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Merantau poster

Movies that feel likeMerantau (2009)

In Minangkabau, West Sumatera, Yuda a skilled practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his "Merantau" a century's old rites-of-passage to be carried out by the community's young men that will see him leave the comforts of his idyllic farming village and make a name for himself in the bustling city of Jakarta.

If you loved Merantau, the closest films we have are Furie (2019), Don (2006) and The Raid 2 (2014). All three share Merantau's kinetic and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Haywire (2011).

9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hi-YAH

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If Merantau hit the spot, these will too

Furie poster
Furie
2019 · dir. Le Van Kiet
🍅 95%★ 6.3action · drama · thrillerPrime Video

Both are working the same pair: martial arts, human trafficking

When a little girl is kidnapped by a trafficking ring, they soon find they messed with the wrong child. Her mother, a notorious former gang leader, is close on their trail and will go to any lengths to bring her child home.

Don poster
Don
2006 · dir. Farhan Akhtar
★ 7.2action · drama · thrillerNetflix

Kinetic where it counts, contemplative underneath

DCP DeSilva sees a way to bring to justice the feared head of a criminal empire by recruiting a man named Vijay, who looks exactly like the crime boss. The ruse works too well, and soon Vijay finds his life in danger when DeSilva, the only one who knows his true identity, dies.

The Raid 2 poster
The Raid 2
2014 · dir. Gareth Evans
🍅 82%★ 7.9action · crime · thriller

Gareth Evans directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Trades the stillness of Merantau for an angle of its own

After fighting his way through an apartment building populated by an army of dangerous criminals and escaping with his life, SWAT team member Rama goes undercover, joining a powerful Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and uncover corrupt members of his own force.

Haywire poster
Haywire
2011 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 80%★ 5.8action · thriller · drama

Action built on tension, twice over

A black ops soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and left for dead.

In the Line of Duty 4 poster
In the Line of Duty 4
1989 · dir. Yuen Woo-ping
★ 7.1action · crime · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: martial arts

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Merantau does

Two detectives who are up to their necks in trouble and in each other's face, as they try to shut down a drug-trafficking scheme that could be connected with international ties to organized crime. But in the midst of their investigation, innocent immigrant dock worker Luk Wan-Ting gets caught up in the mix when he witnesses the murder of an intelligence operative and is framed for the crime.

Blood Father poster
Blood Father
2016 · dir. Jean-François Richet
🍅 89%★ 6.4action · thriller · drama

Kinetic drama, and it commits to that

An ex-con reconnects with his estranged teenage daughter while fighting to keep her alive after she becomes a target of violent drug dealers.

Thunderbolt poster
Thunderbolt
1995 · dir. Gordon Chan
★ 6.3action · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

In order to release his kidnapped sister, sports car mechanic, Chan Foh To, has to defeat a super-criminal street racer.

Metro poster
Metro
2013 · dir. Anton Megerdichev
★ 6.4action · thrillerPrime Video

Action with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

Terror strikes the underground train system in Moscow in the form of a flood from a collapsed tunnel. The film follows a diverse group of Moscow citizens who find themselves trapped in the city’s underground rail network, their train derailed and virtually crushed after an aging tunnel collapses. Amongst this band of survivors is softly spoken surgeon Andrey (Sergei Puskepalis), whose wife is having an affair with the conceited businessman Vlad (Anatoly Beliy). Fate brings these two men together on the same doomed train, but there is little time to resolve their differences, as the tunnel begins to quickly fill with water, forcing them to work together with the others and find a way back to the surface.

Mother's Day poster
Mother's Day
2023 · dir. Mateusz Rakowicz
★ 5.3thriller · actionNetflix

Tense thriller in both cases

Nina, a former NATO special operations agent living in hiding, has to use all her deadly skills to rescue her son who has been kidnapped by ruthless gangsters. Finding Max is a double opportunity for her. A chance to feel the adrenaline rush again, and an opportunity to get back into the life of the son she had to abandon years ago.

The Abyss poster
The Abyss
2023 · dir. Richard Holm
★ 5.3thriller · drama · actionNetflix

Contemplative drama in both cases

As the Swedish town of Kiruna sinks, Frigga finds herself torn between her family and her job as security chief at the world's largest underground mine.

Darkland: The Return poster
Darkland: The Return
2023 · dir. Fenar Ahmad
★ 6.3thriller · action

Both know what they want from action

Seven years ago, Zaid went to war against the Copenhagen underworld to avenge his dead brother. His identity as a respected doctor of cardiology and life as a family man is but a fading dream, and in prison Zaid suffers the loss of his son Noah, whom he barely knows. When a police agent approaches Zaid and offers him a deal to be released in exchange for infiltrating the Copenhagen underworld, he sees his chance to reclaim the remnants of the family life he left behind. But everything has a price, and Zaid realizes that he has now seriously endangered his son's life. After all, once you become part of the underworld, is there any way out?

Soulcatcher poster
Soulcatcher
2023 · dir. Daniel Markowicz
★ 3.7action · thrillerNetflix

The thriller is handled with the same confidence

A military contractor hired to seize a weapon that turns people into savage killers seeks revenge when his brother falls victim to the device.

In the mood for more kinetic?

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The best-reviewed films that share Merantau’s defining feeling.