15 Best Movies Like Interceptor You Need to Watch
Interceptor is an Australian-American film directed by Matthew Reilly and released in 2022 on Netflix. This is the first feature film directed by the Australian writer. The story focuses on J. J. Collins, a captain in the United States Army. She is now assigned to an inglorious post, after revealing the sexual assault of a general. J.J. then finds herself in an isolated anti-missile base. However, she will have to manage a serious crisis situation when terrorists threaten the United States with nuclear weapons. If you liked Interceptor, here is a list of 15 movies like Interceptor you should watch that are similar in tone.
1. Olympus Has Fallen
Original Release: March 18, 2013
Running Time: 119 minutes
One evening in a snowstorm, the presidential convoy was driving from Camp David when the presidential car skidded over a bridge and threatened to fall into freezing water. Chief Close Protection Officer Mike Banning manages to pull United States President Benjamin Asher out of the car. But he fails to save the President’s wife, Maggie, who dies before the eyes of their son Connor.
Banning is then transferred to the Treasury Department, to prevent the President from seeing him again. Eighteen months later, a new crisis is shaking the Korean peninsula. President Asher receives South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-woo. During their upkeep, an air attack occurs over Washington. A North Korean terrorist commando manages to take control of the White House by killing all the bodyguards.
Mike Banning, however, manages to infiltrate the building discreetly. He will have to fight alone against the terrorists, who want the reunification of Korea under the banner of the North and the destruction of the United States. They entrenched themselves in the bunker under the White House detaining the President, Vice President, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and General of the President’s staff.
2. London Has Fallen
Original Release: March 1, 2016
Running Time: 99 minutes
After the unexpected death of British Prime Minister James Wilson, all the leading heads of state in the western world are invited to his funeral in London. This includes the President of the United States, Benjamin Asher, who is accompanied by Secret Service agents Mike Banning and Lynn Jacobs.
During the journey to the scheduled funeral service, a very large group of terrorists attacking separately killed the Prime Minister of Canada, the German Chancellor, the Prime Minister of Japan, the Italian Prime Minister and the French President within a short time at various points in the British capital. The terrorists want to avenge a deadly drone attack on a Pakistani wedding, authorized by the G8 two years earlier, by throwing the western world into chaos and promising further attacks in other major cities.
The attack on Asher and attempts to take him prisoner are initially thwarted by Banning and his associates. Most terrorists appear disguised as police officers or royal court guards, so that the situation is completely confusing and friend and foe can hardly be distinguished.
3. Body of Lies
Original Release: October 10, 2008
Running Time: 128 minutes
Ed Hoffman, head of the CIA’s Middle East division, and Roger Ferris, a former war journalist turned agent, track down one of the leaders of al-Qaeda, Al-Saleem. While the latter is in Jordan preparing for attacks against the United States, Hoffman dictates his orders from his American suburban villa.
To flush out the terrorist leader, they decide to make believe in the expansion of their own jihadist organization, in the hope of telephone contact, in a world where terrorists have learned to do without modern means of communication. To achieve his goals, Ferris must join forces with the head of the Jordanian secret service, Hani Salaam, and deal with the more or less clear directives given by his superior Ed Hoffman.
Ferris wins the confidence of Hani who explains to him that in Jordan, the jihadists are watched closely; the latter spots on a photo a jihadist named Mustapha Karami whom he knew when he was young. He offers him to be a double agent on pain of seeing him be denounced as working for the Jordanian services. Hoffman, aware, wants Karami to work for him but Hani refuses.
4. The Sum of All Fears
Original Release: May 29, 2002
Running Time: 124 minutes
It tells one of the stories in the series about the life of CIA secret agent Jack Ryan, who is summoned by his superiors to pay a visit to Russia, in the opening period to the West, in previously highly secret laboratories and where he observes the absence of three atomic bombs.
