Movies like The Defender (2004)
The best movies like The Defender (2004) are Wake of Death (2004), Missing in Action (1984) and Accident Man (2018). If The Defender hooked you with its action and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)7.3/10 from 4,134 votes
- NewestAzrael (2024)Released 2024
Wake 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 & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing in Action (1984)
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies 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 & thriller
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 & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalone (1987)
Erstwhile C.I.A. assassin Richard Malone hopes for a tranquil retirement in the placid Pacific Northwest, but what he gets is a rumble with a right-wing extremist plotting a secret revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOutpost (2008)
In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, scientist and businessman Hunt hires mercenary and former Royal Marine D.C. to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land. Their mission is to scope out an old military bunker in Eastern Europe. It should be easy – 48 hours at the most. Lots of cash for little risk. Or so he says...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisHarry Brown (2009)
An elderly ex-serviceman and widower looks to avenge his best friend's murder by doling out his own form of justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & 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 & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisWalking Tall: Lone Justice (2007)
In Dallas, witnesses against a drug-lord are murdered in a safe-house.The testimony of FBI agents becomes the only chance to keep him in prison. They are lodged in another safe-house, but the place is invaded and the agents are executed. However, Kate is only wounded, and her boyfriend Nick believes there is a traitor in the agency and takes her to his ranch to protect her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDark Angel (1990)
Jack Caine is a Houston vice cop who's forgotten the rule book. His self-appointed mission is to stop the drugs trade and the number one supplier Victor Manning. While involved in an undercover operation to entrap Victor Manning, his partner is killed, and a sinister newcomer enters the scene...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAzrael (2024)
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRampage: Capital Punishment (2014)
A man takes over a TV station and holds a number of hostages as a political platform to awaken humanity, instead of money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Race: Beyond Anarchy (2018)
Black Ops specialist Connor Gibson infiltrates a maximum security prison to take down legendary driver Frankenstein in a violent and brutal car race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise 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 & thriller
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 & thriller
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 & thriller
SnoozefestMovies 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 & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisDeath Wish 3 (1985)
Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavaged (2014)
After thugs brutalize a deaf-mute woman, the spirit of an Apache warrior takes over her lifeless body and sets out on a bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkyscraper (1996)
A helicopter charter turns deadly when the pilot finds that she is on a building held by terrorists. It is up to her and her husband to save the hostages.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisRED (2010)
After surviving an assault from a squad of hit men, retired CIA black ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team for an all-out war. Frank reunites with old Joe, crazy Marvin and wily Victoria to uncover a massive conspiracy that threatens their lives. Only their expert training will allow them to survive a near-impossible mission -- breaking into CIA headquarters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky Riders (1976)
When an industrialist's wife and kids are kidnapped by terrorists in Greece, the woman's ex-husband comes to the rescue with a plan involving hang gliders.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Scorpio (1973)
Cross is an old hand at the CIA who often teams up with Frenchman Jean “Scorpio” Laurier, a gifted freelance operative. After their last mission together, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross, leaving him no choice but to obey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerrorist Command (1992)
A group of terrorists puts the authorities on alert, creating hellish chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime Bomb (2006)
The Department of Homeland Security receives a threat that a bomb has been set to explode during a sports event in Washington, D.C.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
The Foreigner (2003)
This story is about a freelance agent who is the courier of a package from France to Germany. He soon finds that many people want to get their hands on it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Devil All the Time (2020)
In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Double Hour (2009)
A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Defender?
The closest matches to The Defender are Wake of Death (2004), Missing in Action (1984) and Accident Man (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Defender?
Start with Wake of Death (2004), the closest match to The Defender.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Defender?
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), rated 7.3/10 by 4,134 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Defender?
Azrael (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Defender?
Yes: Wake of Death (2004), Missing in Action (1984) and Accident Man (2018).
How are movies similar to The Defender chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Defender, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.