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El Mariachi poster

Movies that feel likeEl Mariachi (1993)

El Mariachi just wants to play his guitar and carry on the family tradition. Unfortunately, the town he tries to find work in has another visitor, a killer who carries his guns in a guitar case. The drug lord and his henchmen mistake el Mariachi for the killer, Azul, and chase him around town trying to kill him and get his guitar case.

If you loved El Mariachi, the closest films we have are Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), Hard Target (1993) and In the Line of Duty 4 (1989). All three share El Mariachi's kinetic and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Robert Rodriguezkineticgrittytense
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If El Mariachi hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Desperado (1995) · Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Police Story 3: Super Cop poster
Police Story 3: Super Cop
1992 · dir. Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai
🍅 93%★ 7action · crime · thriller

Kinetic and gritty in the same breath

A Hong Kong detective teams up with his female Red Chinese counterpart to stop a Chinese drug czar.

Hard Target poster
Hard Target
1993 · dir. John Woo
🍅 63%★ 6.2action · thriller · crimePrime Video

Both lean on tension more than on action

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.

In the Line of Duty 4 poster
In the Line of Duty 4
1989 · dir. Yuen Woo-ping
★ 7.1action · crime · thriller

Kinetic crime in both cases

Two detectives who are up to their necks in trouble and in each other's face, as they try to shut down a drug-trafficking scheme that could be connected with international ties to organized crime. But in the midst of their investigation, innocent immigrant dock worker Luk Wan-Ting gets caught up in the mix when he witnesses the murder of an intelligence operative and is framed for the crime.

Hard Boiled poster
Hard Boiled
1992 · dir. John Woo
🍅 92%★ 7.7action · thriller · crimeRent or buy

Thriller built on grit, twice over

A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

Infernal Affairs II poster
Infernal Affairs II
2003 · dir. Alan Mak Siu-Fai
🍅 75%★ 7.2action · thriller · crimeMax

Tense western, and it commits to that

In this prequel to the original, a bloody power struggle among the Triads coincides with the 1997 handover of Hong Kong, setting up the events of the first film.

Ong-Bak poster
Ong-Bak
2003 · dir. Prachya Pinkaew
🍅 85%★ 7.2action · crime · thrillerPrime Video

Action with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

When the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it.

Kickboxer poster
Kickboxer
1989 · dir. Mark DiSalle
🍅 36%★ 6.4action · thriller

Another one that scratches it

If your enemy refuses to be humbled... Destroy him. Accompanied by his brother Kurt, American kickboxing champion Eric Sloane, arrives in Thailand to defeat the Eastern warriors at their own sport. His opponent: ruthless fighter and Thai champion, Tong Po. Tong not only defeats Eric, he paralyzes him for life. Crazed with anger, Kurt vows revenge.

Assault on Precinct 13 poster
Assault on Precinct 13
1976 · dir. John Carpenter
🍅 94%★ 7.3thriller · action · crimePrime Video

Tense crime in both cases

A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.

Spy Game poster
Spy Game
2001 · dir. Tony Scott
🍅 64%★ 7.1action · crime · thrillerNetflix

Action approached the same way

On the day of his retirement, a veteran CIA agent learns that his former protégé has been arrested in China, is sentenced to die the next morning in Beijing, and that the CIA is considering letting that happen to avoid an international scandal.

Cold Eyes poster
Cold Eyes
2013 · dir. Kim Byung-seo
★ 7.1crime · action · thriller

Both are crime through and through

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 2010s show

Ha Yoon-ju becomes the newest member of a unit within the Korean Police Forces Special Crime Department that specializes in surveillance activities on high-profile criminals. She teams up with Hwang Sang-jun, the veteran leader of the unit, and tries to track down James who is the cold-hearted leader of an armed criminal organization.

Lethal Weapon 4 poster
Lethal Weapon 4
1998 · dir. Richard Donner
🍅 54%★ 6.6action · crime · thriller

Both working the same thriller territory

With personal crises and age weighing in on them, LAPD officers Riggs and Murtaugh must contend with a deadly Chinese crime lord trying to get his brother out of prison.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear poster
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
2013 · dir. Isaac Florentine
🍅 100%★ 6.2action · crime · thrillerPrime Video

Cut from the same action cloth

Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.

In the mood for more kinetic?

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The best-reviewed films that share El Mariachi’s defining feeling.