Movies like Operation Thunderbolt (1977)
The best movies like Operation Thunderbolt (1977) are SAS: Red Notice (2021), Nowhere to Run (1993) and Hunting Season (2025). If Operation Thunderbolt hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHunting Season (2025)7.4/10 from 486 votes
- NewestHunting Season (2025)Released 2025
SAS: Red Notice (2021)
An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisNowhere to Run (1993)
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Season (2025)
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlack Sunday (1977)
An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Night in Bangkok (2020)
A hit man named Kai flies into Bangkok, gets a gun, and orders a cab. He offers a professional female driver big money to be his all-night driver. But when she realizes Kai is committing brutal murders at each stop, it's too late to walk away. Meanwhile, an offbeat police detective races to decode the string of slayings before more blood is spilled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeirut (2018)
In 1980s Beirut, Mason Skiles is a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a colleague from the group that is possibly responsible for his own family's death. Meanwhile, a CIA field agent who is working under cover at the American embassy is tasked with keeping Mason alive and ensuring that the mission is a success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this7 Days in Entebbe (2018)
In 1976, four hijackers take over an Air France airplane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris and force it to land in Entebbe, Uganda. With 248 passengers on board, one of the most daring rescue missions ever is set in motion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisStowaway (2022)
A tenacious party girl fights to survive after three thieves commandeer her luxury yacht. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember (2015)
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRaid on Entebbe (1976)
Based on a true operation by Israeli commandos. An Air France flight is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The airplane landed in Uganda. The terrorists released some passengers, keeping 94 Jews and 12 air crew hostage. The Israeli government would not negotiate. A rescue plan was devised, and less than 100 commandos were flown across Africa to rescue the passengers in surprisingly successful operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 355 (2022)
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisOverdrive (2017)
Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest of the Best 4: Without Warning (1998)
A group of Russian mobsters have stolen a huge supply of paper for printing U.S. currency, and are now flooding the market with conterfeit bills. When one of the mobsters decides to give herself in and hand over a data CD to the DA, she is shot and killed, but not before handing the disc to an unsuspecting Tommy Lee. Despite working with the police as a martial arts instructor, Lee doesn't go to the cops with the disc, but instead goes on the run, giving the mafia time to kidnap his daughter and hold as a hostage in exchange for return of the disc. Will Tommy ever see his daughter again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVictory at Entebbe (1976)
The film is based on an actual event: Operation Entebbe and the freeing of Israeli hostages at Entebbe Airport (now Entebbe International Airport) in Uganda.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
La última y nos matamos (2013)
Adrián is told he suffers a terrible illness and decides to commit suicide, but his father reveals the truth to him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Miss Entebbe (2003)
Jerusalem 1976, a coming of age story about a confused girl, set against the Entebbe airplane hijacking. 13-year-old Noa, is convinced she can free her friend's mom by kidnapping an Arab boy. Instead, she finds herself involved in a dangerous adventure that quickly develops a life of its own, and becomes deadly serious. Noa and her neighbor friends try to follow the adults patterns of behavior but, while entering the turmoil of political conflict and hatred, they discover that the solution is not to be found in the violent adult arena, but rather within their own hearts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ritmo, traición y muerte: La cumbia asesina (2012)
Carmen, a beautiful woman who is torn between two loves. Dracula, a corrupt, cruel and ruthless "tax man." Combi, the leader of the Panchitos gang, a lazy, freeloader. The three of them dance to the hot rhythm of a killer cumbia. Carmen's dilemma is to choose between love with hate and passion without money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Yahaira: Mis vacaciones (2013)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Happy Anniversary (2004)
Worst anniversary ever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Den sista mannen (2012)
A story about the last man on earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Hardwood (2008)
When an escaped prisoner seeks refuge in a nearby forest, he unknowingly becomes host to a strange and eerie metamorphosis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Vumarlik (2022)
A man dies and get's send to the afterlife were he finds love and peace in his new life. Takođe jebe lik leš.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Operation Thunderbolt?
The closest matches to Operation Thunderbolt are SAS: Red Notice (2021), Nowhere to Run (1993) and Hunting Season (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Operation Thunderbolt?
Start with SAS: Red Notice (2021), the closest match to Operation Thunderbolt.
What is the highest-rated movie like Operation Thunderbolt?
Hunting Season (2025), rated 7.4/10 by 486 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Operation Thunderbolt?
Hunting Season (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Operation Thunderbolt chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Operation Thunderbolt, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.