Movies like Estado de Exceção (2012)
The best movies like Estado de Exceção (2012) are Sergio (2020), Elite Squad (2007) and Marighella (2021). If Estado de Exceção hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedElite Squad (2007)8.1/10 from 2,866 votes
- NewestRage of Stars (2026)Released 2026
Sergio (2020)
A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Brazilian Sérgio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElite Squad (2007)
In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMarighella (2021)
Afro-Brazilian poet and politician, the legendary Carlos Marighella. Driven to fight against the erosion of civil and human rights following the CIA-backed military coup of 1964 and the brutal, racist right-wing dictatorship that followed, the revolutionary leaves behind his wife and son to take up arms, becoming a notorious enemy to the power structure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Onion Field (1979)
An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice, and his partner is haunted by overwhelming survivor's guilt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRage of Stars (2026)
A story about a woman from the International Special Forces Unit, who has a premonition about the impending end of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Agent (2025)
Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVitória (2025)
Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window, hoping to assist the police. After months of recording suspicious activities, her initiative attracts the attention of a journalist, who approaches Nina and offers to support her in her mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape from New York (1981)
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US president crash-lands inside, war hero Snake Plissken has 24 hours to bring him back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Killer (2024)
Zee is a feared contract killer known as "the Queen of the Dead," but when she refuses to murder a young blind woman, she finds herself hunted both by criminal colleagues and a determined police detective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dead Zone (1983)
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee's home one night, is involved in a car crash which leaves him in a coma for 5 years. When he wakes, he discovers he has an ability to see into the past, present and future life of anyone with whom he comes into physical contact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
SnoozefestMovies like thisDick Tracy (1990)
The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
Jesse Stone and Captain Healy are shot during an unauthorized stake-out in Boston. Meanwhile, a cryptic letter sent from Paradise leads the mother of a kidnapped child to Stone. Though her son was declared dead, she hopes he will reopen the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeter Ibbetson (1935)
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project with the Duke and Duchess of Towers. When Peter and the duchess become great friends, she reveals that she is Mary — but the duke soon suspects his wife of infidelity and challenges Peter to a duel, threatening the pair's second chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEdge of Tomorrow (2014)
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Mad Max becomes a pawn in a decadent oasis of a technological society, and when exiled, becomes the deliverer of a colony of children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome Sweet Home: Rebirth (2025)
When a city is overrun with a demonically-possessed crowd, a cop must find the source of evil to save his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Grudge (2004)
An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Estado de Exceção?
The closest matches to Estado de Exceção are Sergio (2020), Elite Squad (2007) and Marighella (2021). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Estado de Exceção?
Start with Sergio (2020), the closest match to Estado de Exceção.
What is the highest-rated movie like Estado de Exceção?
Elite Squad (2007), rated 8.1/10 by 2,866 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Estado de Exceção?
Rage of Stars (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Estado de Exceção chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Estado de Exceção, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.