Espionage, secret agents, and double agents are the stuff that makes great action movies like Casino Royale. Casino Royale, the 21st offspring of the famous spy franchise, is a lot of things, and most of all an entertaining action movie. But it’s not like any James Bond movie, it stands out above the rest. Daniel Craig is one of the greatest Bonds, I would say the best since Connery.
Casino Royale is all about the beginnings of Bond, and how he was accepted into the MI6 team. He is sent on a mission to the exotic Bahamas to eliminate a casino owner who laundered money for terrorists. The mission gets complicated when Bond is required to have the mobster eliminated by its gang. In this list, I cover 12 movies like Casino Royale. All titles share similar spies and espionage tropes.
Best Movies Like Casino Royale
1. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
During the early 60s, at the peak of the Cold War, CIA agent Solo (Henry Cavill), and KGB agent Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), are forced to put aside hostility. They cooperate on a joint mission of stopping an international criminal organization. The criminals are determined to upset the delicate balance of global power by rapidly advancing their nuclear weapons industry and technology. The duo’s only chance is the daughter of a German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization. Both agents start a race against time and search for it, to prevent a global catastrophe.
Very reminiscent of a variety of spy movies like Casino Royale from James Bond movies starring Sean Connery and Roger Moore to the parody “Pink Panther” movies and of course the 1967 hit In Like Flint, whose chauvinistic conduct is very reminiscent of this movie. Since The Man from U.N.C.L.E. emphasizes the hostile relationship but also professional appreciation between the two agents and the girl between them. Guy Richie manages to create a delicate balance between humor and action, while also not taking the action scenes too seriously.
2. Red (2010)
Frank, Joe, Marvin, and Victoria, (Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Hellen Mirren), were CIA agents in their youth. The secrets they kept with them turned them into moving targets at high risk. Now living the boring suburban life, they are incriminated with an assassination and forced to reunite. The former spies join together against a corrupt government official who threatens to eliminate them. They embark on a journey that crosses the U.S. and leads to the CIA headquarters. There, they will discover one of the most outrageous conspiracies ever to take place within the U.S. administration.
A fun espionage film. Red uses all the action movie clichés and mashes them into a completely absurd script. It’s full of fun action scenes, but it also has a kind of parody of all the ridiculous spy films. This is what sets it apart. In short, a spin-off film that does not take itself too seriously and is worth watching.
3. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
What is the film’s plot? It’s not important and not clear. Still: a former secret British agent turned terrorist escapes and manages to take control of three atomic bombs and agent Ethan Hunt and his team are supposed to try and capture him and save the world from extinction again.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout belongs to the type of movie like Casino Royale where its heroes are almost inhuman. Not only does agent Hunt do the impossible, but so does Tom Cruise. In other words, it’s a purposeful display by Cruise that there is no mission that is impossible for him. It’s one of the best movies in the MI series, Tom Cruise fans will enjoy one of his better performances.
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
In this film, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), is after the Christian myth of the urn from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper, rejoined by his father (Sawn Connery), who still treats him as a child. Forty years ago, a movie called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released. To say it left a mark would be a monumental understatement.
Spielberg dreamed of directing James Bond, but George Lucas convinced him he had something “much better”. Sean Connery, retired James Bond, in a very funny performance as Indie’s father, and retired Bond girl, Alison Dudi, as the Jones girl. The first film in the Indiana Jones film series not only proved to be the greatest adventure film of all time. Even four decades after its release, It’s still iconic.
5. The Constant Gardener (2005)
Somewhere in northern Kenya, police investigators discovered the body of Tessa (Rachel Weisz), who was brutally murdered. All the evidence leads to the fact that the murder motive was of romantic background. Nairobi police assume that Tessa’s indifferent and distant husband, Justin (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the investigation matters to them, however, they could not have been more wrong.
Haunted by feelings of remorse, and shocked by the rumors about the betrayal of his late wife, Justin embarks on a personal odyssey journey that will unfold across three countries. Thanks to his access to diplomatic secrets, he will risk his life to uncover the hard truth – a formidable and destructive conspiracy, more than he could ever imagine.
Director Fernando Meirelles manages to tell a story we have seen and heard dozens of times in a whole new way. He does so from a personal and human point of view. The Constant Gardener is not a thriller full of chases and explosions, it is a film about passionate love. A desire for life, a desire for nature, a desire for social justice, and a desire for a better world.
Movies like Casino Royale and The Constant Gardener place the disillusioned hero against corporations and politicians. Despite the didactic idea behind the plot the film does not fall into the trope trap and does so in a mature, serious, and clever way.
6. Spy Game (2001)
On the day before his retirement, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford), an experienced CIA spy, hears his former protégé, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), get into big trouble. He has been jailed in a foreign country for espionage and is set to be executed within 24 hours. To avoid an embarrassing international incident, CIA officials decide not to take a risk or try to save Bishop. Muir has a moral dilemma: will he help a friend and go all the way against the organization he served for so many years?
