Movies like Harbin (2024)
The best movies like Harbin (2024) are 12.12: The Day (2023), The Battle: Roar to Victory (2019) and Operation Chromite (2016). If Harbin hooked you with its action and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Way (2011)7.9/10 from 472 votes
- NewestHumint (2026)Released 2026
- In Korean12.12: The Day (2023)Also in Korean
12.12: The Day (2023)
After the assassination of President Park, martial law has been declared. A coup d'état bursts out by Defense Security Commander Chun Doo-gwang and a private band of officers following him. Capital Defense Commander Lee Tae-shin, an obstinate soldier who believes the military should not take political actions, fights against Chun Doo-gwang to stop him. The conflict between the two grows while military leaders are holding their decision and Defense Minister is gone. In the midst of chaos, the spring of Seoul that everyone longed for heads to unexpected direction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battle: Roar to Victory (2019)
Over a 4 day period, a fierce battle takes place between Korean independence militias and imperialist Japanese forces in Manchuria, China. The militia includes a master swordsman and an expert marksman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Chromite (2016)
A squad of soldiers fight in the Korean War's crucial Battle of Incheon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Way (2011)
During the invasion of Normandy the photograph of a slim Korean man in German uniform was found. It transpired that the man had served as a soldier in the Japanese, Russian and German armies. His incredible story inspired director Kang Je-Gyu to create this epic war drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & history
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOutlaws - For Greater Glory (2012)
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKandahar (2023)
After his mission is exposed, an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssassination (2015)
In Japanese-occupied Korea, three freedom fighters are assigned a mission to assassinate a genocidal military leader and his top collaborator. But the plan goes completely awry amidst double-crossings, counter-assassinations, and a shocking revelation about one of the assassins' past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this2009: Lost Memories (2002)
A failed assassination attempt in Harbin, China in 1909 changes the course of history. Now two JBI agents must find the connections between it and an ancient Korean artifact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPork Chop Hill (1959)
Korean War, April 1953. Lieutenant Clemons, leader of the King company of the United States Infantry, is ordered to recapture Pork Chop Hill, occupied by a powerful Chinese Army force, while, just seventy miles away, at nearby the village of Panmunjom, a tense cease-fire conference is celebrated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Shadows (2016)
Set in the late 1920s, The Age of Shadows follows the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDriven (2019)
FBI informant Jim Hoffman lures troubled automobile magnate John DeLorean to an undercover sting for cocaine trafficking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dogs of War (1980)
Mercenary soldiers Jamie and Drew are hired by a large corporation to liberate Zangaro, a small African nation, from an despot. Havoc ensues.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Berlin File (2013)
When an illicit arms deal goes bad, North Korean spy Pyo Jong-seong finds himself targeted not just by the South Koreans but also his own bosses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUprising (2024)
In the Joseon Dynasty, two friends who grew up together — one the master and one the servant — reunite post-war as enemies on opposing sides.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secrets We Keep (2020)
In post-World War II America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crimes she believes he committed against her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTelefon (1977)
Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShining Through (1992)
Spirited New Yorker Linda Voss goes to work for international lawyer and secret Office of Strategic Services operative Ed Leland just before World War II. As they fall in love, the United States enters the fight against Hitler, and Linda volunteers to work for Ed spying undercover behind Nazi lines. Assigned to uncover information about a German bomb, Linda also has personal motives to fulfill: discovering the fate of her Jewish family members in Berlin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHumint (2026)
A South Korean agent hunts a drug ring in Russia and goes head-to-head with a North Korean operative — pulling both into peril and tangled secrets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Roundup: No Way Out (2023)
Detective Ma Seok-do changes his affiliation from the Geumcheon Police Station to the Metropolitan Investigation Team, in order to eradicate Japanese gangsters who enter Korea to commit heinous crimes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTimecop (1994)
In 2004, an officer for a security agency that regulates time travel must fend for his life against a shady politician who has a tie to his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParmanu: The Story of Pokhran (2018)
A look at India's second confidential nuclear test series at Pokhran lead by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, during the time of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThirteen Days (2000)
The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962—the nuclear standoff with the USSR sparked by the discovery by the Americans of missile bases established on the Soviet-allied island of Cuba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWindtalkers (2002)
Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBody of Lies (2008)
The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Nikita (1988)
An FBI agent works to uncover an all-American family as Soviet sleeper agents, and gets caught up in friendship with their oblivious teenage son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Days of the Condor (1975)
When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Dark Horse (2014)
One-time Maori speed-chess champ, Genesis Potini, lives with a bi-polar disorder and must overcome prejudice and violence in the battle to save his struggling chess club, his family and ultimately, himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCasino Royale (1967)
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisLegend (2015)
Suave, charming and volatile, Reggie Kray and his unstable twin brother Ronnie start to leave their mark on the London underworld in the 1960s. Using violence to get what they want, the siblings orchestrate robberies and murders while running nightclubs and protection rackets. With police Detective Leonard "Nipper" Read hot on their heels, the brothers continue their rapid rise to power and achieve tabloid notoriety.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Harbin?
The closest matches to Harbin are 12.12: The Day (2023), The Battle: Roar to Victory (2019) and Operation Chromite (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Harbin?
Start with 12.12: The Day (2023), the closest match to Harbin.
What is the highest-rated movie like Harbin?
My Way (2011), rated 7.9/10 by 472 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Harbin?
Humint (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Harbin?
Yes: 12.12: The Day (2023), The Battle: Roar to Victory (2019) and Operation Chromite (2016).
How are movies similar to Harbin chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Harbin, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.