Movies Like The Empty Hands

If you liked The Empty Hands (2011), a action movie directed by Steven Watkins and Mahaliel Bethea, 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
The Paper Tigers (2020)
★ 6.7/10Also action
Three middle aged men polish their martial arts skills to avenge their fallen master.
2
Beast (2026)
★ 7.5/10Also action
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal…
3
Gladiator Underground (2025)
★ 7.7/10Also action
Two brothers compete in the world's deadliest underground fighting tournament, where they must decide whether to play by the rules or to cast their honor aside and team up to bring down the dark syndicate running the…
4
Hounds of War (2024)
★ 6.4/10Also action
After a mission goes wrong, only one of a group of mercenaries is left alive to avenge his fallen brothers.
5
In the Blood (2014)
★ 5.8/10Also action
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
6
Absolution (2024)
★ 5.9/10Also action
An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children…
7
Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist The Movie (2014)
★ 7.2/10Also action
If one man changes his path, will he be able to change his destiny...or will he only delay the inevitable? Ryu and Ken are two traditional warriors who find themselves isolated in some corner of Japan to carry out…
8
Lion Fist (2026)
★ 7.2/10Also action
Martial arts fighter Joe goes to prison for four years and takes his wife's blame for a drug bust. After his release, he learns that his son needs expensive surgery because of a life-threatening tumor. Joe's only…
9
Showdown (1993)
★ 6.3/10Also action
Ken has just moved from Kansas with his mother. He talks to a girl named Julie, not knowing that her boyfriend Tom is very possessive of her. Tom is learning karate from Lee, a sensei whose brother was killed by a…
10
The Marine 5: Battleground (2017)
★ 6.6/10Also action
While working as an EMT back stateside Jake Carter after responding to a distress call, finds himself caught up protecting a person of interest from a biker gang ruthlessly hunting them down.
11
Shootfighter: Fight to the Death (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also action
Nick and Ruben are hoodwinked into a "shootfighter" (no-holds-barred, to the death) martial arts match by the evil Mr. Lee, who has a grudge against world shootfighter champ(and teacher of Nick and Ruben) Shingo.
12
Birth of the Dragon (2017)
★ 5.8/10Also action
Set against the backdrop of San Francisco’s Chinatown, this cross-cultural biopic chronicles Bruce Lee’s emergence as a martial-arts superstar after his legendary secret showdown with fellow martial artist Wong Jack Man.
13
The Marine 3: Homefront (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also action
A Marine must do whatever it takes to save his kidnapped sister and stop a terrorist attack masterminded by a radical militia group.
14
The Perfect Weapon (1991)
★ 6.4/10Also action
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…
15
Angel Town (1990)
★ 6.6/10Also action
A graduate student and martial-arts expert rents a room in a house owned by a single mother who lives there with her son. A local street gang is trying to recruit the son, but the new tenant tries to help the boy's…
16
Dangerous (2021)
★ 6/10Also action
A reformed sociopath heads to a remote island after the death of his brother. Soon after his arrival, the island falls under siege from a deadly gang of mercenaries, and when he discovers their role in his brother’s…
17
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)
★ 6.8/10Also action
Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American…
18
Kick-Ass (2010)
★ 7.1/10Also action
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a super-hero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.
19
Run (1991)
★ 6/10Also action
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
20
Barbarosa (1982)
★ 5.9/10Also action
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger…