Highest-Rated Movies about 'Unlikely Hero', Sort by Popularity

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), The Boondock Saints (1999), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), Murder, She Said (1961), In Darkness (2011), Talk to Me (2007), Seabiscuit (2003) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Unlikely Hero movies.

#1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Storyline: Wealthy Swedish recluse Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) needs closure. Forty years ago, his beloved niece disappeared, never to be seen again -- and circumstances have led him to believe that a member of his own repugnant family must be responsible. Vanger hires stoic journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and scrappy, chain-smoking hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to come to his island, dig deep into chilling family secrets and unmask the killer once and for all.

Plot Keywords: wealthy man, niece, journalist, hacker, nazi, brother, suspenseful ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Storyline: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle suspects murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history; but, the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Plot Keywords: reporter, industrialist, investigator, executive, lawyer, gripping, subway ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Boondock Saints (1999)

Storyline: Two Irish brothers accidentally kill mafia thugs. They turn themselves in and are released as heroes. They then see it as a calling by God and start knocking off mafia gang members one by one. Willem Dafoe plays the detective trying to figure out the killings, but the closer he comes to catching the Irish brothers, the more he thinks the brothers are doing the right thing.

Plot Keywords: vigilante, twin, fbi agent, dockworker, gangster, gay man, wild ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)

Storyline: A pregnant peasant woman seeks redress from the Chinese bureaucracy after the village chief kicks her husband in the groin in this comedy of justice. As she is frustrated by each level of the hierarchy and travels farther and farther away from the countryside the viewer is also provided with a look at the changing Chinese society through the verite camera used in most scenes.—Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>

Plot Keywords: peasant, pregnant woman, villager, husband, bureaucrat, gutsy, spirited ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Murder, She Said (1961)

Storyline: Miss Jane Marple's (Dame Margaret Rutherford's) on-board a train when she sees what appears to to be, a murder - a woman being strangled - in a passing train. When the Police refuse to believe her story, she decides to do some investigating of her own. In this, Rutherford's first appearance (as well as her first on-screen appearance) as Dame Agatha Christie's beloved sleuth. Though fans of the stories can see instantly see that Dame Margaret Rutherford does not fit Dame Agatha Christie's physical description of her, and Dame Agatha was not a fan with the casting decision - at first. But, when the two women met, they became big admirers of each other (Christie even dedicated one of her books; "The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side" - to her "friend, Margaret Rutherford".—Mattias Thuresson

Plot Keywords: detective, conductor, wealthy man, police detective, private investigator, miss marple, charming ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. In Darkness (2011)

Storyline: IN DARKNESS tells the true story of Leopold Socha who risks his own life to save a dozen people from certain death. Initially only interested in his own good, the thief and burglar hides Jewish refugees for 14 months in the sewers of the German-occupied town of Lvov (former Poland).—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: sanitation worker, jew, nazi, gripping, suspenseful, moving, sewer ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. Talk to Me (2007)

Storyline: The true life story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself - sometimes to outrageous effect - and "tell it like it is." With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with fellow prison inmate Milo's brother Dewey Hughes. From the first wild morning on the air, Petey relies on the more straight-laced Dewey to run interference at WOL-AM, where Dewey is the program director. At the station, Petey becomes an iconic radio personality, surpassing even the established popularity of his fellow disc jockeys, Nighthawk and Sunny Jim. Combining biting humor with social commentary, Petey openly courts controversy for station owner E.G. Sonderling. Petey was determined to make not just himself but his community heard during an exciting and turbulent period in American history. As Petey's voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have. Through the years, Petey's "The truth just is" style --- on - and off-air - would redefine both Petey and Dewey, and empower each to become the man he would most like to be.—Focus Features

Plot Keywords: radio host, girlfriend, brother, competitor, producer, inmate, engaging ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Seabiscuit (2003)

Storyline: It's the Depression, and everyone needs to hold onto a dream to get them through the bad times. Car maker Charles Howard is no different, he who is trying to rebuild his life after the tragic death of his only child and the resulting end of his first marriage. With second wife Marcela at his side, Charles wants to get into horse racing and ends up with a team of underdogs who are also chasing their own dream. The first is trainer Tom Smith, who has a natural instinct to spot the capabilities of horses. The second is the horse Tom chooses for Charles, Seabiscuit, an unconventional choice as despite his pedigreed lineage, Seabiscuit is small at fifteen and a half hands tall with a slight limp. But Tom can see something in Seabiscuit's nature to make him a winner, if only Seabiscuit can be retrained from his inbred losing ways. And third is the jockey they decide to hire, Johnny "Red" Pollard, so nicknamed because of his hair color. Like Tom, Red has always shown a natural way with ...

