Movies like Escape (2024)
The best movies like Escape (2024) are Assassination (2015), Escape from Mogadishu (2021) and Seeking Justice (2011). If Escape hooked you with its action and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRome, Open City (1945)8.0/10 from 1,016 votes
- NewestHijack 1971 (2024)Released 2024
- In KoreanAssassination (2015)Also in Korean
Assassination (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 thisEscape from Mogadishu (2021)
Diplomats from the North and South Korean embassies in Somalia attempt a daring joint escape from Mogadishu when the outbreak of civil war leaves them stranded.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeeking Justice (2011)
After his wife is assaulted, a husband enlists the services of a vigilante group to help him settle the score.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this12.12: 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 drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSAS: Red Notice (2021)
An off-duty SAS soldier, Tom Buckingham, must thwart a terror attack on a train running through the Channel Tunnel. As the action escalates on the train, events transpire in the corridors of power that may make the difference as to whether Buckingham and the civilian passengers make it out of the tunnel alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoint Security Area (2000)
Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator receives differing accounts from the two sides.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFriend (2001)
Despite their different family backgrounds, four friends grew up together in the wearisome years of the 70s. But as time goes by, each of them takes a different life path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest of the Best 4: Without Warning (1998)
A group of Russian mobsters have stolen a huge supply of paper for printing U.S. currency, and are now flooding the market with conterfeit bills. When one of the mobsters decides to give herself in and hand over a data CD to the DA, she is shot and killed, but not before handing the disc to an unsuspecting Tommy Lee. Despite working with the police as a martial arts instructor, Lee doesn't go to the cops with the disc, but instead goes on the run, giving the mafia time to kidnap his daughter and hold as a hostage in exchange for return of the disc. Will Tommy ever see his daughter again?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHijack 1971 (2024)
In the year 1971, former Korean Air Force fighter pilot Tae-In (Ha Jung-Woo) works as a pilot for a commercial airline. He faces a crisis inside a hijacked flight with the passengers, including Yong-Dae (Yeo Jin-Goo), and his crew members, including Captain Kyu-Sik (Sung Dong-Il) and Flight Attendant Ok-Soon (Chae Soo-Bin).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Perfect Weapon (1991)
Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverton Siege (2022)
After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 drama & action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBaywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Mitch Buchannon, believed to have died in a boating accident survived and only has amnesia, he has been recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. His new fiancée, Allison Ford, resembles his old lover, Lt. Stephanie Holden who died years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStowaway (2022)
A tenacious party girl fights to survive after three thieves commandeer her luxury yacht. Unable to escape and trapped on the yacht at high seas, the prey becomes the hunter as she turns the tables on the intruders and takes matters into her own hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilmido (2003)
On 31 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee. In revenge, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 criminals on the island of Silmido to kill Kim Il-sung for a suicide mission to redeem their honor, but was cancelled, leaving them frustrated. It is loosely based on a military uprising in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisV.I.P. (2017)
A son to a high-ranked official in North Korea commits a series of murders going across the countries around the world. The movie depicts the following events as South Korea, North Korea and Interpol start chasing down after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecret Reunion (2010)
Two spies share a secret bond, despite their loyalties. A North Korean assassin is sent to Seoul to kill a dissident, but instead he teams up with a South Korean agent in search for revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoongsan (2011)
Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
The Front Line (2011)
In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDMZ: Reload (2019)
Peaceful unification between North and South Korea is about to take place. Therefore, the DMZ area near Panmunjom (JSA) will be designated as a Special Peaceful Zone (a.k.a SPZ) for unification of the Korean Commonwealth. So, Panmunjom has entered a overall development phase. However, murder takes place in the DMZ. The suspect is a deserter who is only known as code-name Firefox, the special agent of North Korea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Rome, Open City (1945)
During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOne Summer Night (2016)
Caught in forbidden love, Yong Joon defects from North Korea, leaving Jae Sung behind. Years later, a reunion forces him to choose between past and present.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sea Horses (1926)
Helen Salvia sets sail with her 4-year-old daughter for Panda, an isolated East African port, where she expects to join her Italian husband, Lorenzo, who deserted her a year after their marriage. Cochran, the burly first mate, and Harvey, the youthful third officer, openly vie for her favor, while Captain Glanville remains aloof. In Panda, Helen discovers that her husband has become a drunken derelict and returns to the ship, but Glanville is forced to buy her release from Salvia. Fearful of the implication, Helen returns ashore with her daughter, flees from Lorenzo's attempts to attack her, and is found by Glanville just as a typhoon breaks in all its fury. In regaining possession of the child from Lorenzo, the captain is wounded; and Cochran, covering their retreat, kills Lorenzo. Cochran pays for his daring with his life, and Helen is free to return to England with Glanville. It is considered a lost film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Virus (1999)
When the crew of an American tugboat boards an abandoned Russian research vessel, the alien life form aboard regards them as a virus which must be destroyed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisAbyss (TBA)
The story of Lee Tae-shik, a former anti-terrorist unit who worked as a secret agent for the National Intelligence Service, struggling to find his wife Ri Seon-hee, a North Korean defector who went missing on their first anniversary of marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
The War Is Over (1989)
The film is set in France in August 1944 at the end of the war. German troops are in retreat as the allies are coming in. Two French boys run from home and on their journey they stumble upon a German soldier. Soon they become friends and together they head towards Lyon...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Escape and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Escape?
The closest matches to Escape are Assassination (2015), Escape from Mogadishu (2021) and Seeking Justice (2011). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Escape?
Start with Assassination (2015), the closest match to Escape.
What is the highest-rated movie like Escape?
Rome, Open City (1945), rated 8.0/10 by 1,016 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Escape?
Hijack 1971 (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Escape?
Yes: Assassination (2015), Escape from Mogadishu (2021) and 12.12: The Day (2023).
How are movies similar to Escape chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Escape, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.