20 best movies like Merantau (2009)

A Chicago cop is caught in the middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.

The region where the borders of North Korea, China, and Russia come together, forms a sort of modern day wild west, where more than half of the population relies on illegal activity in order to survive. In Yanbian, on the Chinese side of the border, Gu-nam wiles away his days driving a cab and spends his nights getting drunk and gambling. His wife went to Seoul to work and send back money, but it’s been months since he has heard from her. When local crime lord Myun offers to erase Gu-nam’s debts in exchange for a contract killing in Seoul, Gu-nam reluctantly accepts.

A gorgeous lethal killer, brainwashed by the villain, makes a startling discovery in a mission to eliminate a person she can in no way imagine.

Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris, Alex becomes a petty crook in Hong Kong. Seeing a picture of Alex, Chad rejoins him and convinces him that his rival in Hong Kong is also the man who killed their parents. Alex is suspicious of Chad, especially when it comes to his girlfriend.

Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.

An Indian Vietnam veteran trains five street punks in the Everglades to fight vice in Miami.

Gino Felino (Steven Seagal) is an NYPD detective from Brooklyn who knows everyone and everything in his neighborhood. Killing his Partner was someone's mistake, because he's now Out For Justice.

A teenage vigilante seeks revenge on a group of violent thugs who raped her handicapped sister and murdered her best friend.

A dark, hip, urban story of a barren and anonymous city where the underclass' sport of choice is ram-raiding. An exciting game in which stolen cars are driven through shop windows to aid large-scale looting before the police arrive. For Tommy, it's a business, but for Billy and Jo, it's a labour of love. As the competition between Tommy and Billy grows more fierce, the stakes become higher and the "shopping" trips increasingly risky.

A tough gang of teenage girls are looking for love and fighting for turf on the mean streets of the city! Bad girls to the core, these impossibly outrageous high school hoodlums go where they want ... and create mayhem wherever they go!

Akira Saito, a Japanese businessman lives in Tokyo with his Japanese-American wife Aiko and their children, Takeshi and Tomoya. When the family has a chance to move to the United States so that Aiko can teach the children about their American heritage, they pack up and head for Houston, Texas and run a restaurant. This is where the trouble begins....

Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.

In Los Angeles, an ex-con (White) takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.

A cop turns vigilante after his family is murdered, exacting vengeance on the killers - and then on all criminals who have slipped through the system.

Tang Lung arrives in Rome to help his cousins in the restaurant business. They are being pressured to sell their property to the syndicate, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. When Tang arrives he poses a new threat to the syndicate, and they are unable to defeat him. The syndicate boss hires the best Japanese and European martial artists to fight Tang, but he easily finishes them off.

Based on a true historic figure, Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese adventurer who went to Ayothaya in the 16th century and became a soldier in King Naresuan's army. After the war in Burma it's restless in Ayothaya, because of a mysterious group of men that terrorizes and plunders the city. Yamada goes after them and discovers that the men are rebelious Japanese samurai. Now he has to fight his own countrymen.

After his family is killed by a Serbian gangster with international interests. NYC detective Nick goes to S.E. Asia and teams up with a Thai detective to get revenge and destroy the syndicates human trafficking network.

A Los Angeles detective is sent to New York where he must solve a case involving an old Sicilian Mafia family feud.

Eight years after fleeing the Congo following his assassination of that country's minister of mining, former assassin Jim Terrier is back, suffering from PTSD and digging wells to atone for his violent past. After an attempt is made on his life, Terrier flies to London to find out who wants him dead -- and why. Terrier's search leads him to a reunion with Annie, a woman he once loved, who is now married to an oily businessman with dealings in Africa.

The archetypical renegade Texas Ranger wages war against a drug kingpin with automatic weapons, his wits and martial arts after a gun battle leaves his partner dead. All of this inevitably culminates in a martial arts showdown between the drug lord and the ranger, and involving the woman they both love.

