Movies like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts
The best movies like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts are LA 92 (2017), 1992 (2024) and Boyz n the Hood (1991). If Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts
Quick picks
- Highest ratedO.J.: Made in America (2016)8.4/10 from 271 votes
- NewestBleeding Edge (2026)Released 2026
LA 92 (2017)
Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this1992 (2024)
In 1992, Mercer is desperately trying to rebuild his life and his relationship with his son amidst the turbulent Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Across town, another father and son put their own strained relationship to the test as they plot a dangerous heist to steal catalytic converters, which contain valuable platinum from the factory where Mercer works. As tensions rise and chaos erupts, both families reach their boiling points when their worlds collide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoyz n the Hood (1991)
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to home, their friendship, choices, and hopes for a better future are put to the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDark Blue (2002)
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHotel Artemis (2018)
Los Angeles, June 21st, 2028. While the streets are being torn apart by riots, the Nurse, who runs a clandestine hospital for criminals in the penthouse of the Artemis, a closed old hotel, has a rough night dealing with troublemaker clients: thieves, assassins, someone from the past and the one who owns the place and the whole city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGook (2017)
Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women's shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend their store—and contemplate the meaning of family, their personal dreams and the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBound by Honor (1993)
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCrash (2005)
In post-Sept. 11 Los Angeles, tensions erupt when the lives of a Brentwood housewife, her district attorney husband, a Persian shopkeeper, two cops, a pair of carjackers and a Korean couple converge during a 36-hour period.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDead Bang (1989)
Los Angeles homicide detective Jerry Beck searches for the murderer who killed a police officer on Christmas Eve. The investigation takes Beck inside the violent world of hate groups and white supremacists, who are hatching a deadly plot to attack even more innocent people. Beck must also confront his own personal demons, including his growing problem with alcohol, if he wants to track down and stop the violent neo-Nazis before it is too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hate U Give (2018)
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalling Down (1993)
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPast Lives (2023)
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMenace II Society (1993)
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrips and Bloods: Made in America (2009)
With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Sand and Fog (2003)
Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an unfair legal dispute with the county, she is left with nowhere to go. Wanting her house back, she hires a lawyer and befriends a police officer. Neither Kathy nor Behrani have broken the law, so they find themselves involved in a difficult moral dilemma.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarton Fink (1991)
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlood and Bones (2004)
In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSe Shin Sa (2017)
"Se Shin Sa" is a hybrid of fiction and documentary portraying an undocumented immigrant woman living and working as a masseuse in Korean town, L.A.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Abandoned (1949)
A Los Angeles newspaperman seeks a woman's sister and finds a black-market baby ring.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Bleeding Edge (2026)
A young Korean-American figure skater must bear the tough-love parenting of her mother, the mind games of her coach, and her own insidious self-doubt as she recovers from an injury.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Death Name (2026)
A young Korean American woman yearns to learn more about her heritage, not knowing the further she digs, the more she reawakens a deadly family curse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Koreatown (2011)
A Korean Marilyn Monroe impersonator finds love in Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Western Avenue (1993)
A second-generation Korean-American woman, Jisoo, leaves her medical studies to pursue acting in New York. After experiencing trauma and alienation in LA’s vibrant but harsh subcultures: including scenes involving drug use and body art; she returns to her immigrant family’s life near Western Avenue. Her return coincides with the Rodney King riots, forcing her to confront identity, belonging, and the fragile ties between her American experiences and her Korean heritage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
I Hate Big Phony (2016)
For all intents and purposes, 2015 was seemingly a banner year for singer/songwriter Bobby Choy (aka Big Phony). His melodic and quiet songs had garnered him a following as he performs at SXSW while also starring in his first feature film. However, returning back to the States from living abroad in S. Korea - has he made the right decisions in life, professionally and personally? Is he his own worst enemy?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Smoking Tigers (2024)
Set in early-2000s SoCal, Smoking Tigers follows a Korean American girl as she navigates derision and growing tensions while balancing the duality of her low-income family and wealthy, elite high school environment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Bird Who Could Fly (2017)
Arthur, a young Korean-American, tries to manage one brother, sentenced to spend his life in jail; his other brother, a drug addict; and pressure from their Korean-born mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts?
The closest matches to Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts are LA 92 (2017), 1992 (2024) and Boyz n the Hood (1991). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts?
Start with LA 92 (2017), the closest match to Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts.
What is the highest-rated movie like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts?
O.J.: Made in America (2016), rated 8.4/10 by 271 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts?
Bleeding Edge (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts?
Yes: LA 92 (2017), 1992 (2024) and Boyz n the Hood (1991).
How are movies similar to Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rodney King: Koreatown Reacts, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.