Movies about Drug Cartels

The world of drug cartels depicted in film and television often blurs lines of morality, legality, and loyalty. You might recall a specific raid, a tense negotiation, or a character's downfall. Describe the scene you remember, and our AI will help identify the title, or browse the titles below.

90 titles.

Pulp Fiction
8.0

Pulp Fiction

1994

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

ThrillerCrime Movie
More details Found in 1546 other searches
Breaking Bad
9.0

Breaking Bad

2008

Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.

DramaCrime Show
More details Found in 108 other searches
Memento
8.0

Memento

2000

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

MysteryThriller Movie
More details Found in 456 other searches
Taxi Driver
8.0

Taxi Driver

1976

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action.

CrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 257 other searches
No Country for Old Men
8.0

No Country for Old Men

2007

Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.

CrimeDramaThriller Movie
More details Found in 1369 other searches
Scarface
8.0

Scarface

1983

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

ActionCrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 573 other searches
21 Jump Street
7.0

21 Jump Street

2012

When cops Schmidt and Jenko join the secret Jump Street unit, they use their youthful appearances to go undercover as high school students. They trade in their guns and badges for backpacks, and set out to shut down a dangerous drug ring. But, as time goes on, Schmidt and Jenko discover that high school is nothing like it was just a few years earlier -- and, what's more, they must again confront the teenage terror and anxiety they thought they had left behind.

ActionComedyCrime Movie
More details Found in 204 other searches
Trainspotting
8.0

Trainspotting

1996

Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.

DramaCrime Movie
More details Found in 323 other searches
We're the Millers
7.0

We're the Millers

2013

A veteran pot dealer creates a fake family as part of his plan to move a huge shipment of weed into the U.S. from Mexico.

ComedyCrime Movie
More details Found in 87 other searches
Bad Boys for Life
7.0

Bad Boys for Life

2020

Marcus and Mike are forced to confront new threats, career changes, and midlife crises as they join the newly created elite team AMMO of the Miami police department to take down the ruthless Armando Armas, the vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel.

ThrillerActionCrime Movie
More details Found in 50 other searches
Baywatch
6.0

Baywatch

2017

Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon butts heads with a brash new recruit. Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.

ComedyActionCrime Movie
More details Found in 103 other searches
22 Jump Street
7.0

22 Jump Street

2014

After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don't have to just crack the case - they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.

CrimeComedyAction Movie
More details Found in 37 other searches
Moonlight
7.0

Moonlight

2016

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

Drama Movie
More details Found in 146 other searches
Extraction
7.0

Extraction

2020

A hardened gun-for-hire's latest mission becomes a soul-searching race to survive when he's sent into Bangladesh to rescue a drug lord's kidnapped son.

ActionThriller Movie
More details Found in 197 other searches
Training Day
8.0

Training Day

2001

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.

ActionCrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 814 other searches
The Equalizer 2
7.0

The Equalizer 2

2018

Robert McCall, who serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, embarks on a relentless, globe-trotting quest for vengeance when his former partner is murdered.

ActionThrillerCrime Movie
More details Found in 75 other searches
In Bruges
7.0

In Bruges

2008

Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ken, it is not what he expected.

ComedyDramaCrime Movie
More details Found in 147 other searches
The Town
7.0

The Town

2010

Doug MacRay is a longtime thief, who, smarter than the rest of his crew, is looking for his chance to exit the game. When a bank job leads to the group kidnapping an attractive branch manager, he takes on the role of monitoring her – but their burgeoning relationship threatens to unveil the identities of Doug and his crew to the FBI Agent who is on their case.

CrimeDramaThriller Movie
More details Found in 343 other searches
The Mule
7.0

The Mule

2018

Earl Stone, a man in his eighties, is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does so well that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl hit the radar of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates.

CrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 254 other searches
American Made
7.0

American Made

2017

The true story of pilot Barry Seal, who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel in the 1980s.

ComedyCrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 57 other searches
The Heat
7.0

The Heat

2013

Uptight and straight-laced, FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn is a methodical investigator with a reputation for excellence--and hyper-arrogance. Shannon Mullins, one of Boston P.D.'s "finest," is foul-mouthed and has a very short fuse, and uses her gut instinct and street smarts to catch the most elusive criminals. Neither has ever had a partner, or a friend for that matter. When these two wildly incompatible law officers join forces to bring down a ruthless drug lord, they become the last thing anyone expected: buddies.

ActionComedyCrime Movie
More details Found in 38 other searches
Straight Outta Compton
8.0

Straight Outta Compton

2015

In 1987, five young men, using brutally honest rhymes and hardcore beats, put their frustration and anger about life in the most dangerous place in America into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Taking us back to where it all began, Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels—armed only with their lyrics, swagger, bravado and raw talent—stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world’s most dangerous group, N.W.A. And as they spoke the truth that no one had before and exposed life in the hood, their voice ignited a social revolution that is still reverberating today.

DramaMusicHistory Movie
More details Found in 38 other searches
Spring Breakers
5.0

Spring Breakers

2013

After four college girls rob a restaurant to fund their spring break in Florida, they get entangled with a weird dude with his own criminal agenda.

DramaCrime Movie
More details Found in 517 other searches
Homefront
7.0

Homefront

2013

Phil Broker is a former DEA agent who has gone through a crisis after his action against a biker gang went horribly wrong and it cost the life of his boss' son. He is recently widowed and is left with a 9-years-old daughter, Maddy. He decides to quit the turbulent and demanding life of thrill for Maddy's sake and retires to a small town. His daughter fights off a boy who was bullying her at school and this sets in motion a round of events that end in his direct confrontation with the local Meth drug lord. His past history with the biker gang also enters the arena, making matters more complex. But he has a mission in his mind to protect his daughter and he is ready to pay any cost that it demands.

