Best movies like Year of the Dragon
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: neo noir, controversial, brutal, suspense, intense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, detective
Best tv shows and movies like Year of the Dragon (1985):
Similar in 83%
Stone Cold (1991)
Plot Summary:
Joe Huff (Brian Bosworth) is a tough, loner cop with a flair for infiltrating dangerous biker gangs. The FBI blackmail Joe into an undercover operation that entails infiltrating "The Brotherhood" - a powerful Mississippi biker gang linked in the murder of government officials as well as dealing drugs with the mafia.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, suspenseful, retro, neo noir, hood, realistic, fast, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
Violent Cop (1989)
Plot Summary:
Detective Azuma is a Dirty-Harry style rogue cop who often uses violence and unethical methods to get results.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, bloody, detective, bleak, crime drama, ironic, witty, controversial, hood, suspense thriller
Similar in 87%
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
Plot Summary:
After the death of his girlfriend's daughter from a drug overdose, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) takes on the local drug cartel.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: cult classic, detective, neo noir, grindhouse, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast
Similar in 80%
White Sands (1992)
Plot Summary:
A small southwestern town sheriff finds a body in the desert with a suitcase and $500,000. He impersonates the man and stumbles into an FBI investigation.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspense, harsh, stylized, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, road movie
Similar in 76%
Death Wish II (1982)
Plot Summary:
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: detective, cult classic, neo noir, grindhouse, spooky, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending
Similar in 76%
Walking Tall (1973)
Plot Summary:
Buford Pusser's a wrestler, whose wife wants him to settle down, so they go to his home town in Tennessee, where he plans to get into business with his father. But he is shocked to discover all sorts of graft and corruption going on. And when he is a victim of it and decides to strike back by running against the corrupt sheriff. And he wins and wages his own little war against them.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, grindhouse, neo noir, hood, cult classic
Similar in 81%
The Corruptor (1999)
Plot Summary:
Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: stylized, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, rough, serious, suspense, intercultural, cult classic, fast
Similar in 77%
Rapid Fire (1992)
Plot Summary:
College student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, intense, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, suspense, crime drama, rough, realistic, fast
Similar in 84%
Across 110th Street (1972)
Plot Summary:
In a daring robbery, some $300,000 is taken from the Italian mob. Several mafiosi are killed, as are two policemen. Lt. Pope and Mattelli are two New York City cops trying to break the case. Three small-time criminals are on the run with the money. Will the mafia catch them first, or will the police? Written by Ken Miller.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: neo noir, grindhouse, grim, bleak, realistic, cynical, hood, suspense, absurd, crime drama
Similar in 86%
The French Connection (1971)
Plot Summary:
Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 133000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: detective, neo noir, atmospheric, tense, realistic, breathtaking, cerebral, grim, crime drama, exciting
Similar in 88%
Death Wish 3 (1985)
Plot Summary:
Paul Kersey returns to New York to visit his friend Charley, who lives in one of the worst parts of New York City. But when Paul arrives at Charley's apartment, he finds Charley dying after a vicious beating by a gang led by Manny Fraker, and the police enter the apartment and find Paul standing over Charley's body. Paul is arrested for the murder, but police chief Richard S. Shriker is like Paul.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, neo noir, hood, perverse, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 83%
The Exterminator (1980)
Plot Summary:
A man's best friend is killed on the streets of New York. The man (Robert Ginty) then transforms into a violent killer, turning New York into a great war zone and Christopher George is the only one to stop him.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, brutal, stylized, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, slasher, retro
Similar in 77%
Out for Justice (1991)
Plot Summary:
Gino Felino (Steven Seagal) is an NYPD detective from Brooklyn who knows everyone and everything in his neighborhood. Killing his Partner was someone's mistake, because he's now Out For Justice.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: suspense, bloody, detective, cult classic, suspenseful, grindhouse, hood, perverse, action thriller, exciting
Similar in 90%
A Man Apart (2003)
Plot Summary:
When Vetter's wife is killed in a botched hit organized by Diablo, he seeks revenge against those responsible. But in the process, Vetter and Hicks have to fight their way up the chain to get to Diablo but it's easier said than done when all Vetter can focus on is revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, emotional, rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, captivating, cult classic
Similar in 79%
Urban Justice (2007)
Plot Summary:
Seagal plays a man with a dark and violent past, who seeks revenge for the murder of his son.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, suspenseful, exciting, serious, realistic, suspense, bloody, cult classic, bleak, fast
Similar in 84%
Street Fighters (1982)
Plot Summary:
New York City factory worker Eddie Marino (Robert Forster, Oscar nominee for JACKIE BROWN) is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. But when a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, Eddie goes berserk and vows revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: cult classic, grindhouse, psychotronic, hood, grim, action adventure, independent film, rough, bleak, serious
Similar in 84%
Boiling Point (1993)
Plot Summary:
Red is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young and not-so-bright hoodlum who is easily manipulated. Their new business is to organize fake-money sales and then kill the buyer to take his money; but when Ronnie kills an undercover secret service agent, his partner Jimmy Mercer vows revenge and is given one week to catch the killers before being transferred. Written by Giancarlo Cairella.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, neo noir, suspenseful, tense, intense, rough, serious, realistic, action thriller
Similar in 86%
Brooklyn's Finest (2009)
Plot Summary:
Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 66000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, suspense, neo noir, hood, depressing, stylized, detective, bleak, rough
Similar in 88%
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.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: suspense, neo noir, detective, exciting, tense, serious, stylized, cult classic, hood, postmodern
Similar in 87%
Code of Silence (1985)
Plot Summary:
A Chicago cop is caught in a middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, cult classic, suspense, detective, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 75%
Hard to Kill (1990)
Plot Summary:
Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, perverse, cult classic, action adventure, rough, realistic, fast
Similar in 86%
Above the Law (1988)
Plot Summary:
Seagal is Nico Toscani, an Italian immigrant, American patriot, ex-CIA agent, aikido specialist, and unorthodox Chicago policeman. He is as committed to his job as he is to his personalized brand of justice: expert and thorough bone-crushing.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, heroic, satanic, action thriller
Similar in 78%
Deadly Target (1994)
Plot Summary:
A Chinese gangster in Los Angeles escapes on the eve of his deportation to Hong Kong. A martial-arts master detective and his ragtag team get caught up in the action as they track down this ruthless killer.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 334
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, crime drama, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, detective
Similar in 76%
Marked for Death (1990)
Plot Summary:
Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic, grindhouse, intense, hood, cult classic
Similar in 89%
Death Wish (1974)
Plot Summary:
After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: controversial, disturbing, tense, grindhouse, intense, cult classic, rough, serious, suspenseful, neo noir
Similar in 89%
We Own the Night (2007)
Plot Summary:
A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, stylized, rough, serious, captivating, tense, realistic, suspenseful, dark
Similar in 81%
Gangster Squad (2013)
Plot Summary:
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 221000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: rough, tense, exciting, stylized, serious, suspenseful, suspense, intense, realistic, neo noir
Similar in 79%
Renegades (1989)
Plot Summary:
Buster McHenry (Sutherland) is as an undercover agent for the police. His mission involves him in a robbery. Buster gets shot but Hank Storm (Phillips), an Indian, helps Buster. Since Hank wants a spear in the possession of the criminals that Buster is after, they team up.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: detective, suspense, intense, rough, serious, retro, cult classic, action thriller, neo noir, black comedy
Similar in 81%
Triple 9 (2016)
Plot Summary:
A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 76000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, suspense, suspenseful, stylized, intense, neo noir, detective, independent film, crime thriller
Similar in 81%
Live by Night (2016)
Plot Summary:
A story set in the Prohibition Era and centered around a group of individuals and their dealings in the world of organized crime.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: neo noir, stylized, period piece, exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, art house, cult classic, teen