Movies like Vatos (2002)
The best movies like Vatos (2002) are Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), Wake of Death (2004) and El padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004). If Vatos hooked you with its action, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Substitute (1996)7.0/10 from 621 votes
- NewestMexicali (2026)Released 2026
Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWake of Death (2004)
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his wife's brutal murder. When Archer joins forces with his old underworld friends, an all-out war is waged against the Chinese Triad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Back Down: Revolt (2021)
An amateur fighter is lured by a trafficking syndicate specializing in elite underground fighting where her brutal captor forces her to fight or face certain death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil Death (2007)
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Substitute (1996)
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStreet (2015)
Remo Street is a young fighter who comes from a world where nothing is easy, so when he is faced with the opportunity to train with a world class coach, he has to choose between the long hard road to honor and glory, or succumbing to a brutal future as a cage fighter for the Russian Mafia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFoxy Brown (1974)
A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAccident Man (2018)
Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer. When a loved one is murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 51st State (2001)
An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNinja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStretch (2014)
A hard-luck limo driver struggling to go straight and pay off a debt to his bookie takes on a job with a crazed passenger whose sought-after ledger implicates some seriously dangerous criminals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train (2023)
Mother Holly McCord is driven to extremes to save the life of her young son. Even if it means hauling black market drugs in her souped-up truck, with the Feds in hot pursuit. With two bounties on her head and her son’s life on the line, Holly climbs behind the wheel of “Night Train,” ready to outrun, out gun, and outlast them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisCotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
Harlem's African-American population is being ripped off by the Rev. Deke O'Malley, who dishonestly claims that small donations will secure parcels of land in Africa. When New York City police officers Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson look into O'Malley's scam, they learn that the cash is being smuggled inside a bale of cotton. However, the police, O'Malley, and lots of others find themselves scrambling when the money goes missing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExit Wounds (2001)
Maverick cop Orin Boyd always brings down the domestic terrorists he tracks, but he ruffles feathers with his unorthodox techniques -- and soon finds himself reassigned to the toughest district in Detroit. When he discovers a group of detectives secretly operating a drug ring, Boyd joins forces with an unlikely ally -- gangster Latrell Walker -- to bring down the rotten cops.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Vatos?
The closest matches to Vatos are Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), Wake of Death (2004) and El padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Vatos?
Start with Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), the closest match to Vatos.
What is the highest-rated movie like Vatos?
The Substitute (1996), rated 7.0/10 by 621 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Vatos?
Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Vatos?
Yes: Rise of the Footsoldier (2007), Wake of Death (2004) and El padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004).
How are movies similar to Vatos chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Vatos, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.