Movies like The Humanist (2001)
The best movies like The Humanist (2001) are The Target (2014), Stolen Girl (2025) and Until Death (2007). If The Humanist hooked you with its thriller and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAlong with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018)8.0/10 from 791 votes
- NewestIn Cold Light (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanThe Target (2014)Also in Korean
The Target (2014)
At the same time as murder suspect Yeo-hoon is brought unconscious to the emergency room following a shooting incident, an assailant breaks into the house of Tae-jun, the emergency room's doctor in charge, and kidnaps his wife. The kidnapper calls the doctor and tells him to bring Yeo-hoon to him. To retrieve his wife, Tae-jun has no option but to save the patient and sneak him away before the police can notice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStolen Girl (2025)
In 1993, Maureen’s six-year-old daughter Amina is snuck out of the country by her ex-husband, Karim. After years of unsuccessful attempts to find her, Maureen intersects with a professional retriever of internationally abducted children who promises to help her find Amina in exchange for her collaboration.
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 thisUnstoppable (2018)
Dong-chul and Ji-soo are a happily married couple. One day, Dong-chul comes home to find his house in disarray and his wife missing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies 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 this6 Bullets (2012)
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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 & action
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 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 thisShade (2003)
Tiffany, Charlie and Vernon are con artists looking to up the ante from their typical scams. They figure a good way of doing this is taking down Dean "The Dean" Stevens, a well-known cardsharp, in a rigged game. However, they first need enough money to enter a game with Stevens, so they decide to strike a deal with fellow crook Larry Jennings to scam a local gangster -- which turns out to be a bad idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTake Back (2021)
Zara and Brian are living the perfect small town life when a mysterious stranger from Zara's secret past kidnaps their daughter and now they must race to save her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisRed Right Hand (2024)
Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & 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 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 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 · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoor Lock (2018)
Kyung-min lives alone in a one-room apartment. One day, she finds traces of a stranger breaking into her room and soon a mysterious murder case begins to unravel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAwake (2007)
While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody Brokers (2021)
Utah and his girlfriend Opal, are drug addicts living on the streets in rural Ohio. After getting recruited by body broker Wood and offered treatment in Los Angeles, Wood takes Utah under his wing and introduces him to treatment center mogul Vin. Wood and Vin bring Utah in on their lucrative and illegal dealings, where saving lives comes second to the bottom line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVeteran (2015)
When an old collaborator gets severely injured, a veteran policeman tries to figure out the way to bring to justice the ultimately suspected aggressor, a spoiled young executive, heir to a mega corporation, who believes he is above the law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlong with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018)
As the deceased soul Ja-hong and his three afterlife guardians prepare for their remaining trials for reincarnation, the guardians soon come face to face with the truth of their tragic time on Earth 1,000 years earlier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBeliever (2018)
After a traumatic event, a drug trafficker turns sides and conspires with a dangerously ambitious undercover police officer to bring down the mysterious kingpin of a major drug cartel.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShiri (1999)
North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijack a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens South Korea as part of a plot to re-unify the two countries. Ryu and Lee, special agents of O.P., South Korea's secret intelligence service, attempt to track down the terrorists and find the CTX. Meanwhile Hee, the 8th's ultra-bad female sniper, resurfaces to wreak havoc and haunt Ryu.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Chaser (2008)
Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDragon Wars: D-War (2007)
Ethan learns he carries the spirit of a warrior who battled dragons in 16th-century Korea -- and one day he'll find a tattooed girl carrying the spirit of that warrior's beloved. Years later, he meets Sarah and dragons soon descend on Los Angeles seeking out the two souls of the ancient lovers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnother Public Enemy (2005)
A criminal psychopath from a wealthy family is confronted with Chul-jung Kang, a former classmate who no longer likes his activities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRed Scarf (1964)
South Korean Air Force pilots engage in perilous missions against Communist North Koreans during the Korean War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Spy Gone North (2018)
South Korea, 1993. An agent of the National Intelligence Service is sent to Beijing to infiltrate a group of North Korean officials with the ultimate goal of obtaining information about their nuclear program.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like The Humanist and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Humanist?
The closest matches to The Humanist are The Target (2014), Stolen Girl (2025) and Until Death (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Humanist?
Start with The Target (2014), the closest match to The Humanist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Humanist?
Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days (2018), rated 8.0/10 by 791 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Humanist?
In Cold Light (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like The Humanist?
Yes: The Target (2014), Unstoppable (2018) and Door Lock (2018).
How are movies similar to The Humanist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Humanist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.