30 Best Movies Like Drive You Need to Watch
If you are looking for more action movies like Drive, without a lot of dialogue and with a lot of stunning visuals and graphic imagery, we have a lot of great alternatives before. From big blockbusters to some smaller gems, check out our list of the best movies like Drive you need to watch.
Drive is a 2011 American action drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The screenplay, written by Hossein Amini, is based on James Sallis’s 2005 novel of the same name.
The film stars Ryan Gosling as an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. He quickly grows fond of his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her young son, Benicio. When her debt-ridden husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is released from prison, the two men take part in what turns out to be a botched million-dollar heist that endangers the lives of everyone involved.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the best movies like Drive ready for your next watch.
Wheelman (2017)
Tells the story of the driver of a bank robber who finds out in the middle of the robbery that he has been cheated and that someone wants to kill him, and starts a race against time to save his loved ones and try to find out who betrayed him!
Baby Driver (2017)
Baby is a young and talented car driver who relies on the rhythm of the music he listens to non-stop to be the best at what he does. However, when he meets the girl of his dreams, Baby sees the new acquaintance as an opportunity to escape from crime. However, after a mobster forces him to work for him, Baby must face reality – a doomed heist that will threaten his life, love and freedom.
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Nightcrawler (2014)
It’s no secret that blood sells news these days. The more brutal and shocking the event, the more media space it will receive. The sociopath Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) understood this too, and after unsuccessfully looking for a job, he decided to become a freelance TV reporter who follows the blackest of all chronicles – the night ones.
Boiling Point (1993)
Determined Jimmy Mercer (W. Snipes) is a capable Los Angeles detective who one evening, while monitoring the young criminal Ronnie (V. Mortensen) with his partner Brady (D. Hedaya), becomes a witness to the young man’s murder of his colleague Russo. Ronnie is an unbridled and reckless guy who, with the help of a middle-aged petty crook Rudolph “Red” Diamond (D. Hopper), has recently been released from prison, and whom Red intends to use to do dirty work.
Having decided with Brady’s help to arrest the young man and avenge his murdered colleague, Jimmy knows that he doesn’t have much time because his bosses are announcing that he will soon be transferred to Newark. To make matters worse, Jimmy is a man with an unsettled personal life, whose marriage to the emotional Sally (S. Mercer) has failed, and is currently maintaining a superficial relationship with the attractive prostitute Vikki Dunbar (L. Davidovich).
At the same time, the cynic and loser Red, trying to rebuild his relationship with the waitress Carol (C. Elise), fears for his own life because he owes the gangster Tony Di (T. Lo Bianco) 50 thousand dollars. When he meets Vikki through a combination of circumstances, Red decides that with Ronnie’s help it is worth trying to outsmart Tony and then start a better life with the girl. Little does he know, however, that Jimmy, with the cooperation of corrupt lawyer Max Waxman (J. Banks), will soon find himself on his trail.
Taxi Driver (1976)
New York, 1970s. Former Marine and Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (R. De Niro) suffers from insomnia and starts working nights as a taxi driver. Driving through the most dangerous neighborhoods, Travis observes prostitutes, criminals and the rest of the world, feeling called to change things in the city. Asocial Travis has no friends and goes to obscure porn movies.
Noticing the beautiful political activist Betsy (C. Shepherd), engaged in the presidential campaign of Senator Charles Palantine (L. Harris), Travis invites her to lunch, but the acquaintance between them ends after he takes her to a porn movie. Convinced that he must do something urgent with himself and his company, Travis buys several revolvers. While driving through New York, a minor prostitute Iris (J. Foster) catches his eye.
Drive (2019)
A getaway driver is attracted to a female neighbor whose husband owes money to a local gangster. As a result, he is drawn deeper into a dangerous underworld.
The Driver (1978)
A detective promises to waive the punishment for a group of robbers if they help him organize a fake “job” and thus catch the driver. The driver must find an ally to help him forge a trail.
Collateral (2004)
Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a contract killer who must carry out five murders across Los Angeles. He was paid by a Mexican drug lord who, like any decent employer, gave him strict instructions about the five who could be killed in the upcoming trial. Having studiously prepared his bloody campaign, Vincent takes a taxi with a very simple plan for the sake of inconspicuousness.
Taxi driver Max (Jamie Foxx) will take him to the first “client” where he will wait for him, and after a short job, the ride can continue, until Vincent completely eliminates the threat to his employer. However, the matter gets complicated when the taxi driver becomes a witness already after the first murder, after which Vincent forcibly draws him into his plan, which he clearly has no intention of changing, but only slightly adapting. Foxx has no way out, and the only thing left for him is to accept the new situation. The morbid taxi ride through Los Angeles can begin.
Heat (1995)
Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a thief, one of the best. A loner with a life motto: don’t get attached to anything you can’t escape from in 30 seconds. After getting out of prison, McCauley gathers a team and goes on robbery sprees again. Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is a lieutenant in the Homicide and Robbery Squad of the Los Angeles Police Department, who is completely devoted to his job, and because of this his private life has fallen apart, and his job is the only thing left.
