Movies like The Formula

If you like "The Formula" you are looking for tense, serious and realistic movies about / with oil, money, world war two, investigation, murder, espionage and conspiracy themes of Crime and Thriller genre shot in West Germany or USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
The Formula (1980)
 5.6
 3K
The Formula (1980)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A detective uncovers a formula that was devised by the Nazis in WW II to make gasoline from synthetic products, thereby eliminating the necessity for oil--and oil companies. A major oil company finds out about it and tries to destroy the formula and anyone who knows about it.
Style: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, eighties
Plot: oil, money, world war two, investigation, murder, espionage, conspiracy, intrigue, who done it, danger, police detective, dishonesty, state affairs, uncover truth, scientist, assassin, party, snow, kidnapping, nazi germany, hotel, miner, cocaine, drug dealer, chauffeur ...
Time: year 1980, 1940s
Place: rome italy, berlin germany, haiti, west berlin west germany, hamburg germany, west germany

Movie in categories

oil movies
oil
443
money movies
4633
year 1980 movies
340
murder movies
21738
espionage movies
2457

Most similar movies to The Formula

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, suspenseful, serious and tense films with plots about murder, deadly, investigation, dishonesty, danger, law enforcement and who done it mostly in Crime, Thriller and Drama genres. Some movies like The Formula: The Hidden Child (2013), The Amateur (1981), American Crime (2004), Varg Veum - Sleeping Beauty (2008), Impunity (2014). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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The Hidden Child (2013)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Sweden, Germany
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Erica's parents are killed in a traffic accident. She moves to Fjällbacka and discovers she has a brother.
Style: suspenseful, atmospheric, realistic, serious, tense
Plot: investigation, uncover truth, life is a bitch, haunted by the past, nordic, serial killer, writers, intrigue, dishonesty, against humanity, murder, adolescence ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
95%
 5.8
 897
The Amateur (1981)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 112 min.
Story: A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.
Style: political thriller, realistic, serious, exciting, rough ...
Plot: espionage, spy, revenge, law enforcement, secret mission, hostage, politics, intrigue, murder, violent content, secret agent, rivalry ...
Time: year 1981, 20th century, 80s
Place: europe, italy, prague, central europe, eastern europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
95%
American Crime (2004)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: A young smalltown reporter, Jessie St. Claire, begins investigating a killer stalking his victims making video tapes. This might just be the career opportunity, which she has hoped for. When she herself becomes a target and suddenly disappears, the ...
Style: serious, scary, realistic, tense, rough ...
Plot: serial killer, murder, psychopath, stalking, mind game, investigation, uncover truth, who done it, danger, protagonist as suspect, journalism, law enforcement ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
90%
Varg Veum - Sleeping Beauty (2008)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Norway, Denmark
Duration: 90 min.
Story: After extricating 17-year-old Lisa Halle from a life of prostitution in Copenhagen, private investigator Varg Veum becomes ensnared in a tangle of parental neglect and bad love when he is hired to locate Lisa's boyfriend, Peter Werner.
Style: serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, detective ...
Plot: private investigator, woman in danger, life is a bitch, gangster, who done it, murder, prostitute, law enforcement, investigation, private detective, danger, nordic ...
Time: 21st century
Place: copenhagen
⇓ similarity ⇓
88%
Movie in collections
tense movies
16020
conspiracy movies
4213
realistic movies
29790
 5.4
 45
Impunity (2014)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: South Africa
Duration: 85 min.
Story: Investigating the gruesome murder of a cabinet minister's daughter, a special investigator and a local police detective find themselves knee-deep in political corruption and conspiracy, in this sizzling noir thriller set in post-apartheid South ...
Style: suspenseful, serious, tense, realistic
Plot: uncover truth, police investigation, murder, danger, political conspiracy, dishonesty, political corruption, violent content, partner, partners against crime, murderous pair, law enforcement ...
Time: 21st century
Place: south africa, africa
⇓ similarity ⇓
85%
Murder at the Presidio (2005)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Based on the true story of the only homicide committed on the famed San Francisco Military base. A military Criminal Investigations Officer goes beyond his orders to get to the facts behind what appears to be a robbery-motivated killing. What he ...
Style: tense, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, realistic
Plot: fighting the system, military, mind game, uncover truth, investigation, military life, against the rules, law enforcement, who done it, haunted by the past, military base, murder ...
Place: san francisco, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
The Cradle Will Fall (2004)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: The suicide of a pregnant woman begins to look like murder and a county prosecutor is called in to investigate.
Style: serious, psychological, tense, realistic, suspenseful ...
Plot: murder, pregnancy, murder of a pregnant woman, danger, who done it, law enforcement, femme fatale, serial killer, power relations, woman in danger, murder investigation, murder mystery ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
78%
 3.7
 864
Restitution (2011)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: A true crime writer investigating a small town murder spree uncovers the devastating truth that changes the town forever.
Style: suspenseful, captivating, tense, suspense, neo noir ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: murder, investigator, investigation, uncover truth, amateur detective, gunfight, social relations, small town, secret, revenge, danger, insurance fraud ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
