Movies like El criollo (1945)
The best movies like El criollo (1945) are Revenge (1990), Wanted Man (2024) and Border Hunters (2025). If El criollo hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedVengeance (2026)7.5/10 from 333 votes
- NewestCrazy Magical Mexico (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishXtreme (2021)Also in Spanish
Revenge (1990)
Michael ‘Jay’ Cochran has just left the Navy after 12 years and he's not quite sure what he's going to do, except that he knows he wants a holiday. He decides to visit Tiburon Mendez, a powerful but shady Mexican businessman who he once flew to Alaska for a hunting trip. Arriving at the Mendez mansion in Mexico, he is immediately surprised by the beauty and youth of Mendez’s wife, Miryea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWanted Man (2024)
Follows a police officer who must retrieve an eyewitness and escort her after a cartel shooting leaves several DEA agents dead, but then he must decide who to trust when they discover that the attack was executed by American forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorder Hunters (2025)
After his police officer brother is killed by a drug dealer who flees to the protection of his cartel-connected uncle in Mexico, an American man with a diverse law enforcement/military background goes south of the border to get revenge
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXtreme (2021)
Two years after the murder of his son and father, a retired hitman sets in motion a carefully crafted revenge plan against the killer: his own brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVengeance (2026)
The brutal murder of the wife of “Toro,” a military hero in the special forces, turns him into a man with a single purpose: revenge. After a stroke of fate makes him a millionaire, Carlos transforms his fortune into an arsenal and, together with his closest soldiers, sets out to hunt down those responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller Elite (2011)
Based on a shocking true story, Killer Elite pits two of the world’s most elite operatives—Danny, an ex-special ops agent and Hunter, his longtime mentor—against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse—where the predators become the prey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLawman (1971)
While passing through the town of Bannock, a bunch of drunken cattlemen go overboard with their celebrating and accidentally kill an old man with a stray shot. They return home to Sabbath unaware of his death. Bannock lawman Jered Maddox later arrives there to arrest everyone involved on a charge of murder. Sabbath is run by land baron Vince Bronson, a benevolent despot, who, upon hearing of the death, offers restitution for the incident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008)
A Texas cop battles ex-navy seals who are trying to traffic drugs from Mexico into the USA.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl Gringo (2012)
A man crossing into Mexico with a satchel of $2,000,000—and a bloody past—finds himself under sudden attack in the sleepy town of El Fronteras.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVendetta (2022)
When his daughter is murdered, William Duncan takes the law into his own hands, setting out on a quest for retribution. After killing the street thug responsible for her death, he finds himself in the middle of a war with the thug's brother, father, and their gang, who are equally hell-bent on getting even. What ensues is a tense back-and-forth game of vengeance. By the end, William comes to find that the quest for revenge never has a winner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy Magical Mexico (2026)
A man finds the best motivation to secure and save his town: making an independent Mexican film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn a Valley of Violence (2016)
The story of a drifter named Paul who arrives in a small town seeking revenge on the thugs who murdered his friend. Sisters Mary Anne and Ellen, who run the town's hotel, help Paul in his quest for vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Marksman (2021)
Jim Hanson’s quiet life is suddenly disturbed by two people crossing the US/Mexico border – a woman and her young son – desperate to flee a Mexican cartel. After a shootout leaves the mother dead, Jim becomes the boy’s reluctant defender. He embraces his role as Miguel’s protector and will stop at nothing to get him to safety, as they go on the run from the relentless assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Comancheros (1961)
Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from the Alamo (1953)
During the war for Texas independence, one man leaves the Alamo before the end (chosen to help others' families) but is too late to accomplish his mission, and is branded a coward. Unable to expose a gang of turncoats, he infiltrates them instead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Warrior's Way (2010)
A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesperado (1995)
El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, El Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves his own trail of blood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFear Is the Key (1972)
A deep-sea salvage expert enacts an elaborate plan to infiltrate and take revenge on a criminal organization that dealt him a foul misdeed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like El criollo?
The closest matches to El criollo are Revenge (1990), Wanted Man (2024) and Border Hunters (2025). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after El criollo?
Start with Revenge (1990), the closest match to El criollo.
What is the highest-rated movie like El criollo?
Vengeance (2026), rated 7.5/10 by 333 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like El criollo?
Crazy Magical Mexico (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like El criollo?
Yes: Xtreme (2021), Vengeance (2026) and Crazy Magical Mexico (2026).
How are movies similar to El criollo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside El criollo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.