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Movies that feel like Shadow (2018)

If you loved Shadow, the closest films we have are Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023), Balkan Line (2019) and Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019). All three share Shadow's kinetic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

🍅 94% Rotten Tomatoes7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Zhang Yimoukineticbleak
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If Shadow hit the spot, these will too

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms poster
🍅 60%6.7action · fantasy · war

Both keep coming back to the same thing: wuxia

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

Based on the most well-known classical fantasy novel of China, Fengshenyanyi, the trilogy is a magnificent eastern high fantasy epic that recreates the prolonged mythical wars between humans, immortals and monsters, which happened more than three thousand years ago.

Feels alike?
Balkan Line poster
Balkan Line
2019 · dir. Andrey Volgin
6.6drama · action · war

Both land momentum and bleakness at once

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Shadow does

After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Yugoslav army pulls out of Kosovo region, leaving Serbian people at the mercy of the Albanian UCK. A small band of soldiers must take over the Slatina airport, and hold it until the Russian peacekeepers arrive.

Feels alike?
Uri: The Surgical Strike poster
Uri: The Surgical Strike
2019 · dir. Aditya Dhar
🍅 57%8.2action · drama · war

Kinetic action in both cases

Following the roguish terrorist attacks at Uri Army Base camp in Kashmir, India takes the fight to the enemy, in its most successful covert operation till date with one and only one objective of avenging their fallen heroes.

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Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
2013 · dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
🍅 51%5.7war · action · drama

War with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to a Russian woman who has been living there.

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The Flowers of War poster
The Flowers of War
2011 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 41%7.5drama · history · war

Both are Zhang Yimou's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Not nearly as kinetic as Shadow

A Westerner finds refuge with a group of women in a church during Japan's rape of Nanking in 1937. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.

Feels alike?
Ashes of Time poster
Ashes of Time
1994 · dir. Wong Kar-Wai
🍅 79%7drama · action

Common ground: wuxia

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

Ouyang Feng is a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. Throughout five seasons in exile, Ouyang spins tales of his clients' unrequited loves and unusual acts of bravery.

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Operation Red Sea poster
Operation Red Sea
2018 · dir. Dante Lam Chiu-yin
🍅 80%6.6action · thriller · war

Kinetic action, and it commits to that

A squad of the Jiaolong Commando Unit - Sea Dragon, a spec ops team of the Chinese Navy, carries out a hostage rescue operation in the nation of Yewaire, on the Arabian Peninsula, and fiercely fights against local rebel groups and Zaka, a terrorist organization.

Feels alike?
Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan poster
Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan
2007 · dir. Sergei Bodrov
🍅 86%7.2history · war · action

Both lean on bleakness more than on war

The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.

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Red Cliff II poster
Red Cliff II
2009 · dir. John Woo
7.5action · adventure · drama

The same action instincts

The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survive?

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Greyhound poster
Greyhound
2020 · dir. Aaron Schneider
🍅 77%7war · action · drama

War approached the same way

A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.

Feels alike?
Beanpole poster
Beanpole
2019 · dir. Kantemir Balagov
🍅 93%7.2drama · war

Both working the same war territory

1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

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Eastern Condors poster
Eastern Condors
1987 · dir. Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
7.1action · adventure · war

Both know what they want from action

A motley group of Chinese prisoners held in the US is sent on a covert mission with the promise of a pardon: to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missiles that the US left behind during the pull-out.

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In the mood for more kinetic?

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