10 Movies To Watch if You Liked 'Boy Kills World' (2024)

2024 has been a pretty decent year for action movies, and Boy Kills World is one of the reasons why. A deaf and mute boy whose mother and sister were killed gets raised by a shaman in the woods. This man trains him to become a killing machine, and that's exactly what he becomes. By the end of the introduction, he is played by an intense Bill Skarsgård, who proceeds to kill a lot of people on his way to get revenge. This man's flashbacks indicate that the oppressive government was responsible for their deaths, which means that vengeance will not be so easy to attain.

Boy Kills World was released to mixed reviews, but not for a lack of effort. Collider's own Nate Richard writes that it almost has "an overabundance of style and flair to everything," which makes it at least worth one movie night. With a chatty narrator whose voice comes straight out of a typical fighting game, a dystopian government with an amusingly satirical tinge, sci-fi elements, a ton of bullets, a bunch of martial arts, and a dark twist near the end, this movie cannot simply be labeled a sci-fi action-comedy. The revenge-fueled narrative, the over-the-top violence, and the psychology of the protagonist give this genre-tornado a particular kind of mood that gears toward a few target audiences. Below are ten, arguably better movies that are similar enough to Boy Kills World for its fans to enjoy.

Boy Kills World

310

R

Action

Thriller

Release Date

April 26, 2024

Director

Moritz Mohr

Runtime

115 Minutes

Cast

Bill Skarsgard , Famke Janssen , Jessica Rothe , Michelle Dockery , Brett Gelman , Isaiah Mustafa , Yayan Ruhian , Nicholas Crovetti

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Tyler Burton Smith , Arend Remmers , Moritz Mohr

Watch On Apple TV

10 'Total Recall' (1990)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movies,Total Recall is about a construction worker who tries to temporarily escape the ennui of his life through a simulation that will make him feel like he's been to Mars. Suddenly, he finds himself on a real-life mission to recover his memory as an undercover spy who wants to end the rule of the oppressive Martian government.

Based on the short story "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, this film has the satirical kick of a tyrannical dystopia, the violence, the playful sense of humor, and the thrill of secretly infiltrating an organization that is hunting you down. Not to mention a twist that's similar to the one in Boy Kills World. Paul Verhoeven's 1990 action flick made so much money that a remake was released in 2012, but it wasn't nearly as good or successful as the original.

Total Recall

R

Action

Adventure

Sci-Fi

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 1, 1990

Director

Paul Verhoeven

Runtime

113 Minutes

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger , Rachel Ticotin , Sharon Stone , Ronny Cox , Michael Ironside , Marshall Bell

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

Writers

Philip K. Dick , Ronald Shusett , Dan O'Bannon , Jon Povill , Gary Goldman

Studio

TriStar Pictures

Tagline

They stole his mind. Now he wants it back.

9 'Taken' (2008)

Directed by Pierre Morel

Taken is one of the biggest revenge movies of the century so far. Liam Neeson plays former government operative Bryan Mills, whose daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped (along with her friend) by Albanian sex-traffickers in Europe. That scene features one of the most badass lines in cinema, spoken over the phone to one of the men who took Mills's daughter: "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." Mills proceeds to throat-chop, shoot, and knife his way to the top of the human-trafficking ladder.

It wasn't expected, but this movie wound up earning about ten times its budget at the box office. It's not sci-fi, and it's much less interested in making the audience laugh than Boy Kills World, but the premise of a man standing up against an evil organization in such a violent, action-packed, and thrilling fashion will put the same target audience on the edge of their seats.

Taken

PG-13

Action

Crime

Thriller

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

February 18, 2008

Director

Pierre Morel

Runtime

91

Cast

Liam Neeson , Maggie Grace , Leland Orser , Jon Gries , David Warshofsky , Holly Valance

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Luc Besson , Robert Mark Kamen

Tagline

The time for revenge has come.

8 'Live Free or Die Hard' (2007)

Directed by Len Wiseman

The fourth Die Hard brought the classic franchise to the road-movie genre, and it still kicks ass today. With some of the best practical effects of the 2000s, Live Free or Die Hard sees John McClane (Bruce Willis) both driving and flying across the country to stop a cyberattack on the U.S. government's online infrastructure. With the help of a young hacker (Justin Long), McClane takes a bunch of people down and gets some very dangerous criminals very angry.

