Movies Like Paper Lantern

If you liked Paper Lantern (1987), a action and drama movie directed by Shunichi Kajima, 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
In Full Bloom (2019)
★ 6.8/10Also action and drama
Set shortly after the end of World War II, a philosophical boxing drama of two fighters from opposite worlds (USA and Japan) who are pulled together for a questionable fight arranged by their unscrupulous managers and…
2
Beast (2026)
★ 7.5/10Also action and drama
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
Sympathy for the Underdog (1971)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and action
A yakuza gang gets driven out of Yokohama by a big gang from Tokyo. They relocate to Okinawa to violently start over.
4
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and action
Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog…
5
Graveyard of Honor (2002)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and action
A barkeeper saves a yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However, his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
6
Female Yakuza Tale (1973)
★ 6.1/10Also action and drama
Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a…
7
Welcome to Sudden Death (2020)
★ 6.1/10Also action and drama
Jesse Freeman is a former special forces officer and explosives expert now working a regular job as a security guard in a state-of-the-art basketball arena. Trouble erupts when a tech-savvy cadre of terrorists kidnap…
8
American Yakuza (1993)
★ 5.8/10Also action
When Nick Davis leaves prison after one year in solitairy, he is hired to operate a forklift in a warehouse in the harbor owned by the Japanese Yakuza patriarch Isshin Tendo. The place is assaulted by the Italian Mafia…
9
The Return of Sister Street Fighter (1975)
★ 6.5/10Also action and drama
When Koryu's childhood friend Shurei is abducted by gangsters, the desperate young woman recruits a female martial artist and a tough-as-nails stranger to join her for a dangerous rescue mission.
10
Mexicali (2026)
★ 7.8/10Also action and drama
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
11
Embattled (2020)
★ 6.7/10Also action and drama
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
12
Falcon Rising (2014)
★ 6.3/10Also action
Chapman is an ex-marine in Brazil's slums, battling the yakuza outfit who attacked his sister and left her for dead.
13
Tokyo Drifter (1966)
★ 7.1/10Also action
After yakuza boss Kurata dissolves his own criminal empire, a rival kingpin offers a position to Kurata's top operative, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo. When the fiercely loyal Tetsu declines, Otsuka taps unstoppable…
14
The 355 (2022)
★ 6/10Also action
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
15
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)
★ 6.6/10Also action and drama
After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.
16
Knuckle Girl (2023)
★ 6.8/10Also action and drama
Following the story of Ran, who confronts a mysterious organization by participating in a no-rules deathmatch after discovering her missing younger sister Yuzuki is involved in a crime. With danger at every corner, Ran…
17
The Outsider (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A former American G.I. joins a yakuza family after his release from prison in post-World War II Osaka.
18
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle (1993)
★ 6.9/10Also action
Terry is fighting abroad when a boy named Tony, who wants to be Terry's student, follows him despite his mother and Terry's wishes. When Terry Bogard is defeated by a foe more powerful than he's ever seen before, Terry…
19
Goyokin (1969)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and action
A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place.
20
Tokyo Fist (1995)
★ 6.8/10Also action and drama
A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Kojima, on the subway. Kojima is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Kojima might be having an affair with his fiancée Hizuru…