Movies like Nighthawks (1981)
The best movies like Nighthawks (1981) are The Virtuoso (2021), Hellhound (2024) and Code of Silence (1985). If Nighthawks hooked you with its action and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRope (1948)7.9/10 from 3,141 votes
- NewestHostile Takeover (2025)Released 2025
The Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisHellhound (2024)
Ready to leave his profession behind, Loreno, an assassin, lends help to an old friend, Cetan, and taking one last job in Thailand seeking out a local kingpin. A lapse in judgment means Loreno crosses paths with old colleague Paul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode of Silence (1985)
A Chicago cop is caught in the middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar (2007)
FBI agent Jack Crawford is out for revenge when his partner is killed and all clues point to the mysterious assassin Rogue. But when Rogue turns up years later to take care of some unfinished business, he triggers a violent clash of rival gangs. Will the truth come out before it's too late? And when the dust settles, who will remain standing?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Mercy (1986)
An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRun All Night (2015)
Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon has seen better days. Longtime best friend of a mob boss, Jimmy is haunted by the sins of his past—as well as a dogged police detective who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. But when Jimmy’s estranged son becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy has just one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Working Man (2025)
Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Lotus (2023)
An ex-special forces operative wages a one man war through the streets of Amsterdam to rescue his friend's daughter from the local crime syndicate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwilight (1998)
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRighteous Kill (2008)
Two veteran New York City detectives work to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Black Book (2023)
After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCopycat (1995)
An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSexy Beast (2001)
Ex-safecracker Gal Dove has served his time behind bars and is blissfully retired to a Spanish villa paradise with a wife he adores. The idyll is shattered by the arrival of his nemesis Don Logan, intent on persuading Gal to return to London for one last big job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHostile Takeover (2025)
Follows Pete, a professional hitman, as he faces a group of assassins after the boss of a crime syndicate suspects disloyalty due to his attendance at Workaholics Anonymous meetings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Double (2011)
The mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin 'Cassius', forces retired CIA operative, Paul Shepherson to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland. Geary, who wrote his Master's thesis on Shepherdson's pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisSeeking Justice (2011)
After his wife is assaulted, a husband enlists the services of a vigilante group to help him settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet Kings (2008)
Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLonely Hearts (2006)
In the late 1940s, a murderous couple known as the 'The Lonely Hearts Killers' kills close to a dozen people. Two detectives try to nab the duo who find their targets via the personals in the paper.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Psycho (2000)
A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirst Blood (1982)
When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCarne (1991)
After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive Free or Die Hard (2007)
John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
New York detective John McClane is back and kicking bad-guy butt in the third installment of this action-packed series, which finds him teaming with civilian Zeus Carver to prevent the loss of innocent lives. McClane thought he'd seen it all, until a genius named Simon engages McClane, his new "partner" -- and his beloved city -- in a deadly game that demands their concentration.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDie Hard 2 (1990)
One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRope (1948)
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Nighthawks?
The closest matches to Nighthawks are The Virtuoso (2021), Hellhound (2024) and Code of Silence (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Nighthawks?
Start with The Virtuoso (2021), the closest match to Nighthawks.
What is the highest-rated movie like Nighthawks?
Rope (1948), rated 7.9/10 by 3,141 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Nighthawks?
Hostile Takeover (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Nighthawks?
Yes: The Virtuoso (2021), Hellhound (2024) and Code of Silence (1985).
How are movies similar to Nighthawks chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Nighthawks, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.