78%
Movie in collections
 5.5
 734
The Harvest (1993)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 97 min.
Story: A screenwriter is sent to Mexico to develop a story that can be used to wrap up a movie presently in production. Given a very short time allotment, the writer immerses himself in the seamier side of a Mexican beach resort, but soon finds himself ...
Style: neo noir, realistic, suspense, independent film, serious ...
Plot: beach, murder, screenwriter, vengeance, serial killer, writer's life, danger, black market, twists and turns, secrets, spider, urban legend ...
Time: 90s
Place: mexico, latin america
⇓ similarity ⇓
77%
Varg Veum - Woman in the Fridge (2008)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Norway
Duration: 87 min.
Story: An international oil drilling company hires private investigator Varg Veum to find their missing systems designer, Arne Samuelsen. Varg discovers the headless body of a woman jammed into the fridge in Arne's apartment - and is promptly knocked ...
Style: tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, detective ...
Plot: hit and run, police, investigation, missing person, murder, private detective, twists and turns, corporate crime, who done it, violence, danger, transgender ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 4.8
 128
Able Danger (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Tom Flynn, the idealist owner of a left-leaning radical café/bookstore and the quixotic publisher of a hard hitting 911 conspiracy expose, finds himself entangled with a mysterious Eastern European beauty, Kasia, who is on the run from strong hand ...
Style: neo noir, suspenseful, serious, realistic, black and white ...
Plot: uncover truth, investigation, fighting the system, government agency, danger, politics, race against time, dishonesty, undercover, rebellion, society, life is a bitch ...
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
Reversible Errors (2004)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 173 min.
Story: A corporate lawyer's interest in a decade-old murder case is piqued by a new confession that could clear the convicted killer, who sits on death row.
Style: serious, psychological, bleak, tense, realistic ...
Plot: legal, false accusation, investigation, frame up, testimony, uncover truth, police investigation, lovers reunited, dedicated lawyer, police detective, law enforcement, fighting the system ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
Caught in the Crossfire (2010)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story: Two detectives investigating a gang-related find themselves targeted by both gang members and crooked cops.
Style: suspenseful, exciting, serious, hood, tense ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: partners against crime, partner, gang, police detective, police investigation, law enforcement, police corruption, friendship, rivalry, danger, mafia, cop ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
 3.2
 583
Bad Bizness (2003)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min.
Story: After three women get killed, policewoman gets involved in the underworld of drugs and pornographic movies, when she starts investigating the case.
Style: suspenseful, realistic, serious, independent film, rough ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: prostitute, serial killer, investigation, murder, danger, law enforcement, dishonesty, urban ghetto, working undercover, city life, erotica, sting operation ...
Time: 21st century
Place: indonesia
⇓ similarity ⇓
74%
 5.2
 913
True Blue (2001)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: Rembrandt Macy (Tom Berenger) is a maverick cop assigned to a case where the primary evidence is a woman's hand found in a pond. Investigators identify the dead, and Macy is lead into a young woman's past. Macy's primary path to ...
Style: suspenseful, tense, suspense, intense, neo noir ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: blackmail, murder, uncover truth, tough law enforcer, mind game, investigation, law enforcement, rivalry, police corruption, gang, life is a bitch, dishonesty ...
Place: usa, new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
74%
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
Style: political thriller, tense, suspense, atmospheric, exciting ...
Plot: conspiracy, espionage, cia, fighting the system, political conspiracy, uncover truth, who to trust, life turned upside down, hitman, manhunt, assassin, cold war ...
Time: 70s, year 1975, 20th century
Place: new york, middle east, persia, usa, washington d.c. ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
74%
Varg Veum - Yours 'till Death (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Norway, Denmark
Duration: 86 min.
Story: Private eye Varg Veum is on a routine mission searching for his client Jonas Andresen's stolen car. The car is found having been used in a brutal robbery and not long after that the client himself turns up dead.
Style: suspenseful, tense, realistic, detective, neo noir ...
Plot: private investigator, robbery, murder, private detective, dishonesty, investigation, uncover truth, woman in danger, new love, law enforcement, danger, who done it ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
72%
 4.4
 466
The Gunman (2004)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story: When Detective Ben Simm's wife is killed, he has to learn to be both father and mother to his little girl while searching for a Vigilante that has his own sense of justice.
Style: disturbing, serious, suspenseful, tense, independent film ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: vigilantism, vigilante, investigation, vengeance, police detective, haunted by the past, serial killer, law enforcement, danger, psychopath, murder, who done it ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
72%
Movie in collections
The Underneath (1995)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story: Michael Chambers has come home to Austin, Texas. To the mother who's starting a new life and the brother driven by old jealousies. To the places he remembers and the memories he can't forget. And to Rachel, the woman he married and then ...
Style: neo noir, erotic, stylized, suspenseful, twisted ...
Plot: heist, betrayal, gambling, casino, hospital, love triangle, trucker, killer, making love, club, sex scene, addiction ...
Time: 90s
Place: usa, texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
