Best movies like J.S.A.: Joint Security Area
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining bullets in the assassin's magazine clip, amount to 16 bullets for a gun that should normally hold 15 bullets. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: tense, enigmatic, political, tricky, thought provoking, suspenseful, bleak, touching, realistic, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000):
Similar in 79%
Shiri (1999)
Plot Summary:
North Korea's 8th Special Forces hijacks a shipment of CTX, a potent new liquid explosive, and threatens South Korea as part of a plot to re-unify the two countries.Ryu and Lee, special agents of O.P., South Korea's secret intelligence service, attempt to track down the terrorists and find the CTX. Meanwhile Hee, the 8th's ultra-bad female sniper, resurfaces to wreak havoc and haunt Ryu.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, stylized, neo noir, action thriller, bleak, serious, suspenseful, fast, tense
Similar in 75%
The Spy Gone North (2018)
Plot Summary:
In 1993, former military officer Suk-young Park is recruited as a spy by South Korea's National Intelligence Service, and given the code name "Black Venus". He is then sent to infiltrate a group of high-ranking North Korean officials based in Beijing, with the ultimate goal of acquiring information on the North's nuclear program. After becoming close to Myong-un Ri, a key power broker, Black Venus succeeds beyond his wildest dreams of gaining the trust of North Korea's leadership. But political machinations on both sides of the border threaten to derail his accomplishments.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, tense, intellectual, captivating, social, period piece
Similar in 89%
The Coast Guard (2002)
Plot Summary:
An overzealous soldier mentally deteriorates after killing an innocent man he thought was a spy.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, realistic, serious, suspenseful, touching, sad, masterpiece, mad
Similar in 77%
The Chaos Factor (2000)
Plot Summary:
An American army intelligence officer discovers corruption and murder by American soldiers in Vietnam.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 441
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 87%
Off Limits (1988)
Plot Summary:
McGriff and Albaby are probably doing the worst law enforcement job in the world - they are plain clothes U.S. military policemen on duty in war-time Saigon. However, their job becomes even harder when they start investigating the serial killings of local prostitutes. Their prime suspect is high ranking U.S. Army officer which brings their lives in danger.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, detective, retro, neo noir, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, surprise ending, erotic
Similar in 87%
Howling (2012)
Plot Summary:
A man is found burned to death inside of a car. Detective Sang-Gil (Song Kang-Ho) and his co-workers investigate the scene. Sang-Gil doesn't want to take the case, because it looks like a simple suicide case and won't help him get the promotion that he desperately wants. Furthermore, rookie female detective Eun-Young (Lee Na-Young) is selected as his partner for the case.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, realistic, suspenseful, psychological, dark, action thriller, crime thriller, twisted, serious
Similar in 88%
Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005)
Plot Summary:
Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: uplifting, touching, emotional, realistic, serious, funny, philosophical, sexy, feel good, political
Similar in 78%
The Suspect (2013)
Plot Summary:
Dong-chul was the best special field agent in North Korea, but he’s abandoned by his government during a mission. While on the run, he looks for his wife and child, who were sold as slaves to China, only to discover their corpses. He soon finds out that his colleague was behind the killing and defects to the South in search of his nemesis. He looks for him during the day, and works as a temp driver at night and as a personal driver for Chairman PARK. One night the chairman is attacked and killed by an assassin, but not before handing over a pair of glasses to Dong-chul. He is now on the run again, accused of the chairman’s murder by the intelligence service, while trying to uncover the secret contained inside the glasses. Little did he know that depending on who ultimately gains control of the secret, it could either become a national threat or treasure.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, serious, realistic, tense, political, twisted, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 89%
Steel Rain (2017)
Plot Summary:
A former agent from the North Korean intelligence and a senior member of the South Korean security services conduct a secret mission to prevent the breakout of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: suspense, political thriller, psychological, tense, captivating, political, scenic, perverse
Similar in 79%
Inside Men (2015)
Plot Summary:
LEE Kang-hee, an editorialist of the influential conservative newspaper puts a congressman, JANG Pil-woo to the position of a leading candidate for President using the power of the press. Behind this, there was his secret deal with the paper’s biggest sponsor. AHN Sang-goo, a political henchman who supported LEE and JANG gets his hand cut as the price when he gets caught pocketing the record on the sponsor’s slush fund. WOO Jang-hoon, an ambitious prosecutor starts to investigate the relationship with JANG and the sponsor believing it is the only chance he can make it to the top. While getting down to the grass roots on the case, WOO meets AHN who has been deliberately planning his revenge. Now the war among the one blind for power, the one hell bent for vengeance, and the one eager for success starts.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, serious, captivating, suspense, realistic, suspenseful, noir, crime thriller
Similar in 83%
Blood and Ties (2013)
Plot Summary:
Da-eun lives a happy life with her single father, a man who sacrificed everything in his life for her. She loved her father very dearly. However, their relationship is about to take an unexpected turn. Da-eun becomes suspicious that her father might be a monstrous kidnapper. Even though she wants to believe in his innocence, she finds herself searching for evidence to the contrary. What is her father's true identity? And how will she deal with the burden of discovery if her suspicions are confirmed at the end of her final pursuit of the truth?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, captivating, suspenseful, twisted
Similar in 85%
Iris: The Movie (2010)
Plot Summary:
Hyunjun and Sawoo, close friends and rivals from the South Korean special forces, are recruited by the secret agency NSS. They both fall for Seunghee, the beautiful but lethal profiling specialist at NSS. When they are faced against each other in a nuclear terrorist attack, they are forced to make their final decision and Seunghee's formidable secret is revealed.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, tense, captivating, rough, serious, realistic
Similar in 75%
Secret Reunion (2010)
Plot Summary:
