Best Asian crime movies
A curated collection of popular crime movies from Asia.
Memories of Murder (2003)
Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Shoplifters (2018)
Shoplifters (2018)
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Forgotten (2017)
Forgotten (2017)
Seoul, South Korea, 1997. When the young but extremely anxious student Jin-seok, his parents and his successful older brother Yoo-seok move to a new home, mysterious and frightening events begin to happen around them, unexplained events that threaten to ruin their seemingly happy lives. Unable to understand what is happening, Jin-seok wonders if he is losing his mind.
High and Low (1963)
Carter (2022)
Carter (2022)
Carter, who awakens two months into a deadly pandemic originating from the DMZ that has already devastated US and North Korea. He who has no recollections of his past finds a mysterious device in his head, and a lethal bomb in his mouth. A voice in his ears gives him orders to avoid getting killed and he's thrown into a mysterious operation while the CIA and North Korean coup chase him close.
The Protector (2005)
The Protector (2005)
A young fighter named Kham must go to Australia to retrieve his stolen elephant. With the help of a Thai-born Australian detective, Kham must take on all comers, including a gang led by an evil woman and her two deadly bodyguards.
The Outlaws (2017)
The Outlaws (2017)
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.
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024)
In 1980s Hong Kong, troubled youth Chan Lok-kwun, a mainland refugee, struggles to survive in the Kowloon Walled City by joining underground fights. Betrayed by crime boss Mr. Big while trying to buy a fake ID, he steals drugs from him and seeks refuge in the Walled City, where he encounters Cyclone, a compassionate yet authoritative crime lord.
The Yellow Sea (2010)
The Yellow Sea (2010)
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.
A Hard Day (2014)
Vikram (2022)
Vikram (2022)
Amar is assigned to investigate a case of serial killings. When Amar investigates the case, he realizes it is not what it seems to be and following down this path will lead to nothing but war between everyone involved.
Demon City (2025)
Bedevilled (2010)
Bedevilled (2010)
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.
Badla (2019)
Badla (2019)
A dynamic young entrepreneur finds herself locked in a hotel room with the corpse of her dead lover. She hires a prestigious lawyer to defend her and they work together to figure out what actually happened.
Infernal Affairs II (2003)
Project Wolf Hunting (2022)
Project Wolf Hunting (2022)
While under heavily armed guard, the dangerous convicts aboard a cargo ship unite in a coordinated escape attempt that soon escalates into a bloody, all-out riot. But as the fugitives continue their brutal campaign of terror, they soon discover that not even the most vicious among them is safe from the horror they unknowingly unleashed from the darkness below deck.
Raees (2017)
Raees (2017)
Set in the early ’80s and ’90s in Gujarat, India, ‘Raees’ is a fictitious story of a crime lord named Raees, who builds an entire empire from scratch, and a police officer who is determined to bring him down.
Special 26 (2013)
Special 26 (2013)
In the early 1980s in India, a group of con artists rob businessmen and politicians by conducting fake raids, posing as officers of the CBI or Income Tax Department . They plan to execute their biggest con as a final job while a relentless cop is on their trail.
Article 15 (2019)
Article 15 (2019)
A young IPS officer’s new posting in rural India has him confronting caste disparities and uncomfortable truths in the face of a gruesome crime. When three girls go missing in the fictional village of Lalgaon, two of them are found dead and there is no trace of the third one. Where is she and who is responsible for this heinous act?
Drishyam 2 (2022)
Drishyam 2 (2022)
7 years after the case related to Vijay Salgaonkar and his family was closed, a series of unexpected events bring truth to light that threatens to change everything for the Salgaonkars. Can Vijay save his family this time?
Sonatine (1993)
Sonatine (1993)
Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2007)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2007)
The story takes place in the year 2034, two years after the events in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. Female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi has left Public Security Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist and anti-crime unit specializing in cyber-warfare, which has expanded to a team of 20 field operatives with Togusa acting as the field lead.
The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2023)
The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2023)
The arrogant, third most-wanted criminal in Taiwan, decides to get rid of the top two competitors and crowns himself the most-wanted criminal before dying.
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain (2013)
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 1: Ghost Pain (2013)
The story is set in 2027, one year after the end of the fourth non-nuclear war. New Port City is still reeling from the war's aftermath when it suffers a bombing caused by a self-propelled mine. Then, a military member implicated in arms-dealing bribes is gunned down. During the investigation, Public Security Section's Daisuke Aramaki encounters Motoko Kusanagi, the cyborg, wizard-level hacker assigned to the military's 501st Secret Unit. Batou, a man with the "eye that does not sleep," suspects that Kusanagi is the one behind the bombing. The Niihama Prefectural Police detective Togusa is pursuing his own dual cases of the shooting death and a prostitute's murder. Motoko herself is being watched by the 501st Secret Unit's head Kurutsu and cyborg agents.