15 Movies To Watch if You Love 'MobLand'
Updated
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Guy Ritchie has long been the go-to Guy when it comes to British crime movies. Ever since his 1998 feature-length debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, it has been clear that this British director has a keen eye for the wickedly violent and the devilishly funny. With the premiere of the second season of The Gentlemen and Prime Video's Young Sherlock, there's no better time to be a Ritchie fan.
This is especially true when considering the unquestionable success of his latest foray into the world of crime, MobLand (the series was created by Ronan Bennett, with Ritchie attached as a director). With the stars aligning to take on Ritchie's big-budget caper, including Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Paddy Considine, this modern-day series has received plenty of high praise thus far, including a strong 83% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. For fans craving more movies like MobLand, several films deliver the same beats. With all that in mind, here's a look at the best movies to watch if you love MobLand.
15 'The Gentlemen' (2019)
There's no better place to start when recommending a movie following MobLand than 2019's The Gentlemen, not to be confused with Ritchie's series of the same name. Directed by Ritchie, the film follows Matthew McConaughey's American expat who, while trying to find the highest bidder for his marijuana empire, ends up sparking all-out criminal chaos.
Featuring a star-studded ensemble worthy of rivaling MobLand's — including the aforementioned McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Jeremy Strong, Hugh Grant, and more — The Gentlemen is a fast-paced, stylish run through the best of Ritchie. Effortlessly funny and often brutal, this is a winding crime web spun to perfection.
14 'Smokin' Aces' (2006)
Mobland's brilliance lies in its distinct mix of witty charm and hard-hitting crime action, making the overall experience an absolute blast to watch, a strength shared by the underrated 2000s crime comedy Smokin' Aces. The film follows a magician turned mafia informant on the run after the mob gets word of his betrayal, placing a $1 million bounty on him as well as looking to take him for their own personal reasons.
The initial setup is about as classic as crime comedies get, seeing various personalities with ties to the mob converging and facing off in an attempt to make it on a high bounty. However, as the intricacies of these crimes and an array of shocking twists come to light, it becomes largely apparent that the film is hiding a much larger web of lies, deception, and madness between intersecting parties. Similar to Mobland, the film has an absolute slam-dunk cast to help elevate its story, featuring the likes of Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys, and Jason Bateman. —Robert Lee
13 'Legend' (2015)
For those who like Hardy in MobLand, Legend is the next port of call. The man behind fixer Harry Da Souza takes on not one but two of the most infamous criminals in British history, portraying both of the Kray twins in this journey through their lavish, tragic lives in 1960s London.
Perhaps Hardy's best performance to date, his ability to switch between both twins, offering evolving and nuanced perspectives on both their lives, is nothing short of remarkable. Add to that a stellar supporting cast, a neat script, and several action scenes that live long in the memory, and a recipe for British crime movie success is born.
12 'Lucky Number Slevin' (2006)
Mobland doesn't simply follow a singular mob family, but instead the infighting and squabbles that come up as a result of conflicting mob families, a facet that has consistently found strength within crime storytelling. Lucky Number Slevin takes this classic archetype and provides the engaging dark comedy of taking a completely unrelated third party, throwing him in the middle of this conflict, but having completely mistaken him for a friend who is in deep with the mob.
It covers a similarly dark comedy tone that Mobland expertly utilizes, with Lucky Number Slevin getting a lot of comedic mileage out of not just the inherent miscommunication of its concept, but all of the different moving pieces and wild characters that end up intertwined in this dilemma. The film also features a standout cast, including Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Ben Kingsley, and Stanley Tucci. —Robert Lee
11 'Die Another Day' (2002)
Brosnan's patriarch, Conrad Harrigan, is one of the standout characters in MobLand, with Die Another Day the best next stop for the actor at his suave and stylish best. The movie follows Brosnan as the iconic James Bond as he attempts to bring down an international criminal enterprise that plans to build a world-threatening space weapon.
Brosnan is still as effortlessly cool as ever in MobLand, but rewind 23 years to 2002, and his portrayal of 007 marks the actor's peak. An action-packed Bond entry that also marked the end of an era for the series, Die Another Day might usher in an even greater period for the franchise, but let that take nothing away from just how impressive it is on its own.
