Best movies like Sonatine

Similar in 87%

Dead or Alive 2 (2000)

Plot Summary:

Two contract killers cross paths in the middle of the same job and realize they are childhood friends. Together they take a break from killing and visit the small island they once called home. After reflecting on their past lives they decided to team up and use their talents in killing for good... much to the upset of the crime syndicates.

Similar in 88%

Bangkok Dangerous (2000)

Plot Summary:

The movie is about a deaf-mute hitman and his partner. Trouble begins when he starts a relationship with a young woman.

Similar in 86%

Fireworks (1997)

Plot Summary:

A police officer leaves the force in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into a depression, he makes questionable decisions.

Similar in 86%

Crows Zero II (2009)

Plot Summary:

Genji and his victorious G.P.S. alliance find themselves facing down a new challenge by the students of Hosen Academy, feared by everyone as 'The Army of Killers.' The two schools, in fact, have a history of bad blood between them. And the simmering embers of hatred are about to flare up again, burning away any last remnants of the truce they had so rigorously observed until now.

Similar in 90%

Story of a Wild Elder Sister: Widespread Lynch Law (1973)

Plot Summary:

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

Similar in 90%

Fudoh: The New Generation (1996)

Plot Summary:

In order to settle a business dispute, a mob leader murders one of his own teenage sons. The surviving son vows to avenge his brother's death, and organizes his own gang of teenage killers to destroy his father's organization.

Similar in 87%

Graveyard of Honor (1975)

Plot Summary:

A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.

Similar in 75%

Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Plot Summary:

After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable Tatsuzo the "Viper", a ruthless gun-for-hire, to assassinate him. As the Viper trails his target through the countryside, the agile Phoenix Tetsu grows concerned that one of his former associates has betrayed him.

Similar in 85%

Boiling Point (1990)

Plot Summary:

Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.

Similar in 86%

Street Mobster (1972)

Plot Summary:

The Japanese yakuza films certainly have a well-earned reputation of being violent and chaotic. Some are more frenetic than others and Street Mobster is unbelievable high on savagery and energy. It dawned the re-birth of the genre, telling the story of low-level punks who will do anything without compromise and little sense of honor.

Similar in 84%

Outrage (2010)

Plot Summary:

The story begins with Sekiuchi, boss of the Sannokai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region, issuing a stern warning to his lieutenant Kato and right-hand man Ikemoto, head of the Ikemoto-gumi. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and he immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo, who runs his own crew. The tricky jobs that no-one wants to do always end up in Otomo’s lap.

Similar in 89%

Graveyard of Honor (2002)

Plot Summary:

A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.

Similar in 84%

Violent Cop (1989)

Plot Summary:

Detective Azuma is a Dirty-Harry style rogue cop who often uses violence and unethical methods to get results.

Similar in 75%

Zatoichi (2003)

Plot Summary:

Zatôichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. However, behind this humble facade, he is a master swordsman gifted with a lightning-fast draw and breathtaking precision. While wandering, Zatôichi discovers a remote mountain village at the mercy of Ginzo, a ruthless gang-leader. Ginzo disposes of anyone who gets in his way, especially after hiring the mighty samurai ronin, Hattori, as a bodyguard. After a raucous night of gambling in town, Zatôichi encounters a pair of geishas--as dangerous as they are beautiful--who've come to avenge their parents' murder. As the paths of these and other colorful characters intertwine, Ginzo's henchmen are soon after Zatôichi. With his legendary cane sword at his side, the stage is set for a riveting showdown.

Similar in 78%

Branded to Kill (1967)

Plot Summary:

After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.

Similar in 86%

Dead or Alive (1999)

Plot Summary:

Ryūichi and his small gang of Triad vie for control of the Japanese underworld in a crime-ridden Shinjuku quarter while Detective Jojima tries to bring it down. Jojima attempts to start a gang war between the Triad and yakuza. Ryūichi and Jojima meet.

Similar in 75%

Kikujiro (1999)

Plot Summary:

Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and unique characters along the way.

Similar in 80%

Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (2002)

Plot Summary:

After Kunisada's Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend go on a two-man mission to avenge his death, killing other Yakuza leaders leading to a final confrontation by the old man's killers.

Similar in 90%

Brother (2000)

Plot Summary:

A Japanese Yakuza gangster’s deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, California, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother’s gang. This is the first English film by Takeshi Kitano.

Similar in 88%

The Yakuza (1974)

Plot Summary:

Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George's kidnapped daughter - and ends up on the wrong side of the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia.

Similar in 82%

A Better Tomorrow (1986)

Plot Summary:

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Similar in 87%

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.

Similar in 87%

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.

Similar in 83%

Ichi the Killer (2001)

Plot Summary:

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

Similar in 88%

Beyond Outrage (2012)

Plot Summary:

As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.

Similar in 84%

Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)

Plot Summary:

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

Similar in 78%

Outrage Coda (2017)

Plot Summary:

Ôtomo gets involved with new Yakuza battles after he comes back the Yakuza society.

Similar in 78%

Black Rain (1989)

Plot Summary:

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.

Similar in 76%

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.

Similar in 85%

State of Grace (1990)

Plot Summary:

Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackie's sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.