Best movies like Safe House
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A psychological thriller; Mace Sowell, an ex-intelligence operative and whose past government activities catches up with him, faces his own mortality, in the shape of the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Holding the electronic key to secret information which implicates a Presidential front-runner, Mace struggles for his life while battling the debilitating effects of the disease.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: political, psychological, exciting, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Safe House (1998):
Similar in 83%
Ignition (2001)
Plot Summary:
A web of intrigue and conspiracy lies beneath the euphoria as the U.S. is about to put a man on the moon for the first time in over thirty years.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, action packed, independent film
Similar in 80%
The Eavesdropper (2004)
Plot Summary:
Fifteen deaf patients took part in an experimental clinical trail aimed at hearing restoration. Within days, fourteen of the fifteen participants in the trial become violently psychotic, ultimately taking their lives to stop violent side effects brought on by the treatment. This is the story of the sole survivor of the experiment, Patient #14 - Liza Raines, who participation in the experiment gave her super-normal hearing abilities - particularly, the ability to hear the frequency emitted by the brain when it thinks. When her life is suddenly thrown into jeopardy, Liza is forced to use her ability against those set on covering up the fact that she even existed.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 632
Genere: Drama, Thriller, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, experimental
Similar in 87%
Dirty War (2004)
Plot Summary:
After years of meticulous planning, a terrorist operation is reaching its final stages. The authorities have received no intelligence; they are in a race against time but don't yet know it. As the operation unfolds, we see the working lives of men and women directly affected by terrorism. Among them: a firemen worried about the increasingly dangerous conditions he and his men are expected to work under; the head of the anti-terrorist branch whose responsibility it is to protect London and a female Muslim detective brought into Scotland Yard to investigate another suspected terrorist cell. But it is too late to stop the attack.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, captivating, detective, bleak, realistic
Similar in 77%
Time Lapse (2001)
Plot Summary:
Clayton Pierce is an agent working under deep cover. Although he is a top agent, he is questioning his loyalty after twenty years of service. His devotion has already cost him his wife, family and personal life. During a de-briefing from his last assignment, he is unknowingly administered the drug Oblivion, which destroys brain cells causing permanent memory loss. Within a few days of injection, the drug's effects become irreversible. Clayton will not only lose his memory, he will lose his identity as well. He realizes he can no longer rely on anyone at the agency to help him, not even his boss, Agent LaNova. With nowhere left to go, he appeals to his ex-wife, Kate, for help. Clayton and Kate must locate the antidote before it's too late.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 321
Genere: Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, independent film, bleak, realistic, talky
Similar in 81%
Confess (2005)
Plot Summary:
political thriller that charts the exploits of disillusioned ex-hacker Terell Lessor. A return to New York, coupled with a humiliating attempt at getting a new job, serves as the catalyst for him to take action against those who slighted him in the past. Employing strategically placed spy-cams, and operating in tandem with backer, strategist and lover Olivia, he captures compromising footage and broadcasts the edited clips via a newly-minted website. Recognizing the power of their model, the two begin to target CEOs, politicians, those who represent the worst of the establishment. Soon Terell's every move is front-page news, law enforcement is after him, and copy-catters are taking his abduction-and-confession model to extremes he never imagined. With these forces colliding, Terell has to decide whether his actions are sustainable - a decision that will compromise his agenda, his first taste of romance, and his physical wellbeing.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 458
Genere: Thriller, Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, suspense, realistic, surprise ending, political thriller
Similar in 85%
Quicksand (2002)
Plot Summary:
Randi Stewart is a sergeant on a marine base where her father is the commanding officer. She is being treated by the new base psychiatrist, Bill Turner. Her brother, Gordon Stewart is running for political office. General Stewart is murdered and Randi is the key suspect. Once Bill starts investigating the crime through his treatment of Randi, he begins to uncover an unusually large amount of suicides on the base. The intrigue grows and so does Bill's unprofessional feelings towards Randi. Is she the murderer? He doesn't really want to find out. He just keeps getting sucked deeper and deeper into the "Quicksand".