Among other things, McClane blows up a helicopter with a car, blows up an elevator shaft with another car, and gets into a very intense fist (and leg) fight. After enough bullets and explosions to already rival any of the other Die Hard movies, McClane's daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) gets kidnapped, too. By the end, McClane has a personal vendetta against this evil enterprise and its coup. With great music and humor, this might not be the best Die Hard entry, but it's worth looking into for fans of Boy Kills World.

Live Free or Die Hard

PG-13

Action

Crime

Thriller

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 20, 2007

Director

Len Wiseman

Runtime

128

Cast

Bruce Willis , Timothy Olyphant , Justin Long , Maggie Q , Cliff Curtis , Jonathan Sadowski

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Mark Bomback , David Marconi , John Carlin , Roderick Thorp

Studio

20th Century Fox

7 'Edge of Tomorrow' (2014)

Directed by Doug Liman

Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best time-loop movies ever made. In the face of a terrible alien invasion, Major Cage (Tom Cruise) is demoted to soldier and forced onto the battlefield. When he kills one of the more powerful enemies, he is sent into a time loop. Every time he dies, he respawns on the same day. Emily Blunt plays a formidable soldier who used to be in the same situation, and she winds up training him to one day win the entire war.

It sounds serious, but the first hour of the movie is also very funny. Cage is a coward at first, and it's both amusing and thrilling to watch him slowly gain more confidence in his ability to navigate not only the terrain but the timing of his surroundings. With heavy sci-fi, an infiltration mission, intense psychological thrills, lots of explosions and gunfire, and even robotic hand-to-hand combat, this movie should satisfy much of the same target audience as Boy Kills World.

Edge of Tomorrow

PG-13

Action

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 6, 2014

Director

Doug Liman

Runtime

113 minutes

Cast

Tom Cruise , Emily Blunt , Brendan Gleeson , Bill Paxton , Jonas Armstrong , Tony Way

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Christopher McQuarrie , Jez Butterworth , John-Henry Butterworth , Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Studio

Warner Bros. Pictures

Tagline

Live, Die, Repeat

6 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' (2017)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

The first James Bond parody for millennials, Kingsman: The Secret Service was a hit, and its sequel delivered on the strange yet satisfying expectations its predecessor set up. Kingsman: The Golden Circle sees the Kingsman Secret Service headquarters destroyed, forcing Agent Galahad (Taron Egerton) to work with the agency's American relative: Statesman. This makes this spy-action comedy a revenge movie, too.

The first Kingsman may have gotten better reviews, and it's surely recommendable as well, but this one has Sir Elton John. It also has an Agent Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) who uses a lasso in a bar-fight. It also has a diabolical meat grinder, and very exciting action sequences that feature some pleasantly ridiculous moves and science fiction weaponry. With a degree of violence and irreverent tone that's quite comparable to Boy Kills World, this ridiculous thrill ride shouldn't disappoint its fans.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

R

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Crime

Thriller

Superhero

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

September 20, 2017

Director

Matthew Vaughn

Runtime

141

Cast

Taron Egerton , Channing Tatum , Halle Berry , Sophie Cookson , Jeff Bridges , Julianne Moore

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Jane Goldman , Matthew Vaughn , Mark Millar , Dave Gibbons

Studio

20th Century Fox

5 'Kill Bill, Vol 1 & 2' (2003/4)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino loves excessive violence, action, and stylistically over-the-top sequences. All these things are on full display in his Kill Bill duo, led by an assassin (Uma Thurman) who was shot by her old boss and presumably killed, but then wakes up from a coma. With her fiancé dead and baby gone (she was pregnant during the attack), she has one purpose in life: vengeance against Bill (David Carradine) and his associates. Not the most original premise, but Tarantino puts a lot of his signature style into it.

Both halves of this movie are filled with great action, whether it's a suburban home brawl between two women who have to take a break when a child comes home from school, a sword fight of one against eight-eight, or a brutal first fight with a new master. This isn't Tarantino's best work, but that's not what he's really going for anyway. Anyone who likes Boy Kills World should try this ridiculous yet emotionally effective revenge duo.

Kill Bill Vol. 1

R

Action

Crime

Drama

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

October 10, 2003

Director

Quentin Tarantino

Runtime

111 minutes

Cast

Uma Thurman , Lucy Liu , Vivica A. Fox , Daryl Hannah , David Carradine , Michael Madsen

Main Genre

Action

Writers

Quentin Tarantino , Uma Thurman

Studio

Miramax Films

4 'Face/Off' (1997)

Directed by John Woo

Boy Kills World can be pretty eccentric, so fans who especially like those aspects of it should check out Face/Off, one of the weirdest and off-the-wall action movies of the 1990s. Put another way, it's John Travolta playing Nicolas Cage versus Nicolas Cage playing John Travolta. One is an FBI agent, and the other is a high-ranking criminal. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, but it doesn't have to. Just know that faces are switched, turning each of the two leads' performances into highly entertaining impressions of each other.