Mo Ali’s futuristic knife-crime drama brings the dystopian environment of CHILDREN OF MEN and DISTRICT 13 to London’s East 17. SHANK delivers a ruthless vision of forthcoming urban life, where guns have been superseded by knives and are fiercely wielded by aimless youths. Amidst the chaos is the Paper Chazers gang, a rare morally conscious group who trade scavenged food for money. After Chazers gang member, Junior (Kedar Williams-Stirling), witnesses his brother, murder he must decide whether to get revenge of stick to the gangs moral code... In this superbly paced and artistic film, present-day social issues, and murky city streets, provide a perfect canvas for imagination and action.

Buck (Gary Busey) is a Vietnam vet, recently released from prison. He returns home to discover the town being terrorized by a vicious motorcycle gang. When the bikers murder his wife and traumatize his daughter, Buck and his friends arm themselves to the teeth and wage war against the gang to destroy them once and for all.

Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.

Set in Shanghais Gangster era of the early 1900s, THE LAST TYCOON tells the tale of CHENG (Chow Yun-Fat), a young man who is set up by the chief of police (Sammo Hung) and must leave the life he knows and QIU (Monica Mok), the woman he loves, to start again. After escaping prison CHENG quickly and violently moves his way up the ladder of Shanghais criminal underworld to become on the most powerful mob bosses in Shanghais history. But fame and notoriety take their toll when CHENG finds himself stuck between the looming Japanese army and the scheming local secret service. Matters are only made worse when he bumps into the love of his life QIU, along with her writer husband. Will love re-kindle in the dusk of an era?

Brandon plays Brandon Ma, a regular working Joe who holds down two jobs, so he can support his girlfriend May and his dream of owning a motorcycle. Brandon's best friend is Michael, an ambitious and murderous dope peddler. Michael covets May and so he comes up with a plan that will win her for him, and solves a problem he's been having. It seems that an undercover cop named Sharky has been using his police connections to dominate the local cocaine trade, so Michael has him killed and uses Brandon as the fall guy. Brandon goes to jail, though he thinks that he will be released soon thanks to the efforts of his good buddy Michael. Eight years later Brandon finally gets out of jail and vows revenge.

Raised as a slave, Danny is used to fighting for his survival. In fact, his "master," Bart, thinks of him as a pet and goes as far as leashing him with a collar so they can make money in fight clubs, where Danny is the main contender. When Bart's crew is in a car accident, Danny escapes and meets a blind, kindhearted piano tuner who takes him in and uses music to free the fighter's long-buried heart.

A young man washes ashore, his memory gone - but his past comes back to haunt him after he is nursed back to health and his killing ability is needed when he takes on a powerful drug lord.

This intense action-thriller unfolds in real time as two embattled souls fight for their lives. Gary Oldman stars as a vicious crime boss out to kill Nick, the lone witness set to testify against him. He hires a mysterious female motorcycle courier to unknowingly deliver a poison-gas bomb to slay Nick, but after she rescues Nick from certain death, the duo must confront an army of ruthless hired killers in order to survive the night.

A courier for a local crime lord must deliver a mysterious package while being chased by a horde of unusual gangsters.

While racing to a boxing match, Frank, Mike, John and Rey get more than they bargained for. A wrong turn lands them directly in the path of Fallon, a vicious, wise-cracking drug lord. After accidentally witnessing Fallon murder a disloyal henchman, the four become his unwilling prey in a savage game of cat & mouse as they are mercilessly stalked through the urban jungle in this taut suspense drama

After being humiliated in the ring by a dirty kickboxer who pulled down his shorts and then hit him, a martial arts master decides to travel to China and enter a monastery where he may learn the Shaolin form of fighting. The film then veers into "Karate Kid" territory where the novice humiliates himself at every turn, is tolerated as a foreigner, and still comes out a champion. The monastery teaches non-violence, but everyone knows that sooner or later the student will catch up with the bad guy.

During a routine prison work detail, convict Piper is chained to Dodge, a cyberhacker, when gunfire breaks out. Apparently, the attack is related to stolen money that the Mafia is after, and some computer files that somebody wants desperately to bury. The pair, who don't exactly enjoy each other's company, escape and must work together if they are to reach Atlanta alive. Luckily, they meet a woman who may be willing to help them.

A common man who transforms into a gangster revolts against the very system he once obediently followed by declaring war on the police, the government, and the industrialists.

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.

