Best movies like The Merciless
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Jae-ho, who aims to become the number one in a crime organization, gets to build up trust with Hyun-su, an ambitious newbie in the prison. While they try to take over the organization after the prison release, their ulterior motives starts to emerge.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, harsh, disturbing, neo noir, non-linear, noir
Best tv shows and movies like The Merciless (2017):
Similar in 83%
Shark: The Beginning (2021)
Plot Summary:
A bullied teenager who is locked up at a juvenile detention center due to an unexpected accident, meets a mixed martial arts champion to break through his own limits.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Gangsters (2002)
Plot Summary:
Franck Chaievski and Nina Delgado are two undercover detectives of a French special force trying to identify two corrupts members of the Paris Police Force. Franck is pretending to be a gangster and Nina a prostitute living with him, and involved in a robbery of a fortune in diamonds, having seven deaths and some injured persons.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 916
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, erotic, neo noir
Similar in 82%
Man Wanted (1995)
Plot Summary:
Undercover cop Lok Hwa takes two years to become the trusted lieutenant of rising Hong Kong drug lord, Feng. The night of the big bust, Feng's flaming car crashes spectacularly into the sea; Feng is presumed dead. Hwa returns to the force and to June, his patient girl friend. Also, to save Feng's lover Yung from a life of crime, Hwa gives her his pager number and promises to be there for her. A year later, Feng reappears, asking Hwa's aid with one last task before he returns to the mainland forever. Feeling sentimental, Hwa agrees to help and finds himself set up to take the fall in a drug war. June is in danger, too, and death awaits as Yung realizes it's Hwa she loves.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 115
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: heroic, crime drama, poliziottesco
Similar in 90%
Convict (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, crime drama
Similar in 84%
The 4th Company (2016)
Plot Summary:
Zambrano is a young criminal with the only hope of joining the legendary prison American football team known as The Dogs of Santa Martha. His hopes end up involving him with organized crime since The Dogs, who are also known as The 4th Company, a squadron of inmates at the service of the administration that controls the jail, its vice and its privileges. Corruption and crime have no limits; they ravage the city with car thefts, bank robberies and other crimes under the auspices of the authorities, the story takes place during the López Portillo presidency and his men.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 824
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Mexico, Spain
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, art film
Similar in 87%
Nosedive (2007)
Plot Summary:
NOSEDIVE depicts a world of unlimited drugs, wild parties, beautiful people, and no sleep. However, when reality takes a dark turn, a group of characters are forced to step out of the nightclub and into darkness.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 477
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Hungary
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 83%
A Better Tomorrow (2018)
Plot Summary:
A former smuggler attempts to start his life anew and repair his relationship with his estranged brother after his release from prison.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 538
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: China
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, heroic
Similar in 84%
The Day Hollywood Died (2012)
Plot Summary:
He just woke up. He's in a hospital. He can't move. He can't remember who he is. Memories begin to flood back to him as he regains consciousness. He was part of a heist gone wrong. One of a crew of six asked to steal a briefcase from a secret vault. But that's all he can remember. He will combat the drugs and the pain and the solitude in a desperate effort to remember what happened to him and why. But once he finally reaches the end of his quest for answers he will wish he never began.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 67
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, mind bending, independent film
Similar in 75%
Cruel Winter Blues (2006)
Plot Summary:
A gangster’s quest for revenge is sidetracked by an encounter with his target’s mother in this deeply-felt hybrid of a crime thriller and a family drama.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 787
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, suspense, disturbing, neo noir, crime drama
Similar in 85%
Women of Mafia (2018)
Plot Summary:
A former police officer goes under cover in the mafia.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Poland
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspense, realistic, talky
Similar in 76%
Message from the King (2016)
Plot Summary:
On a relentless quest to avenge his sister's murder, a man from Cape Town infiltrates a sprawling network of lowlifes and elites in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Belgium, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspense, captivating, psychological, tense, hood, terrifying, surprise ending
Similar in 77%
The City Is Mine (2008)
Plot Summary:
A young man coming home after serving time in the penitentiary finds his city in control by local thugs, stops at nothing to gain sole control of a city he feels is rightfully his.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 109
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, tense, suspense, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 79%
Kammatipaadam (2016)
Plot Summary:
Krishnan, who has been living away from his family and friends in Mumbai, gets a call from his friend Ganga in Kerala, out of the blue. He senses danger, and leaves for Kammattipadam, where both of them grew up.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags: suspense, psychological, tense, captivating, disturbing
Similar in 82%
Black King (2014)
Plot Summary:
A film about peer pressure.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 74
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: psychological, exciting, tense, suspense, independent film
Similar in 85%