When McCauley’s team kills the guards during an operation, Hanna takes over the case to stand in the way of the gang and bring them to justice. It seems that the team is impossible to unmask, but thanks to a network of informants and details from their private lives, Hanna slowly begins to piece together a mosaic. The conflict will intensify over time and will become a private fight between McCauley and Hanna in which someone will get hurt.
God Bless America (2011)
Frank has had enough of the chronic decline of American culture. Divorced, recently fired from his job and with a possible terminal illness, Frank truly has nothing left to live for. But instead of taking his own life, he buys a gun and decides to take out his anger on the cruelest, stupidest, most insufferable people he can imagine – starting with some particularly disgusting reality TV stars.
Frank finds an unusual helper in high school girl Roxy, who shares his sense of anger and disenfranchisement of people. Together they launch an attack on the most annoying celebrities in the USA.
The Guest (2014)
The Peterson family is grieving the death of their soldier son when a young soldier enters their life who claims to have known their deceased son. They will welcome him wholeheartedly into their home, but the series of unexplained deaths that will follow will cast a shadow over the newly arrived guest.
Thief (1981)
Frank (J. Caan) has already spent ten years in prison. He has been breaking into safes and robbing diamonds for the past few years. He works with only one or two assistants, and he gets money for the looted goods from the criminals who sell them. As a cover for that job, in which he is a top professional, he has a car dealership. When one of those diamond dealers is killed, Frank collects a debt from his mob boss.
He offers Franko to do two or three more big robberies for the mafia, so he can retire. Frank is in a relationship with Jessie (T. Weld), a complicated woman who, like him, dreams of a peaceful life. Still in prison is Frank’s best friend and mentor, old Okla (W. Nelson), who should be released in ten months. However, he is terminally ill and begs Frank to get him out of prison as soon as possible. Because of all this, Frank accepts the mobster’s offer. But the police keep an eye on the mobsters and notice Frank too.
Payback (1999)
Porter (M. Gibson) is a professional thief and murderer. His partner Val Resnick (G. Henry) turns out to be an even bigger thief than him when, after they rob an Asian gang together and earn $140,000, he shoots him and leaves him for dead. Val escapes with the money and Porter’s wife Lynn (D.K. Unger). He needs money to join a powerful criminal organization, the so-called syndicate The Outfit.
Porter survives, and after five months of recovery, he sets out on the hunt, seeking only what belongs to him, which is $70,000. He is helped by his girlfriend, an expensive prostitute Rosie (M. Bello). Porter relentlessly advances towards his goal – to destroy the organization Val now belongs to, led by the dangerous Bronson (K. Kristofferson). Standing in his way are a Chinese gang, two corrupt police officers and an unusual Asian woman (L. Liu) who takes her job as a sadomasochist prostitute extremely seriously.
Payback: Straight Up (2006)
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 and an endless reservoir of bitterness later, Porter’s partners and the crooked cops on his tail learn how bad payback can be.
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Richard Chance (W. L. Petersen) and Jim Hart (M. Greene) are secret agents who have been working together in Los Angeles for seven years. If they are not guarding the American president, then they are solving the most serious criminal cases. For six months, they are on the heels of the intelligent and unscrupulous Rick Masters (W. Dafoe), who counterfeits large amounts of money, but they have no evidence against him.
Two days before his retirement, Jim himself finds the place where Masters is forging money, but Masters kills him. Jim was also Richard’s best friend. Richard will now work with another colleague, John Vukovich (J. Pankow). He sees Masters’ arrest after Jim’s death as a personal matter. At the airport, he and Vukovich arrest Carl Cody, Masters’ courier. Cody is visited in prison by Masters and learns that he has been conned by lawyer Max Waxman (C. Allport) who usually embezzles money. Meanwhile, Richard and John watch the lawyer’s house, but Masters manages to kill him.
In Bruges (2008)
Harry Walters (R. Fiennes), a London gangster, sends two Irish hitmen Ken (B. Gleeson) and Ray (C. Farrell) to hide in Bruges, Belgium, after their plan backfires in a London church. Ken is very experienced in his work, otherwise fascinated by the Middle Ages, and has a fatherly attitude towards young Ray.
Ray is bored and can’t wait to get home. However, Ray meets a drug dealer, young Chloë, who hangs around the American film crew. In addition, a meeting and accident with a Canadian tourist, and then with Chloe’s boyfriend, will complicate his initially monotonous stay in a city he doesn’t like.
Inherent Vice (2014)
Hidden Mana is an unusual and original crime film whose protagonist is a drug-addled detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) who receives a call from his ex-girlfriend with the story that the wife and boyfriend of her rich lover are planning to kidnap him.
This seemingly simple short synopsis hides a very complex and dynamic story for which Pynchon has become famous and which has earned him a leading place in the bookies for years when it comes to new winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Young Sun-woo (L. Byung-hun) is a successful hotel manager, a quiet and determined guy who always solves all problems efficiently. As a member of the gangster organization of ruthless boss Kang (K. Yeong-cheol), Sun-woo often resorts to violence. When Kang entrusts him with the duty of a sort of bodyguard for his young girlfriend Hee-soo (S. Min-a), a gifted cellist whom Kang suspects has a lover, Sun-woo will suddenly find himself in deep trouble.
