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In the Heart of the Sea poster

Movies that feel likeIn the Heart of the Sea (2015)

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex is assaulted by something no one could believe—a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance.

If you loved In the Heart of the Sea, the closest films we have are 13 Assassins (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012) and Cell 211 (2009). All three share In the Heart of the Sea's kinetic and melancholy feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is I'm Still Here (2024).

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If In the Heart of the Sea hit the spot, these will too

13 Assassins poster
13 Assassins
2010 · dir. Takashi Miike
🍅 95%★ 7.5adventure · drama · actionPrime Video

One thread runs through both: suicide

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

The Expendables 2 poster
The Expendables 2
2012 · dir. Simon West
🍅 68%★ 6.6action · adventure · thriller

Both land tension and scale at once

The difference: Trades the stillness of In the Heart of the Sea for an angle of its own

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Cell 211 poster
Cell 211
2009 · dir. Daniel Monzón
🍅 98%★ 7.6action · thriller · dramaNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: suicide

The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.

Hero poster
Hero
2002 · dir. Zhang Yimou
★ 7.9drama · adventure · action

Contemplative and kinetic in the same breath

During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.

Apocalypto poster
Apocalypto
2006 · dir. Mel Gibson
🍅 65%★ 7.8action · drama · historyPrime VideoHulu

Melancholy drama, and it commits to that

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service poster
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1969 · dir. Peter R. Hunt
🍅 81%★ 6.7adventure · action · thrillerPrime Video

Tense thriller in both cases

The difference: 46 years apart, and the 1960s show

With the help of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, and Draco's troubled daughter Tracy, James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Stravro Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women.

Poseidon poster
Poseidon
2006 · dir. Wolfgang Petersen
🍅 33%★ 5.7adventure · action · drama

Both are working the same pair: ship, shipwreck

A packed cruise ship traveling the Atlantic is hit and overturned by a massive wave, compelling the passengers to begin a dramatic fight for their lives.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen poster
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen
2010 · dir. Andrew Lau Wai-Keung
🍅 47%★ 6.2drama · action · historyPrime Video

Action with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The Japanese forces occupy Shanghai and slowly start spreading terror in the city. Chen Zhen, who was presumed dead, returns to fight against the Japanese and put an end to their tyrannical rule.

Blood Diamond poster
Blood Diamond
2006 · dir. Edward Zwick
🍅 64%★ 8drama · thriller · actionApple TV+

Both lean on momentum more than on adventure

An ex-mercenary turned smuggler. A Mende fisherman. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed countrywide.

Death Wish poster
Death Wish
2018 · dir. Eli Roth
🍅 18%★ 6.3action · crime · thriller

History built on melancholy, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to crime than In the Heart of the Sea does

A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.

The Perfect Storm poster
The Perfect Storm
2000 · dir. Wolfgang Petersen
★ 6.5drama · adventure · action

Common ground: a true story

In October 1991, a confluence of weather conditions combined to form a killer storm in the North Atlantic. Caught in the storm was the sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail.

I'm Still Here poster
I'm Still Here
2024 · dir. Walter Salles
★ 8.2drama · historyNetflix

Both are built on the same subject: a true story

A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

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The best-reviewed films that share In the Heart of the Sea’s defining feeling.