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 89%
The Drug King (2018)
Plot Summary:
Busan, South Korea, 1970s. Lee Doo-sam is a small-time smuggler. After helping a drug gang to smuggle meth, he falls into the dark crime world. Quick-witted and full of ambition, he eventually takes over the drug underworld and starts to lead a double life: a good community leader during the day but an infamous drug lord during the night.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: captivating, psychological, tense, suspense
Similar in 80%
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 79%
Night in Paradise (2020)
Plot Summary:
An assassin named Tae-goo is offered a chance to switch sides with his rival Bukseong gang, headed by Chairman Doh. Tae-goo rejects the offer that results in the murder of his sister and niece. In revenge, Tae-goo brutally kills Chairman Doh and his men and flees to Jeju Island where he meets Jae-yeon, a terminally ill woman. Though, the henchman of the Bukseong gang, Executive Ma is mercilessly hunting Tae-goo to take revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, hood, perverse, brutal, noir
Similar in 86%
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil (2019)
Plot Summary:
In Cheonan, a serial murder case takes place, but the case becomes more and more of a mystery. Only Tae-suk, a cop, immediately senses that all the cases are by the same killer and starts investigation. One day, Dong-soo, a gang boss, got attacked by a suspicious man, and Tae-suk realizes that this man is the serial killer, K. Now, Dong-soo becomes the only witness and a survived victim from K.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspense, factual, twisted, tense, bloody, slasher, realistic, hood, cult classic, crime thriller
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 86%
R: Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010)
Plot Summary:
The R of the title stands for the young protagonist, Rune, fearlessly played by Pilou Asbæk. Imprisoned for violent assault, he's a cocky, good-looking young man placed in the hardcore ward, where his survival depends on quickly learning the prison's parallel world of rules, honor, and obligations. R also stands for Rachid, a young Muslim prisoner who becomes Rune's friend and accomplice, defying the rigid racial stratifications among the inmates.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, rough, captivating, disturbing, psychological, suspense, thought provoking, independent film, bleak
Similar in 89%
A Prophet (2009)
Plot Summary:
Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 101000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: harsh, tense, bleak, rough, atmospheric, political, dramatic, psychological, breathtaking, realistic
Similar in 88%
Pudhupettai (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story is set in the backdrop of the slums of Pudhupettai in Chennai, as the title suggests, where a high school kid Kokki Kumar (Dhanush) sees his mom dead after he comes back from watching a movie. His father, the murderer is also planning to kill his son Kumar. Kumar sensing danger runs away from home. Homeless and with no food Kumar resorts to begging until he is falsely arrested while standing by and watching a commotion on the street. In jail he befriends handymen of a local goon who take Kumar with them and give him petty jobs to do. In a confrontation with goons of another gang Kumar kills the brother of his enemy gang's head Moorthi thus earning the respect of his gang and making enemies for himself both within his gang and outside.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, epic, cult classic, cult film
Similar in 83%
El padrino (2004)
Plot Summary:
In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. In a world where a man wants everything, he may end up with nothing.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 762
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 76%
Outrage Coda (2017)
Plot Summary:
Ôtomo gets involved with new Yakuza battles after he comes back the Yakuza society.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, disturbing, neo noir, hood
Similar in 87%
Easy Money III: Life Deluxe (2013)
Plot Summary:
JW now lives in exile and is more than ever determined to find out what happened to his missing sister Camilla. Every trace leads him to the world of organized crime in Stockholm. Jorge is about to do his last score - the largest robbery in Swedish history. But during the complicated preparations he meets a woman from his past - Nadja. Martin Hägerström is chosen to go undercover into the Serbian mafia, in order to get its notorious boss Radovan Krajnic behind bars. When an assassination attempt is made on Radovan, his daughter Natalie is pulled into the power struggle within the Serbian mafia.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Sweden
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, non-linear
Similar in 82%
Hot Blooded (2022)
Plot Summary:
Kuam is a shabby port town in the shadow of stunning port city of Busan. Hee-su is a third-rate gangster who has been acting like a hotel manager under Don Son for 20 years. Seemingly out of nowhere, Yong-kang, who fled the country as a murder suspect, returns home and begins causing trouble all over town, which only adds pressure to Hee-su.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: tense, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 84%
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 88%
Villain (2020)
Plot Summary:
After 10 years, Eddie Franks is out of prison and trying to stay on the straight and narrow, but his drug-mule brother, Sean has other ideas. Rival gangster brothers demand Sean repay his debt to them, causing Eddie to get tangled in the crossfire, and he ends up using his life savings to calling in favours with mobster friends to try and help.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, tense, captivating, disturbing, social, hood
Similar in 86%
Project Wolf Hunting (2022)
Plot Summary:
While under heavily armed guard, the dangerous convicts aboard a cargo ship unite in a coordinated escape attempt that soon escalates into a bloody, all-out riot. But as the fugitives continue their brutal campaign of terror, they soon discover that not even the most vicious among them is safe from the horror they unknowingly unleashed from the darkness below deck.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: South Korea
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: dark fantasy, splatter