The City of ViolenceMovies like The City of Violence
- Key Features:
- Organized crime, Investigation, Friendship, Corruption, Betrayal, Martial arts, Revenge, Violence-high
- Tone:
- serious, gritty
- Target Audience:
- Crime thriller fans, Action enthusiasts, Korean cinema viewers
- Emotional Arc:
- Nostalgia → Suspicion → Confrontation
The City of Violence

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.
The City of Violence
After barely surviving a brutal attack by a sadistic serial killer, crime boss Jang Dong-su is left humiliated. Determined to catch the killer known as K, he forms an uneasy alliance with Jung Tae-seok, a relentless and incorruptible detective who often disrupts his illegal business. However, while Jang Dong-su wants K dead, Jung Tae-suk is determined to bring him to justice. With a deal in place—whoever finds K first will decide his fate—the hunt begins, blurring the lines between crime and law.

When an old collaborator gets severely injured, a veteran policeman tries to figure out the way to bring to justice the ultimately suspected aggressor, a spoiled young executive, heir to a mega corporation, who believes he is above the law.

A shady cop finds himself in over his head when he gets caught between Internal Affairs and the city’s corrupt mayor.

A corrupt customs official joins forces with a vicious gangster to form the most powerful crime partnership in Busan.

Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.

Jong-dae and Yong-ki make a living by picking up paper and empty bottles. Both then join different gangster clan and becomes involved in a struggle of political interests over development in Gangnam, Seoul.

A small-time thug who collects debts for the local triad is torn between his criminal aspirations and his devotion to family.

A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.

In Chinatown, law and order is turned upside down when a trio of feral Chinese gangsters arrive, start terrorizing civilians, and usurping territory. The beleaguered local gangsters team up with the police, lead by the badass loose cannon Ma Seok-do, to bring them down. Based on a true story.

A Korean man in China takes an assassination job in South Korea to make money and find his missing wife. But when the job is botched, he is forced to go on the run from the police and the gangsters who paid him.

Jae-ho, who aims to become the number one in a crime organization, gets to build up trust with Hyun-su, an ambitious newbie in the prison. While they try to take over the organization after the prison release, their ulterior motives starts to emerge.

Gang-pae is #2 gangster in his organization who longs to become an actor. Su-ta is a superstar actor who takes on the role of a gangster in an action movie called Rough Cut. When another actor leaves the set due to Su-tas violent ways, the production is on the verge of shutting down. Su-ta asks Gang-pae, whom he met by chance, to play alongside him in the movie in order to save the production.

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.

An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.

An honest cop has to compromise with his principles when he is told to find a scapegoat for a high-profile serial killer case in exchange for a big promotion.

An assassin named Tae-goo is offered a chance to switch sides with his rival Bukseong gang, headed by Chairman Doh. Tae-goo rejects the offer that results in the murder of his sister and niece. In revenge, Tae-goo brutally kills Chairman Doh and his men and flees to Jeju Island where he meets Jae-yeon, a terminally ill woman. Though, the henchman of the Bukseong gang, Executive Ma is mercilessly hunting Tae-goo to take revenge.

Min-jae, a rookie police officer with a natural born talent for driving, is assigned to the perfect team: the Hit-and-Run Squad. But at the same time, for police detective Si-yeon, it is a place she is unjustly demoted to for doing her job. The two team up to arrest the rich and powerful speed maniac Jae-chul who is suspected of committing crimes for his obsession for speed.

After a prosecution lawyer is framed and convicted for murder, he tries to catch the real murderer from jail with the help of a con artist.

The veteran detective Seo Do-cheol and his team at Major Crimes, relentless in their pursuit of criminals, join forces with rookie cop Park Sun-woo to track down a serial killer who has plunged the nation into turmoil.

After trying to cover up a car accident that left a man dead, a crooked homicide detective is stalked by a mysterious man claiming to have witnessed the event.

Sang-hoon is a lowlife gangster, a debt collector exercising thuggish ways to collect his money. The recipient of nothing but anger since his childhood, he expresses himself through violence. When he finally encounters someone who can stand up to him, feisty school-girl Yoon-hee they become unlikely friends.

Two rival detectives with different methods try to solve the murder of a missing girl after discovering her mutilated body in the tidelands of Incheon.

