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Movies that feel like Game of Death (1978)

If you loved Game of Death, the closest films we have are Fist of Fury (1972), Naked Weapon (2002) and New Police Story (2004). All three share Game of Death's contemplative and kinetic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

A martial arts movie star must fake his death to find the people who are trying to kill him.

πŸ… 38% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 5.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Robert Clousecontemplativekinetictenserelentless

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If Game of Death hit the spot, these will too

Fist of Fury poster
Fist of Fury
1972 Β· dir. Lo Wei
β˜… 7.2drama Β· action Β· thriller

Common ground in both: martial arts and revenge

During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, Chen Zhen, the star pupil of a recently-deceased martial arts teacher battles a Japanese dojo which seeks the demise of his fighting school.

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Naked Weapon poster
Naked Weapon
2002 Β· dir. Tony Ching Siu-Tung
β˜… 5.5action Β· drama Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: martial arts

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

A mysterious woman, known as Madame M, kidnaps forty pre-teen girls and transports them to a remote island to train them as the most deadly assassins. CIA operative Jack Chen follows the case for 6 years with no leads, but when a series of assassinations begin to occur, Jack suspects that Madame M is back in business.

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New Police Story poster
New Police Story
2004 Β· dir. Benny Chan
πŸ… 63%β˜… 6.9action Β· thriller Β· crime

Common ground: action hero

The difference: Reviewed even better

Sent into a drunken tailspin when his entire unit is killed by a gang of thrill-seeking punks, disgraced Hong Kong police inspector Wing needs help from his new rookie partner, with a troubled past of his own, to climb out of the bottle and track down the gang and its ruthless leader.

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Rolling Thunder poster
Rolling Thunder
1977 Β· dir. John Flynn
πŸ… 82%β˜… 6.9drama Β· thriller Β· action

The same preoccupation in both: revenge

The difference: Leans harder into crime than Game of Death does

A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. He has a hard time adjusting, and things go badly. A movie about the walking dead, before that meant just flesh-eating zombies.

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Ong Bak 2 poster
Ong Bak 2
2008 Β· dir. Tony Jaa
πŸ… 49%β˜… 6.2adventure Β· action Β· thriller

The same mix in both: momentum, then tension

The difference: None of the stillness Game of Death is built on

Tien, the son of Lord Sihadecho β€” a murdered nobleman β€” is taken under the wing of Chernang, a renowned warrior and leader of the Pha Beek Krut.

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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance poster
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
2002 Β· dir. Park Chan-wook
πŸ… 53%β˜… 7.5action Β· drama Β· thriller

Contemplative where it counts, relentless underneath

A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.

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Headshot poster
Headshot
2016 Β· dir. Kimo Stamboel
πŸ… 73%β˜… 6.3action Β· thriller Β· drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

A young man washes ashore, his memory gone - but his past comes back to haunt him after he is nursed back to health and his killing ability is needed when he takes on a powerful drug lord.

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Jawan poster
Jawan
2023 Β· dir. Atlee
β˜… 6.9action Β· thriller

Kinetic action, and it commits to that

The difference: Missing the stillness of Game of Death

An emotional journey of a prison warden, driven by a personal vendetta while keeping up to a promise made years ago, recruits inmates to commit outrageous crimes that shed light on corruption and injustice, in an attempt to get even with his past, and that leads him to an unexpected reunion.

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The Villainess poster
The Villainess
2017 Β· dir. Jung Byung-gil
πŸ… 85%β˜… 6.6action Β· thriller

Thriller with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Honed from childhood into a merciless killing machine by a criminal organization, assassin Sook-hee is recruited with the promise of freedom after ten years of service. However, secrets from her past destroy everything she’s worked for and now she embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge.

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Lady Snowblood poster
Lady Snowblood
1973 Β· dir. Toshiya Fujita
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6action Β· crime Β· drama

Both lean on relentlessness more than on drama

A strikingly beautiful young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

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Shogun Assassin poster
Shogun Assassin
1980 Β· dir. Robert Houston
πŸ… 82%β˜… 7.3action Β· adventure

Kinetic action in both cases

A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.

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Enter the Dragon poster
Enter the Dragon
1973 Β· dir. Robert Clouse
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.6action

Both are Robert Clouse's work, and they rhyme

A martial artist agrees to spy on a reclusive crime lord using his invitation to a tournament there as cover.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share Game of Death’s defining feeling.