Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "political-thriller"

1. Andor (2022– )

TV-14 | 40 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Prequel series to Star Wars' 'Rogue One'. In an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue, Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a Rebel hero.

Stars: Diego Luna, Kyle Soller, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O'Reilly

Votes: 164,505

2. 24 (2001–2010)

TV-14 | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Counter Terrorism Agent Jack Bauer races against the clock to subvert terrorist plots and save his nation from ultimate disaster.

Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Carlos Bernard, Dennis Haysbert

Votes: 196,896

3. Homeland (2011–2020)

TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil.

Stars: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis, Rupert Friend

Votes: 360,709

4. The Americans (2013–2018)

TV-MA | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

At the height of the Cold War, two Russian agents pose as the average American couple, complete with family.

Stars: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor

Votes: 111,112

5. Designated Survivor (2016–2019)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

A low-level Cabinet member becomes President of the United States after a catastrophic attack kills everyone above him in the line of succession.

Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Adan Canto, Italia Ricci, Kal Penn

Votes: 104,270

6. Scandal (2012–2018)

TV-14 | 43 min | Drama, Thriller

A former White House Communications Director starts her own crisis management firm only to realize her clients are not the only ones with secrets.

Stars: Kerry Washington, Darby Stanchfield, Katie Lowes, Guillermo Diaz

Votes: 79,631

7. Medici (2016–2019)

TV-14 | 1,314 min | Biography, Drama, History

A political family drama set in Florence in the early fifteenth century. Cosimo de Medici finds himself at the helm of his banking dynasty when his father, Giovanni, dies suddenly.

Stars: Daniel Sharman, Alessandra Mastronardi, Synnove Karlsen, Sebastian De Souza

Votes: 22,196

8. V for Vendetta (2005)

R | 132 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

In a future British dystopian society, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow the tyrannical government - with the help of a young woman.

Director: James McTeigue | Stars: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Rupert Graves, Stephen Rea

Votes: 1,178,459 | Gross: $70.51M

9. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

R | 157 min | Drama, History, Thriller

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong

Votes: 318,713 | Gross: $95.72M

10. The Lives of Others (2006)

R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur

Votes: 410,102 | Gross: $11.29M

11. Argo (2012)

R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History

Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin

Votes: 638,743 | Gross: $136.03M

12. The Bourne Identity (2002)

PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller

A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen

Votes: 575,824 | Gross: $121.66M

13. Godzilla (1954)

Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.

Director: Ishirô Honda | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi

Votes: 39,540 | Gross: $2.42M

14. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill

Votes: 214,537 | Gross: $122.01M

15. Bridge of Spies (2015)

PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller

During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan

Votes: 327,506 | Gross: $72.31M

16. Air Force One (1997)

R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson

Votes: 209,937 | Gross: $172.96M

17. Akira (1988)

R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama

A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.

Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda

Votes: 204,965 | Gross: $0.55M

18. WarGames (1983)

PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman

Votes: 110,596 | Gross: $79.57M

19. Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A disillusioned pilot shot down over war-torn Bosnia goes on the run from the local military and an assassin, as his commanding officer risks all to save him.

Director: John Moore | Stars: Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson, Gabriel Macht, Charles Malik Whitfield

Votes: 112,807 | Gross: $59.07M

20. Enemy of the State (1998)

R | 132 min | Action, Thriller

A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet

Votes: 258,731 | Gross: $111.55M

21. Edge of Darkness (2010)

R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

As homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the murder of his activist daughter, he uncovers a corporate cover-up and government conspiracy that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.

Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic

Votes: 98,957 | Gross: $43.31M

22. In the Line of Fire (1993)

R | 128 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan couldn't save Kennedy, but he's determined not to let a clever assassin take out this president.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott

Votes: 113,564 | Gross: $102.31M

23. The Ides of March (2011)

R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller

An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

Director: George Clooney | Stars: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling

Votes: 230,603 | Gross: $40.96M

24. Blow Out (1981)

R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz

Votes: 63,120 | Gross: $13.75M

25. JFK (1991)

R | 189 min | Drama, History, Thriller

New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau

Votes: 169,799 | Gross: $70.41M

26. Body of Lies (2008)

R | 128 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordan Intelligence.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani

Votes: 239,279 | Gross: $39.39M

27. The Good Shepherd (2006)

R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller

The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.

Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin

Votes: 108,519 | Gross: $59.95M

28. The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.

Director: Joel Coen | Stars: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Alex Hassell, Bertie Carvel

Votes: 39,621

29. Valkyrie (2008)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller

A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh

Votes: 259,056 | Gross: $83.08M

30. Salt (2010)

PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Thriller

A CIA agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski

Votes: 329,929 | Gross: $118.31M

31. State of Play (2009)

PG-13 | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.

Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren

Votes: 160,305 | Gross: $37.02M

32. The Diplomat (I) (2023)

50 min | Drama, Thriller

The six-part series follows Laura Simmonds and her Barcelona Consul colleague and friend Alba Ortiz as they fight to protect British nationals who find themselves in trouble in the Catalan city.

Stars: Sophie Rundle, Steven Cree, Philipp Boos, Serena Manteghi

Votes: 2,373

33. All the President's Men (1976)

PG | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller

"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam

Votes: 125,920 | Gross: $70.60M

34. Clear and Present Danger (1994)

PG-13 | 141 min | Action, Crime, Drama

CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Almeida

Votes: 107,816 | Gross: $122.19M

35. The Post (2017)

PG-13 | 116 min | Biography, Drama, History

A cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents pushes the country's first female newspaper publisher and her editor to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk

Votes: 162,004 | Gross: $81.90M

36. No Way Out (1987)

R | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A coverup and witchhunt occur after a politician accidentally kills his mistress.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton

Votes: 45,860 | Gross: $35.51M

37. Three Days of the Condor (1975)

R | 117 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

A bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.

Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow

Votes: 62,452 | Gross: $41.51M

38. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

PG-13 | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The affair between a politician and a contemporary dancer is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.

Director: George Nolfi | Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Lisa Thoreson, Florence Kastriner

Votes: 270,019 | Gross: $62.50M

39. Official Secrets (2019)

R | 112 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

The true story of a British whistleblower who leaked information to the press about an illegal NSA spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans

Votes: 54,495 | Gross: $0.40M

40. Patriot Games (1992)

R | 117 min | Action, Thriller

When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin

Votes: 120,306 | Gross: $83.29M

41. Money Monster (2016)

R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes them and their crew as hostage.

Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West

Votes: 105,120 | Gross: $41.01M

42. Zero Day (II)

Drama, Thriller | Filming

In the midst of crisis: how can we discover the truth when it seems that the world is being destroyed by uncontrollable forces? Also, to what extent are conspiracy theories our own inventions or products of our imagination?

Stars: Jesse Plemons, Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Angela Bassett

43. The Constant Gardener (2005)

R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

A widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.

Director: Fernando Meirelles | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Hubert Koundé

Votes: 148,406 | Gross: $33.58M

44. The Sum of All Fears (2002)

PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's President by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore, Maryland.

Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt

Votes: 124,342 | Gross: $118.91M

45. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

In the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Kimberly Elise

Votes: 116,540 | Gross: $65.96M

46. The Report (I) (2019)

R | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Idealistic Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones, tasked by his boss to lead an investigation into the CIA's post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program, uncovers shocking secrets.

Director: Scott Z. Burns | Stars: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine

Votes: 50,746

47. The Pelican Brief (1993)

PG-13 | 141 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A law student uncovers a conspiracy, putting herself and others in danger.

Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard

Votes: 95,893 | Gross: $100.77M

48. Colonia (2015)

R | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History

A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody has ever escaped from.

Director: Florian Gallenberger | Stars: Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey

Votes: 57,138

49. The Day of the Jackal (1973)

PG | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

In the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.

Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel

Votes: 44,860 | Gross: $16.06M

50. Page Eight (2011 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Johnny works for MI5. His neighbor Nancy approaches him. When his best friend and boss suddenly dies, Johnny's left to sort out things about the PM, MI5 and US.

Director: David Hare | Stars: Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Tom Hughes, Michael Gambon

Votes: 19,611