Honed from childhood into a merciless killing machine by a criminal organization, assassin Sook-hee is recruited with the promise of freedom after ten years of service. However, secrets from her past destroy everything she’s worked for and now she embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge.

On the run from a dogged internal affairs agent, a corrupt cop reluctantly teams up with a defiant teen to unravel a conspiracy before it's too late.

Hell-bent on avenging the murder of his family, a former detective infiltrates a remote island that serves as a prison for vicious death row criminals.

Grieving the loss of a best friend she couldn't protect, an ex-bodyguard sets out to fulfill her dear friend's last wish: sweet revenge.

Min Ji-Won suffers from amnesia caused by an accident almost a year ago. After the accident, Min Ji-Won is a shy person. Prior to the accident, Min Ji-Won was the leader of a gang of four girl bullies. Through pictures, Min Ji-Won learns about the three other members and she wants to learn what happened to them. While Min Ji-Won attempts to unravel the mystery, her former friends are killed one by one.

In real life, Kwon Yoo is unemployed, but in the virtual game world he is the best leader. Kwon Yoo is then framed for a murder. With the help of hacker Yeo-wool, he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder case.

Mantis, an ace assassin, returns to the contract killer industry after a hiatus, encountering his trainee friend Jae-yi and a retired legendary killer Dok-go, who now runs the organization.

Jang Tae-Young is a popular trouble shooter in the criminal world. He is cold and ambitious. He dreams of building a casino hotel one day. A reporter then goes to Jang Tae-Young.

An ex-special agent is involved in a convoluted drug ring drama. He has to save a drug smuggler's innocent daughter from being the victim of her parents' fight.

'Monster Cop' Ma Seok-do investigates an illegal online gambling business led by a former STS Baek and an IT genius CEO Chang. Ma proposes an unexpected alliance to Jang and begins hunting down the criminals.

26 years ago, state troops were ordered to open fire on civilians in the city of Gwangju who were demonstrating as apart of a democratic movement. Thousands of civilians were killed. Now, a shooter from the national team, a gang member, a policeman, CEO from a large company and director of a private security outfit get involved in a plan to convict the person responsible for the massacre.

A detective accidentally kills a man and disposes of the body to protect his career. The next day he sees that someone has hanged the corpse from a crane for all to see. He takes charge of the murder investigation to protect himself and find out who did it.

A struggling restaurant owner, caring for his sick mom, finds a bag of cash in a sauna locker, while a customs officer gets into trouble when his girlfriend runs off with money he borrowed from a loan shark.

The 'Beast Cop' Ma Seok-do heads to a foreign country to extradite a suspect, but soon after his arrival, he discovers additional murder cases and hears about a vicious killer who has been committing crimes against tourists for several years.

A hitman is double-crossed by his girlfriend and barely escapes a murder attempt. He then sets out to take his revenge on the woman and the gang boss who put her up to it.

A former professional baseball player becomes entangled in loan-sharking and mob connections after a fixing scandal ejects him from his sport. When his girlfriend vanishes he is forced to confront his mentor and enter a deadly battle.

Detective Cho, a cop on the edge, is mourning his mother's recent death while under investigation for graft; on top of that he is suddenly put in charge of a seemingly-impenetrable mystery.

Sung-soo has everything a man could want: a beautiful wife and children, a comfortable home and luxury car, and plenty of money in the bank. When he learns that his estranged brother, Sung-chul, has gone missing, haunting memories of their troubled past urge him to visit his brother’s apartment in search of answers.

A professional GO player gathers a team to help him carry out his revenge against the man who killed his brother.

A disgruntled henchman teams up with an ambitious prosecutor to bring down a leading presidential candidate and the news editor behind him who is truly pulling the strings.

A pimp enforcer takes revenge on a woman who rejected his advances by tricking her into prostitution, but complications arise.

Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates, taking care of the money, and making sure the coast is clear. When Jae-Young falls in love with one of those men, she suppresses her feelings towards him in respect of her friend who's jealous.

An imprisoned ex-police inspector discovers that the entire penitentiary is controlled by an inmate running a crime syndicate and becomes part of the crime empire.

Joong-ho is a dirty detective turned pimp, who's in financial trouble as several of his girls have recently disappeared without clearing their debts. While trying to track them down, he finds a clue that the vanished girls were all called up by the same client, whom one of his girls is meeting with right now.

