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Children of Men poster

Movies that feel likeChildren of Men (2006)

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

If you loved Children of Men, the closest films we have are The Book of Eli (2010), District B13 (2004) and Equilibrium (2002). All three share Children of Men's cerebral and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is eXistenZ (1999).

🍅 92% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Alfonso Cuaróncerebraltensekineticbleak
10 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium · AMC

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If Children of Men hit the spot, these will too

The Book of Eli poster
The Book of Eli
2010 · dir. Allen Hughes
🍅 46%★ 6.8action · thriller · science fiction

One person protecting something precious across a broken, lawless world

The difference: A lone-wanderer road story, no ensemble or refugee-camp politics

A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

District B13 poster
District B13
2004 · dir. Pierre Morel
🍅 81%★ 7.1action · thriller · science fictionPrime Video

A walled-off, forgotten district where the state has already given up

The difference: A parkour-fueled bomb-defusal thriller, faster and more genre-pure

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

Equilibrium poster
Equilibrium
2002 · dir. Kurt Wimmer
🍅 40%★ 7.3action · science fiction · thrillerParamount+

A totalitarian order that crushes anything resembling real feeling

The difference: A martial-arts uprising against tyranny, more stylized than grounded

In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.

eXistenZ poster
eXistenZ
1999 · dir. David Cronenberg
🍅 77%★ 6.8action · thriller · science fiction

Reality itself feels compromised by systems built to control people

The difference: A body-horror virtual-reality thriller, stranger and more abstract

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines poster
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2003 · dir. Jonathan Mostow
🍅 70%★ 6.3action · thriller · science fiction

A war against machinery that already sees humanity as obsolete

The difference: A machine-uprising action sequel, more spectacle than social dread

It's been 10 years since John Connor saved Earth from Judgment Day, and he's now living under the radar, steering clear of using anything Skynet can trace. That is, until he encounters T-X, a robotic assassin ordered to finish what T-1000 started. Good thing Connor's former nemesis, the Terminator, is back to aid the now-adult Connor … just like he promised.

RoboCop poster
RoboCop
1987 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 84%★ 7.6action · thriller · science fiction

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dystopia

In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.

Surrogates poster
Surrogates
2009 · dir. Jonathan Mostow
🍅 37%★ 6.3science fiction · action · thriller

A future where the systems meant to protect people quietly failed them

The difference: A robot-surrogate murder mystery, cooler and more procedural

Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.

RoboCop poster
RoboCop
2014 · dir. José Padilha
🍅 50%★ 6.1action · science fiction · thriller

A near-future where corporate power quietly runs the machinery of control

The difference: A cyborg-cop revenge story, more corporate satire than refugee drama

In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.

Death Race poster
Death Race
2008 · dir. Paul W. S. Anderson
🍅 41%★ 6.4action · thriller · science fictionStarz

A corporation profiting from human desperation inside a collapsing system

The difference: A prison death-sport spectacle, pulpier and far less contemplative

Terminal Island, New York: 2020. Overcrowding in the US penal system has reached a breaking point. Prisons have been turned over to a monolithic Weyland Corporation, which sees jails full of thugs as an opportunity for televised sport. Adrenalized inmates, a global audience hungry for violence and a spectacular, enclosed arena come together to form the 'Death Race', the biggest, most brutal event.

Gamer poster
Gamer
2009 · dir. Brian Taylor
🍅 29%★ 5.7action · thriller · science fiction

Common ground: dystopia

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Mind-control technology has taken society by a storm, a multiplayer on-line game called "Slayers" allows players to control human prisoners in mass-scale. Simon controls Kable, the online champion of the game. Kable's ultimate challenge becomes regaining his identity and independence by defeating the game's mastermind.

Total Recall poster
Total Recall
2012 · dir. Len Wiseman
🍅 30%★ 6.2action · science fiction · thriller

Both land ideas and tension at once

Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for implanted memories of being a spy. When the procedure goes wrong, Quaid becomes a wanted man by the police and joins forces with a rebel fighter to stop the evil Chancellor Cohaagen.

They Live poster
They Live
1988 · dir. John Carpenter
🍅 86%★ 7.2science fiction · action · thrillerPrime Video

The same mix in both: momentum, then bleakness

A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.

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The best-reviewed films that share Children of Men’s defining feeling.