It's got science fiction, action, revenge, and more than enough humor. Directed by John Woo, Face/Off is supposed to be a fun blockbuster, and boy does it succeed. Embracing silliness, explosions, and wild performances in equal measure, this goes down as one of the best Nicolas Cage movies of all time. Boy Kills World fans should be able to appreciate it.

Face/Off

R

Science Fiction

Action

Thriller

Release Date

June 27, 1997

Director

John Woo

Runtime

139 minutes

Cast

Nicolas Cage , John Travolta , Joan Allen , Gina Gershon , Alessandro Nivola

Watch on Amazon

3 'John Wick' (2014)

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Another classic revenge action-thriller whose franchise's popularity rivals that of Taken, the first John Wick movie is arguably the best of them. It's much more concise than its sequels, and its premise aligns best with Boy Kills World as well. A former assassin (Keanu Reeves) is mourning the tragic death of his wife when some thugs steal his car and kill his dog (gifted to him by his deceased wife). Well, it turns out this attack was carried out by his former boss's son.

Of course, if you're going to kill the boss man's son, you're going to have to kill the boss man, too. This makes for a surprisingly sad and unusual revenge plot that immediately garners the viewer's sympathy. John Wick is so deadly that he's known as "the boogeyman" by his peers, so he shoots a ton of people. Even when the boss finds out his son killed John Wick's dog, he says "Oh" and hangs up the phone. Needless to say, the movie has a good sense of humor, too.

John Wick

710

R

Thriller

Action

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

October 24, 2014

Director

Chad Stahelski

Runtime

101 minutes

Cast

Keanu Reeves , Adrianne Palicki , Willem Dafoe , Bridget Moynahan , Jason Isaacs , Alfie Allen

Main Genre

Thriller

Writers

Derek Kolstad

Studio

Summit Entertainment

2 'Violent Night' (2022)

Directed by Tommy Wirkola

If Die Hard didn't take itself seriously at all, only had a wealthy family taken hostage (rather than a huge office building's worth of people), and replaced John McClane with Santa Claus (David Harbour), then it would look something like Violent Night. No more information needed, really, but there are some other wonderful details worth mentioning. For example, did you know that Santa is a heavy drinker? Or that he's proficient in sledgehammer combat, and has been for centuries?

It goes without saying that the main villain (John Leguizamo) is on Santa's naughty list. With lots of silliness, violence, unrealistic combat (like when Santa uses a magical sack of toys), and a plot in which one guy infiltrates the enemy's lair (with a little bit of help), Violent Night is a nice bit of irreverent B-movie fun for fans of Boy Kills World over the holiday season.

Violent Night

710

R

Action

Comedy

Crime

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

December 2, 2022

Director

Tommy Wirkola

Runtime

112 minutes

Cast

David Harbour , John Leguizamo , Beverly D'Angelo , Alex Hassell

Main Genre

Action

1 'Deadpool' (2016)

Directed by Tim Miller

Starring "God's Perfect Idiot," "a hot chick," "a British villain," "the comic relief," "a moody teen," "a CGI character," and "a gratuitous cameo," Deadpool already has the audience laughing in the opening credits. He tells a cab driver that he's been waiting one year, three weeks, six days, and fourteen minutes to get his hands on the guy who made him a superhuman. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, a man has been decapitated and another has been splattered onto a road sign.

"Directed by an overpaid tool," this movie has lots of slow motion and explosions. One scene that stands out is when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) shoots three men with the same bullet. With a funny sex montage, fun references to other movies (including Taken and 127 Hours), and a very broken fourth wall, this anti-hero flick became an instant R-rated sensation. Not all the jokes land, but the irreverent take on the superhero genre and overall style make for a fun ride that Boy Kills World definitely takes after.

Deadpool

R

Superhero

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

February 12, 2016

Director

Tim Miller

Runtime

108 minutes

Cast

Ryan Reynolds , Karan Soni , Ed Skrein , Michael Benyaer , Stefan Kapicic , Brianna Hildebrand

Main Genre

Superhero

Writers

Rhett Reese , Paul Wernick

Studio

20th Century Fox

Tagline

Witness The Beginning Of A Happy Ending

KEEP READING: 'The 55 Best Action Movies of All Time'