In this dark tale of revenge, Bruce Lee "returns" as Billy Lo, whose best friend Chin Ku dies of a sudden illness. But suspicion of foul play arises when a gang tries to steal Ku's coffin at the funeral using a helicopter. When Lo's younger brother Lo hears about the incident, he leaves his Buddhist master to investigate the truth. His trail soon leads him to the Castle of Death, the last place Chin Ku was seen alive. There, he meets and befriends an unlikely ally--a cruel and merciless martial arts expert who is also the tower's master. But when the master dies under mysterious circumstances, Lo ends up dueling with someone far more terrifying.

A girl who lost her father to a serial killer, a detective and a killer are intertwined in a chaotic relationship and are met with an unprecedented series of events.

Detective Nam-soon goes undercover with her partner Detective Ahn to investigate the counterfeit money. She discovers that one loyal henchman, Sad Eyes, a beautiful swordsman with a pale, blank face, is related to the truth. Nam-soon and Sad Eyes confront each other in a series of duels and become confused between love and obligation to duty.

Jobless, besieged by creditors, and abandoned by his wife, the once silver medalist Tae-shik has sunk to street hustling, becoming a human punching bag. Meanwhile, young Sang-hwan's delinquent ways land him behind bars. Both men look to boxing to turn around lives gone astray, aiming for the amateur title, ultimately pitting them against each other, but more importantly, against themselves.

A female detective investigates the cause of a high school girl’s death and uncovers a disturbing truth.

To nab a sales manager who's at large after murdering his family, a detective investigates the man's colleagues, who seem to be hiding something.

A contract killer becomes disenchanted with his line of work and spares the lives of his two latest would-be-victims. But the assassination company he works for has no intentions of letting him quit.

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.

Han, a Filipino-Korean boxer hits the final punch against his opponent at an illegal game and returns home with a few dollars to pay for his mother's surgery.

An ordinary man witnesses a cruel murder and becomes entangled in circumstances out of his control.

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.

Forensic pathologist Kang is assigned to examine the dismembered corpse of a female murder victim. Detective Min points to a fanatic environmentalist, Lee Sung-ho, as the primary suspect. But when Kang’s daughter is kidnapped, a manipulative game begins between Kang and Lee, who holds secrets about the homicide case.

Once a legendary detective and a new mom, Mi-young, now works a desk job. But when overenthusiastic newbie Ji-hye is assigned to Mi-young's civil complaints team, the two female cops get caught up in a serious criminal case that triggers an action-filled comedic investigation.

A woman's child is kidnapped and killed after paying the ransom. 15 years later, a mysterious figure is seen visiting the site of killing and another kidnapping occurs using the same methods. The woman teams up with a detective to catch the killer once and for all.

After being kidnapped as a small child and raised by the five men who abducted him, a teenage boy is now forced to join their life in crime.

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.

While his girlfriend is away on a trip, retired assassin Bang Ui-kang is tasked with looking after her friend's 17-year-old daughter. After a street attack, Bang Ui-kang becomes embroiled in a murder investigation and dangerous trafficking gang.

A disillusioned Seoul woman visits a remote island to reconnect with a childhood friend, only to find her trapped in an oppressive cycle of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. As tensions escalate, the situation spirals into a harrowing tale of survival and retribution.

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.

Four unlikely assassins question their assignments because they genuinely care about their customers and victims. However, they attract police attention and a prosecutor is on their trail.

An idealistic policeman must bring down his estranged older brother, now a powerful gangster in a South Korean port city.

In a city of love and prosperity, a city of lost hope and premature death, veteran detective Hei feels it all: the hurt, the helplessness, the horror. When his father-in-law, the billionaire benefactor Kim, is gruesomely murdered in his palatial mansion, he enlists the assistance of his former partner turned private detective.

A city boy visits a remote village to find out the reason behind his father's strange death. The locals are watching his every move and are eager to see him leave. As he starts to investigate, the village's sinister secrets begin to unravel.

Framed for his family's murder and left for dead, an ex-hitman will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the masked "demons" who have taken over his city.

Kensuke Sonomura directs the legendary Hitoshi Ozawa in this ultimate V-Cinema actioner. Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.

