Movies like Bad Boy (2012)
The best movies like Bad Boy (2012) are Escape Plan (2013), Brute Force (1947) and All Day and a Night (2020). If Bad Boy hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrison Break: The Final Break (2009)7.5/10 from 762 votes
- NewestWasteman (2026)Released 2026
Escape Plan (2013)
Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrute Force (1947)
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAll Day and a Night (2020)
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFelon (2008)
A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLevity (2003)
Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unforgivable (2021)
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDog Pound (2010)
Three juvenile delinquents arrive at a correctional center and are put under the care of an experienced guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Escapist (2008)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Express (1978)
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThere Was a Crooked Man... (1970)
A charming but ruthless criminal is sent to a remote Arizona prison, where he enlists the help of his cellmates in an escape attempt with the promise of sharing his hidden loot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSing Sing (2024)
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiot in Cell Block 11 (1954)
A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThey Live by Night (1949)
An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller: A Journal of Murder (1996)
Carl Panzram is sent to Leavenworth Prison for burglary. While there, he is brutally beaten by a guard. Neophyte guard Henry Lesser feels sympathy for Panzram, befriends him, and gets him to write his life story. Lesser learns that Panzram's past is much more violent than he thought, but also that he's capable of being a much better person than the rest of the prison staff believes - or so Lesser thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisJamesy Boy (2014)
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBronson (2009)
A young man who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter ego, Charles Bronson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrison Break: The Final Break (2009)
Michael and Sara wed, but the happiness is short-lived when the Feds apprehend her for the murder of Michael's mother, Christina. Once a hit is ordered on Sara, the team reunite to break out the increasingly vulnerable target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killer Is Loose (1956)
A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies meek bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWasteman (2026)
Taylor's hopes for a fresh start post-parole are jeopardised by cellmate Dee's arrival. As Dee takes Taylor under his wing, a vicious attack tests their bond, forcing Taylor to choose between protecting Dee and his own chances at freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwo-Way Stretch (1960)
Three criminals plan to break out of prison the day before their release in order to carry out a daring jewel robbery, intending to establish the perfect alibi by returning to jail afterwards. First however they must get out, a task made more difficult by a new, stricter prison officer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bad Boy?
The closest matches to Bad Boy are Escape Plan (2013), Brute Force (1947) and All Day and a Night (2020). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bad Boy?
Start with Escape Plan (2013), the closest match to Bad Boy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bad Boy?
Prison Break: The Final Break (2009), rated 7.5/10 by 762 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bad Boy?
Wasteman (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Bad Boy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bad Boy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.