Best movies like Once Upon a Time
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The film is a heist comedy set in 1940s Korea, and stars Park Yong-woo and Lee Bo-young as a con artist and jazz singer who each plot to steal a valuable diamond from the Japanese authorities.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 326
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, History, Romance, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, detective, slapstick comedy
Best tv shows and movies like Once Upon a Time (2008):
Similar in 85%
Lassiter (1984)
Plot Summary:
Scotland Yard and the FBI force a thief and his girlfriend to steal Nazi diamonds from a German countess.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: retro, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 75%
The Hessen Conspiracy (2009)
Plot Summary:
In 1945 a group of victorious American officers discover a stash of German jewels and try to fence them in New York.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 706
Genere: Thriller
Country: Belgium, Canada
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, political thriller, neo noir, realistic
Similar in 86%
Seoul Raiders (2005)
Plot Summary:
In this sequel to "Tokyo Raiders", wisecracking, kung-fu-fighting spy/private eye Lam jets off to Seoul.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Comedy, Action
Country: South Korea, Hong Kong
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, semi serious, realistic, tense
Similar in 89%
The Big Swindle (2004)
Plot Summary:
After being convicted for fraud, one month has passed since CHOI Chang-Hyuk's release from jail. But this time around he's got and elaborate plan cooked up. It's the biggest bank heist in history that'll make any thief have a wet dream. The best five thieves come together to form a team.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 975
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: South Korea
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, stylized, rough, serious, suspenseful, twisted, detective
Similar in 85%
Sultans of the South (2007)
Plot Summary:
La historia comienza con un robo que se realiza en la Ciudad de México. La banda formada por Carlos, Leonardo, Mónica y Leserio habían pactado viajar a Argentina para lavar el dinero. Al llegar a Buenos Aires se encuentran en una guerra de mafias en la que alguien aprovecha para robarles el dinero y tendrán que recuperarlo para dárselo a quienes lo esperan.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: Mexico, Spain, Argentina
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, rough, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 82%
The File of the Golden Goose (1969)
Plot Summary:
U.S. Secret Service agent Peter Novak goes undercover with Scotland Yard officer Thompson to halt a murderous gang of counterfeiters known as the Golden Goose. Although Peter is unsure about John's loyalties, the two infiltrate the gang and win the trust of thug Nick "The Owl" Harrison before enduring a series of double-crosses.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 587
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, eurospy
Similar in 90%
Once a Thief (1996)
Plot Summary:
Set in Hong Kong and Vancouver, the story follows Mac Ramsey and Li Ann Tsei, lovers and professional thieves who are separated while fleeing the powerful Hong Kong underworld crime lord who raised and trained them. After being imprisoned in Hong Kong, Mac is forcefully recruited into a clandestine international crime-fighting unit by a hard-nosed, menacing Director. He is teamed in Vancouver with Li Ann, who thought Mac was dead, and her new fiancé Victor Mansfield, an ex-cop who is attracted to the unorthodox methods of the agency. Conflict flares between Mac and Victor as the trio take on their assignment. They soon learn that their principal target is their foster brother Michael Tang, who had been given Li Ann as his future wife and who has vowed to hunt down the pair for their disloyalty to the "family".
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 83%
Billa (2007)
Plot Summary:
The intertwined stories of an international Don in Malaysia, David Billa, chased by the cops, an Indian police officer, a woman who wants to avenge the death of her brother, and a lowly thief, Velu who shares with Billa, an unusual connection.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Bloody Tie (2006)
Plot Summary:
In this uncompromising vision of the gritty Korean underworld, a crystal meth dealer with a tragic past is forced to team up with a renegade cop to take down a powerful crime lord. Reminiscent of the Hong Kong action films of the 80’s but full of the dark and unpredictable machismo of Korean cinema today, Bloody Ties is a sinister and vicious film noir thriller.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 777
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: rough, exciting, serious, suspenseful, bloody, crime drama, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
Mr. Socrates (2005)
Plot Summary:
A low-life scumbag gets kidnapped by a mysterious gang and put through inhumane training to become a mole inside the police force.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 493
Genere: Action, Crime
Country: South Korea
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, humorous, realistic
Similar in 85%
My Girlfriend Is an Agent (2009)
Plot Summary:
Disguised as a travel agent, “Su-ji” is a government spy with six years’ experience who can’t reveal her career to her boyfriend “Jae-joon.” After she lies again, her boyfriend breaks up with her and leaves without notice, leaving her struggling alone with her sadness. Three years later, while chasing an industrial spy in disguise as a cleaning lady, she happens to run into Jae-joon. He’s become an international certified accountant, and seeing him throws her feelings into doubt.Lying is part of the job, secrecy is the name of the game in "My Girlfriend is an Agent".
