Movies Like The War of Light

If you liked The War of Light, a drama and crime movie directed by Jia Ling and Sun Jibin, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
A Sun (2019)
★ 7.7/10Also drama and crime
A family of four fractures under the weight of unmet expectations, unexpected tragedy, and uncompromising pride.
2
Under the Light (2023)
★ 5.8/10Also drama and crime
Officers Su Jianming and Li Huilin investigate a crime involving wealthy businessman Li Zhitian. As clues emerge, the investigation becomes more and more like a game of chess.
3
Siberian Education (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and crime
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against…
4
True Believer (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet…
5
S.W.A.T. (2019)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and drama
The story centers on the Chinese Special Police Unit, from their hard training to their first mission.
6
Wanda (1970)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and crime
After a string of abusive relationships, Wanda abandons her family and seeks solace in the company of a petty criminal.
7
No One Would Tell (1996)
★ 7/10Also drama and crime
Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can't believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he…
8
The Enforcer (2022)
★ 7/10Also crime and drama
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to…
9
Belly (1998)
★ 6.4/10Also crime and drama
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking…
10
The Bodyguard (2016)
★ 5.8/10Also crime and drama
A retired bodyguard who has settled into a corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet as he suffers from early dementia finds a new friend in a young girl. When her life is threatened by her father's…
11
The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon (2023)
★ 7.3/10Also crime and drama
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.
12
The Dead End (2015)
★ 7.6/10Also crime and drama
A "Chinese noir full of sublimated homoeroticism" . The story of three brothers raising a little girl they found as a baby. These sworn brothers are not related by blood, but by a long-standing acquaintance and a…
13
Winged Creatures (2009)
★ 5.9/10Also crime and drama
A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an…
14
The Shadow Play (2019)
★ 6.7/10Also crime and drama
Tang Yijie, the Construction Committee Director, falls off from rooftop and dies in a demolition riot. Yang Jiadong, a young police officer starts his investigation and finds that Tang's death is tied up with another…
15
Above the Rim (1994)
★ 7.1/10Also crime and drama
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
16
The Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
★ 6.2/10Also crime and drama
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
17
Fox Hunt (2025)
★ 7.4/10Also crime and drama
Based on true events. Dai Yichen, the Shanghai-based mastermind of a massive financial fraud who has been on the run for seven years, resurfaces in Paris. Chinese economic crime detective Ye Jun leads the "Fox Hunt…
18
12 Citizens (2014)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and crime
When the film broke out that a young man coming from a rich adopted family murdered his birth father, the controversy around the case hit a nerve with the public at large. An experiment was held through the form of…
19
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
★ 5.9/10Also drama and crime
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
20
Dirt (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.