Cartel Land
In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as "El Doctor," shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Templar, the violent drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona's Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim "Nailer" Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to halt Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.
Movies Like Cartel Land
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The Marksman
2021★ 6.8
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.
Rambo: Last Blood
2019★ 6.5
After fighting his demons for decades, John Rambo now lives in peace on his family ranch in Arizona, but his rest is interrupted when Gabriela, the granddaughter of his housekeeper María, disappears after crossing the border into Mexico to meet her biological father. Rambo, who has become a true father figure for Gabriela over the years, undertakes a desperate and dangerous journey to find her.
High Ground
2025★ 6.0
When a mysterious prisoner lands in jail, a border town sheriff faces the wrath of a brutal cartel.
Triple Frontier
2019★ 6.3
Struggling to make ends meet, former special ops soldiers reunite for a high-stakes heist: stealing $75 million from a South American drug lord.
Sicario
2015★ 7.4
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
2018★ 6.9
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
Touch of Evil
1958★ 7.7
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.
Narco Cultura
2013★ 7.0
To a growing number of Mexicans and Latinos in the Americas, narco-traffickers have become iconic outlaws and the new models of fame and success. They represent a pathway out of the ghetto, nurturing a new American dream fueled by the war on drugs. Narco Cultura looks at this explosive phenomenon from within, exposing cycles of addiction to money, drugs, and violence that are rapidly gaining strength on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border
Close Range
2015★ 6.5
A rogue soldier turned outlaw is thrust into a relentless fight with a corrupt sheriff, his obedient deputies, and a dangerous drug cartel in order to protect his sister and her young daughter.
Desierto
2015★ 6.2
A group of Mexican emigrants attempts to cross the Mexican-US border. What begins as a hopeful journey becomes a harrowing, bloody and primal fight for survival when a deranged, rifle-toting vigilante and his loyal Belgian Malinois dog chase the group of unarmed men and women through the treacherous borderland. In the harsh, unforgiving desert terrain, the odds are stacked firmly against them as they discover there’s nowhere to hide from the unrelenting, merciless killer.
Traffic
2000★ 7.1
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.
The Baker
2023★ 6.3
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.
The Border
1982★ 6.0
A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.
Dark Angel
1990★ 6.0
Jack Caine is a Houston vice cop who's forgotten the rule book. His self-appointed mission is to stop the drugs trade and the number one supplier Victor Manning. While involved in an undercover operation to entrap Victor Manning, his partner is killed, and a sinister newcomer enters the scene...
The Substitute
1996★ 7.0
When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.
Coyote Lake
2019★ 6.0
Two dangerous and unwanted guests threaten a young woman and her overbearing mother at a small bed-and-breakfast near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Killer Elite
2011★ 6.3
Based on a shocking true story, Killer Elite pits two of the world’s most elite operatives—Danny, an ex-special ops agent and Hunter, his longtime mentor—against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse—where the predators become the prey.
Blood for Dust
2024★ 5.9
Reckless Ricky makes serious money dealing illegal weapons throughout the tri-state area and loves to flaunt it. Traveling salesman Cliff, covers the same territory Ricky runs guns through. Desperate to find some financial relief for his struggling family, Cliff agrees to partner with Ricky, to commit cross-state drug and gun deliveries for a mid-level American cartel boss John. When a simple exchange turns into a bloodbath after Ricky kills everyone in a territory grab, the pair find themselves in a pressure cooker situation where unlikely drug dealer Cliff must fight as hard as he can to stay alive.
End of Watch
2012★ 7.4
Two young officers are marked for death after confiscating a small cache of money and firearms from the members of a notorious cartel during a routine traffic stop.
Extreme Prejudice
1987★ 6.2
Lean, mean Texas Ranger Jack Benteen locks horns with a former friend, Cash Bailey, now a ruthless drug kingpin. Though they're on opposite sides of the law, they share a love interest in the sensual Sarita. When a crew of rogue soldiers descends upon the border town for an off-the-books mission, all roads lead to a bloody, to-the-death showdown, as loyalties shift and the lines between good and evil are blurred.