Plot Keywords: horse owner, jockey, horse, horse trainer, wife, child, uplifting ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. A Bug's Life (1998)

Storyline: At an annual pace, a huge colony of ants is forced to collect every piece of food that grows on their island for a group of menacing grasshoppers. But that all changes when a misfit inventor ant named Flik accidentally knocks over the offering pile thus forcing the grasshoppers' devious leader Hopper to force the ants to redo their gathering of food. Despite the fact that his friends don't believe him and desperate to help save the colony, Flik volunteers to go out into the world and search for a group of 'warrior' bugs. Instead, what he got was a talented group of circus performers. But when the grasshoppers return and take control of the island, Flik must prove himself a true hero before it's too late.

Plot Keywords: ant, grasshopper, inventor, leader, circus performer, queen, lighthearted ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Grandma's Boy (1922)

Storyline: The residents of a small town organize a team to track down a killer on the loose. The town's entire male population joins the hunt, save one jittery youth (Harold Lloyd) who wants nothing to do with a murderer. He instead retreats to his grandma's house. She tells him a fantastic story that rouses his confidence, and hands him a talisman that supposedly holds the power of bravery. Unaware he's been given an ordinary piece of wood, the young man decides to chase the criminal by himself.

Plot Keywords: young man, grandmother, sweetheart, sheriff, wanderer, general, lighthearted ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)

Storyline: Famed American playwright Phillip Hannon is in London making revisions to his play currently running in the West End. He is doing this mundane work rather than write a new play since he has retreated from life following the recent and permanent loss of his sight. That retreat from life includes breaking off his engagement to his former secretary, Jean Lennox, who still loves him. One evening at his local pub, he overhears a conversation between a man and a woman that he knows involves criminal activity, what he surmises to be the kidnapping plot of a child in exactly one week's time. The local police patronizingly dismiss his report as the overactive imagination of a blind writer. With Jean and his faithful manservant Bob Matthews by his side - the former with some reluctance on Phil's part - Phil goes on a search to uncover the plot using what little pieces of information he has at hand, which includes the man's name being Evans, the woman, who is involved under duress, working as a nanny for a family whose head is formally a lady, that lady having attended a concert that evening, the family living along a certain bus route, and the nanny herself wearing an expensive perfume well beyond her means. His physical disability is an obvious disadvantage. But what may be working to Phil's advantage is his keen sense of dialogue and its subtext in deciphering the conversation, using his other senses which people with sight take for granted, and people, including the criminals, underestimating him because he's blind.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: playwright, blind person, police officer, kidnapper, secretary, ex-wife, suspenseful ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. Sakura Wars: The Movie (2003)

Storyline: This anime follows the adventures of teen girl Sakura Shinguji (Chisa Yokoyama) and a group of her friends, who, by day, are members of a theater troupe. By night, they use their psychic powers to pilot robot fighters in a battle against evil demons that threaten Tokyo. But another enemy emerges in the Stewart-Douglas Company, whose new and apparently superior robot fighters threaten to put the girls out of business. Sakura, Sumire (Michie Tomizawa) and others fight to remain relevant.

Plot Keywords: teen girl, robot, general, actress, executive, pilot, thrilling ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Josh Kirby... Time Warrior! Journey to the Magic Cavern (1996)

Storyline: Time-traveling youth Josh Kirby (Corbin Allred), scientist Irwin 1138 (Barrie Ingham) and teen warrior Azabeth Siege (Jennifer Burns) are trying to keep a powerful device called the Nullifier away from evil Dr. Zoetrope (Derek Webster). But they've hit a snag, having landed on a planet occupied by a race of mushroom people and seen Azabeth become ill upon eating a poisonous plant. They then search for the antidote, while also avoiding the many potential dangers surrounding them.

Plot Keywords: boy, scientist, teen girl, mad scientist, circus owner, creature, playful ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. The Paleface (1948)

Storyline: Someone is selling guns to the Indians and in order to find the culprit Calamity Jane and a secret agent go undercover posing as man and wife. When the agent is killed Jane recruits a new husband -- none other than innocent dupe "Painless" Peter Potter, a totally inept dentist and confirmed coward who's main goal is to leave the barbaric west far behind. When their wagon train is attacked by the Indians it's Jane's sharpshooting that saves the day, but she gives the credit to Potter making him an instant hero to the townspeople and instant target to both the Indians and the gunrunners.—A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net>

Plot Keywords: dentist, calamity jane, federal agent, gunrunner, native american, partner, charming ...

Movie Details Click Here!