10 Great Spy Movies To Watch If You Loved Netflix’s The Recruit

With The Recruit’s second season riding high in Netflix’s global top 10 this month, over 6 million viewers have had their appetites whetted for more all-out espionage action. Following its season 1 missions in Geneva and Prague, the CIA-based spy thriller series starring Noah Centineo has now taken agency lawyer-turned-spy Owen Hendricks to Korea, and into direct conflict with the Korean National Intelligence Service. He wouldn’t be the first secret agent to face this kind of problem, though.

There are plenty of classic espionage movies about agency operatives going international, whether for the CIA or another similar organization. However, these don’t include the forgettable 2000s action movie from which The Recruit takes its name, starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. Not only is the movie version of The Recruit set entirely on the East Coast of the United States, but it lacks the verve, intrigue, and climactic action sequences of its streaming counterpart. However, there are several movies that do indeed work as companion pieces for the TV show.

10

Spy Game

2001

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Spy Game

R

Action

Crime

Thriller

Release Date

November 18, 2001

Runtime

126 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Robert Redford In The North America Rights Only

    Robert Redford

  • Headshot Of Brad Pitt In The Babylon Premiere

    Brad Pitt

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    Catherine McCormack

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    Stephen Dillane

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Action thriller specialist Tony Scott directed this twist-heavy blockbuster from the turn of the century. It stars Robert Redford as a CIA operative to try and retrieve a foreign-based “asset”, played by Brad Pitt, who’s been captured in China. What develops is a tale of mutual mistrust between the asset and the agent tailing him, much like the relationship between Hendricks and Alex in The Recruit’s first season.

Robert Redford talking to Brad Pitt in Spy Games.

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Redford gives his best action performance for decades as veteran operative Nathan Muir, while the movie’s ending is sublimely executed. Spy Game might be more about intrigue than full-throttle action for most of its two-hour runtime, but it does an excellent job of building tension towards its spectacular final crescendo.

9

Salt

2010

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Salt

PG-13

Action

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

7/10

10/10

Release Date

July 23, 2010

Runtime

100 Minutes

Cast

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    Angelina Jolie

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    Liev Schreiber

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Like season 2 of The Recruit, 2010 spy movie Salt begins in Korea, although on the other side of the North-South divide from where Hendricks ends up. However, Angelina Jolie’s CIA operative Evelyn Salt’s main concern is with Russia, as she’s suspected of being a KGB agent.

In The Recruit‘s second season, Owen Hendricks is assigned a new case in South Korea. In Salt, Evelyn Salt is imprisoned in North Korea for being a US spy.

In this way, Jolie’s character mirrors the ambiguous position of The Recruit’s Max Meladze. Like Max, Salt began her life in the Soviet Union, and knows her way around a gun. This movie is all about the action, and it’s more enjoyable once certain less believable aspects of its plot are left to one side. At its best, though, Salt gives The Recruit a run for its money in visual terms.

8

Body of Lies

2008

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Body of Lies

R

Action

Documentary

Drama

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

9/10

8/10

Release Date

October 10, 2008

Runtime

128 minutes

Cast

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    Leonardo DiCaprio

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    Russell Crowe

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Ridley Scott’s counterterrorism thriller Body of Lies was one of several attempts he made at genre filmmaking during the noughties, with varying degrees of success. Luckily, in this case the legendary director executes his take on the spy genre, aided by a stellar central performance from Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Ridley Scott gives us an excellent sense of what a close-up view of the war on terrorism is like.” – Vic Holtreman – ScreenRant’s review of Body of Lies

DiCaprio’s CIA agent Roger Ferris spends most of the movie searching the Middle East searching for a known terror suspect. His mission is depicted with the gritty realism Scott applied to Black Hawk Down earlier in the decade, while no expense seems to have been spared on stunning location shoots. This forgotten thriller is well worth discovering.

7

The Good Shepherd

2006

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The Good Shepherd

R

Drama

History

Thriller

Release Date

December 22, 2006

Runtime

167 minutes

Cast

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Robert De Niro’s second and most recent effort as director sees Matt Damon as a senior CIA agent embroiled in Cold War counter-espionage against the Soviet Union. Although The Good Shepherd’s geopolitical pretensions are hammed up a little, the movie is still a riveting watch, which imbues its backroom conversation scenes with the sense of mistrust and paranoia we get from Hendricks’ CIA meetings in The Recruit.

Characters from Three Days of the Condor and Jason Bourne are edited on top of a blue background.

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It’s important not to read too much into the film’s historical background. The Good Shepherd has been widely criticized for its historical inaccuracies. But taken at face value, it’s a well-rendered spy movie recommended by real CIA agents, that will satisfy anyone who watches The Recruit for its quieter moments of intrigue.

6

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

2015

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The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

PG-13

Action

Adventure

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

6/10

7/10

Release Date

August 14, 2015

Runtime

116 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Hugh Grant iN The Premiere of 'Wonka' at the Regency Village Theater.

    Hugh Grant

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    Jared Harris

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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is Guy Ritchie’s remake of another Cold War story, the 1960s TV show of the same name. Predictably, Ritchie’s direction sets the tone for a movie that makes the perfect match for The Recruit. Henry Cavill gives his best James Bond audition as the central hero, CIA agent Napoleon Solo, while Armie Hammer excels as would-be villain Illya Kuryakin.

Both of them are after a woman born on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, a major plot focus that The Man from U.N.C.L.E. has in common with The Recruit. Otherwise, this is probably the movie that fans of the Netflix series will have the most fun with, as it delivers its substance with a near-identical swagger.

