Movies like Shock Wave (2017)
The best movies like Shock Wave (2017) are Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy (2019), City on Fire (1987) and Absolution (2024). If Shock Wave 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 ratedHunting Season (2025)7.4/10 from 486 votes
- NewestMisdirection (2026)Released 2026
Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy (2019)
A car crash sparks a war between local police and an international terrorist organization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity on Fire (1987)
Ko Chow is an undercover cop who is under pressure from all sides. His boss, Inspector Lau, wants him to infiltrate a gang of ruthless jewel thieves; his girlfriend wants him to commit to marriage or she will leave Hong Kong with another lover; and he is being pursued by other cops who are unaware that he is a colleague. Chow would rather quit the force, feeling guilty about betraying gang members who have become his friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbsolution (2024)
An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children. He is determined to leave a positive legacy for his grandson, but the criminal underworld isn’t done with him and won’t loosen their grip willingly.
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 thisBodies at Rest (2019)
Working in the morgue, a hardworking forensics expert and his assistant are suddenly accosted by masked intruders who demand access to a body involved in a recent crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrap House (2025)
An undercover DEA agent and his partner embark on a game of cat and mouse with an audacious, and surprising group of thieves – their own rebellious teenagers, who have begun robbing from a dangerous cartel, using their parents' tactics and top-secret intel to do it.
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 thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisLegendary Assassin (2008)
An assassin who is fresh from his latest kill becomes stranded in an island, when he inadvertently befriends a female police officer. As the night progresses, the unspoken truth honored by the two sides of the law is broken. After the remains of a body that belonged to a drug lord and syndicate crime leader are found, chaos ensues and criminals ravage the once peaceful streets in a race against time to find the mysterious murderer that's loose and out for blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRunning on Karma (2003)
A monk turned body-builder, with the gift to see into people's lives, befriends a female cop, and uses his gift to change the force of Karma and her destiny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn to a Better Tomorrow (1994)
An adventure that delves into the dark caverns of the underworld and tells the tale of three chivalrous gangsters who attempt to escape the powerful clutch of their gang leader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Prayer for the Dying (1987)
Martin, an I.R.A. hitman, is seen by a Catholic priest while carrying out a hit. He grows a bond with the priest and his niece. But his past and his former employers put all their lives in danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisMisdirection (2026)
A desperate couple have pulled off a string of high-end break-ins to pay off a mob debt. When they attempt to rob their latest victim, they find themselves caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The tables are turned and the hunters become the hunted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFull Contact (1992)
In an effort to get his buddy out of a gambling debt, Jeff agrees to join forces with Judge in a weapons heist. The job goes bad and Judge betrays Jeff. Jeff plots the ultimate revenge on Judge and his followers and it is a question of whether he can follow through with his plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShock Wave 2 (2020)
After suffering life changing injuries in the line of duty, bomb disposal officer Fung turns his back on the police. But when a devastating series of bombings sweep Hong Kong, the police suspect their former ally may be involved after he is found unconscious at a crime scene. Now faced with memory loss and recalling only fragments of his former life, Fung sets out to uncover the truth and find out who he really is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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 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 thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
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 & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohan Falk: The Outlaws (2009)
When a female prosecutor pursuing a case against one of the country's most dangerous motorcycle gangs is targeted by a bomb attack, the media carousel grows and the police are now accused more critically than ever of not being able to crack down on organized crime. But the police are more active than the media can imagine. The police leadership orders the unit whose sole task is to work against the most serious organized crime – the Special Operations Group – to deploy all available resources. But the nightmare is a fact when it emerges that the attack originated in the very methods that the police leadership sanctioned, and more attacks are in the works...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest Seller (1987)
Hit man Cleve approaches writer/cop Dennis about a story for his next book: How Cleve made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians in the country. To get the story right, they travel around the country to gather statements and evidence, while strong forces use any means they can to keep the story untold.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive and Let Die (1973)
James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBullet Train Explosion (2025)
When panic erupts on a Tokyo-bound bullet train that will explode if it slows below 100 kph, authorities race against time to save everyone on board.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar on Terror: KL Anarchy (2023)
Khalid, a rebellious cop from an elite special force must prove he is able to work as a team in order to thwart terrorist threats to bring down Kuala Lumpur.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Live Wire (1992)
Danny O'Neill is a bomb disposal expert assigned to a case where terrorists have developed an "invisible" liquid explosive which is activated within the human body.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat to Do in Case of Fire? (2001)
The humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former East Germany. At the end of the 80s, they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to terms with the reason they separated 12 years ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
An American gets a ticket for an audience participation game in London, then gets involved in a case of mistaken identity. As an international plot unravels around him, he thinks it's all part of the act.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Boy Scout (1991)
Somewhere in Los Angeles, the city of broken dreams, a stripper is murdered. Now, the private detective she had hired and her ex-footballer boyfriend are going to find her murderer... if they don't kill each other first. But the more they dig, the deeper they become enmeshed in a web of extortion, blackmail and corrupt politics hidden beneath the surface of professional football.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shock Wave?
The closest matches to Shock Wave are Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy (2019), City on Fire (1987) and Absolution (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shock Wave?
Start with Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy (2019), the closest match to Shock Wave.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shock Wave?
Hunting Season (2025), rated 7.4/10 by 486 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shock Wave?
Misdirection (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Shock Wave chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shock Wave, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.