Movies Like
Movies Like The Dark Knight for Serious Action Fans
By Jordan A. · · 5 min read
The Dark Knight came out in 2008 and became the first superhero film to pass a billion dollars worldwide. Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, only the second acting Oscar ever given after the performer's death. It was also the first major feature shot with high resolution IMAX cameras, roughly twenty eight minutes of it, which is why the opening bank robbery still looks like nothing else from that decade.
None of that explains why people keep rewatching it. What does is the structure. Christopher Nolan built it as a crime film that happens to have a man in a cape in it, with Michael Mann's Heat as the obvious model: multiple crews, a city that behaves like a character, and a villain whose plan is really an argument. The Joker never wants money. He wants to prove a point about everyone else in the room.
So the list below is not "other superhero movies." It's crime films with an idea in them, plus the two comic book films that actually learned the lesson. Eight picks, with runtimes that mostly clear two hours.
The film Nolan was studying
Heat (1995) is Michael Mann's Los Angeles crime epic, and it was the first time Al Pacino and Robert De Niro appeared on screen together, since they shared no scenes in The Godfather Part II. Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore and Jon Voight fill out the crew. The downtown shootout after the bank job was realistic enough that the US Army later used parts of it in training material. It's long and it takes the domestic subplots as seriously as the heists, which is the part some viewers lose patience with. It is also the direct blueprint for The Dark Knight's opening.
Crime, procedure, consequences
The Departed (2006) is Martin Scorsese in South Boston, with William Monahan's script putting Leonardo DiCaprio undercover in the mob and Matt Damon undercover in the police. Jack Nicholson chews everything within reach. It won four Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The paranoia is the appeal, and the body count in the last fifteen minutes is either a great punchline or a cop out depending on who you ask. It's on AMC Plus as of August 2026.
Infernal Affairs (2002) is the Hong Kong film The Departed remade, directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak with Tony Leung and Andy Lau. It is tighter, sadder and considerably more restrained than the Scorsese version, and its resolution of the same moral problem is completely different. Watching both in a week is one of the better film school exercises you can give yourself. It's subtitled and about half an hour shorter, which is not a small consideration on a weeknight.
Sicario (2015) is Denis Villeneuve directing a Taylor Sheridan script, shot by Roger Deakins and scored by Johann Johannsson. Emily Blunt plays an FBI agent attached to a task force that will not tell her what it actually is, with Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro. Three Oscar nominations, all technical. The border tunnel sequence is one of the most sustained pieces of dread in modern American film. Blunt's character is deliberately kept powerless, which frustrates some viewers. It's on HBO Max as of August 2026.
Se7en (1995) is David Fincher's second film, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman chasing a killer working through the deadly sins. New Line wanted a more upbeat ending and a climax in a burning church; Fincher refused, Pitt and Freeman backed him, and the version that exists is the one he wanted. It is the clearest ancestor of the Joker's whole method, a villain whose plan requires the heroes to complete it. Fair warning that it is bleak all the way down.
Comic book films that learned something
The Batman (2022) is Matt Reeves taking the character somewhere Nolan didn't, which is straight into detective noir. Robert Pattinson plays a Bruce Wayne two years into the job and bad at the social half, with Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano as the Riddler and Jeffrey Wright as Gordon. Michael Giacchino's score is a four note funeral march. It's one of the longest superhero films ever made and it feels it in the third act. The Batman Part II is scheduled for October 2027.
Logan (2017) is James Mangold's R-rated goodbye to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, set in 2029, with Patrick Stewart and a remarkable Dafne Keen. It became the first live action superhero film nominated for an Academy Award for screenwriting. Like The Dark Knight it works because the genre furniture is stripped back until you're watching a western about a dying man and a kid. It is also, be warned, the most upsetting film on this list.
Skyfall (2012) is Sam Mendes making the Bond film that is openly in conversation with The Dark Knight, right down to a villain who gets captured on purpose. Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem lead it, Roger Deakins shot it, and it won Oscars for Adele's title song and sound editing. It crossed $1.109 billion, the first Bond film to pass a billion. The third act relocates to a Scottish farmhouse and the scale drops sharply, which some people love and others find deflating.
How to pick tonight
If you have three hours and want the real source, Heat. If you want the same pressure in less time, Infernal Affairs or Se7en. Sicario is the pick for a night you want to be tense rather than entertained. And if what you actually miss is a good villain doing something clever, Skyfall and The Batman both deliver without asking you to think too hard.
If you want a shortlist built from your own taste instead, our movie recommendation tool takes a few titles and goes from there.
Topics covered: the-dark-knight, action, crime, nolan, heat, sicario, the-batman, thriller
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.