Film

Panama

Panama is a 2022 action thriller about an ex-marine caught between mercenary work and geopolitical chaos during the U.S. invasion. It aims for serious spy-fi intrigue but delivers a lean, sturdy genre exercise with Cole Hauser at its centre. For viewers who want uncomplicated action beats and don't mind a film that swings for bigger themes without always landing them.

TMDb rating2.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like lean, grounded action where a hired ex-soldier is out of his depth and the politics matter as much as the gunfire, and you don't mind a little B-movie grit.

Skip it if you need constant set-pieces or a fast clip, since this is a modest, talky thriller that spends long stretches on deals and conversation before the action arrives.

What it asks of you: Ninety-five minutes of patient build and dry, sour tone, not breathless momentum; it wants you tracking shifting loyalties rather than cheering each blast.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Zero Dark Thirty2012

Kathryn Bigelow's methodical thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Tense, technically accomplished, and genuinely interested in the moral weight of military operations and intelligence work.

But Deliberately paced. The violence, when it comes, is shocking rather than cathartic, and the ending refuses easy satisfaction.

Zero Dark Thirty poster

Argo2012

Ben Affleck's smart thriller about the CIA operation to extract hostages from Iran in 1979. Expertly crafted, genuinely suspenseful, and interested in how Americans navigate foreign politics.

But The second half becomes a fairly conventional heist movie, and the political complexity of the situation gets simplified for narrative momentum.

Argo poster

Sicario2015

A DEA agent gets pulled into covert operations in Mexico and discovers nothing is what it seems. Visually stunning, morally murky, with Denis Villeneuve directing and Roger Deakins shooting every frame like a painting.

But Relentlessly bleak and slow-burn. If you want clear good guys and payoffs, you'll leave frustrated.

Sicario poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Panama

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Secret War1977

Both examine Americans executing orders in foreign countries and grappling with the gap between the official story and what's actually happening on the ground.

HBO's documentary series about the U.S. covert war in Laos during Vietnam. Meticulously researched, visually rich, genuinely eye-opening about how American foreign policy actually works in practice.

But It's a documentary. It demands your full attention and doesn't offer catharsis or easy answers.

The Secret War poster
More like this (8)

The Hurt Locker2008

Kathryn Bigelow again: a bomb disposal expert in Iraq confronting addiction to danger. Visceral, intimate, and genuinely about something—the psychology of risk rather than just spectacle.

But The plot is thin. If you need narrative momentum rather than character study, it won't satisfy.

The Hurt Locker poster

Body of Lies2008

Ridley Scott's CIA thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe navigating Middle Eastern intelligence work. Slick, smart, with real interest in how intelligence operations actually work.

But Gets tangled in its own plot mechanics in the second half. Some of the geopolitical commentary feels dated now.

Body of Lies poster

American Gangster2007

Ridley Scott's sprawling crime-and-corruption saga about a Harlem drug lord and the cop who pursues him. Gorgeous production, charismatic performances, and genuinely interested in power and systems.

But Nearly three hours and occasionally feels like it. The moral ambiguity, while intentional, can feel like fence-sitting.

American Gangster poster

The Green Berets1968

John Wayne in Vietnam-adjacent action. Historically fascinating as propaganda, entertaining as a straightforward action film, and genuinely revealing about how Americans understood their military role then.

But It's a recruiting film more than a drama. The politics are entirely unexamined and the heroism is completely uncomplicated.

The Green Berets poster

Rambo III1988

Stallone goes to Afghanistan to help the Mujahideen fight the Soviets. Pure action spectacle with real stunts, kinetic choreography, and the genuine absurdity of an action hero as a geopolitical pawn.

But Completely hollow. The political situation is backdrop, the characterization is zero, and you're watching because of explosions, not story.

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Navy Seals1990

Charlie Sheen and Michael Biehn lead a team on a classified mission. Competent 90s action with real military procedure and the particular swagger of that era's action cinema.

But Thin premise, thin characters. It's a vehicle for action beats, and if that doesn't excite you, there's nothing underneath.

Navy Seals poster

A Prophet2009

Both are about naive men discovering that the institutions they serve—military, carceral—run on principles nobody explains until you're already trapped.

French thriller about a young man pulled into prison power structures. Operates like a spy film but set inside a cell: corruption, manipulation, learning how systems work, and realizing you're complicit. Brilliantly crafted.

But Subtitled, deliberate pacing, and the protagonist is morally compromised throughout. No heroes here, just survivors.

A Prophet poster

Nightcrawler2014

Both follow men who discover they're disposable tools in systems larger than themselves, and both explore what happens when someone stops pretending otherwise.

Jake Gyllenhaal as a sociopath manufacturing news in Los Angeles. Paul Thomas Anderson's cinematography, lean script, and genuinely unsettling portrait of ambition meeting complicity. Dark, precise, and deeply rewarding.

But Relentlessly cynical and offers no comfortable position for the viewer. Watching it means endorsing the protagonist's perspective, which is the point and the discomfort.

Nightcrawler poster

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