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Captain Phillips poster

Movies that feel likeCaptain Phillips (2013)

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

If you loved Captain Phillips, the closest films we have are The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Body of Lies (2008) and Unstoppable (2010). All three share Captain Phillips' kinetic and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Paul Greengrasskineticcontemplativetense
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Captain Phillips hit the spot, these will too

The Bourne Supremacy poster
The Bourne Supremacy
2004 · dir. Paul Greengrass
🍅 81%★ 7.7action · drama · thrillerNetflixStarz

The same hand behind both of them: Paul Greengrass

A CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

Body of Lies poster
Body of Lies
2008 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 55%★ 7action · drama · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: terrorism

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.

Unstoppable poster
Unstoppable
2010 · dir. Tony Scott
🍅 87%★ 6.8action · thriller

One thread runs through both: a true story

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Captain Phillips

When a massive, unmanned locomotive roars out of control, the threat is more ominous than just a derailment. The train is laden with toxic chemicals, and an accident would decimate human life and cause an environmental disaster. The only hope of bringing the train to a safe stop is in the hands of veteran engineer Frank Barnes, and young conductor Will Colson, who must risk their lives to save those in the runaway's path. Inspired by true events.

No Escape poster
No Escape
2015 · dir. John Erick Dowdle
🍅 46%★ 6.8thriller · actionPrime Video

Kinetic where it counts, tense underneath

In their new overseas home, an American family soon finds themselves caught in the middle of a coup, and they frantically look for a safe escape in an environment where foreigners are being immediately executed.

Live Free or Die Hard poster
Live Free or Die Hard
2007 · dir. Len Wiseman
🍅 82%★ 7.1action · thriller

Both lean on momentum more than on action

John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.

Atomic Blonde poster
Atomic Blonde
2017 · dir. David Leitch
🍅 79%★ 6.7action · thrillerPrime VideoMax

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.

Escape Plan poster
Escape Plan
2013 · dir. Mikael Håfström
🍅 50%★ 6.7action · thrillerPrime VideoStarz

Both are built on the same subject: ship

Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.

Snitch poster
Snitch
2013 · dir. Ric Roman Waugh
🍅 57%★ 6.4action · drama · thriller

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence laws, Jason has nothing to offer for leniency in good conscience. Desperately, John convinces the DEA and the opportunistic DA Joanne Keeghan to let him go undercover to help make arrests big enough to free his son in return. With the unwitting help of an ex-con employee, John enters the narcotics underworld where every move could be his last in an operation that will demand all his resources, wits and courage to survive.

Safe House poster
Safe House
2012 · dir. Daniel Espinosa
🍅 52%★ 6.7action · thrillerNetflixStarz

Drama with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

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.

Olympus Has Fallen poster
Olympus Has Fallen
2013 · dir. Antoine Fuqua
🍅 49%★ 6.5action · thrillerPrime Video

Tense action in both cases

When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As the national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger disaster.

Homefront poster
Homefront
2013 · dir. Gary Fleder
🍅 42%★ 6.5action · thrillerNetflix

The thriller is handled with the same confidence

Phil Broker, a retired DEA agent, leads a quiet life with his daughter Maddy, until a school bullying incident draws them into a conflict with Morgan “Gator” Bodine, a local crime boss.

Metro poster
Metro
2013 · dir. Anton Megerdichev
★ 6.4action · thrillerPrime Video

Action of the same temperament

Terror strikes the underground train system in Moscow in the form of a flood from a collapsed tunnel. The film follows a diverse group of Moscow citizens who find themselves trapped in the city’s underground rail network, their train derailed and virtually crushed after an aging tunnel collapses. Amongst this band of survivors is softly spoken surgeon Andrey (Sergei Puskepalis), whose wife is having an affair with the conceited businessman Vlad (Anatoly Beliy). Fate brings these two men together on the same doomed train, but there is little time to resolve their differences, as the tunnel begins to quickly fill with water, forcing them to work together with the others and find a way back to the surface.

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The best-reviewed films that share Captain Phillips’ defining feeling.