This is a fact that will prove to be relevant at the end of the plot, when the sale of an old Israeli nuclear bomb is discovered on the black market of a nuclear device, which will be used in the attempted assassination of the President of the United States of America, in addition to from the audience at a Super Bowl game where he was. The president is saved at the last minute by Ryan’s warning, who however cannot prevent the detonation of the nuclear device.
This puts the two previously belligerent nations into a new cold war, which could culminate in World War III if Jack’s attempts at mediation fail. He will try to prove that the Russian premier is not responsible for the incident, but a well-articulated group of European neo-Nazis, which counts on the missing Russian scientists. The evidence of authorship will be based on the type of nuclear fuel used in the device, which is of American origin, not Russian.
5. Clear and Present Danger
Original Release: August 3, 1994
Running Time: 141 minutes
A friend of the President of the United States is murdered on his yacht with his family. The investigation reveals that he was helping the Colombian drug cartel (led by Ernesto Escobedo) to launder his income. The president and his advisers Robert Ritter and James Cutter decide to organize secret and illicit reprisals: they hire the mercenary John Clark and several soldiers to destroy Escobedo’s factories and kill his associates.
Admiral James Greer being stricken with cancer, Jack Ryan becomes deputy intelligence director of the CIA and also tries to fight against the Colombian cartel but by the legal method. When he discovers the secret operation, he tries to put an end to it and finds himself with the president and his advisers facing him.
At the same time, Escobedo’s right-hand man, Felix Cortez, also discovers the operation against Escobedo and decides to take advantage of it to dethrone his boss and take control of the cartel.
6. The Hunt for Red October
Original Release: March 2, 1990
Running Time: 135 minutes
In the middle of the night, CIA agent Jack Ryan is summoned to a covert mission over some photos of Russia’s newest submarine, the Red October. During the maiden voyage of the Red October, Commander Ramius sets course for the American East Coast. According to Jack Ryan, Ramius wants to defect, but the Pentagon thinks otherwise.
Their suspicions are confirmed when the Russian ambassador announces that Ramius is planning his own war with the US. America and Russia join forces in pursuit and both their fleets share the same mission: “Destroy the Red October”.
7. The Peacemaker
Original Release: September 26, 1997
Running Time: 124 minutes
In Russia, during the train transport of R-36M ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, the corrupt and dissatisfied General Kodoroff, with the help of another graduate and some military loyal to him, manages to take possession of 9 of the 10 warheads nuclear MIRV transported; one is armed and left on the train which, without a guide, is placed on a track where it ends up colliding with another train coming from the opposite direction.
Shortly after the disastrous accident, the armed warhead explodes, while Kodoroff and his accomplices took shelter in a tunnel, the explosion serves to cover the theft of the warheads, the nuclear fallout will in fact prohibit reaching the area for several days. The incident is investigated by Dr. Kelly, an expert in nuclear physics, who works for the American nuclear anti-smuggling and Colonel Devoe.
The two soon discover that there is something bigger behind the accident. Using even little diplomatic methods, they manage to recover eight of the nine stolen warheads bound for Iran and kill Kodoroff. However, the appeal lacks a header.
The two discover that it has ended up in the hands of Dušan Gavrić, a citizen of the former Yugoslavia, who lost his wife and daughter during the war in his country and is now determined to take revenge against those he believes to be the culprits: he heads to New York, where he decided to detonate the bomb, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people. After a dangerous race against time, the two manage to stop Gavrić and avoid the nuclear explosion, thus saving the city.
8. Commando
Original Release: October 4, 1985
Running Time: 90 minutes
US Army Special Forces Colonel John Matrix, finally on a long leave, lives quietly in his remote home in the mountains with his 10-year-old daughter Jenny, unaware that someone is chasing the men on his team to kill them.
Warned of the danger by his former commander general Franklin Kirby, he cannot prevent a handful of criminals, after having riddled one of the two guards who had to protect him and slaughter the other, from kidnapping his daughter taking advantage of the surprise effect, and taken aback.