Set in the fictional country of Heaven Valley, the film is the story of a man, Adam, who following the suspicious death of his wife begins to investigate her murder and in doing so, discovers the involvement of local mafia boss: Denny Richards. Unable to trust the police, corrupt and controlled by Denny, Adam, consumed by anger, summons a demon who offers him superhuman strength and dark powers. The demon follows him during his trip, promising to lead Adam to the door of the murderer if he does everything the demon asks. This unleashes a bloody war that will bring Adam, the demon on his side, against the police department with all its dark allies. The fight begins and it will be extreme!

A young man, Kazuya Mishima, wakes up alone in an unfamiliar hotel room without any recollection of who he is or how he got there. He is tormented by flashes of his past and by the face of an ominous stranger. The next thing he knows, Kazuya is ambushed and kidnapped by an underground crime organization and, soon after, turned into a ruthless assassin. During a mission to assassinate a man named Brian Fury, Kazuya finds that his target harbors clues to his true identity. With the help of Fury and a female assassin, Kazuya follows the clues, leading him to the lab of his reoccurring flashbacks. Here, he will finally confront his past and the ominous man of his nightmares - Heihachi Mishima, face the ultimate betrayal, and Ieam the truth about who, and what, he really is. TEKKEN 2: KAZUYA’S REVENGE is non-stop action from the first scene to the last.

The taciturn police commander Zhang leads an undercover drugs team and in his continuous battle against the ubiquitous drug barons, takes up arms against his arch enemy, Timmy Choi. When he gets hold of Choi, he makes a deal with him: in exchange for his life (in China you can get the death penalty for producing only 50 grams of drugs) the young criminal will help the police infiltrate a sizeable drug network.

A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.

A sinful martial arts expert wants to start a new tranquil life, only to be hunted by a determined detective and his former master.

Professional baduk (go) player Tae-seok loses a high-stakes game to infamous underground gambler Sal-soo, and ends up framed for the murder of his own brother and locked up in prison. He vows revenge and trains ferociously. After serving his seven-year sentence, he gets in touch with his brother's former associate "Tricks," hermit and blind master player "The Lord," and skillful junkyard owner Mok-su; together, they begin formulating a plan to get back at Sal-soo and his men. Tae-seok slowly penetrates Sal-soo's inner circle and his gambling joint, and eliminates Sal-soo's men one by one. But Sal-soo discovers Tae-seok's true identity and engages him in one final game that will seal the fates of the two men involved.

The world's top thieves join forces to pull off the heist of a lifetime. But when they find themselves pursued across Europe by a legendary French detective, they'll have to take their game to the next level.

A robber escapes from prison with a single objective in mind: to track down his former cellmate, a serial killer who intends to pin his crimes on him. A cop is sent after the robber who, despite his best efforts, soon becomes Public Enemy Number One. As the protagonists are driven to their limits, it becomes increasingly unclear who is the hunter and who is the prey.

An ex-convict (Tyrese) gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.

Rusty Wittenburg is a Navy SEAL struggling to balance his family life and his job. He fights daily to maintain the line between reality and the nightmares his PTSD conjures up for him. Dedicated to his team and his mission, he is willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for his fellow brothers and teammates.

Tae-su, a detective fighting organized crime, returns to his hometown for his high school friend Wang-jae's funeral. There, he meets his old friends Pil-ho, Dong-hwan and Seok-hwan and they reminisce. Suspecting something fishy about Wang-jae's death, Tae-su and Seok-hwan start investigating it, each in his own way. Their investigations lead to a land development project that Pil-ho is directing.

A sequel to Kwak Kyeong-taek's "Friend" in 2001, "Friends 2" is about three men who are gangsters based in the background of the year 1963 and 2010.

A special agent assigned to protect a wealthy business magnate. However, when the businessman is kidnapped in a daring ambush, he teams up with a seasoned detective to crack the case. But soon he discovers the case isn't that simple.

An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.

Mason Storm, a 'go it alone' cop, is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death

After saving Casey, a daughter of his friend, from hired assassins, Jack Devlin is hit with a strange phobia - fear of white color. But when his other friend, who works as a bodyguard for a supermodel, is wounded, Jack decides to step in for him. Now he must confront his fear and the assassin, who seems to be well aware of Jack's problem.