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Polar poster

Movies that feel likePolar (2019)

When a retiring assassin realizes that he is the target of a hit, he winds up back in the game going head to head with a gang of younger, ruthless killers.

If you loved Polar, the closest films we have are SPL: Kill Zone (2005), Pusher II (2004) and Animal Kingdom (2010). All three share Polar's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Colt is My Passport (1967).

🍅 20% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jonas Åkerlundkineticgrittycontemplativeatmospheric
8 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel · History Vault

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If Polar hit the spot, these will too

SPL: Kill Zone poster
SPL: Kill Zone
2005 · dir. Wilson Yip
🍅 80%★ 6.9action · crime · dramaPrime Video

Common ground: neo-noir

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Chan, an articulate senior detective nearing the end of his career, is taking care of the daughter of a witness killed by ruthless crime lord Po. Martial arts expert Ma is set to take over as head of the crime unit, replacing Chan who wants an early retirement.

Pusher II poster
Pusher II
2004 · dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
🍅 100%★ 7.3action · crime · dramaPrime Video

Kinetic and gritty in the same breath

Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down life, but that is easier said than done.

Animal Kingdom poster
Animal Kingdom
2010 · dir. David Michôd
🍅 94%★ 7.2crime · drama

Both are built on the same subject: neo-noir

The difference: Trades the momentum of Polar for an angle of its own

Joshua “J” is taken in by his extended family after his mother dies of an overdose. The clan, ruled by J’s scheming grandmother, is heavily involved in criminal activities, and J is soon indoctrinated into their way of life. But J is given a chance to take another path when a cop seeks to help him.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado poster
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018 · dir. Stefano Sollima
🍅 62%★ 7.1action · crime · thrillerStarz

Action with a pulse of atmosphere, in both cases

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Polar

Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.

A Colt is My Passport poster
A Colt is My Passport
1967 · dir. Takashi Nomura
★ 7.4action · crime · drama

Contemplative crime in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.

Widows poster
Widows
2018 · dir. Steve McQueen
🍅 91%★ 6.8drama · crime · thriller

Drama built on grit, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to thriller than Polar does

A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their spouses' criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, they join forces to pull off a heist.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For poster
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
2014 · dir. Robert Rodriguez
🍅 43%★ 6.5action · crime · thrillerPrime VideoParamount+

Both lean on momentum more than on action

Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.

Deep Cover poster
Deep Cover
1992 · dir. Bill Duke
🍅 87%★ 7action · thriller · crime

Atmospheric crime, and it commits to that

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.

The Grifters poster
The Grifters
1990 · dir. Stephen Frears
🍅 92%★ 6.8crime · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Phoenix poster
Phoenix
2014 · dir. Christian Petzold
🍅 98%★ 7.3drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

In the aftermath of WWII, German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly has to undergo facial reconstructive surgery following her survival from Auschwitz. Without recognising Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he's betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelgänger.

High Sierra poster
High Sierra
1941 · dir. Raoul Walsh
🍅 92%★ 7.5crime · drama · action

Kinetic action in both cases

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

Scarface poster
Scarface
1932 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 98%★ 7.7crime · action · drama

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.

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