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Movies that feel like Hero (2002)

If you loved Hero, the closest films we have are House of Flying Daggers (2004), The Legend Is Born: Ip Man (2010) and Apocalypto (2006). All three share Hero's contemplative and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 11 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu and others, checked against today's data.

During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.

7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Zhang Yimoucontemplativeepickineticmelancholyromantic

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If Hero hit the spot, these will too

House of Flying Daggers poster
House of Flying Daggers
2004 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 87%7.5adventure · drama · action

Both are Zhang Yimou's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Not nearly as melancholy as Hero

In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

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The Legend Is Born: Ip Man poster
The Legend Is Born: Ip Man
2010 · dir. Herman Yau
7drama · action · history

Common ground in both: martial arts and kung fu

The remarkable true story of the early life of Ip Man, the formidable kung fu genius who would become Bruce Lee's mentor; beginning at the start of his journey from his initial training through to the ultimate battle to become supreme master of the art of Wing Chun.

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Apocalypto poster
Apocalypto
2006 · dir. Mel Gibson
🍅 65%7.8action · drama · history

One thread runs through both: grief

Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

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Curse of the Golden Flower poster
Curse of the Golden Flower
2006 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 65%7action · drama · fantasy

Zhang Yimou directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Leans harder into fantasy than Hero does

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

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The Patriot poster
The Patriot
2000 · dir. Roland Emmerich
🍅 61%7.2drama · history · war

Both keep coming back to the same thing: grief

The difference: Sits closer to war than Hero does

After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.

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Nobody Knows poster
Nobody Knows
2004 · dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
🍅 92%8drama

Contemplative and melancholy in the same breath

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

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The Look of Silence poster
The Look of Silence
2014 · dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
🍅 96%8.2history · documentary

The same mix in both: scale, then romance

An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the "Communist" purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers' family members about what happened in the past - much to Adi's disappointment.

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City of Men poster
City of Men
2007 · dir. Paulo Morelli
🍅 74%7.2drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

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Magnolia poster
Magnolia
1999 · dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
🍅 82%8drama

Melancholy adventure, and it commits to that

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

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The Grandmaster poster
The Grandmaster
2013 · dir. Wong Kar-Wai
🍅 78%6.6action · drama · history

Both are built on the same subject: martial arts

The fall of China's last dynasty, a time of chaos, division and war, is the golden age of Chinese martial arts. Legendary kung fu master Ip Man, who will eventually train Bruce Lee, finds his peaceful life interrupted by vengeance.

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Babel poster
Babel
2006 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 68%7.5drama

Romantic action in both cases

Tragedy strikes a married couple vacationing in the Moroccan desert, which jumpstarts an interlocking story involving four different families.

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Lilting poster
Lilting
2014 · dir. Hong Khaou
🍅 82%7.2drama

History with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his lover of four years. Though the two don't share a language, they grow close through their grief.

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In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed films that share Hero’s defining feeling.