Movies like Shanghai (2012)
The best movies like Shanghai (2012) are The International (2009), Awake (2007) and All the Devils Are Here (2025). If Shanghai hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAwake (2007)6.6/10 from 1,653 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
- In HindiBlack Bud (2021)Also in Hindi
The International (2009)
An interpol agent and an attorney are determined to bring one of the world's most powerful banks to justice. Uncovering money laundering, arms trading, and conspiracy to destabilize world governments, their investigation takes them from Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. Finding themselves in a chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAwake (2007)
While undergoing heart surgery, a man experiences a phenomenon called ‘anesthetic awareness’, which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCleaner (2007)
Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShimmer Lake (2017)
Shot in reverse day-by-day through a week—a local sheriff embarks on a quest to unlock the mystery of three small-town criminals and a bank heist gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Virtuoso (2021)
Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisRed Right Hand (2024)
Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShade (2003)
Tiffany, Charlie and Vernon are con artists looking to up the ante from their typical scams. They figure a good way of doing this is taking down Dean "The Dean" Stevens, a well-known cardsharp, in a rigged game. However, they first need enough money to enter a game with Stevens, so they decide to strike a deal with fellow crook Larry Jennings to scam a local gangster -- which turns out to be a bad idea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killer (2024)
Zee is a feared contract killer known as "the Queen of the Dead," but when she refuses to murder a young blind woman, she finds herself hunted both by criminal colleagues and a determined police detective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil Death (2007)
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBarron's Cove (2025)
When his young son is viciously murdered by a classmate, a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician -- the father of the kidnapped boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisFrank and Penelope (2022)
A tale of love and violence when a man on his emotional last legs finds a savior seductively dancing in a run-down strip club. And a life most certainly headed off a cliff suddenly becomes redirected - as everything is now worth dying for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Night in Bangkok (2020)
A hit man named Kai flies into Bangkok, gets a gun, and orders a cab. He offers a professional female driver big money to be his all-night driver. But when she realizes Kai is committing brutal murders at each stop, it's too late to walk away. Meanwhile, an offbeat police detective races to decode the string of slayings before more blood is spilled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Ties (2013)
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThieves Highway (2025)
After discovering a plot to haul stolen cattle in the middle of nowhere, a desperate and isolated lawman becomes the only thing standing between a group of dangerous rustlers and a clear run to the border.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlindfire (2020)
A police officer who while responding to a violent hostage call, kills the African American suspect only to later learn of his innocence. Sensing this was a set-up, and facing repercussions, he must track down the person responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHellhound (2024)
Ready to leave his profession behind, Loreno, an assassin, lends help to an old friend, Cetan, and taking one last job in Thailand seeking out a local kingpin. A lapse in judgment means Loreno crosses paths with old colleague Paul.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Bud (2021)
Sanya, a rebellious contemporary girl but a poet at heart, escapes her strict orthodox father's house in search of a new life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Chamku (2008)
A traumatized child becomes a political activist but agrees to become an assassin upon being captured.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Jai Veeru (2009)
Bangkok-based con-man, Jai, steals cars, and cons residents. While flirting with a girl in a bar, faces-off with her brother and his friends, and a male, Veeru, comes to his assistance. Both become close and eventually inseparable friends. Their friendship ends abruptly after Veeru reveals his true identity and arrests Jai. Neither are aware that they have a common enemy in Tejpal - who is determined to do away with both of them once and for all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Kidnap (2008)
A fortnight before her eighteenth birthday, Sonia goes missing. Her family receives a call informing them that she has been kidnapped and her estranged father, a US-based businessman, must now follow the kidnapper’s instructions to the letter if he is to entertain any hopes of seeing her alive again. Is this a mere kidnapping or is there more to it than what meets the eye?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Baazigar (1993)
A young man with a vendetta against a business tycoon seduces and kills his eldest daughter and then proceeds to his younger daughter but she begins to suspect her new lover's ulterior motive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRace (2008)
Action-thriller about two brothers, Ranvir and Rajiv, whose rivalry in the world of horse racing turns into a deadly game of betrayal, greed, and revenge, investigated by Inspector Robert D'Costa.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohnny Gaddaar (2007)
Five men get involved in a drug deal set up by a corrupt police officer, but the plan goes awry when the youngest member decides to steal the money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJudge Mujrim (1997)
A renowned judge witnesses a murder in broad daylight. He identifies the killer who is arrested, found guilty and sentenced to the gallows. The judge later discovers he has seen the wrong person.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime
Dange (2024)
Former friends Xavier and Yuva meet again in college as adversaries when their respective cohorts come to blows during their annual cultural festival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Shanghai and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Shanghai?
The closest matches to Shanghai are The International (2009), Awake (2007) and All the Devils Are Here (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Shanghai?
Start with The International (2009), the closest match to Shanghai.
What is the highest-rated movie like Shanghai?
Awake (2007), rated 6.6/10 by 1,653 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Shanghai?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Hindi movies like Shanghai?
Yes: Black Bud (2021), Chamku (2008) and Jai Veeru (2009).
How are movies similar to Shanghai chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Shanghai, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.