Criminals, including fellow soldier Bennett, a former member of the Matrix team hunted for excessive brutality, use his daughter to blackmail him, threatening to kill her if he does not carry out a political assassination on behalf of a dictator and lord of the war, Arius, who commands this band of mercenaries, mostly former underlings of the Matrix.
Arius hopes to wage a coup in his hometown, Val Verde, and thinks the Matrix’s familiarity with the country’s new leader may help him in his murderous plan.
9. Patriot Games
Original Release: June 5, 1992
Running Time: 117 minutes
A former CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is now a professor at the Naval Academy. In London, where he is giving a conference, he witnesses an assassination attempt on Lord Holmes, cousin of the Queen of the United Kingdom and minister, by Irish terrorists claiming to be from a dissident branch of the IRA. Jack Ryan intervenes, seizes a weapon and is wounded just before killing one of them, allowing the arrest of the latter’s brother Sean Miller.
He thus saves Holmes, which earns him a medal, his name and his photo are in all the press and he is brought to testify at the trial of Sean Miller. Kevin O’Donnell, the commando leader, manages to get Sean to escape during his transfer to the Isle of Wight prison.
Refugees in a terrorist training camp in Libya, Kevin and his accomplice (and lover) Annette organize a new attack. For his part, Sean thinks only of avenging the death of his brother, which Kevin lets do hoping that it will appease him.
10. Crimson Tide
Original Release: May 12, 1995
Running Time: 116 minutes
A Russian nationalist occupies a ballistic missile launch base and threatens the United States with nuclear war. The American nuclear-powered submarine USS Alabama, commanded by Frank Ramsey, departs for the Russian Pacific coast to prepare a counter mission. Ron Hunter is new on board.
He replaces the first officer who contracted appendicitis. En route, the Alabama receives a message from the US High Command that the rebels have cracked the launch codes and are refueling their missiles. The Alabama is ordered to launch its missiles. Then a second message arrives. But just then, the Alabama is attacked by a Russian Akula-class submarine. This will damage the radio and the antenna.
After the Akula is destroyed, a disagreement ensues between the captain (Gene Hackman) and the first officer (Denzel Washington). The second message is incomplete and the captain adheres to the first order to launch their nuclear missiles. The first officer wants to repair the radio and retrieve the second message. He thinks that the attack has been called off and that the launch of their missiles will end the world in a nuclear holocaust.
11. Behind Enemy Lines
Original Release: November 30, 2001
Running Time: 106 minutes
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Navy lieutenants Chris Burnett and Jeremy Stackhouse respectively navigator and pilot of an F / A-18 Super Hornet, are sent on a reconnaissance mission in the mountains of Bosnia. By intercepting a radar signal, the two soldiers in flight leave their course and photograph an area full of enemy Serbian soldiers.
The plane, however, does not go unnoticed and Sasha, the Serbian commander, orders it to be shot down. Unsaved by a miracle, the two pilots meet again in a clearing trying to contact their mission commander, Admiral Leslie Reigart. Stackhouse is wounded, and cannot escape with his companion, so several Serbian units arrive on him, commanded by Colonel Miroslav Lokar, who executes him.
Burnett instead begins to flee relentlessly, chased by the Serbs. During the chase Burnett ends up in a mass grave, precisely in the area they photographed earlier from the plane before being shot down. The chase is consumed relentlessly, Burnett survives the attacks of his enemies on more than one occasion even managing to get in touch with Admiral Reigart, who communicates to him a strategic point to be recovered.
However, NATO tries in every way to hinder the recovery of the navigator, by now giving him for dead as his fellow pilot. Burnett thus sinks into utter despair, yet he does not give up.
12. The Expendables
Original Release: August 3, 2010
Running Time: 103 minutes
Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leads the “Expendables” special unit which brings together former S.A.S bladed weapons specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), martial arts expert Yin Yang (Jet Li), sniper Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) and destruction expert Toll Road (Randy Couture).