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 249
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, India
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 75%
Absolute Deception (2013)
Plot Summary:
A widowed reporter recruits the help of a federal agent to investigate her late husband's secrets, but the two become the target of unknown attackers. When FBI Agent John Nelson’s key informant, Miles, is abducted and shot, all that’s left is a severed finger. In order to find a new lead, Nelson travels to New York City to inform widowed magazine reporter Rebecca Scott that her long dead husband, Miles, had only recently been murdered to see if she had heard from him in recent years. Perplexed, Scott joins Agent Nelson in the wealthy enclave of Australia’s Gold Coast to find out what really happened. The two soon discover Miles may have been part of an elaborate “Ponzi scheme” to bilk investors, and a vengeful billionaire, out of millions of dollars. As more layers of Miles’ secret life are exposed, can the two stay ahead of the mysterious attackers who will stop at nothing to halt their investigation?.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia, Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, exciting, mind bending
Similar in 87%
Midnight Man (1997)
Plot Summary:
British soldiers force a recently captured IRA terrorist to cooperate with them and then assign him to go undercover with a gang of terrorists and prevent them from killing the U.S. President. But the spy isn't in long before he realizes that the first plot is but a ruse for a more sinister scheme that could result in trouble between China and Great Britain. - Written by Ørnås.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Canada, Luxembourg, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Cover-Up (1991)
Plot Summary:
Mike Anderson, a tough American reporter on a dangerous foreign assignment, finds his own life in jeopardy when he uncovers a deadly labyrinth of political intrigue that threatens the lives of thousands. Dispatched to investigate a mysterious and fatal attack on an overseas US naval base, Anderson, a leading investigative journalist and ex-US marine, finds himself back on familiar ground. Instinct makes him question the official CIA explanation that cites an unknown terrorist group called Black October. Alone, and armed only with his combat training and determination to uncover the truth, he sets out to expose a complex and dangerous political web.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Israel
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, freeze frame
Similar in 79%
The Zone (1995)
Plot Summary:
Former Gulf War hero Rowdy Welles is framed for murder by unscrupulous CIA boss Dick Althorp. As his price of freedom, Welles is ordered to undertake a deadly mission to destroy a nuclear processing plant in a foreign nation, owned by dangerous tyrant Lothar Krasna.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 219
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 82%
The Domino Killings (1977)
Plot Summary:
Tucker is a chronic underachiever and a loser. A Vietnam war veteran who just can't seem to keep out of trouble, in the years since his discharge. The only thing he got out of the war was his skill with a rifle. Now, serving a long stretch in prison for murder, he has hit rock-bottom. But one day a man in a three-piece suit visits him in prison, a man he has never seen before, and informs him that he can walk out of prison a free man if he will shoot someone for them, no questions asked.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, cult film
Similar in 90%
Counterstrike (2002)
Plot Summary:
A Secret Service agent and his brother, a reckless ATF agent, try to stop a group of extreme right-wing U.S. military mercenaries, led by a fanatic Taiwanese vixen, who hijack the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner with the U.S. and Chinese presidents on board with the aim to steal China's nuclear codes to arm China's ICBM missiles to use as bargaining chips for their personal crusade against China.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 606
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Madras Cafe (2013)
Plot Summary:
An Indian Intelligence agent journeys into a war torn coastal island, to break a resolute rebel group. He deftly maneuvers his resources to make significant breakthroughs, amidst a scenario where the enemy has no face and the only counsel is 'Don't get caught.' At various junctions, he meets a charismatic and passionate journalist who is following her will to reflect the truth behind the civil war. The story unfolds as their quest for the truth reveals a deeper conspiracy, by a faceless enemy, united to seize a common nemesis - India.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, realistic, patriotic, political, independent film, action thriller, banned
Similar in 82%
Fatwa (2006)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of a personal crisis, junior senator Maggie Davidson (Holly) ascertains that she's the subject of a terrorist plot.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within (1998)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based story about a 90's espionage case that was chronicled as the worst case of espionage in US history.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 360
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Complicit (2013)
Plot Summary:
An MI5 officer's attempts to foil a possible terrorist plot are undermined by bureaucracy and moral dilemmas. Will he make the world a safer place or be complicit in making a tense situation even worse?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 789
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, captivating, psychological, disturbing, thought provoking, gloomy
Similar in 86%
The Agency (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Agency is a CBS television drama that followed the inner-workings of the CIA. The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Michael Frost Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions and Radiant Productions in association with Universal Network Television and CBS Productions. It aired from September 27, 2001 until May 17, 2003, lasting two seasons. It featured unprecedented filming from the actual CIA headquarters. The show was controversial regarding its exploration of current international affairs and its treatment of the ethical conflicts inherent in intelligence work. Beckner's pilot script, written in March 2001, posited a re-invented CIA tasked with a "War on Terror" after Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization plots a lethal attack on the west. The pilot was to premiere at CIA Headquarters on September 18, 2001 and set to air on CBS September 21, 2001, however, the actual 9/11 attacks convinced the network to hold the pilot and instead air a later episode. That first episode was aired later as the third episode of the first season. The September 11, 2001 terrorist events changed the way Americans viewed topical entertainment and "The Agency", at the time, was one of the most topical offering on network television. The producers of the series quickly responded to this new American perspective on world affairs, but CBS chose to cancel the show shortly after the second season's final episode.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, cerebral, exciting, serious