ActionThriller Movie
More details Found in 230 other searches
Blue Velvet
8.0

Blue Velvet

1986

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

MysteryThrillerCrime Movie
More details Found in 153 other searches
Triple Frontier
6.0

Triple Frontier

2019

Struggling to make ends meet, former special ops soldiers reunite for a high-stakes heist: stealing $75 million from a South American drug lord.

ActionThrillerCrimeAdventure Movie
More details Found in 55 other searches
RocknRolla
7.0

RocknRolla

2008

When a Russian mobster sets up a real estate scam that generates millions of pounds, various members of London's criminal underworld pursue their share of the fortune. Various shady characters, including Mr One-Two, Stella the accountant, and Johnny Quid, a druggie rock-star, try to claim their slice.

ActionCrimeThriller Movie
More details Found in 29 other searches
Narcos
8.0

Narcos

2015

A gritty chronicle of the war against Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels.

CrimeDrama Show
More details Found in 72 other searches
Sin senos sí hay paraíso
8.0

Sin senos sí hay paraíso

2016

A young woman born in a mafia-controlled town seeks revenge on those who wrongfully harmed and imprisoned her family.

Action & AdventureCrimeDramaMystery Show
More details Found in 2 other searches
Cold Pursuit
6.0

Cold Pursuit

2019

The quiet family life of Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver, is upended after his son's murder. Nels begins a vengeful hunt for Viking, the drug lord he holds responsible for the killing, eliminating Viking's associates one by one. As Nels draws closer to Viking, his actions bring even more unexpected and violent consequences, as he proves that revenge is all in the execution.

ActionCrimeThrillerComedyDrama Movie
More details Found in 57 other searches
Kindergarten Cop
6.0

Kindergarten Cop

1990

Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.

Comedy Movie
More details Found in 125 other searches
Elite Squad
8.0

Elite Squad

2007

In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.

DramaActionCrime Movie
More details Found in 22 other searches
Ozark
8.0

Ozark

2017

A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.

CrimeDrama Show
More details Found in 267 other searches
25th Hour
7.0

25th Hour

2002

In New York City in the days following the events of 9/11, Monty Brogan is a convicted drug dealer about to start a seven-year prison sentence, and his final hours of freedom are devoted to hanging out with his closest buddies and trying to prepare his girlfriend for his extended absence.

CrimeDrama Movie
More details Found in 105 other searches
The Wire
9.0

The Wire

2002

Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.

CrimeDrama Show
More details Found in 281 other searches
Traffic
7.0

Traffic

2000

An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.

ThrillerDramaCrime Movie
More details Found in 59 other searches
Peppermint
7.0

Peppermint

2018

A grieving mother transforms herself into a vigilante following the murders of her husband and daughter, eluding the authorities to deliver her own personal brand of justice.

ActionThriller Movie
More details Found in 252 other searches
The Faculty
7.0

The Faculty

1998

When some very creepy things start happening around school, the kids at Herrington High make the chilling discovery that confirms their worst suspicions: their teachers really are from another planet!

HorrorScience FictionMystery Movie
More details Found in 270 other searches
Out of the Furnace
7.0

Out of the Furnace

2013

Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.

ThrillerDramaCrime Movie
More details Found in 12 other searches
The French Connection
8.0

The French Connection

1971

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

ActionCrimeThriller Movie
More details Found in 451 other searches
Friday
7.0

Friday

1995

Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.

Comedy Movie
More details Found in 108 other searches
Miami Vice
6.0

Miami Vice

2006

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.

ActionCrimeThriller Movie
More details Found in 176 other searches
Hot Pursuit
6.0

Hot Pursuit

2015

Straight-arrow policewoman Cooper is excited and thrilled about her next assignment. Her task is to escort Daniella Riva, a wisecracking Colombian beauty, from San Antonio to Dallas so both she and her husband can testify against a drug lord. Plans go awry when Mr. Riva gets ambushed, leaving Daniella a widow. Cooper and her witness must now use their wits to escape from crooked cops and murderous gunmen, while not killing each other in the process.

ActionComedy Movie
More details Found in 7 other searches
The Marksman
7.0

The Marksman

2021

Jim Hanson’s quiet life is suddenly disturbed by two people crossing the US/Mexico border – a woman and her young son – desperate to flee a Mexican cartel. After a shootout leaves the mother dead, Jim becomes the boy’s reluctant defender. He embraces his role as Miguel’s protector and will stop at nothing to get him to safety, as they go on the run from the relentless assassins.

ActionDramaThriller Movie
More details Found in 46 other searches
Super
7.0

Super

2010

After his wife falls under the influence of a drug dealer, an everyday guy transforms himself into Crimson Bolt, a superhero with the best intentions, though he lacks for heroic skills.

ComedyActionDrama Movie
More details Found in 18 other searches
Blood Father
6.0

Blood Father

2016

An ex-con reunites with his estranged wayward 16-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her.

ActionThrillerDrama Movie
More details Found in 55 other searches
Clear and Present Danger
7.0

Clear and Present Danger

1994

Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.

ActionDramaThriller Movie
More details Found in 34 other searches
Red Heat
6.0

Red Heat

1988

A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.

ActionCrime Movie
More details Found in 14 other searches
Sabotage
6.0

Sabotage

2014

John 'Breacher' Wharton leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done – until, one-by-one, the team members mysteriously start to be eliminated. As the body count rises, everyone is a suspect.

ActionDramaThrillerCrime Movie
More details Found in 23 other searches
Smile 2
7.0

Smile 2

2024

About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

HorrorMystery Movie
More details Found in 15 other searches