10 'Caught Stealing' (2025)
While Mobland was undeniably the standout gangster story worth watching in 2025, one other gangster film from the year that parallels its strengths in distinct ways is Caught Stealing, the most recent film from Darren Aronofsky. Similar to Lucky Number Slevin, the film follows an unaffiliated third party who finds himself at the center of an ongoing feud between a bunch of different criminal groups. From Russian mobsters to Hasidic brothers to corrupt police, all of the different moving pieces prove to make the film that much more of a striking watch.
Leading star Austin Butler is one of the key selling points of the film; he exceptionally navigates the chaos and death that constantly follow him both as a result of these criminals and the guilt of his past haunting him. The aesthetic of '90s New York also does wonders for the feel and look of the film, harkening back to iconic New York crime movies of the '90s like A Bronx Tale and Carlito's Way. —Robert Lee
9 'Snatch' (2000)
For many, Snatch is Ritchie's magnum opus. Featuring a cast that includes a young Stephen Graham and Brad Pitt at the peak of his powers, Snatch follows the theft of a priceless diamond and the many invested criminal minds attempting to beat the competition and track it down.
Snatch feels like Ritchie let loose. Packed from start to finish with iconic one-liners, unapologetically violent action, and even a terrifying Irish action from Pitt for good measure, Snatch is an enigmatic, bloody imprint on Ritchie's wonderful legacy. MobLand might show Ritchie at his most mature, but Snatch will showcase him at his best.
Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh
Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.
🍷Lecter
🃏Joker
♟️Moriarty
🪙Chigurh
01
What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.
02
How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.
03
What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.
04
What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.
05
They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.
06
What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.
07
What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.
08
How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.
The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…
Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours. Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from the encounter.
Hannibal Lecter
Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the conversation is.
- Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
- You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve is exactly the door he would knock on.
- The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence. It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
- He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.
The Joker
Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.
- The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
- He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool you would normally reach for.
- His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend the rest of your life proving him wrong.
- He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Moriarty
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.
- Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from: a mind the equal of the hero's, pointed the wrong way.
- You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he has already built the room.
- This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs the game to be worth playing.
- It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.
Anton Chigurh
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.
- Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
- You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no interest in how capable you are.
- No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
- Call it. He will wait.
8 'Seven Psychopaths' (2012)
While this crime comedy certainly leans more toward comedy than crime in its tone, the overwhelming amount of violence and dark humor present in Seven Psychopaths helps the film never stray away from its roots as an unrestrained story of crime. The setup is about as goofy as a crime story gets, with a screenwriter getting into hot water with the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his friends kidnap a gangster's beloved Shih Tzu. However, the pain and carnage that this kidnapping sets in motion is very real, emphasized by the immaculate directing of Martin McDonagh.
This strange blend of killers, blackmail, and extravagant personalities at times feels like a distillation of classic gangster films down into an absurdist satire on crime culture, Hollywood, and everything in between. The film was largely celebrated when it first released, but has largely been lost in the shadows due to McDonagh's career being elevated to Academy prestige in his subsequent films. Still, there is a charm and brilliance within Seven Psychopaths that makes it still worth watching almost 15 years later. —Robert Lee
7 'My Summer of Love' (2004)
MobLand boasts an extremely talented cast, with one of the more underrated performances in the series coming from Considine. Back in 2004, Considine once again put in a highly underrated supporting turn as Phil in Paweł Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love. Two young women from either end of the class spectrum end up entwined in a burning romance across a hot British summer, only for the reality of their situation to rear its ugly head.
Considine's performance as the reformed criminal Phil in My Summer of Love underpins almost every emotional beat in the story. Perhaps underrated due to this movie marking the breakout of one Emily Blunt, experiencing Considine's skin-crawling turn with knowledge of his impeccable career that followed certainly makes this a worthy follow-up to MobLand.
6 'RocknRolla' (2008)
MobLand is seen as this glorious collaboration between English filmmaking talent, most notably with director Guy Ritchie and A-list leading star Tom Hardy. However, this actually isn't the first time that these two have collaborated on a creative work, as Hardy appears as one of many icons of English cinema in RocknRolla, one of Ritchie's most often forgotten crime comedy films. The film sees various members of London's criminal underworld pursuing their share of a lucrative fortune brought about by a Russian mobster's real estate scam.
Hardy's role in the film isn't front and center, as it is largely balanced with its prominent cast of other English talent, including Gerard Butler, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, and Thandiwe Newton. Still, even in this side role, released 17 years before they would collaborate again in MobLand, Hardy fits into Ritchie's signature style of directing perfectly. It certainly also helps that MobLand and RocknRolla are both crime stories that act as a workaround for exceptional English ensembles. —Robert Lee
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