5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

R

Thriller

Historical

8/10

Release Date

September 16, 2011

Runtime

127 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Gary Oldman In The 77th Cannes Film Festival

    Gary Oldman

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    Benedict Cumberbatch

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy might not center on the CIA, but it’s a modern masterpiece of spy cinema that pitches its complex web of espionage storytelling to strike all the right notes with fans of the genre. The movie isn’t as action-heavy as some of the others on this list, but it doesn’t need to be. The action appears at the perfect moments to break the tension, or even better, raise the suspense to a fever pitch.

Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Daniel Craig in James Bond, and Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity

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Watching Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and co. untangle the web of subterfuge in this expert adaptation of John le Carré’s classic novel is, of course, a joy in itself. But the period details, understated glamor, and majestic musical score of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy help elevate it above its peers.

4

Three Days Of The Condor

1975

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Three Days Of The Condor

R

Thriller

Mystery

Release Date

August 1, 1975

Runtime

117 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Robert Redford In The North America Rights Only

    Robert Redford

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Faye Dunaway

  • Headshot Of Cliff Robertson

    Cliff Robertson

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Max Von Sydow

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Like Owen Hendricks, Joe Turner was never supposed to be a field operative for the CIA. Robert Redford’s titular “Condor” in Three Days of the Condor is a codebreaker who’s meant to be consigned to his office in New York. His world is turned upside down by an unexpected infiltration of his agency, however, leading him down a rabbit hole of unexpected espionage.

If fans of The Recruit want to see a ’70s version of Noah Centineo’s character, they should watch these three days in the life of Redford’s Joe Turner.

This classic spy movie feels like a major source of inspiration for The Recruit. If fans want to see a ’70s version of Noah Centineo’s character in the Netflix show, they should watch these three days in the life of Redford’s Joe Turner, which offer a similar tale of a man getting more than he bargained for when he gets drawn into the world of espionage.

3

Bridge of Spies

2015

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Bridge of Spies

PG-13

Thriller

Documentary

Drama

ScreenRant logo

5/10

7/10

Release Date

October 16, 2015

Runtime

142 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Alan Alda

    Alan Alda

  • Headshot Of Mark Rylance In The Tomorrow Gala for The Old Vic.

    Mark Rylance

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Bridge of Spies brings together a galaxy of talent, with Steven Spielberg directing a script co-written by the Coen Brothers and played out onscreen by Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda and Amy Ryan. The result is understandably electrifying, offering an immersive look into the inner workings of Cold War espionage.

Bridge of Spies is based on the true story of James B. Donovan, the American lawyer who negotiated a prisoner exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962.

This movie is arguably the pinnacle of the spy genre in the 21st century, and a must-watch for anyone who’s gotten hooked on modern spy thrillers following The Recruit’s second season. What Bridge of Spies lacks in gunfights, it makes up for in the genuine peril faced by prisoners of war on both sides of the Berlin Wall.

2

Sicario

2015

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Sicario

R

Action

Crime

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

9/10

19

8.6/10

Release Date

September 17, 2015

Runtime

122 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Benicio Del Toro

    Benicio Del Toro

    Alejandro Gillick

  • Headshot Of Emily Blunt

    Emily Blunt

    Kate Macer

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Sicario is a razor-sharp action thriller movie, with each of its superbly executed fight scenes hinging on a plot twist that perfectly serves its story. This is the spy film for fans of The Recruit looking for a story with duplicitous characters and plotlines liable to turn into their opposite in a single, unexpected instant.

The recruit ending noah centineo

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It helps that the entire cast of Sicario put in powerhouse performances, from Emily Blunt and Daniel Kaluuya’s surprisingly adept portrayals of action heroes, to Jon Bernthal’s scene-stealing supporting role. The movie is relentlessly thrilling for its entire two-hour runtime, scarcely pausing for breath before its heartstopping finale. It should be on the watchlist of any cinema fan who hasn’t seen it, regardless of its genre.

1

North By Northwest

1959

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North By Northwest

pg-13

Adventure

Mystery

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

10/10

Release Date

September 8, 1959

Runtime

136 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Eva Marie Saint In The 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival

    Eva Marie Saint

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    James Mason

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Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful thriller North by Northwest combines the mistaken identity subgenre with Cold War intrigue and the original supervillain’s lair atop Mount Rushmore, for what could be the director’s most entertaining movie. Like The Recruit’s Hendricks, the film’s protagonist Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, was never meant to get involved in espionage. Yet when he’s mistaken for someone else, he’s pulled into a mysterious conspiracy against his will.

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North by Northwest isn’t just a classic spy adventure. It’s a formative work in the spy movie genre, serving as a key inspiration for the James Bond film series. Now regarded as one of Hitchcock’s best works, it’s a must-see for anyone looking to place The Recruit in the wider context of spy thriller movies and TV shows.

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The Recruit

TV-MA

Drama

Crime

Action

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

9/10

60

8.8/10

Release Date

December 16, 2022

Network

Netflix

Directors

Doug Liman

Writers

Alexi Hawley, George Ghanem, Amelia Roper, Hadi Deeb, Niceole R. Levy, Maya Goldsmith

Cast

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  • Headshot of Noah Centineo

    Noah Centineo

    Owen Hendricks

  • Headshot Of Colton Dunn

    Colton Dunn

    Lester Kitchens

Creator(s)

Alexi Hawley

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