Movies like Return of the Kickfighter (1987)
The best movies like Return of the Kickfighter (1987) are Merrill's Marauders (1962), Battleground (1949) and Gunga Din (1939). If Return of the Kickfighter hooked you with its action and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSeven Samurai (1954)8.5/10 from 4,461 votes
- NewestThe Last Rifleman (2023)Released 2023
Merrill's Marauders (1962)
Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill leads the 3,000 American volunteers of his 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), aka "Merrill's Marauders", behind Japanese lines across Burma to Myitkyina, pushing beyond their limits and fighting pitched battles at every strong-point.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGunga Din (1939)
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood on the Sun (1945)
Nick Condon, an American journalist in 20s Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like this400 Bullets (2021)
One cold winter night in Afghanistan is about to get a whole lot worse for Rana Rae, a Gurkha soldier left to guard a British military outpost, when Captain Noah Brandt arrives looking for refuge from a group of rogue special ops and a cell of heavily armed Taliban. The two soldiers must fight for their lives as they attempt to call for backup before the rogue squad, led by the backstabbing Sergeant Bartlett, can hunt them down to retrieve a case of missile guidance chips that Noah intercepted. But Bartlett and his men do not count on Rana, whose ferocious Gurkha training makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Way Ahead (1944)
A mismatched collection of conscripted civilians find training tough under Lieutenant Jim Perry and Sergeant Ned Fletcher when they are called up to replace an infantry battalion that had suffered casualties at Dunkirk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Brawl (1980)
A young Asian American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Guns of Navarone (1961)
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBirth of the Dragon (2017)
Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown, this cross-cultural biopic chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with fellow martial artist Wong Jack Man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe One That Got Away (1957)
Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War Below (2021)
During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGunless (2010)
American gunslinger Sean Rafferty—aka The Montana Kid—is unable to find someone to duel in a Canadian town where no one understands the brutal code of the American Wild West.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLast Days in Vietnam (2014)
During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront a moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShoulder Arms (1918)
An American doughboy, stationed in France during the Great War, goes on a daring mission behind enemy lines and becomes a hero.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleeping Dogs (1978)
Recluse Smith is drawn into a revolutionary struggle between guerrillas and right-wingers in New Zealand. Implicated in a murder and framed as a revolutionary conspirator, Smith tries to maintain an attitude of non-violence while caught between warring factions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisStreet Fighter Alpha: Generations (2005)
When Ryu returns to pay homage to his deceased mentor, Gouken, he is tormented by disturbing memories of his master's killer (Gouki). In a quest to become a true martial arts master, he sets out to hone his street fighting skills and deliver himself from the haunting legacy of the dark hadou.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
SnoozefestMovies like thisEmpire of the Sun (1987)
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCast a Giant Shadow (1966)
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing in Action (1984)
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisBat★21 (1988)
Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a temporary shortage of helicopters causes a delay. Working with an Air Force reconnaissance pilot, Capt. Bartholomew Clark, he maps out an escape route.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman Begins (2005)
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Samurai (1954)
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
The Bride unwaveringly continues on her roaring rampage of revenge against the band of assassins who had tried to kill her and her unborn child. She visits each of her former associates one-by-one, checking off the victims on her Death List Five until there's nothing left to do … but kill Bill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKikaider Reboot (2014)
In the near future, the brilliant Dr. Komyoji is enlisted to lead the ARK Project—a scientific endeavor dedicated to forging a brighter tomorrow through robotics. However, the doctor’s mysterious death puts those plans to an abrupt hold... Not long after, the grieving Komyoji children wander into the crosshairs of a black ops squad on the hunt for their father’s research. But from within the cross fire emerges Jiro—a bleeding-edge android programmed to protect the siblings! Now on the run, the Komyojis soon discover their father’s once hopeful ambitions have taken a DARK turn...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his humor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKebab Connection (2004)
In Hamburg, Ibrahim "Ibo" Secmez, of Turkish descent, wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie. For now, he makes commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant. Titzie, an aspiring actress and Ibo's German girlfriend, finds she's pregnant. Ibo is uncertain about fatherhood - compounded by his father's disowning him for getting a German girl pregnant - so Titzie sends him packing. He makes attempts at getting it right, but as the birth approaches, he's still not ready. In the background are three thugs in search of good tripe soup and a Capulet-Montegue feud between the kebab joint and a Greek taverna across the street. Can Ibo be the glove upon that hand?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHard Target (1993)
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealthy sportsman who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRomeo Must Die (2000)
Two warring gang families (one African-American, the other Chinese) maneuver for bragging rights to the Oakland, California docks. Han Sing and Trish O'Day uncover a trail of deceit that leaves most of the warring factions dead... or worse!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Return of the Kickfighter?
The closest matches to Return of the Kickfighter are Merrill's Marauders (1962), Battleground (1949) and Gunga Din (1939). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Return of the Kickfighter?
Start with Merrill's Marauders (1962), the closest match to Return of the Kickfighter.
What is the highest-rated movie like Return of the Kickfighter?
Seven Samurai (1954), rated 8.5/10 by 4,461 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Return of the Kickfighter?
The Last Rifleman (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Return of the Kickfighter?
Yes: Merrill's Marauders (1962), Battleground (1949) and Gunga Din (1939).
How are movies similar to Return of the Kickfighter chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Return of the Kickfighter, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.