Movies like Kandahar (2023)
The best movies like Kandahar (2023) are Man of War (2026), Decision Before Dawn (1951) and Sniper: No Nation (2026). If Kandahar hooked you with its action and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGuy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023)7.7/10 from 3,469 votes
- NewestThe Last Temptation of Becky (2026)Released 2026
Man of War (2026)
When an aid worker vanishes in the first hours of war in Ukraine, a former Navy SEAL and CIA operative crosses into the shattered country to bring her home-facing mercenaries, shifting battle lines, and ghosts he thought he left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDecision Before Dawn (1951)
WWII is entering its last phase: Germany is in ruins, but does not yield. The US army lacks crucial knowledge about the German units operating on the opposite side of the Rhine, and decides to send two German prisoners to gather information. The scheme is risky: the Gestapo retains a terribly efficient network to identify and capture spies and deserters. Moreover, it is not clear that "Tiger", who does not mind any dirty work as long as the price is right, and war-weary "Happy", who might be easily betrayed by his feelings, are dependable agents. After Tiger and another American agent are successfully infiltrated, Happy is parachuted in Bavaria. His duty: find out the whereabouts of a powerful German armored unit moving towards the western front.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSniper: No Nation (2026)
Brandon Beckett and Agent Zero lead a rescue mission in Costa Verde when their friends are taken hostage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fix (2026)
Disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war-torn ex-CIA operatives set out to Tehran to take down a life-changing score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisCanary Black (2024)
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe November Man (2014)
An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChief of Station (2024)
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Gray Man (2022)
When a shadowy CIA agent uncovers damning agency secrets, he's hunted across the globe by a sociopathic rogue operative who's put a bounty on his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLights Out (2024)
A drifting ex-soldier turns underground fighter with the help of a just-released ex-con, pitting him against corrupt cops and hired killers now gunning for him and all those he cares about.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMile 22 (2018)
An elite group of American operatives, aided by a top-secret tactical command team, must transport an asset who holds life-threatening information to an extraction point 22 miles away through the hostile streets of an Asian city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalone (1987)
Erstwhile C.I.A. assassin Richard Malone hopes for a tranquil retirement in the placid Pacific Northwest, but what he gets is a rumble with a right-wing extremist plotting a secret revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOff the Grid (2025)
After a morally-bankrupt company tries to weaponize a brilliant scientist's revolutionary technology, he goes off the grid to safeguard humanity. When the company sends a strike force to find him, they make their biggest mistake of all – they weaponize the man they are trying to catch.
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 thisWar (2007)
FBI agent Jack Crawford is out for revenge when his partner is killed and all clues point to the mysterious assassin Rogue. But when Rogue turns up years later to take care of some unfinished business, he triggers a violent clash of rival gangs. Will the truth come out before it's too late? And when the dust settles, who will remain standing?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Painter (2024)
An ex-CIA operative is thrown back into a dangerous world when a mysterious woman from his past resurfaces. Now exposed and targeted by a relentless killer and a rogue black ops program, he must rely on skills he thought he left behind in a high-stakes game of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisArt of Eight Limbs (2024)
Four canisters of deadly VX nerve gas have fallen into the hands of an international arms dealer in Myanmar. A CIA recruit delivers a high-tech detection device to an agent already on the ground.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSection 8 (2022)
After avenging the murder of his family, a former soldier is sprung from prison and recruited by a shadowy government agency.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSafe House (2012)
A dangerous CIA renegade resurfaces after a decade on the run. When the safe house he's remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative escapes with him. Now, the unlikely allies must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
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 thisSniper: Rogue Mission (2022)
When a crooked federal agent is involved in a human sex trafficking ring, Sniper and CIA Rookie Brandon Beckett goes rogue, teaming up with his former allies Homeland Security Agent Zero and assassin Lady Death to uncover the corrupt agent and take down the criminal organization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023)
After an ambush, Afghan interpreter Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save US Army Sergeant John Kinley's life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must return to the war zone and repay his debt.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmbush (2023)
When a small outpost is ambushed, a US Army squad must take the battle below ground on a high-stakes mission in a new type of warfare the likes of which they have never seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScorpio (1973)
Cross is an old hand at the CIA who often teams up with Frenchman Jean “Scorpio” Laurier, a gifted freelance operative. After their last mission together, the CIA orders Scorpio to eliminate Cross, leaving him no choice but to obey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRED (2010)
After surviving an assault from a squad of hit men, retired CIA black ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team for an all-out war. Frank reunites with old Joe, crazy Marvin and wily Victoria to uncover a massive conspiracy that threatens their lives. Only their expert training will allow them to survive a near-impossible mission -- breaking into CIA headquarters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCutaway (2000)
The successful undercover agent Victor Cooper is assigned for his ninth mission: to find how the loadings of drug is being brought to Miami. He suspects that the drug is coming through the air and joins a team of sky diving, under the leadership of Red Line, a fanatic and considered the athlete number one in this sport in the world. Due to his profile of winner, Vic gets involved with the group and he "disconnects" from his position of infiltrated agent, "connecting" with the team.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLegionnaire (1998)
Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attempts to flee to America with the mobster's girlfriend Katrina. This plan fails and he seeks escape by joining the foreign legion. As part of the legion he tangles with abusive lieutenant Steinkampf and bonds with legionnaires Luther, Mackintosh and Rosetti.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Company (2002)
When a Harvard-educated CIA agent is killed during an operation, the secret agency recruits his twin brother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisZone Troopers (1985)
American soldiers, led by The Sarge, are stuck behind Nazi enemy lines. As they make their way across the Italian countryside, they come across an alien spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods. The alien pilot is dead, but one of the ship's passengers is on the loose. As the GIs hunt down the alien by splitting into smaller groups, they're not only tracked by the Nazis, but also a whole host of other aliens come to save their stranded party.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Temptation of Becky (2026)
Now working as a field agent for the CIA, Becky is sent undercover to Poland to infiltrate a family of innkeepers running a tourist venture at The Wolf's Lair, Hitler's WWII bunker. After learning that the father, Wilhelm Reuss, is on a mission to bring about the Fourth Reich, Becky takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Like Kandahar and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Kandahar?
The closest matches to Kandahar are Man of War (2026), Decision Before Dawn (1951) and Sniper: No Nation (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Kandahar?
Start with Man of War (2026), the closest match to Kandahar.
What is the highest-rated movie like Kandahar?
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 3,469 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Kandahar?
The Last Temptation of Becky (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Kandahar?
Yes: Man of War (2026), Decision Before Dawn (1951) and Sniper: No Nation (2026).
How are movies similar to Kandahar chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Kandahar, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.