Movies like A Light That Shines (1979)
The best movies like A Light That Shines (1979) are The Union (2024), Central Intelligence (2016) and Breach (2007). If A Light That Shines hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInception (2010)8.4/10 from 40,707 votes
- NewestThe Internship (2026)Released 2026
The Union (2024)
A New Jersey construction worker goes from regular guy to aspiring spy when his long-lost high school sweetheart recruits him for an espionage mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCentral Intelligence (2016)
Calvin Joyner, a mild-mannered accountant whose high school glory days are long behind him, reconnects with an awkward pal from high school through Facebook. After meeting up, Calvin’s mundane life takes an unexpectedly thrilling turn when he's thrust into the world of international espionage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreach (2007)
Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCloak & Dagger (1984)
Davey Osborne is an average 11-year-old boy with an overactive imagination. He spends his days playing video games and pretending to be a spy with his imaginary father-figure, Jack Flack - a substitute for his real father, who is struggling with the recent death of Davey's mother. However, fantasy becomes reality for Davey after he witnesses the murder of an FBI agent, who in his dying breath, gives Davey a mysterious video game cartridge called Cloak & Dagger, which in actuality contains top-secret government information. With the help of his younger friend Kim, the tech savvy Morris, and even a little help from his fictional secret agent mentor, Davey must stay one step ahead of pursuers as he tries to survive a real-life game of espionage in the streets of San Antonio, Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Courier (2020)
Cold War spy Greville Wynne and his Russian source try to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Angel (2018)
True story of Ashraf Marwan, who was President Nasser's son-in-law and special adviser and confidant to his successor Anwar Sadat - while simultaneously Israeli Intelligence's most precious asset of the 20th century. Based on NYT bestselling book 'The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel' by Uri Bar-Joseph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Spy (2020)
A hardened CIA operative finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, having been sent undercover to surveil her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe November Man (2014)
An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Spy The Eternal City (2024)
JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAcross the Tracks (1991)
When Billy returns from reform school he has to attend a different high school at the other side of town. He tries to start with a clean slate but his old rival doesn't make it easy on him and his buddy Louie tries to make him go astray again. His brother Joe, quite the opposite of Billy, is a good runner and determined to win a track scholarship. He suggests Billy to join his school's track team, which pits the two brothers against each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHeart of Stone (2023)
An intelligence operative for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency races to stop a hacker from stealing its most valuable — and dangerous — weapon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImpostor (2001)
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMission: Impossible III (2006)
Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen Davian, an international broker of arms and information, who's as cunning as he is ruthless. Davian emerges to threaten Hunt and all that he holds dear – including the woman Hunt loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Partisan (2025)
A Polish spy working for the British during World War II is betrayed and compromised in Warsaw, leaving her no other choice but to descend into a dangerous world of treachery and deception in order to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisInheritance (2025)
When Maya learns her father Sam was once a spy, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an international conspiracy. As she seeks answers, Maya herself becomes a target and must quickly learn the skills of her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe MacKintosh Man (1973)
A member of British Intelligence assumes a fictitious criminal identity and allows himself to be caught, imprisoned, and freed in order to infiltrate a spy organization and expose a traitor; only, someone finds him out and exposes him to the gang...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Internship (2026)
A CIA-trained assassin recruits other graduates from her secret childhood program, The Internship, to violently destroy the organization. The CIA fights back with deadly force.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the world's fate at stake and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan must consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInception (2010)
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Light That Shines?
The closest matches to A Light That Shines are The Union (2024), Central Intelligence (2016) and Breach (2007). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Light That Shines?
Start with The Union (2024), the closest match to A Light That Shines.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Light That Shines?
Inception (2010), rated 8.4/10 by 40,707 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Light That Shines?
The Internship (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Light That Shines?
Yes: The Union (2024), Central Intelligence (2016) and Breach (2007).
How are movies similar to A Light That Shines chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Light That Shines, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.