Ji-wook is a virile detective with a reputation, but deep down in his heart, he always considered himself as a woman and finally decides to get a transsexual operation. However, his plan falls apart as vicious gang members start their revenge on him.

After being blinded in a coup against the king, Joseon's greatest swordsman goes into hiding, far removed from his city's anguish. But when traffickers kidnap his daughter, he has no choice but to unsheathe his sword once more.

Ha Yoon-ju becomes the newest member of a unit within the Korean Police Forces Special Crime Department that specializes in surveillance activities on high-profile criminals. She teams up with Hwang Sang-jun, the veteran leader of the unit, and tries to track down James who is the cold-hearted leader of an armed criminal organization.

A young Korean man surpasses his difficult childhood by becoming a powerful prosecutor, but soon learns that real power comes at a price.

Chasing speed, dreams and money, a team of drivers get involved in the slush fund investigation of a powerful figure during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.

After fighting his way through an apartment building populated by an army of dangerous criminals and escaping with his life, SWAT team member Rama goes undercover, joining a powerful Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and uncover corrupt members of his own force.

After a high-ranking North Korean official requests asylum, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park Pyong-ho and Domestic Unit chief Kim Jung-do are tasked with uncovering a North Korean spy, known as Donglim, who is deeply embedded within their agency. When the spy begins leaking top secret intel that could jeopardize national security, the two units are each assigned to investigate each other.

Bok-Soon runs a street stall, cares for her younger sister, and is feared by many because of her quick temper. When Tae-Soo murders her sister, rage consumes her completely as she stalks the killer.

From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

After his brother dies in a car crash, a disgraced MMA fighter takes over the family nightclub — and soon learns his sibling's death wasn’t an accident.

A biker is forced to deliver a ticking time bomb by a mysterious caller who has put an explosive helmet on his ex-girlfriend.

Five years after the all-out war between the Sanno and Hanabishi crime families, former yakuza boss Otomo works in South Korea for Mr. Chang, a noted fixer. When tensions rise between Chang and the Hanabishi, and Chang's life is endangered, Otomo returns to Japan to settle things once and for all.

Two apathetic police academy recruits who become best buddies through the tough training together witness a woman being abducted right before their very eyes. As they were taught in the academy, they quickly report the incident to the police, but the police are in no hurry to jump on the case. So the duo decide to take the matter into their own hands and rescue the woman.

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.

After a teacher dies, his best friend — a former cop — takes a job at the school where he worked to confront the gang he thinks was responsible.

A young assassin is sent to kill a retired mob boss. But things get complicated when she begins to like him.

When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

Two cops, R and Noma, hunt down renegade cyborgs. Cyborgs are used as commandos by the military, as lust objects and for companionship. Normaly they have a limited lifespan of three years but black market technology is being developed to be able to transfer a cyborg's artificial intelligence into human host. This drives R to find a suitable host for his expiring cyborg Ria.

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

A serial killer is caught for his seventh murder. A cop tries to solve the first six cases with the killer's help, but starts to suspect that he has ulterior motives. Based on a true story.

A respectable village head decides to keep his son away from the violent politics of rural life. However, fate intervenes, forcing the young man to not only return home, but also take up the sickle.

A woman's past as a convict follows her everywhere and because of this she doesn't open up to others. But then she strikes up a friendship with a broken child who has suffered from domestic violence and decides to save the girl from the cruel world. A man who holds feelings for the woman, tries to protect her in his own way.

While in medieval Korea, a young girl sets out to revenge the betrayal and the death of her mother. But therefore she must face one of the most powerful men and warriors of the Goryeo Dynasty.

Late 18th-century Joseon dynasty. The King is beleaguered and surrounded by traitors of the ruling elite. They plan to assassinate and replace him with a puppet. But the King has some aces up his sleeve that may help him defeat them all.

Eun-jin who is a living legend among the gangsters dominates the male-centered underworld wielding only a pair of her trademark blades. One day, Eun-jin finds her sister from whom she was separated at an orphanage during childhood, and her sister tells Eun-jin that her last dying wish is to see that Eun-jin gets married.

After a massive earthquake, only one apartment building is left standing in Seoul, South Korea. Survivors flock to Hwang Gung Apartments, but residents cannot cope with the increasing numbers.