72%
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.
Style: neo noir, detective, tense, serious, suspenseful ...
Plot: femme fatale, private detective, missing person, uncover truth, suspicion of murder, who done it, dishonesty, life is a bitch, danger, murder, private investigator, planned murder ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1975, year 1941
Place: los angeles, california, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
72%
 5.3
 2K
Deepwater (2005)
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A drifter comes to the town of Deepwater and is seduced into a twisted game of deceit and murder.
Style: serious, suspenseful, realistic, mindfuck, tense ...
Plot: criminal's revenge, disorder, haunted by the past, crime gone awry, sexually dissatisfied wife, farm, dishonesty, investigation, dangerous attraction, danger, murder, farm hand ...
Place: wyoming, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Order of Death (1983)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A New York policeman imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more punishment
Style: suspense, neo noir, psychological thriller, serious, realistic ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: punk, cop, big city, corrupt cop, mind game, police corruption, gay subtext, gay interest, sadomasochism, alcohol abuse, love triangle, heir ...
Time: year 1983, 80s
Place: new york, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
 5.1
 576
Lonely Street (2008)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story: Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.
Style: humorous, realistic, semi serious, suspenseful, detective
Plot: private investigator, murder, private detective, who done it, goofy hero, investigation, uncover truth, celebrity culture, disorder, media, amateur detective, dishonesty ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Movie in collections
scientist movies
2163
assassin movies
2771
party movies
4809
snow movies
3262
A Crime of Passion (2003)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: A young heiress has her life turned upside down after her business partner's wife is killed and foul play is suspected.
Style: suspenseful, serious, captivating, enigmatic, realistic
Plot: investigation, amateur detective, woman in danger, who done it, couples, murder, dishonesty, danger, estate, murder investigation, adultery, inheritance ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Varg Veum - The Consorts of Death (2011)
Genre: Crime
Country: Norway
Duration: 97 min.
Story: Varg Veum investigates the murder of a married couple; prime suspect is the stepson, but Veum does not think he is guilty. Not even when he confesses.
Style: suspenseful, serious, realistic, tense, detective
Plot: law enforcement, uncover truth, investigation, private detective, murder, twists and turns, danger, life is a bitch, race against time, private investigator, violent content, chases and races ...
Time: 21st century
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Soul Assassin (2001)
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Action
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 96 min.
Story: Kevin Burke a young executive for a multinational investment bank, is a rising star in the Rotterdam office. Rewarded for his perceptive eye and mastery of foreign languages, Kevin receives the promotion he has been working for - a coveted spot on ...
Style: serious, stylized, suspenseful, suspense, political ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: manhunt, conspiracy, uncover truth, undercover, dishonesty, workplace intrigue, betrayal, rivalry, espionage, investigation, vengeance, danger ...
Time: future
Place: amsterdam, rotterdam netherlands, netherlands
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
Down and Dangerous (2013)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: An inventive and resourceful cocaine smuggler defends his trade against violent rival traffickers, a monstrous and vengeful killer, and the DEA agents who want to lock him up – all while falling for a stunningly beautiful woman with a taste for ...
Style: serious, suspenseful, suspense, tense, captivating ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: drug, rescue, danger, woman in danger, rivalry, smuggler, chase, smuggling, mexican american border, violent content, conundrum, henchman ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
71%
To Seduce an Enemy (2003)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 98 min.
Story: Yuki (Theresa Mak) is a celebrity photographer who stumbles upon some unsettling information in this erotic suspense mystery. Two people wind up dead, and Yuki is convinced that a hypnotist is to blame. Now, it's up to Yuki to make the police ...
Style: disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, sexual ...
Plot: investigation, vigilantism, private detective, samurai, murder, dishonesty, law enforcement, femme fatale, assassination, violence spree, power relations, paparazzi ...
Time: 21st century
Place: hong kong
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
The Wild Card (2004)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: A young, beautiful wife cheating on her rich, older husband amidst the neon lights of Las Vegas. Four men hired to do a job, but there is a traitor in their midst. Adultery, betrayal, kidnapping and murder lead to the ultimate double cross and no ...
Style: serious, tense, suspenseful, rough, realistic
Audience: boys' night
Plot: hostage, gangster, tough heroes, dishonesty, law enforcement, betrayal, confined, danger, woman in danger, gambling, disorder, crumbling marriage ...
Time: 21st century
Place: las vegas, nevada
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
 4.5
 245
Modus Operandi (2009)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min.
Story: Two briefcases with mysterious contents are stolen from top Presidential candidate Squire Parks, setting off a deadly series of double-crosses and betrayals. Desperate warring factions of subterranean organizations will stop at nothing to gain ...
Style: serious, suspense, captivating, psychological, tense ...
Plot: betrayal, working undercover, vengeance, espionage, secret agent, undercover, rivalry, danger, revenge, investigation, murder, spy ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, wisconsin
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
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