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Romance
Country: South Korea
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, spy comedy, romantic, romantic comedy, stylized
Similar in 80%
Newsmakers (2009)
Plot Summary:
A gang of crooks robbing cash collectors, run into a police surveillance team and the inadequate police response results in a gunfight. A TV crew on assignment in the area happens to capture this humiliation on camera, and this example of police incompetence is soon the lead story in every news bulletin. Public confidence in law and order now suffers irreparable harm. The head of the Moscow force welcomes a public search-and-destroy operation against these thugs, the brainchild of Katya, his PR director. She proposes that the capture of this dangerous gang be transformed into a live TV show of a kind never seen before. At this point she cannot know that the gang leader's life-and-death struggle with the police is destined to lead to a media duel. Besieged in a huge apartment block, the crooks hold hostage a father and his son and daughter. A massive special forces rescue operation is mounted but fails miserably.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 971
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Russia, Sweden
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 83%
No Blood No Tears (2002)
Plot Summary:
Gyung-sun is a washed-up cab driver who has been trying to go straight after years in trouble with the law after being a big-time safecracker. Soo-jin wants to be a famous singer, but lives the life of a trophy girlfriend to her vicious gangster boyfriend. An unlikely situation cause these two different women to meet where they plan a daring solution to both their problems that will escalate and threaten the wrath of many powerful and corrupt people around them.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 686
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, crime drama, exciting, neo noir, realistic
Similar in 81%
The Hard Easy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two separate teams of jewel thieves, one low-rent and one upscale, both desperate, converge on the same score at the exact same time, and a simple job turns out very complicated and very bloody.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 86%
Hand Gun (1994)
Plot Summary:
Jack is in the midst of a major robbery, which leaves him injured and his accomplices dead. Jack manages to hide the $500,000 from the robbery before he makes his way to his death bed.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 374
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
After the Storm (2001)
Plot Summary:
On the run from smugglers and the police, world-weary scavenger Arno (Benjamin Bratt) takes a job as a courier for a tycoon. But when the tycoon's yacht goes down in a storm, can Arno partner with a fellow sea scavenger to loot the ship's bounty? What awaits are diamonds, emeralds and gold. Guy Ferland directs this tropical noir film, which is based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Armand Assante co-stars.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 647
Genere: Crime, Thriller, Action
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, exciting, suspenseful, rough, realistic
Similar in 86%
Puzzle (2006)
Plot Summary:
Five strangers, each with his own special talents, are recruited by the mysterious 'X'. They do not know why they are brought together, but nonetheless agree to a series of potentially lucrative schemes. A planned bank robbery goes awry when a minor mistake leads to a hostage situation. The robbery is orchestrated by Hwan. When Hwan turns up dead at the designated meeting spot, the remaining men realize something is seriously wrong, and suspicion flares.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 287
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, suspense, exciting, realistic, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
The Thieves (2012)
Plot Summary:
A gang of South Korean thieves team up with a Hong Kong crew to steal a diamond necklace from a heavily-guarded casino safe in Macau. As the cops close in, old betrayals — and misunderstandings — resurface.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: South Korea, Hong Kong
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: humorous, suspenseful, exciting, semi serious, dorama, noir, brutal, crime drama, action thriller, twisted
Similar in 82%
Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997)
Plot Summary:
Raymond Lembecke (Vincent Gallo) is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago (Rod Steiger). (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: talky, intense, serious, suspenseful, exciting, rough, road movie, neo noir, psychological, realistic
Similar in 78%
Ready 2 Die (2014)
Plot Summary:
After a violent bank robbery, the trio of hoods make their way across East L.A. carrying a blood-soaked bag of money. When word gets out, they must fend off gangs and crooked cops alike as they strive to keep the loot and stay alive.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 75%
The Immortals (1995)
Plot Summary:
An elaborate heist unites 8 strangers in a simultaneous assault on targets all over the city- and explodes in a hailstorm of gunfire and high-speed chases in this powerful action-thriller. Recruited by a Mafia nightclub owner (Eric Roberts), 4 teams launch a brutal cross-town attack to retrieve suitcases full of cash. But as the violence escalates, the team members discover just who their real target has been all along - and the shocking truth they have in common.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: serious, rough, realistic, suspenseful, crime drama, erotic, independent film, neo noir
Similar in 85%
Switch (2013)
Plot Summary:
In search of an ancient Chinese scroll, a Chinese agent battles against Japanese Yakuzas and British mercenaries.