A spy thriller that spans three decades and several countries. Spy Game describes the last 24 hours before the date of the execution but also the period of the two’s joint work, starting with the Vietnam War, the Cold War on German soil, and American involvement in Lebanon. If you are looking for movies like Casino Royale and expecting an action film, you’ll be disappointed. This is a very sophisticated movie.
7. Bridge of Spies (2015)
A Walt Disney production directed by Steven Spielberg and written by the Cohen brothers – with Tom Hanks in the leading role. Lawyer Donovan, who specializes in the field of insurance, is being asked by the US authorities to represent a Soviet spy captured by them. Donovan does everything in his power to clear his client’s name or at least prevent him from getting into the electric chair. Of course in the 1950s this act of representing a Soviet spy was considered treason by the public, and indeed he and his family are treated hostilely by the residents.
Bridge of Spies was a hit before it was released, and indeed it is so professionally crafted. It takes you back to East Germany during the cold war. Donovan uses all his skills and with a lot of composure and cunning works to achieve his goals. It has all the characteristics you’ll find in spy movies like Casino Royale: A protagonist who is manly, talented, determined, and stands his ground, a superhero spy with values. And when this hero is Tom Hanks, it makes an excellent film.
8. La Femme Nikita (1990)
Nikita and her friends are addicted to drugs and break into stores to finance their addiction. In the last robbery, everything goes wrong: all her friends are killed and she is seriously injured and put in jail. As part of a secret government operation, Nikita’s suicide is staged, and she is drafted into the ranks of a government for a special mission. After a few years of training, she embarks on a mission as an undercover female assassin, where she meets Marco, and a love affair disrupts all her mechanisms.
Nikita is the female counterpart to all the male action heroes dealing with the world of men. Besson as director and the film itself has won many accolades and nominations for the Cesar Award. The film’s star, French actress Anne Farrell (and Besson’s ex-wife) has become the prototype of all the action heroines who can eliminate their enemies in an evening gown and stiletto heels.
9. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
A secret intelligence organization recruits a rough but promising street boy (Taron Egerton), for the agency’s competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges by a billionaire (Samuel L. Jackson), who seeks to wipe out most of the world’s population, through his communications network.
A perfect combination of exaggerated James Bond and ripping humor, not to mention that there is a plot and background story. Not to mention the performance as expected from Colin Firth and director Matthew Vaughn. Great movie, I saw it again and waiting for movies like it.
10. The Bourne Identity (2002)
The premises in action movies like Casino Royale are always ridiculous and over the top. I would attribute the success of Bourne Identity as a Bond reboot to that has the same stylistic influence.
A man with a forgetfulness disease (Matt Damon), is picked up in the middle of the sea by an Italian fishing boat, he carries nothing with him, except for the bullets that pierce his back and the number of a Swiss bank account on his thigh. Although devoid of any identity or background, he is remarkably skilled in combat, language, and self-defense, things that point to his dangerous past, but in the present, he is an unoriented person, confused and trying to discover his identity and why his life has taken such a dangerous turn.
A fast phase and suspenseful film that is fun and interesting. It is based on two of my favorite principles: first, at any given moment someone is plotting against humanity and human freedom. Suddenly the cell phone rings in their pocket and a mysterious voice gives them a command, and from that moment on they become a well-oiled machine.
11. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
The film takes place during World War II. General George Carnaby of the United States Army, involved in planning the Allied invasion of Europe, was captured by the Germans in the winter of 1943 – 1944 after his plane was shot down during a flight to Crete. The general is transferred to a detention and interrogation facility located in the isolated “Eagle Castle” at the tip of the Bavarian Alps.
Admiral Roland Michael Horden and Colonel Turner Patrick Weimarck of the British MI6 form a group of seven commandos who go on a rescue operation. The commando group is headed by Major Smith Richard Burton, aided by American Rangers lieutenant Shaper Clint Eastwood. But during the mission double agents are exposed and endanger it.
Based on the famous novel by Alistair MacLean – this cult war movie is one of the epics of all time. Eastwood and Barton in legendary performances – this is a movie to get back to time after time.
12. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Chuck (Sam Rockwell), is a successful television producer who also works as an assassin for the American CIA service. Based on the autobiographical book by Chuck Barris, although the CIA never approved it to be right, this is the first work of George Clooney as a Director. The action film, on any scale, and certainly on the scale of a debut film, is an original, stylish, and interesting cinematic experience.
Clooney uses well-known cinematic tricks, but gracefully while demonstrating creative camera work. He uses every possible gimmick, and with the help of his old friend and co-producer, Steven Soderbergh has also managed to upgrade the gallery of actors appearing in the film, whether in lead roles or in amusing short guest roles.