They have never known any way of life but war and have loyalty only to members of their own team. During a mission to stop the hostage-taking of a group of pirates near the Somali coast, Jensen provokes a shootout, before a moral disagreement with Yang which results in him being excluded from the team. While former teammate Tool refuses Ross’s offer to replace Jensen, a CIA agent nicknamed Mr. Chapelle tasks the team with a new mission on the island of Vilena to overthrow General Garza there.
A reconnaissance of the place made by Ross and Christmas allows them to meet Sandra, Garza’s daughter, and to learn that the general is manipulated by James Munroe, a former member of the CIA, who intends to make a fortune thanks to local cocaine traffic.
13. Under Siege
Original Release: October 9, 1992
Running Time: 103 minutes
Thirty terrorists, led by former CIA agent William “Bill” Strannix, invade the American battleship USS Missouri as it makes its final voyage from Pearl Harbor to California where it is to be retired. Neutralizing the soldiers aboard the ship, the terrorists lock the crew in the forward hold of the boat, secretly aided by the ship’s second-in-command, Commander Peter Krill.
The terrorists then set up a system to seize the Tomahawk missiles present on board the ship to resell them, loading them into a submarine previously stolen from North Korea. With the CIA having previously attempted to assassinate Strannix in an event set before the film’s story, he and his men are on their guard and do not hesitate to use the ship’s weapons system to defend themselves, shooting down a jet plane that had come to investigate as well as a Navy SEAL response team helicopter.
They then plan to cover their escape by using some of the building’s missiles to destroy Pearl Harbor’s radar tracking system. But, among the Missouri crew, two people managed to hide: actress Jordan Tate, a former playmate (Miss July 1989) hired to do a striptease aboard the ship for the birthday party of the Commandant, and Casey Ryback, the Missouri Chef.
Ryback is a former Navy SEAL demoted for hitting a superior. He manages, thanks to his skills in armament, tactics, explosives, and close combat, to obtain weapons and undertakes to regain control of the ship alone. He eliminates Strannix’s men one by one, despite the embarrassment caused by his young, inexperienced sidekick.
14. Red 2
Original Release: July 19, 2013
Running Time: 116 minutes
Just about to lead a normal life with his girlfriend Sarah Ross, while shopping in a supermarket, ex-agent Frank Moses is advised by friend and ex-agent Marvin Boggs not to feel safe because there are still enough people who sought his life. Frank listens to Marvin but thinks his fears are overblown.
He leaves Marvin and tries to placate Sarah, who would like to go on an adventure again. The two then witness Marvin’s car explode just as he is about to drive out of the supermarket parking lot. Although Frank is not convinced that Marvin is dead, Sarah is able to persuade him to go to Marvin’s funeral. Frank tries to convince himself of Marvin’s death by pricking the deceased’s hand with needles.
At Sarah’s urging, he gives a eulogy for his best friend, which even moves him to tears. After the funeral, a group of government agents trap Frank and take him to an interrogation room. During the interrogation, double agent Jack Horton appears and kills most of the investigative agency’s personnel. Jack threatens Frank that he will torture Sarah to get information from Frank.
15. Thirteen Days
Original Release: December 25, 2000
Running Time: 145 minutes
October 14, 1962: An American spy plane discovers that the Soviet Union is installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, an island near the United States. Thus, American territory can be hit by a nuclear missile in a few minutes in the event of a conflict with the Soviet Union. Between the two superpowers, the showdown begins.
For thirteen days when tension is at its height, John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert and his adviser (Kenneth O’Donnell) are at the center of the most incredible and most dangerous of negotiations to avoid a nuclear war. To resolve the crisis, JFK sets up an executive committee of the National Security Council, chaired by Robert Kennedy, called EXCOM: this committee is responsible for finding a solution at all costs, which in any case obtains the withdrawal of the Soviet missiles.
The film shows that the functioning of American government bodies was the opposite of what the Constitution provided: Robert Kennedy, Attorney General, appears as number two in the regime, Kenneth O’Donnell, a simple special adviser, as number three. Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, John McCone, director of the CIA, come after. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State is marginalized; Vice President Johnson is completely absent.