Movies like The Penultimate (1981)
The best movies like The Penultimate (1981) are Vesper (2022), Stormageddon (2015) and The Prize of Peril (1983). If The Penultimate hooked you with its action and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPatema Inverted (2013)7.4/10 from 497 votes
- Newest40 Acres (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchThe Prize of Peril (1983)Also in French
Vesper (2022)
After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStormageddon (2015)
What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Prize of Peril (1983)
In a futuristic society, contestants pit their survival skills against each other in a fight to the death for cash prizes, and the contest is aired live on television.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFoxtrot Six (2019)
Escalating climate change is turning the world economy upside down. With crops dying and food price spiking, FOOD has replaced oil as the world's most valuable commodity. Among the very few lands still left fertile, Indonesia is quickly rising as the next economic superpower, when its government is suddenly and ruthlessly overtaken by a popular rogue political party. In just three days, six former Marines must work together, find their long-lost brotherhood, stop a nationwide government- sanctioned genocide, and save millions of lives, for one last shot at redemption. Or die trying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInjustice (2021)
When Lois Lane is killed, an unhinged Superman decides to take control of the Earth. Determined to stop him, Batman creates a team of freedom-fighting heroes. But when superheroes go to war, can the world survive?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zero Theorem (2013)
A computer hacker's goal to discover the reason for human existence continually finds his work interrupted thanks to the Management; this time, they send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode 8 Part II (2024)
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJonathan (2018)
Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Charlie (2023)
When his aging mob boss is whacked, Charlie Swift, a loyal friend and hired gun, will stop at nothing to destroy the upcoming crew that took him out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal (2015)
The Inquisitor is dead. The Ghost crew has connected with other rebel cells. And a new ally named Ahsoka Tano has emerged. Despite these successes and developments, the fight against the Empire takes a deadly turn, as the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader comes to Lothal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRobotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2006)
In the year 2044 AD, the human race has amped-up its space exploration and reached out to the stars through the miracle of ROBOTECHNOLOGY, but not without bringing intergalactic war upon the Earth itself. Heroes will die and allegiances will shift. But in the midst of combat, perhaps peace will spring up through the charred remains of battered history. One of the greatest science fiction sagas of all time continues...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConvict (2014)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers - To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)
After being punished for retreat from combat, Ranger David Martel is given command of the Liandra, a haunted 20-year old Minbari fighting ship. He's escorting ambassadors to a secret archaeological site, the oldest city on record and a clue to a dangerous ancient race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverton Siege (2022)
After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGemini Man (2019)
Henry Brogan is an elite 51-year-old assassin who's ready to call it quits after completing his 72nd job. His plans get turned upside down when he becomes the target of a mysterious operative who can seemingly predict his every move. To his horror, Brogan soon learns that the man who's trying to kill him is a younger, faster, cloned version of himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAd Vitam (2025)
When he and his pregnant wife are attacked in their home, a former elite agent becomes trapped in a deadly manhunt tied to his own painful past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2020 Texas Gladiators (1983)
In a post-apocalyptic Texas, a band of warriors fight against a fascist regime that is trying to take control of all surviving population.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Ghosts with Shit Jobs (2012)
In 2040, a generation of Torontonians have grown up after the economic collapse of the west. The movie consists of episodes of a documentary series popular in mainland China about the bad jobs some white people have -- the plucky and resilient souls unlucky enough to be born into the slums of North America are both amusing and moving to the Chinese audience. Oscar is a digital janitor, and has to manually cover up logos for copyright reasons in the future's answer to Google StreetView maps. Gary and Karen assemble robot baby dolls for the children of the wealthy in Asia. Anton and Toph are spider silk collectors. Serina is human spam and makes a living by mentioning brands and products in casual conversation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
Patema Inverted (2013)
A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Naturalist (2013)
A gay man living in a genetically modified society is given the chance to alter his sexuality. He must weigh his loving relationship, his dignity and his survival in this short film about the origins of sexuality.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
The Show Must Go On (2010)
During a reality show a war starts, but the producer will do anything to hide it from the contestants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & drama
The Last City on Earth (2009)
Hundreds of years into the future, endless wars have isolated and besieged the last pocket of civilization on this planet, thanks to the Mayor of the City the enemy is kept outside, and production levels are at an all time high. Then a spy plane arrives, but is it really a spy?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
28 Weeks Later (2007)
Twenty-eight weeks after the spread of a deadly rage virus, the inhabitants of the British Isles have lost their battle against the onslaught, as the virus has killed everyone there. Six months later, a group of Americans dare to set foot on the Isles, convinced the danger has passed. But it soon becomes all too clear that the scourge continues to live, waiting to pounce on its next victims.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZone 39 (1996)
In a time of misery and fear two enemies come together to prevent an apocalypse conspired by their leaders. 40 years of war between the Federated Republics and the New Territories Union has taken its toll. The cities are overcrowded, farming land is riddled with unexploded mines -- and still there is no hope of peace. In this hostile, decaying world of the future on thing remains constant for Lieutenant Leo Megaw; his love for his pregnant wife. Her access to classified information makes her an increasing liability for the government. When she's ambushed, Leo is forced into exile. As a border patrolman on the isolated outpost of Zone 39, ordered to kill anyone that tries to cross the border, he comes to understand that ultimate catastrophe forced upon his world by his government. The real enemy is not looming across the border but standing right behind him. Now he must reach across the border into enemy territory and form an alliance to save his world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Antiviral (2012)
Syd March is employed at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills super sensation Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and rabid fans. He must unravel the mystery surrounding her death before he suffers the same fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath's Dice (TBA)
Stuck in his motel room, Billy's luck runs out as he tries to save his straining relationship with his daughter, stay one step ahead of the cops, and devise a plan to beat a notorious crime lord before a fate worse than death arrives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Penultimate and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Penultimate?
The closest matches to The Penultimate are Vesper (2022), Stormageddon (2015) and The Prize of Peril (1983). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Penultimate?
Start with Vesper (2022), the closest match to The Penultimate.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Penultimate?
Patema Inverted (2013), rated 7.4/10 by 497 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Penultimate?
40 Acres (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Penultimate?
Yes: The Prize of Peril (1983) and Ad Vitam (2025).
How are movies similar to The Penultimate chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Penultimate, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.