48 Movies Like Polar (2019) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View Polar details →If you loved Polar (2019) by Jonas Åkerlund, here are 48 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are 21 Bridges, Training Day, Payback. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to Polar
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with Polar in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
21 Bridges
2019 · Brian Kirk
An embattled NYPD detective, is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive and unexpected conspiracy. As the night unfolds, lines become blurred on who he is p
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Training Day
2001 · Antoine Fuqua
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.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Payback
1999 · Brian Helgeland
With friends like these, who needs enemies? That's the question bad guy Porter is left asking after his wife and partner steal his heist money and leave him for dead -- or so they think. Five months a
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Léon: The Professional
1994 · Luc Besson
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Heat
1995 · Michael Mann
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and r
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Rounders
1998 · John Dahl
Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best fri
In common: Crime · Drama
Elite Squad
2007 · José Padilha
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 n
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Cradle 2 the Grave
2003 · Andrzej Bartkowiak
Gang leader Tony pulls off a major diamond heist with his crew, but cop-turned-criminal Ling knows who has the loot and responds by kidnapping Tony's daughter and holding her for ransom. Unfortunately
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Max Payne
2008 · John Moore
A DEA agent whose family was slain as part of a conspiracy, and an assassin out to avenge her sister's death, join forces to solve a series of murders in New York City.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
The Punisher: One Last Kill
2026 · Reinaldo Marcus Green
As Frank Castle searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Taxi Driver
1976 · Martin Scorsese
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the f
In common: Crime · Drama
A Better Tomorrow
1986 · John Woo
A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
2011 · Quentin Tarantino
A former assassin, known simply as The Bride, wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vo
In common: Action · Crime
True Romance
1993 · Tony Scott
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
In common: Action · Crime
The Nice Guys
2016 · Shane Black
A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.
In common: Action · Crime
Sicario
2015 · Denis Villeneuve
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
In common: Action · Crime
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018 · Stefano Sollima
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
In common: Action · Crime
Colombiana
2011 · Olivier Megaton
After witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota, Cataleya Restrepo grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging i
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
The Substitute
1996 · Robert Mandel
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 dow
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Need for Speed
2014 · Scott Waugh
The film revolves around a local street-racer who partners with a rich and arrogant business associate, only to find himself framed by his colleague and sent to prison. After he gets out, he joins a N
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Rebel Ridge
2024 · Jeremy Saulnier
A former Marine confronts corruption in a small town when local law enforcement unjustly seizes the bag of cash he needs to post his cousin's bail.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Insomnia
2002 · Christopher Nolan
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
In common: Crime · Drama
Ambulance
2022 · Michael Bay
Decorated veteran Will Sharp, desperate for money to cover his wife's medical bills, asks for help from his adoptive brother Danny. A charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Nightmare Alley
2021 · Guillermo del Toro
An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.
In common: Crime · Drama
In Bruges
2008 · Martin McDonagh
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ke
In common: Crime · Drama
Patriots Day
2016 · Peter Berg
In the aftermath of an unspeakable act of terror, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders joins courageous survivors, first responders and investigators in a race against the clock to hunt down the Boston Mara
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy
2018 · Yuen Woo-Ping
Following his defeat by Master Ip, Cheung Tin Chi tries to make a life with his young son in Hong Kong, waiting tables at a bar that caters to expats. But it's not long before the mix of foreigners, m
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Contraband
2012 · Baltasar Kormákur
When his brother-in-law runs afoul of a drug lord, family man Chris Farraday turns to a skill he abandoned long ago—smuggling—to repay the debt. But the job goes wrong, and Farraday finds himself want
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Lock Up
1989 · John Flynn
Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after hi
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Scarface
1983 · Brian De Palma
After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eve
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
The Shadow's Edge
2025 · Larry Yang
Macau Police brings the tracking expert police officer out of retirement to help catch a dangerous group of professional thieves.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Sin Nombre
2009 · Cary Joji Fukunaga
Sayra, a Native Honduran teenager, hungers for a better life. Her chance for one comes when she is reunited with her long-estranged father, who intends to emigrate to Mexico and then enter the United
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Jack Reacher
2012 · Christopher McQuarrie
One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interro
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Havoc
2025 · Gareth Evans
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Prisoners
2013 · Denis Villeneuve
Keller Dover is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a
In common: Crime · Drama
Drive
2011 · Nicolas Winding Refn
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young
In common: Crime · Drama
Uncut Gems
2019 · Benny Safdie
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high
In common: Crime · Drama
Le Trou
1960 · Jacques Becker
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Ove
In common: Crime · Drama
The Punisher
1989 · Mark Goldblatt
The avenging angel of Marvel Comics fame comes brilliantly to life in this searing action-adventure thriller! Dolph Lundgren stars as Frank Castle, a veteran cop who loses his entire family to a mafia
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Under the Silver Lake
2018 · David Robert Mitchell
Young and disenchanted Sam meets a mysterious and beautiful woman who's swimming in his building's pool one night. When she suddenly vanishes the next morning, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Lo
In common: Crime · Drama
The Punisher
2004 · Jonathan Hensleigh
When undercover FBI agent Frank Castle's wife and son are slaughtered, he becomes 'the Punisher' -- a ruthless vigilante willing to go to any length to avenge his family.
In common: Action · Crime · Drama
Parker
2013 · Taylor Hackford
A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hija
In common: Action · Crime
Four Brothers
2005 · John Singleton
Four adopted brothers return to their Detroit hometown when their mother is murdered and vow to exact revenge on the killers.
In common: Action · Crime
Sound of Freedom
2023 · Alejandro Monteverde
The story of Tim Ballard, a former US government agent, who quits his job in order to devote his life to rescuing children from global sex traffickers.
In common: Action · Drama
The Dark Knight
2008 · Christopher Nolan
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the stree
In common: Action · Crime
Sunset Boulevard
1950 · Billy Wilder
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
In common: Drama
Warrior
2011 · Gavin O'Connor
The youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament – a path that puts the fighter on a collision course wit
In common: Action · Drama
The 13th Warrior
1999 · John McTiernan
A Muslim ambassador exiled from his homeland joins a group of Vikings, initially offended by their behavior but growing to respect them. As they travel together, they learn of a legendary evil closing
In common: Action
Popular series
Breaking Bad
2008 · Michelle MacLaren
Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
2023 · Kazutaka Yamanaka
After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s m
Avatar: The Last Airbender
2005 · Michael Dante DiMartino
In a war-torn world of elemental magic, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