Six years ago a mysterious shooting takes place in Seoul. The after effects of the shooting results in Han-kyu Lee (Song Kang-Ho) losing his job at the NIS (National Intelligence Service). Six years later, Ji-won Song (Kang Dong-Won), an ex North Korean spy. now operates somewhere in the Seoul metropolitan area. As these two men hide their identities and work their particular angles, trouble brews again.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, humorous, serious, stylized, psychological, noir
Similar in 88%
Emergency Declaration (2021)
Plot Summary:
While investigating a terroristic threat that goes viral online, Korean authorities discover that a suspect has recently boarded an international flight bound for the United States. When a healthy passenger on the same flight suddenly dies a gruesome death of unknown cause, panic erupts both in-flight and on the ground. With steadily decreasing fuel and international refusals to offer aid, the captain and crew will be forced to take unprecedented emergency measures in an attempt to save the lives of their passengers.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, disturbing, detective
Similar in 84%
Route Irish (2010)
Plot Summary:
A private security contractor in Iraq rejects the official explanation of his friend's death and decides to investigate.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, serious, tense, bleak, realistic, political, contemplative, gloomy, tragic
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71: Into the Fire (2010)
Plot Summary:
A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, captivating, stylized
Similar in 84%
The Front Line (2011)
Plot Summary:
In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, touching
Similar in 89%
The Siege of Jadotville (2016)
Plot Summary:
Irish Commandant Pat Quinlan leads a stand off with troops against French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo during in the early 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Ireland, South Africa
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, tense, factual, political, intense, suspenseful, feel good, breathtaking, bad ending
Similar in 76%
Eye in the Sky (2015)
Plot Summary:
A military officer in command of a drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya sees her mission escalate from “capture” to “kill” just as a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 90000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: South Africa, UK, Canada
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: suspense, political, suspenseful, tense, intense, disturbing, exciting, social, psychological, psychological thriller
Similar in 86%
Coriolanus (2011)
Plot Summary:
Caius Martius, aka Coriolanus, is an arrogant and fearsome general who has built a career on protecting Rome from its enemies. Pushed by his ambitious mother to seek the position of consul, Coriolanus is at odds with the masses and unpopular with certain colleagues. When a riot results in his expulsion from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius. Together, the pair vow to destroy the great city.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: tense, stylized, political, psychological, intense, enigmatic, bleak, serious, rough, realistic
Similar in 85%
New World (2013)
Plot Summary:
An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, neo noir, suspenseful, realistic, captivating, serious, intense, rough, psychological
Similar in 75%
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Plot Summary:
Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-Woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Heesoo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with another, younger man, with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, bleak, psychological, tense, atmospheric, exciting, serious, brutal, neo noir, bloody
Similar in 88%
Silmido (2003)
Plot Summary:
On 31 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. In revenge, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 criminals on the island of Silmido to kill Kim Il-sung for a suicide mission to redeem their honor, but was cancelled, leaving them frustrated. It is loosely based on a military uprising in the 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, realistic, sincere, bleak
Similar in 90%
The Man from Nowhere (2010)
Plot Summary:
His only friend called him 'the man from nowhere'... Taesik, a former special agent becomes a loner after losing his wife in a miserable accident and lives a bitter life running a pawnshop. He only has a few customers and a friend named Somi, a little girl next door. As Taesik spends more and more time with Somi, he gets attached to her. Then Somi is kidnapped by a gang, and as Taesik tries to save Somi by becoming deeply associated with the gang his mysterious past is revealed.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 74000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, brutal, exciting, touching, emotional, neo noir, bleak, suspense, harsh
Similar in 87%
'71 (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, political, atmospheric, intense, rough, bleak, tense, realistic
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Green Zone (2010)
Plot Summary:
During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, Spain, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political thriller, suspense, tense, exciting, political, serious, suspenseful, intense, entertaining, factual
Similar in 88%
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Plot Summary:
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 123000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, exciting, political, tense, intense, political thriller, serious, rough, realistic
Similar in 85%
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Plot Summary:
Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, suspense, factual, compassionate, brutal, political, rough, suspenseful, entertaining
Similar in 81%
I Saw the Devil (2010)
Plot Summary:
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. He has committed infernal serial murders in diabolic ways that one cannot even imagine and his victims range from young women to even children. The police have chased him for a long time, but were unable to catch him. One day, Joo-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief becomes his prey and is found dead in a horrific state. Her fiance Soo-hyun, a top secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take bloody vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself to get this monstrous and inhumane killer.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 143000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: bleak, psychological, suspenseful, tense, disturbing, bloody, suspense, serious, twist ending, rough
Similar in 75%
Memories of Murder (2003)
Plot Summary:
1986 Gyunggi Province. The body of a young woman is found brutally raped and murdered. Two months later, a series of rapes and murders commences under similar circumstances. And in a country that had never known such crimes, the dark whispers about a serial murderer grow louder. A special task force is set up in the area, with two local detectives Park Doo-Man and Jo Young-Goo joined by a detective from Seoul who requested to be assigned to the case.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, neo noir, psychological, suspense, bleak, disturbing, detective, enigmatic, clever, thought provoking