Similar in 78%
Able Danger (2008)
Plot Summary:
Tom Flynn, the idealist owner of a left-leaning radical café/bookstore and the quixotic publisher of a hard hitting 911 conspiracy expose, finds himself entangled with a mysterious Eastern European beauty, Kasia, who is on the run from strong hand of a global 911 cover up. In this contemporary take on film noir. When Tom is implicated in the murder of his friend and employee, he is forced to unravel Kasia's complex web of lies. As it turns out, Kasia possesses the smoking gun that proves the identities and methods of the real architects of 911, and Tom Flynn is willing to die to expose the truth. Written by Dave Herman.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 129
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black and white, independent film, political thriller
Similar in 76%
Triple Agent (2004)
Plot Summary:
The Popular Front wins elections, the Spanish Civil War begins, and Hitler and Stalin are manipulating and spying. The brilliant exile, Fiodor Voronin, a general at 20, is the deputy at the White Russian Military Union, probably slated to replace the aging Général Dobrinsky soon. Fiodor's Greek wife, Arsinoé, paints and stays away from politics, befriending Communist neighbors. Her health declines; the attentive Fiodor arranges care and, against the backdrop of Stalin's Great Purge, considers his options. He plays a chess game in which love of country, love of Arsinoé, ideology, petty jealousies, and the machinations of power roil in matters of life and death.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspense, enigmatic, psychological
Similar in 81%
Assassination (1987)
Plot Summary:
Jay Killon is the bodyguard of the recently elected US president, but he is assigned to the first lady (Lara Royce). Lara hates Killon so she does all she can to escape. The story complicates when someone tries to kill Lara.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, political, cult classic, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, political thriller, dark comedy
Similar in 82%
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
Plot Summary:
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam War between Dell and the then President's most trusted advisors.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: neo noir, political, political thriller, tense, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 76%
The Enemy Within (1994)
Plot Summary:
Colonel Casey discovers what appears to be plans by General Lloyd to use fake military excercises to assist Jack Giddings in his plans to remove President Foster from office. Colonel Casey, and President Foster must find evidence that there is a coup planned and stop it, before it takes place. Unfortunately, there isn't much time.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, political thriller
Similar in 79%
The Parallax View (1974)
Plot Summary:
An ambitious reporter, investigating a senator's assassination, realizes witnesses to the shooting are systematically dying and discovers a multi-million dollar corporation which serves as a front for the recruitment of political assassins.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, disturbing, suspenseful, psychological, neo noir, political, intense, political thriller, serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Dying of the Light (2014)
Plot Summary:
Evan Lake, a veteran CIA agent, has been ordered to retire. But when his protégé uncovers evidence that Lake's nemesis, the terrorist Banir, has resurfaced, Lake goes rogue, embarking on a perilous, intercontinental mission to eliminate his sworn enemy.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Bahamas, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, rough, serious, suspense, cult classic
Similar in 81%
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
Plot Summary:
A man obsessed with conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of his theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, in order to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 106000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, political thriller, psychological, exciting, serious, suspense thriller, surprise ending, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Enigma (1982)
Plot Summary:
Five highly-trained KGB agents are sent to the west to assassinate several Soviet dissidents. In order to stop the diabolical plot, an American agent must infiltrate Soviet intelligence and obtain information from a Russian computer.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, intense, serious, realistic, political, political thriller, independent film, exciting, romantic, atmospheric
Similar in 77%
The Executioner (1970)
Plot Summary:
A British intelligence agent must track down a fellow spy suspected of being a double agent.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 450
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, talky, suspense, eurospy
Similar in 77%
Topaz (1969)
Plot Summary:
A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, psychological, political thriller, enigmatic, psychological thriller, exciting, retro, art house
Similar in 82%
Seven Days in May (1964)
Plot Summary:
A U.S. Army general alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, political, black and white, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, intense, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
The Ipcress File (1965)
Plot Summary:
This espionage thriller represents a landmark in spy movies introducing the sly, dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer. The story, centers on Palmer's investigation into British Intelligence security. He's soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder and finds a traitor is operating at the heart of the secret service. Will the mysterious 'Ipcress File' reveal who the traitor is?.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspenseful, suspense, exciting, tense, enigmatic, clever, realistic, cynical, retro