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Rolling Thunder poster

Movies that feel likeRolling Thunder (1977)

A recently-returned Vietnam POW loses his family and his right hand during a violent home invasion, and seeks retribution against those responsible.

If you loved Rolling Thunder, the closest films we have are The Outfit (1973), Lady Snowblood (1973) and New Police Story (2004). All three share Rolling Thunder's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Square (2008).

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If Rolling Thunder hit the spot, these will too

The Outfit poster
The Outfit
1973 · dir. John Flynn
🍅 86%★ 7crime · drama

John Flynn working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the tension than Rolling Thunder

A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

Lady Snowblood poster
Lady Snowblood
1973 · dir. Toshiya Fujita
🍅 100%★ 7.6action · crime · dramaMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: revenge

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

New Police Story poster
New Police Story
2004 · dir. Benny Chan
🍅 63%★ 6.9action · thriller · crime

Common ground: revenge

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 2000s show

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.

A Better Tomorrow poster
A Better Tomorrow
1986 · dir. John Woo
🍅 95%★ 7.4action · crime · drama

Contemplative and kinetic in the same breath

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

The Square poster
The Square
2008 · dir. Nash Edgerton
🍅 86%★ 6.7crime · drama · thriller

Tense where it counts, gritty underneath

Ray, a construction worker trapped in an unhappy marriage, pursues an affair with his neighbor, Carla. Carla's husband, Greg, is a mobster who keeps large sums of drug money in their home. With this in mind, Carla comes up with a plan: She and Ray will steal Greg's money, burn down her house, convince Greg the money was lost in the fire and then run away together. Carla's scheme, however, doesn't go off as planned.

Fist of Fury poster
Fist of Fury
1972 · dir. Lo Wei
★ 7.2drama · action · thriller

Drama with a pulse of relentlessness, in both cases

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.

Game of Death poster
Game of Death
1978 · dir. Robert Clouse
🍅 38%★ 5.9drama · action · thriller

Contemplative thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

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

Naked Weapon poster
Naked Weapon
2002 · dir. Tony Ching Siu-Tung
★ 5.5action · drama · thriller

Action built on tension, twice over

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.

Desperado poster
Desperado
1995 · dir. Robert Rodriguez
🍅 71%★ 7.1thriller · action · crimePrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: shootout

El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, El Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves his own trail of blood.

A Bittersweet Life poster
A Bittersweet Life
2005 · dir. Kim Jee-woon
🍅 100%★ 7.4action · drama · crime

Both lean on momentum more than on crime

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, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.

Below Zero poster
Below Zero
2021 · dir. Lluís Quílez
🍅 86%★ 6.2action · crime · thrillerNetflix

Gritty thriller in both cases

When a prisoner transfer van is attacked, the cop in charge must fight those inside and outside while dealing with a silent foe: the icy temperatures.

The Furious poster
The Furious
2026 · dir. Kenji Tanigaki
🍅 98%★ 7.2action · crime · thrillerStarz

Action built on relentlessness, twice over

After a criminal network kidnaps Wang Wei's daughter and the corrupt police refuse to assist him, Wei sets out on his own to locate her. Navin, a tenacious journalist whose wife has mysteriously vanished, is his only ally. In this explosive martial arts showdown, the unlikely duo fights the kidnappers ruthlessly driven by a furious vengeance.

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