Best movies like Tripwire
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A band of ruthless international terrorists led by Josef Szabo (David Warner) hijack a speeding railroad train loaded with a full arsenal of powerful military weaponry capable of threatening world peace. The only hero who can stop the terrorists' scheme for world domination is Jack DeForest (Terence Knox). During the battle between good and evil the hero DeForest accidentally kills the son of the Szabo. Seeking revenge Szabo locates DeForest’s family, murders his wife and kidnaps their teenage son thereby turning their fight it into a personal vendetta. So, DeForest must fight not only to save the world, but for his only remaining family.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Tripwire (1989):
Similar in 88%
Hostage (1986)
Plot Summary:
The leader of a South African Nation is imprisoned. His followers, led by Zabo, hijack a plane with the intent to use the passengers as hostages to trade for his release. They select a plane carrying a religious leader to use as their main hostage. They soon learn that they have an added bonus of the daughter and grandson of Colonel Shaw, a bigwig in the country. The grandson all the while has to cope with the dual problems of being hijacked and held hostage while needing a kidney transplant. The hijackers have everything in their favor, except that the colonel's daughter is the sweetheart of Major Sam Striker. Striker puts together a band of mercenaries and sets about freeing the hostages.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: USA, South Africa
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 82%
Stranglehold (1994)
Plot Summary:
Deep inside the nation's top chemical weapons facility, a brilliant terrorist takes a Congresswoman hostage. The Navy can't stop him. The Air Force can't reach him. The Coast Guard can't kill him. Only one man can do the job: special agent Ryan Cooper. He's in a race against time to save the world, facing his greatest challenge yet!.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 136
Genere: Action
Country: USA, Philippines
Duration: 73 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 80%
The Final Cut (1995)
Plot Summary:
Mysterious bomber is planting explosive devices in Seattle. Since their quality takes too big a toll among Seattle Police bomb experts, John Pierce, former head of the Bomb Squad, reluctantly takes the job that will take him to face his worst nightmare.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Earthquake in New York (1998)
Plot Summary:
A cop is after a nasty serial killer. Cop's wife and kids are somewhere in the city too. Then a disastrous earthquake hits the city.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA, Germany
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: detective, disaster movie
Similar in 84%
The Redemption: Kickboxer 5 (1995)
Plot Summary:
Kickboxing champion Matt Reeves witnesses the murder of his friend Johnny. While investigating the crime, he learns that a Mr. Negaal in South Africa has founded a new kickboxing association and does not leave international champions much of a chance. Johnny had to pay with his life when he did not want to join. Neegal seems to kill everybody who is in his way especially David Sloan from the previous Kickboxer films. Matt is on his own now, but suddenly finds an unexpected ally.
IMDB Rating: 3.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990)
Plot Summary:
After a series of small tremors in Los Angeles, Dr. Clare Winslow, a local seismologist, pinpoints the exact location and time of when the long awaited earthquake--"The Big One"--will strike southern California. With this information, she must battle city officials to release this information to the general public. Also, she hopes that her family is out of harms way when the quake strikes. Subplots show how other families and people cope with the the tremors that strike before the impending "Big One.".
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 697
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disaster movie
Similar in 89%
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 77%
Firestorm (1998)
Plot Summary:
Firefighter Jesse Graves has to save ornithologist Jennifer and other people caught in a forest fire, which was set up by the lawyer of convicted killer Earl Shaye, who escaped from the prison with several of his inmates posing as firefighters to recover $37,000,000 in stashed loot.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: cliffhanger, anamorphic, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, suspense, exciting
Similar in 84%
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 80%
Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)
Plot Summary:
Seeking revenge, a railroad employee puts two passenger trains on a collision course in this made-for-TV disaster movie.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 579
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, disaster movie
Similar in 87%
Live Wire 2: Human Timebomb (1995)
Plot Summary:
A computer chip turns an FBI agent into a lethal weapon.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 226
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 79%
Terminal Rush (1996)
Plot Summary:
A group of terrorists, led by a Brit and a psycho (in a great performance by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper) take control of the Hoover Dam and demand $25 million or they will kill civilians and dam workers they have taken hostage. But the terrorists didn't count on Sheriff Jacob Harper, (Don "The Dragon" Wilson), an ex-Army Ranger whose father is one of the hostages. But after the FBI takes over the the crisis, and relieves him of his duties, he must take on the terrorists by himself and save his father and any hostages that are still alive.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 368
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: cliffhanger, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, cult film
Similar in 78%
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 75%
Air Panic (2002)
Plot Summary:
FAA system analyzer named Neil McCabe is the only person who seems to have this different hunch towards a group of international terrorists after a horrific plane incident occured. He thinks that an evil genius computer hacker sets out and manipulate the computer electronical system which linked to several airplanes to cause destruction and tragedy. In order to prevent the mishap, McCabe and his teammate, Rudy, finds out about the machine used by the criminals which leads them to a psychotic thrilling fight between the terrorist.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 884
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, rough, serious, realistic, fast
Similar in 82%
Aurora: Operation Intercept (1995)
Plot Summary:
There have been two mysterious plane crashes in only 48 hours. The aircraft suddenly lose control and crash, killing everyone aboard. A woman of Russian descent, Francesca Zaborszin, the daughter of a slain Federal investigator, claims responsibility for the crashes. She believes her father was killed by the FBI as part of a cover-up operation and wishes to avenge his death by threatening to down more aircraft using the same electromagnetic pulse method. She also intends to crash a stolen military jet into the White House. There's no time to ground the planes: just enough time to try to stop her.
