Movies Like Once Upon a Time in Shanghai
If you loved Once Upon a Time in Shanghai's Action and Crime storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.
★ Top Picks
Birth of the Dragon
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.
Martial Arts of Shaolin
In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate.
Disciples of the 36th Chamber
Monk San Te tries to support and protect Shaolin and her Fang Shih-yu who purposely attacks corrupt Ching officials.
Shaolin Wooden Men
Little Mute is an orphan traumatized into silence by the death of his father at the hands of a vicious fighting master. Living at the Shaolin monastery, he befriends a dangerous prisoner who teaches him a secret form of deadly kung fu. Seeing his intense determination, other masters share the wisdom of the Gliding Snake and Drunken Master techniques. In one of the most exciting fight scenes ever filmed, Little Mute must run the gauntlet of the famous 108 wooden men in an extreme test of skill and endurance. But if he becomes a master, will he use his unmatched force for redemption or revenge?
Kung Fu Dunk
Shi-Jie is a brilliant martial artist from the Kung Fu School. One day, he encounters a group of youths playing basketball and shows off how easy it is for him, with his martial arts training, to do a Slam Dunk. Watching him was Chen-Li, a shrewd businessman, who recruits him to play varsity basketball at the local university.
Fearless
After going through a series of tragic events in his life, martial arts master Huo Yuanjia returns to Tianjin and must fight four international soldiers, in order to safeguard his nation's pride.
Kung Fu Jungle
A martial arts instructor working at a police academy gets imprisoned after killing a man by accident. But when a vicious killer starts targeting martial arts masters, the instructor offers to help the police in return for his freedom.
Tai Chi Zero
In legendary Chen Village, everyone is a martial arts master, using their powerful Chen Style Tai Chi in all aspects of their lives. Lu Chan has arrived to train, but the villagers are forbidden to teach Chen Style to outsiders, and do their best to discourage him by challenging him to a series of fights. Everyone, from strong men to young children, defeats him using their Tai Chi moves. But when a man from the village's past returns with a frightening steampowered machine and plans to build a railroad through the village at any costs, the villagers realize they may have no choice but to put their faith in Lu Chan... who has a secret power of his own.
More Movies Like Once Upon a Time in Shanghai
Yolo
After an argument with her younger sister, Le Ying moves out on her own. She meets a boxing trainer and starts boxing.
Karate Kid: Legends
After a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren't enough. Li's kung fu teacher Mr. Han enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown.
Kids from Shaolin
Romance blossoms between two rival families practicing Shaolin and Wudang kungfu respectively. despite familial opposition - until they overcome a gang of scheming bandits together.
The Big Brawl
A young Asian American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition.
The Final Master
Determined to pass down his art, the Final Master of Wing Chun is caught in a power struggle with malicious local officials and ultimately must choose between personal honor and his master’s dying wish.
Never Say Never
A former boxing champion takes decides to break a few rules and train orphans from China's remote countryside in order to give them a future.
The Damned Don't Cry
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
The Four 3
The reputation of the Four constables survives, but since Emotionless’s departure, there have been changes at the Divine Constabulary. The four Coldblood, Iron Hands, Life Snatcher, rescue Zhuge Zhengwo from An Yunshan’s mountain fortress, then with the Emperor and Di armies, they attack. But An Yunshan absorbs their power, which means the constables and their allies now face their most lethal opponent yet, a nearly invincible kung fu master who won’t stop until he has absolute power...
Eye for an Eye
A highly trained and exceptionally deadly swordsman looks for revenge after being caught in the middle of a power struggle that results in the assassination of an innocent woman's family.
Firestorm
Hong Kong. When Cao Nan and his group of thieves rob an armored car in broad daylight, they don't hesitate to murder innocent people on the run. Lui Ming Chit, a veteran police inspector, is forced to use sinister tactics to catch them.
Shaolin Temple
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father.
Why These Movies Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014): Action and Crime themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Once Upon a Time in Shanghai.
See full details for Once Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014)