Namely, after falling in love with the attractive Hee-soo himself at first sight, Sun-woo decides to keep quiet from Kang that the girl really has a lover. When, driven by jealousy but also loyalty to his boss, he beats up a young man, Sun-woo comes into conflict with two members of an opposing gangster clan during a nighttime car ride.
On the same night, thugs broke into his apartment, beat him and threw him out into the rainy and muddy street. The young man learns that it is Kang who is behind everything, who does not want a conflict with the opposing clan and suspects that it is Sun-woo who is Hee-soo’s lover.
The Accountant (2016)
Wolff is a math whiz who has more of an affinity for numbers than people. While working as an accountant in a small CPA office, he also performs the same work for the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. Because of his abilities, he caught the eye of the Ministry of Finance headed by Ray King. At the same time, Wolff starts working for a powerful company within which Dana Cummings has uncovered a financial fraud involving millions of dollars.
Only God Forgives (2013)
She wants revenge and forces Julian to find the killer. Julian’s contacts lead him directly to the “Avenging Angel”, a retired police officer who rules the underworld, and this acquaintance will cost him dearly.
Gringo (2018)
David Oyelowo stars as a recently married, decent businessman who owns a stake in a pharmaceutical company about to go public…until the day his life turns into hell due to an incident in Mexico. At that moment, the civilized American businessman becomes a criminal.
Good Time (2017)
After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Constantine Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through the city’s underworld in an incredibly desperate and dangerous attempt to break his brother Nick out of prison.
During one hectic night, Connie will land in a crazy world of violence and crime and in a race against time will try to save both herself and her brother, knowing that their lives hang in the balance.
The Last Days of American Crime (2020)
In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to crime and terrorism, the U.S. government plans to broadcast a signal that will make it impossible for anyone to knowingly break the law.
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Motorcyclist Luke is desperately trying to reconcile with Romina, the love of his life, who recently secretly gave birth to a son. Trying to provide a decent life for his new family, Luke decides to rob banks.
Given his driving skills, escaping is never a problem for him. An ambitious policeman who is building his career in a corrupt station wants to stand in his way. The drama unfolds over fifteen years, while the sins of the past catch up with two boys who struggle with their own heritage.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
The film sequel to the hit series ‘Breaking Bad’ follows Jessie Pinkman after Walt frees him from the clutches of neo-Nazis who were holding him captive. Broken and at the edge of his strength, Jessie must now face his past in order to finally step into a brighter future.
The Town (2010)
In Boston, banks are robbed over 300 times a year. Most of the professional robbers live in Charlestown. One of them is Doug McRay. His only family is his fellow criminals, whom he leads on ruthless heists where they take whatever they want and always get away with it.
Doug’s life is complicated by Claire, the manager of a robbed bank, with whom he becomes romantically involved. When he wants to leave the criminal life behind, Doug will have to choose between his friends and the woman he loves.
The Nice Guys (2016)
Private detective Holland March and hired extortionist Jackson Healy are forced to work together to solve the case of a missing girl who is somehow connected to the death of a famous porn star. During the investigation, they discover a shocking conspiracy that reaches the highest circles of power.
The Drop (2014)
In this contemporary crime drama, Tom Hardy plays lonely bartender Bob whose measured manners contrast sharply with the Brooklyn grime of his boss and cousin Marv (James Gandolfini). From time to time the bar serves as a place to deliver money to the gangs, but strangely, the bar robbery does not happen then.
Despite this, the Chechen owner of Chovka encourages Bob and Marv to find the money, as soon as possible. But things get complicated for Bob when his beautiful neighbor Nadia (Noomi Rapace) enters his life along with a mistreated dog and its original owner (Matthias Schoenaerts).
The Italian Job (2003)
The film is based on the old version of the 1969 film of the same name starring Michael Caine, which has been modernized to offer new twists to the audience. The great adventure begins in Venice, travels through the Italian Alps and Philadelphia and ends on the streets of Los Angeles.
A gang of thieves led by Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg) managed to pull off an almost impossible robbery in Venice, only to find out during the escape that one of them, Steve (Edward Norton), betrayed them in order to keep most of the loot for himself.
The patient planning of revenge is at an end, and the team is joined, reluctantly at first, by an experienced safecracker Stella Bridger (Charlize Theron), the daughter of Croker’s teacher John (Donald Sutherland). Steve is currently living in luxury in Los Angeles, not even thinking that his stolen gold will soon change hands.
Le Samurai (1967)
Hitman Jef Costello (Alain Delon) is a perfectionist who always carefully plans his murders and is never caught. However, one night after he kills the nightclub owner, he realizes there were witnesses. All attempts to invent an alibi fall into the water and he feels that he is more and more cornered from which there is no way out.
