:
Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, suspense, intense, suspenseful, disturbing, rough, serious, realistic, scary
Similar in 84%
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008)
Plot Summary:
The story of Jacques Mesrine, France's public enemy No. 1 during the 1970s. After nearly two decades of legendary criminal feats -- from multiple bank robberies and to prison breaks -- Mesrine was gunned down by the French police in Paris.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Canada
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, stylized, tense, witty, breathtaking
Similar in 89%
Felon (2008)
Plot Summary:
A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: brutal, realistic, tense, emotional, serious, sincere, social, grindhouse, cerebral, rough
Similar in 83%
Undisputed (2002)
Plot Summary:
Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. WHen these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Sport
Country: USA, Germany, Japan
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspense, talky, stylized, intense, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
Carandiru (2003)
Plot Summary:
Carandiru, a story based on real facts and on the book written by the doctor Drauzio Varella, starts when he decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo, Carandiru, the victim of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History, when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, Argentina, Italy
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: bleak, compassionate, rough, touching, captivating, realistic, sincere, disturbing, controversial, perverse
Similar in 76%
Starred Up (2013)
Plot Summary:
19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, depressing, suspenseful, harsh, intense, captivating, rough, brutal
Similar in 79%
Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008)
Plot Summary:
Jacques Mesrine, a loyal son and dedicated soldier, is back home and living with his parents after serving in the Algerian War. Soon he is seduced by the neon glamour of sixties Paris and the easy money it presents. Mentored by Guido, Mesrine turns his back on middle class law-abiding and soon moves swiftly up the criminal ladder.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Canada, Italy
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: bleak, tense, realistic, suspense, intense, serious, suspenseful, psychological, dramatic, stylized
Similar in 87%
Easy Money (2010)
Plot Summary:
A three-tiered story centered around drugs and organized crime, and focused on a young man who becomes a runner for a coke dealer.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, rough, tense, sincere, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, noir, twisted
Similar in 76%
Box 507 (2002)
Plot Summary:
Modesto (Antonio Resines), an honest and responsible professional, is a manager of a small bank branch in Costa del Sol. His daughter died in a forest fire which he had thought to be accidental. One day he wakes up in his bank, after being locked and dragged by unknown men, and finds out in a safety-deposit box that the fire was plotted. From that day on, he sets on a personal crusade for justice.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Spain
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, crime drama, neo noir, suspense thriller
Similar in 77%
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Plot Summary:
After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, tense, rough, psychological, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, crime thriller
Similar in 79%
Lock Up (1989)
Plot Summary:
Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspense, intense, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, brutal, clever, cult classic
Similar in 85%
Oz (1997)
Plot Summary:
The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorizes their mutual enemies.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 105000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, talky, dramatic, controversial
Similar in 84%
Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
Plot Summary:
The movie covers the events which occurred in between the downfall of The Company and the finale of the series. It details the arrest and incarceration of Sara Tancredi, the final escape plan which Michael devises for Sara. It also reveals the ultimate fate of Gretchen Morgan.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, clever, intense, exciting, rough, realistic, tense, serious, enigmatic
Similar in 82%
Terra Nova (2008)
Plot Summary:
A story, which takes place in 2013, describes the world overflowing with "dangerous" criminals due to the official termination of death penalty. The UN "blue helmets" under the directive from the central authority (i.e., One World Government) decided to conduct a social "experiment" by forcibly dumping the outlaws on the deserted island.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Russia
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, sadistic, psychological horror, bleak
Similar in 84%
The Last Castle (2001)
Plot Summary:
A Court Martialed general rallies together 1200 inmates to rise against the system that put him away.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 84000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: intense, exciting, tense, rough, inspirational, clever, sincere, depressing, spiritual, serious
Similar in 87%
Layer Cake (2004)
Plot Summary:
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 192000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, intense, clever, tense, rough, suspenseful, bleak, dark comedy, suspense, entertaining
Similar in 81%
Son of a Gun (2014)
Plot Summary:
Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia, UK, Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: tense, stylized, exciting, suspenseful, neo noir, surprise ending, noir, bloody, suspense, crime drama
Similar in 84%
The Experiment (2001)
Plot Summary:
Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence—a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: psychological, suspense, thought provoking, tense, disturbing, rough, bleak, suspenseful, psychological thriller, cerebral
Similar in 84%
Infernal Affairs II (2003)
Plot Summary:
In this prequel to Mou gaan dou (2002), Chan Wing Yan has just become an undercover cop in the triads while Lau Kin Ming joins the police force. Both the triads and the police find an enemy in a rival crime boss.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong, Singapore, China
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, neo noir, exciting, tense, rough, suspenseful, realistic, crime drama, psychological, bloody
Similar in 75%
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Plot Summary:
Escape from Alcatraz tells the story of the only three men ever to escape from the infamous maximum security prison at Alcatraz. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and "Birdman" Robert Stroud, was only broken once - by three men never heard of again.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 145000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: suspense, atmospheric, suspenseful, realistic, exciting, motivational, inspirational, neo noir, non fiction, crime drama
Similar in 87%
Papillon (2017)
Plot Summary:
Henri "Papillon" Charrière is convicted in Paris for a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he becomes obsessed with escaping. After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts, he's sent to the notorious prison Devil's Island, a place from which no one has ever escaped.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, Czech Republic, Spain
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: suspense, factual, psychological, motivational, art house, homoerotic, brutal, interesting
Similar in 77%
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Plot Summary:
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 314000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: twist ending, suspense, psychological, surprise ending, clever, tense, serious, exciting, brutal, rough