IMDB Rating: 3.6
IMDB Votes: 354
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, futuristic, suspenseful, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 77%
Strategic Command (1997)
Plot Summary:
Rick Harding is a former Marines officer, now working in the FBI as a chemical weapons designer. While packing up for the night, a group of armed soldiers led by wanted criminal Carlos Gruber, break into the FBI research lab. They steal large amounts of a newly created germ warfare chemical called Bromax-360, loosing two of their men in the process before escaping into the night.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 898
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: mockbuster, independent film, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 75%
Crash Landing (2005)
Plot Summary:
When a hostage situation arises on-board a private plane with the daughter of a billionaire on-board. Major John Masters (Sabato Jr.) teams up with Captain Williams (Michael Paré) to stop the terrorist and land the plane.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 907
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, captivating, exciting, tense, fast, disaster movie
Similar in 82%
Detonator (2003)
Plot Summary:
A former FBI agent must stop a crazy man from blowing up bombs.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 423
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 81%
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 84%
Proof of Life (2000)
Plot Summary:
Alice hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, suspenseful, intense, tense, romantic, realistic, sentimental, entertaining, action packed
Similar in 83%
Avenging Force (1986)
Plot Summary:
Martial arts expert Matt Hunter was one of the most promising operatives in Army intelligence until his parents were killed by terrorists, and he retired to the family's farm in Louisiana to take care of his 12-year-old sister Sara and their grandfather Jimmy. Larry Richards, a black man running for the Senate, is one of Matt's best friends. Larry has become the target of The Pentangle, a racist organization led by a man named Glastenbury, and Glastenbury doesn't want Larry to be elected. In an attempt on Larry's life during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, The Pentangle kills one of Larry's sons. Matt lets Larry, his wife Daisy, and his other son move to the remotely located farm so they can hide from Glastenbury and the Pentangle, but the Pentangle strikes again, setting the farmhouse on fire. Matt and Sara escape as the only survivors. Then the Pentangle kidnaps Sara, sending Matt on a mission to rescue Sara from Glastenbury and the Pentangle.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, grindhouse, perverse, independent film, realistic, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
White House Down (2013)
Plot Summary:
Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 233000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, action packed, action thriller, intense, realistic, suspenseful, serious, political, breathtaking
Similar in 86%
The Peacemaker (1997)
Plot Summary:
When a train carrying atomic warheads mysteriously crashes in the former Soviet Union, a nuclear specialist discovers the accident is really part of a plot to cover up the theft of the weapons. Assigned to help her recover the missing bombs is a crack Special Forces Colonel.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, political thriller, psychological, cult classic, visually stunning, action drama, neo noir, rough, bleak
Similar in 83%
Air Force One (1997)
Plot Summary:
Russian terrorists conspire to hijack the aircraft with the president and his family on board. The commander in chief finds himself facing an impossible predicament: give in to the terrorists and sacrifice his family, or risk everything to uphold his principles - and the integrity of the nation.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 207000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, suspenseful, tension, entertaining, intense, serious, rough, realistic, action packed
Similar in 79%
Spooks: The Greater Good (2015)
Plot Summary:
During a handover to the head of counter-terrorism of MI5, Harry Pearce, a terrorist escapes custody. When Harry disappears soon after, his protégé is tasked with finding out what happened as an impending attack on London looms, and eventually uncovers a deadly conspiracy.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, serious, suspenseful, suspense, action thriller, action adventure, fast, surprise ending, neo noir
Similar in 80%
Redemption Day (2021)
Plot Summary:
Having just returned home, decorated U.S. Marine Captain Brad Paxton's wife, Kate, is kidnapped by a terrorist group while working in Morocco. He is forced back into action for a daring and deadly operation to save the woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, disturbing, tense, suspenseful, independent film, freeze frame, islamic, surprise ending, heroic
Similar in 86%
Escape Under Pressure (2000)
Plot Summary:
A luxury cruise liner is requisitioned by the Greek government in an attempt to give safe passage to national treasures worth millions of pounds. The liner is attacked by an art collector who finds out about the plan. During the hijack the liner sinks to the sea floor and so begins a fight for survival as the remaining air begins to run out.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 655
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 89%
Counter Measures (1998)
Plot Summary:
US Navy medical officer Jake Fuller is assigned to a goodwill visit aboard a Russian submarine. But he and his companion, Lt. Swain, end up alone among terrorists, who have taken over the submarine and threaten to fire its nuclear weapons.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 503
Genere: Action, Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
Crash Dive (1996)
Plot Summary:
The crew of the nuclear submarine USS Ulysses rescues supposed victims of a boat disaster, but the victims turn out to be terrorists intent on capturing nuclear weapons aboard the sub. Only a former SEAL, now a submarine consultant, can save the crew by sliding aboard while the sub is underwater. The term "crash dive" refers to the sudden dropping of a sub to escape detection, an act that a nuclear sub is never supposed to make. Of course, it comes into play in this film.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 960
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 76%
7500 (2019)
Plot Summary:
When terrorists try to seize control of a Berlin-Paris flight, a soft-spoken young American co-pilot struggles to save the lives of the passengers and crew while forging a surprising connection with one of the hijackers.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany, Austria, USA, France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, disturbing, tension, suspenseful, captivating, tense, psychological, psychological thriller, social, action thriller