Movies like Smashing Barriers (1919)
The best movies like Smashing Barriers (1919) are Cave Rescue (2019), Swashbuckler (1976) and Primeval (2007). If Smashing Barriers hooked you with its adventure and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedProtector (2026)8.4/10 from 648 votes
- NewestProtector (2026)Released 2026
Cave Rescue (2019)
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwashbuckler (1976)
A pirate and a hot-tempered noblewoman join forces to protect Jamaica from a tyrant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimeval (2007)
A news team is sent to Burundi to capture and bring home a legendary 25-foot crocodile. Their difficult task turns potentially deadly when a warlord targets them for death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFear Below (2025)
A rag-tag team of divers attempting to salvage a sunken car from a river are thwarted by a highly aggressive bull shark.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPAW Patrol: Mighty Pups (2018)
When their latest scheme goes awry, Mayor Humdinger and his nephew Harold accidentally divert a meteor towards Adventure Bay. The meteor's golden energy grants the PAW Patrol superpowers. The heroic Mighty Pups are on a roll to super-save the day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeast (2022)
A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However, their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterceptor (2022)
A U.S. Army Captain uses her years of tactical training to save humanity from sixteen nuclear missiles launched at the U.S. as a violent attack threatens her remote missile interceptor station.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)
Stuck in a life of indentured servitude, Marek dreams of becoming a wizard. When she meets the beautiful priestess Teela in need of help, she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in search of Teela's sister, who was kidnapped by a wild ogre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Marine 6: Close Quarters (2018)
Jake Carter and another former Marine, Luke Trapper, join forces to rescue a young kidnapped girl from a gang of international criminals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProtector (2026)
Nikki's life is shattered when her daughter is kidnapped. Thrust into the criminal underworld while hunted by cops and military, she must fight to rescue her child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Protector (1985)
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisLet's Get Harry (1986)
Harry Burck has been kidnapped by South American terrorists, and when the US Government refuses to intervene, Harry's friends decide to take matters into their own hands!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Cargo (1940)
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWolves (2014)
The coming-of-age story of Cayden Richards. Forced to hit the road after the murder of his parents, Cayden wanders lost without purpose... Until he meets a certifiable lunatic named Wild Joe who sets him on a path to the ominous town of Lupine Ridge to hunt down the truths of his history. But in the end, who's really hunting whom?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPoint Blank (2019)
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreaking In (2018)
Shaun Russell takes her son and daughter on a weekend getaway to her late father's secluded, high-tech vacation home in the countryside. The family soon gets an unwelcome surprise when four men break into the house to find hidden money. After managing to escape, Shaun must now figure out a way to turn the tables on the desperate thieves and save her captive children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExcess Baggage (1997)
A rich brat fakes her own kidnapping, but in the process ends up locked in the trunk of a car that gets stolen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFather Hood (1993)
Deadbeat dad kidnaps his kids from the bus to an abusive foster home and they go on a run. The cops are after them, they bicker constantly and his idea of a way out is grim, yet this dangerous ride might just turn them into a family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisMan with No Past (2025)
Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTsunami (2005)
A series of explosions carried out by an oil drilling platform in the North Sea causes little earthquakes and alarm the population of coastal areas closest to the epicenter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Howl Coyote Howl (TBA)
After a bloody exchange with some bounty hunters, Anna, a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, and Gloria, her ill-prepared God-fearing friend, team up with a pair of coyotes to escape into Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Red One (2024)
After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like this3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
It was an ingenious enough plan: rob the Riviera Casino's count room during an Elvis impersonator convention. But Thomas Murphy decided to keep all the money for himself and shot all his partners, including recently-freed ex-con Michael Zane. With $3.2 million at stake, the Marshals Service closing in, Michael must track down Murphy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisJakarta (1988)
A CIA agent roams the streets of New York haunted by the death of the beautiful woman he fell in love with while on assignment in Jakarta. When he is kidnapped and drugged, the destination is Jakarta once again where he tries to unravel the mystery that is the city which broke him three years earlier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The Dragon Gate (1994)
Enter The Dragon Gate and prepare for a pulse pounding journey into the nether regions of the mind and soul. When his girlfriend is kidnapped, a sword wielding warrior, Ken, willingly thrusts himself into an alternate dimension to rescue her. The action is fast and furious as our hero battles legions of blood-thirsty assassins. Seduced by an evil temptress, redeemed by the Sword Goddess of the lake. Ken can escape only if he can answer the riddle of 23 questions!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
My Lucky Stars (1985)
Two Hong Kong cops are sent to Tokyo to catch an ex-cop who stole a large amount of money in diamonds. After one is captured by the Ninja-gang protecting the rogue cop, the other one gets his old Orphanage gang, dubbed the "Five Lucky Stars," to help him. They don't like this much, but they do it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDance with the Devil (1997)
She's sexy, shameless and loves taking people to their limit. She's a dangerous young woman who dreams about a jaguar that licks her naked body and sleeps by her side. Her past is bathed in blood and weird passions. Now she's met the man of her wildest dreams. He's dark, tough and mysterious. He likes robbing banks, trafficking in corpses and spicing it all with voodoo rituals. Together, the duo sets off toward Mexico destined to become the most feared outlaws in the continent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAir Buddies (2006)
The offspring of sportsman canine Air Bud: B-Dawg, Mudbud, Budderball, Buddha, and Rosebud, uncover a kidnapping plot motivated by a little rich boy's desire to have the world's most athletic dog as a pet.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisRescue Dawn (2007)
A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Smashing Barriers?
The closest matches to Smashing Barriers are Cave Rescue (2019), Swashbuckler (1976) and Primeval (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Smashing Barriers?
Start with Cave Rescue (2019), the closest match to Smashing Barriers.
What is the highest-rated movie like Smashing Barriers?
Protector (2026), rated 8.4/10 by 648 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Smashing Barriers?
Protector (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Smashing Barriers?
Yes: Cave Rescue (2019), Swashbuckler (1976) and Primeval (2007).
How are movies similar to Smashing Barriers chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Smashing Barriers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.