Movies like Leal (2018)
The best movies like Leal (2018) are Elite Squad (2007), Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within The Cartel (2017). If Leal 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 ratedElite Squad (2007)8.1/10 from 2,864 votes
- NewestThe Baker (2023)Released 2023
- In SpanishLa Sombra Del Sahuaro (2005)Also in Spanish
Elite Squad (2007)
In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisElite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)
After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within The Cartel (2017)
Bolivia has become a safe haven for the Santa Blanca, one of the most powerful cartels in the world. When a betrayal threatens to destroy everything the cartel has built, no one will escape their vengeance. War Within the Cartel is inspired by the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands video game by Ubisoft and executive produced by Roberto Orci (Star Trek) and Orlando Jones (American Gods).
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & crime
Machine Gun Preacher (2011)
The true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing biker who finds God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who've been kidnapped and pressed into duty as soldiers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & crime
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 & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Baker (2023)
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraining Day (2001)
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Principal (1987)
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Double (2011)
The mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin 'Cassius', forces retired CIA operative, Paul Shepherson to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland. Geary, who wrote his Master's thesis on Shepherdson's pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRapid Fire (1992)
College student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perfect Weapon (1991)
Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Corruptor (1999)
Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisYear of the Dragon (1985)
In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
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 · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeep Cover (1992)
Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
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 & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Heat (1988)
A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCobra (1986)
A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoad of No Return (2009)
Road of no Return follows the final nine days in the lives of four atypical hit men who are secretly brought together in a covert operation to fight the drug trafficking epidemic in the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisVeronica Guerin (2003)
In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCode of Silence (1985)
A Chicago cop is caught in the middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTraffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies 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 action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa Sombra Del Sahuaro (2005)
Film based loosely on the life of Mexican drug kingpin Ricardo Lopez.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Death Dealers (1995)
A city is terrorized by vicious drug dealers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Prince of the City (1981)
New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaracas Vice Vol. 2 (2017)
Ryan of the DEA will face again the most dangerous drug lord of Venezuela, this time with new friends, in 1983.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
When I Want to Cry, I Don't (1973)
In Venezuela, one day in 1948 there were born three children all named Victorino: Pérez, mulatto and son of the poor Lucía; Perdomo, son of a middle-class communist who gets arrested; and bourgeois Peralta. On the day of his eighteenth birthday Pérez escapes from prison using lather pretending it to be a rage attack. Peralta shows a friend of his a car he got from his parents. A young lady gives herself to Perdomo as a birthday present. Pérez finds his mistress with another man and wounds her. Pérez and a few others rob an old man while riding on their motorcycles. Perdomo and a bunch of bushwhackers plan to rob a bank. Pérez sees a friend of his smoking pot while Peralta visits a cousin of his and has sex with her. Perdomo’s father, recently elected a communist representative wants to talk him out of his violent ways. Pérez sleeps with three girls and remembers how he once killed a man in the middle of a robbery. Peralta and his friends shoot dogs just for fun. Perdomo and his pals…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
First Blood (1982)
When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Leal?
The closest matches to Leal are Elite Squad (2007), Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within The Cartel (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Leal?
People who watched Leal most often go on to Elite Squad (2007), Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within The Cartel (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like Leal?
Elite Squad (2007), rated 8.1/10 by 2,864 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Leal?
The Baker (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Leal?
Yes: La Sombra Del Sahuaro (2005), Death Dealers (1995) and Caracas Vice Vol. 2 (2017).
How are movies similar to Leal chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Leal, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.





