IMDB Rating: 2.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Crime, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, realistic, fast
Similar in 86%
Setup (2011)
Plot Summary:
A group of friends plan out a detailed heist that turns deadly when one betrays the other by taking off with the goods. Taking matters into his own hands, Sonny seeks out his revenge teaming up with the most dangerous mob boss in town to get back what is rightfully his. When he finally comes face to face with his longtime friend he will be forced to make a life changing choice.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, fast, neo noir, hood
Similar in 84%
Cash (2007)
Plot Summary:
'Cash' is a high octane heist thriller set in Cape Town, South Africa.The film revolves around an ace con artist,(Ajay Devgan) who hires a set of top notch robbers (Esha Deol, Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza and Riteish Deshmukh) to steal a set of priceless diamonds in South Africa. The group also faces a threat from underworld don (Suniel Shetty), who is after the same diamonds and also the Head of Security (Shamita Shetty). How these three groups manage to thwart each other forms the rest of the story and makes it a nonstop adventure caper.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: India
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Fool N Final (2007)
Plot Summary:
A bunch of misfits and gangsters embarks on a journey to find a lost and stolen diamond.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: India
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Long Arm of the Law (1984)
Plot Summary:
An ultra-violent and ultra-gritty tale of desperate Chinese would-be jewel thieves hoping to make a quick, effortless score in Hong Kong. Naturally, things go afoul, and the gang must hide out until the heat dies down, besmirched with the blood of an undercover cop. A progenitor of sorts of both "City on Fire" and "Reservoir Dogs," but lacking the romantic melodrama of the former and the hipster staginess of the latter. Winner of Hong Kong Film Awards for both Best Film and Best Director. Spawned a franchise with three sequels.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 859
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: heroic, crime drama, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco, cult film
Similar in 82%
City on Fire (1987)
Plot Summary:
Ko Chow is an undercover cop who is under pressure from all sides. His boss, Inspector Lau, wants him to infiltrate a gang of ruthless jewel thieves; in order to do this he must obtain some handguns; his girlfriend wants him to commit to marriage or she will leave Hong Kong with another lover; and he is being pursued by other cops who are unaware that he is a colleague.What is more Chow would rather quit the force. He feels guilty about having to betray people who have become his friends, even if they do happen to be killers, drug dealers, loan sharks and protection racketeers: "I do my job, but I betray my friends."To add to his problems, he begins to bond with Fu, a member of the gang.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: neo noir, heroic, cult classic, bloody, crime drama, action thriller, tense, rough, serious, captivating
Similar in 83%
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 80%
Snitch'd (2003)
Plot Summary:
When the South Side Gang and the Cut Throat Mafia start a drug war at a local high school in Santa Ana, CA, detective McClure goes undercover to investigate the brutal murder of a young Latina student. The gang members are the key suspects but nobody is talking. And as McClure continues to dig for answers, it becomes clear that the two gangs are fighting for territory - and nobody is getting in their way.
IMDB Rating: 2.1
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, bleak
Similar in 80%
Running Out of Time (1999)
Plot Summary:
Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime syndicates.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, sexy, neo noir, dramatic, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful