Best movies like Masterminds
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Trapped in a Elite School which a gang of criminals has seized control, a young troublemaker fights a cat and mouse battle from inside.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: entertaining, funny, exciting, absurd, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, surprise ending, twist ending
Best tv shows and movies like Masterminds (1997):
Similar in 84%
Jane Doe (2001)
Plot Summary:
A woman's son is snatched and she must follow his kidnappers’ instructions to get him back. But when she’s framed for murder by a government department, she must take them on at their own game to ensure her son's survival.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 775
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, serious, tense, captivating, suspense, surprise ending
Similar in 81%
Zero 2 (2010)
Plot Summary:
What would you get if you mix a gangster film and a soap opera? "Zero 2" is a crazy twister of criminal romance and sexy violence that just might laugh you to death.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Thriller
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, not serious, sexy, non-linear
Similar in 76%
Black Lightning (2009)
Plot Summary:
Black Lightning is a Russian superhero film about a Moscow University student who discovers that his otherwise unremarkable car can fly. After his father is attacked, he decides to use the car to fight crime and becomes the city's defender against an evil millionaire.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Russia, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, stylized, anime, serious
Similar in 81%
Demolition High (1996)
Plot Summary:
When a group of terrorists (led by Luther) take over a high school making the students in it their hostages, it is up to several of the students (led by Lenny) to help prevent disaster while the authorities (Slater and General Wainwright) do their part on the other side.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Action
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, nostalgic
Similar in 89%
The Marine (2006)
Plot Summary:
A group of diamond thieves on the run kidnap the wife of a recently discharged marine who goes on a chase through the South Carolinian wilderness to retrieve her.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: road movie, exciting, action packed, light, entertaining, intense, non stop action, rough, serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
Critical Mass (2001)
Plot Summary:
Jeffers works security at a nuclear power plant. The plant is being decommissioned, and a politician is touring the plant and videotaping his comments regarding the closing. A terrorist group led by Samson gets inside the gates, with their ultimate goal the detonation of a nuclear bomb inside the plant. After local policemen and the other plant workers are killed, Jeffers and Janine alone must confront and halt Samson and his terrorist squad. Written by Ken Miller.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 476
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: semi serious, suspense, captivating, exciting, touching, fast, cult film
Similar in 78%
I Spy (2002)
Plot Summary:
When the Switchblade, the most sophisticated prototype stealth fighter created yet, is stolen from the U.S. government, one of the United States' top spies, Alex Scott, is called to action. What he doesn't expect is to get teamed up with a cocky civilian, World Class Boxing Champion Kelly Robinson, on a dangerous top secret espionage mission. Their assignment: using equal parts skill and humor, catch Arnold Gundars, one of the world's most successful arms dealers.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA, Hungary
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: entertaining, humorous, exciting, melancholic, funny, parody, spoof, semi serious, hilarious, action comedy
Similar in 83%
Toy Soldiers (1991)
Plot Summary:
After federal agents arrest a drug czar and put him on trial, the cartel leader's vicious son storms a prep school and takes its students hostage. They rebel against the armed intruders and try to take back their academy by any means necessary.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, bloody, rough, realistic, serious, epic, fast, homoerotic, light
Similar in 75%
Detonator (1993)
Plot Summary:
When a renegade Russian general sends a nuclear bomb hurtling toward the Middle East aboard a hijacked train, special agents are dispatched to disarm the deadly device. Ten tons of steel and one ounce of hot plutonium are now riding roughshod through Europe. With time running out, the agents launch a desperate, bullet-packed assault on a deadly moving target piloted by a cold-blooded mercenary.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: UK, Croatia, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, serious, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 75%
Blast (2004)
Plot Summary:
A terrorist posing as environmentalist hijacks an oil rig off the coast of California with the intent of detonating an electromagnetic bomb over the US.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: Germany, South Africa, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, fast, buddy comedy, black comedy
Similar in 75%
Heaven's Fire (1999)
Plot Summary:
Terrorists seize a building with intent to blow it up. However, one of the men trapped in the building is an ex-treasury agent, who just happens to be there with his wife and children in a tour group. Having to fight the terrorists and fires that breakout in the high rise.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Thriller, Action
Country: Canada, Germany, USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, disaster movie
Similar in 77%
Final Approach (2007)
Plot Summary:
FBI hostage rescue team leader Jack Bender has been sacked for not being a team player, and months later he finds himself in the ultimate hostage nightmare: stuck aboard a plane that's been taken over by a group of well-armed terrorists who threaten to detonate a nuclear weapon unless they receive a billion dollars.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, suspenseful, tense, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
Diplomatic Siege (1999)
Plot Summary:
When Steve Mitchell is clandestinely sent to the US embassy in Bucharest, Romania to disarm a nuclear bomb that has secretly remained in the building since the end of the Cold War, little does he know that other problems will soon erupt. He must join Erica Long, a diplomatic attaché who is not all that she appears, to work together on setting the correct computer code that will disable the weapon and accomplish the mission. But while watching video monitors from inside a long-forgotten surveillance room, Steve witnesses a surprising deadly takeover of the building by the Serbian Liberation Front.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, suspense, independent film
Similar in 75%
Tunnel (2002)
Plot Summary:
An ex-SAS agent and a thief battle for their lives as air runs out in a maze of abandoned mine tunnels while they're searching for $200 million in stolen diamonds.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 332
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, independent film
Similar in 76%
Hijack (1998)
Plot Summary:
A prestigious senator and the passengers on board a train are kidnapped by a militia group.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 432
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, independent film, fast
Similar in 88%
Command Performance (2009)
Plot Summary:
A Moscow charity concert turns bloody when armed extortionists take the headlining American pop-star, Venus, and the Russian President with his family, hostage. The drummer of a heavy metal warm-up band, an ex-bad ass biker played by Lundgren, and a young Russian F.S.B. agent team up to fight back. Our two heroes are seriously outnumbered, and things aren't as simple as they appear, when old ghosts from the Soviet Union appear to haunt the present in this fast paced action piece.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 86%
The Defender (2004)
Plot Summary:
The global war on terror rages on. When a government official goes missing, Lance, a man with an impressive record of service to his country, finds himself protecting the man who embodies everything he has dedicated his life to fight against.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Germany, Romania
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, exciting, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 80%
Shadow Man (2006)
Plot Summary:
An intelligence operative discovers that no one is what they seem in the shadowy world of espionage.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Romania
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 79%
Detention (2003)
Plot Summary:
A heroic high school teacher leads a band of students trapped in school by violent drug-runners.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspense, exciting, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 77%
Ticker (2001)
Plot Summary:
Ray Nettles, a detective of San Francisco, and his partner Fuzzy must take up to one of the most dangerous terrorist gangs of the city. When one of the terrorists, the beautiful scientist Claire Manning is arrested, Swan, the leader of the terrorists, claims he will let explode bombs throughout the city if she will not be released. Because of the possible bloodshed, Nettles calls for the help of explosive expert Frank Glass.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, neo noir, independent film, detective, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 76%
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Plot Summary:
John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he's working for Homeland Security. He calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 417000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: exciting, entertaining, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, intense, action thriller, action adventure, suspense, action packed
Similar in 76%
Derailed (2002)
Plot Summary:
NATO operative Jacques Kristoff (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is summoned into action—on his birthday, no less—to track down Galina Konstantin (Laura Harring), who has stolen an extremely valuable and dangerous top-secret container from the Slovakian Government. Finding Galina doesn't take long, and Jacques must wrap up the mission by returning Galina and the contraband to his superiors by train. Things seem to be going smoothly as Jacques and Galina board the train posing as a couple, but soon all hell breaks loose.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, Aruba
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, exciting, cult classic, rough, fast, psychotronic, freeze frame, sexy, clever
Similar in 85%
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Plot Summary:
Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClane, finds himself for the first time on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack - unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 213000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Hungary
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, melancholic, rough, realistic, suspenseful, humorous, semi serious, action packed, predictable
Similar in 79%
Swordfish (2001)
Plot Summary:
Rogue agent Gabriel Shear is determined to get his mitts on $9 billion stashed in a secret Drug Enforcement Administration account. He wants the cash to fight terrorism, but lacks the computer skills necessary to hack into the government mainframe. Enter Stanley Jobson, a n'er-do-well encryption expert who can log into anything.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 194000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, surprise ending, exciting, sexy, entertaining, neo noir, suspenseful, action packed, cyber, action thriller
Similar in 76%
The Marine 3: Homefront (2013)
Plot Summary:
A Marine must do whatever it takes to save his kidnapped niece and stop a terrorist attack masterminded by a radical militia group.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, cliffhanger, tense, romantic, scenic, action thriller, realistic
Similar in 90%
Operator (2015)
Plot Summary:
When the daughter of veteran 911 call center operator Pamela, and her estranged husband Jeremy, a Senior Police Officer, is kidnapped and held hostage, they are left desperate, with no choice but to follow the kidnapper's rules: send messages through dispatch for all police and fire units to scatter to remote locations throughout the city where they are met with chaos. Not knowing who or why, the one thing they do know is if they fail to discreetly collaborate with one another - they will be solely responsible for facilitating the biggest crime in the city's history. Now they must race against the clock to make the choice of their lives - save the city - or save their daughter.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, suspense, psychological, captivating, psychological thriller, neo noir, independent film, tension
Similar in 81%
Cellular (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped – and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 104000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, exciting, psychological thriller, sexy, tense, suspense, serious, realistic, clever, entertaining
Similar in 88%
Die Hard (1988)
Plot Summary:
NYPD cop, John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when minutes after he arrives at her office, the entire building is overtaken by a group of terrorists. With little help from the LAPD, wisecracking McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue the hostages and bring the bad guys down.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 923000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: intense, christmas special, exciting, suspense, action packed, suspenseful, clever, action adventure, detective, saga
Similar in 75%
Barely Lethal (2015)
Plot Summary:
A 16-year-old international assassin yearning for a "normal" adolescence fakes her own death and enrolls as a senior in a suburban high school. She quickly learns that being popular can be more painful than getting water-boarded.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, teen, entertaining, ironic, humorous, semi serious, action adventure, feel good, funny, action comedy
Similar in 89%
Red Notice (2021)
Plot Summary:
An Interpol-issued Red Notice is a global alert to hunt and capture the world's most wanted. But when a daring heist brings together the FBI's top profiler and two rival criminals, there's no telling what will happen.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 308000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: funny, exciting, tense, action comedy, anamorphic, surprise ending, light, suspense, entertaining, cult classic