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Ashes of Time poster

Movies that feel likeAshes of Time (1994)

Ouyang Feng is a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. Throughout five seasons in exile, Ouyang spins tales of his clients' unrequited loves and unusual acts of bravery.

If you loved Ashes of Time, the closest films we have are Shadow (2018), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) and Wings (1927). All three share Ashes of Time's kinetic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is In Darkness (2011).

🍅 79% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Wong Kar-Waicontemplativekineticbleakromantic
4 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · MUBI

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If Ashes of Time hit the spot, these will too

Shadow poster
Shadow
2018 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 94%★ 7action · warPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: wuxia

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Ashes of Time does

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

Uri: The Surgical Strike poster
Uri: The Surgical Strike
2019 · dir. Aditya Dhar
🍅 57%★ 8.2action · drama · war

Contemplative where it counts, kinetic underneath

The difference: Sits closer to war than Ashes of Time does

Following the roguish terrorist attacks at Uri Army Base camp in Kashmir, India takes the fight to the enemy, in its most successful covert operation till date with one and only one objective of avenging their fallen heroes.

Wings poster
Wings
1927 · dir. William A. Wellman
🍅 94%★ 7.5drama · action · war

The same mix in both: bleakness, then romance

The difference: Leans harder into war than Ashes of Time does

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.

Eastern Condors poster
Eastern Condors
1987 · dir. Sammo Hung
★ 7.1action · adventure · war

Kinetic action in both cases

A motley group of Chinese prisoners held in the US is sent on a covert mission with the promise of a pardon: to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missiles that the US left behind during the pull-out.

In Darkness poster
In Darkness
2011 · dir. Agnieszka Holland
🍅 88%★ 7.3drama · war

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied city of Lviv. In Darkness tells the true story of Leopold Soha who risks his own life to save a dozen people from certain death. Initially only interested in his own good, the thief and burglar hides Jewish refugees for 14 months in the sewers of the Nazi-occupied town of Lviv (formerly Poland).

Letters from Iwo Jima poster
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 91%★ 7.8action · drama · war

Drama built on bleakness, twice over

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
2013 · dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
🍅 51%★ 5.7war · action · drama

Action with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to a Russian woman who has been living there.

Balkan Line poster
Balkan Line
2019 · dir. Andrey Volgin
★ 6.6drama · action · warPrime Video

Both lean on momentum more than on drama

The difference: 25 years apart, and the 2010s show

After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Yugoslav army pulls out of Kosovo region, leaving Serbian people at the mercy of the Albanian UCK. A small band of soldiers must take over the Slatina airport, and hold it until the Russian peacekeepers arrive.

Warsaw 44 poster
Warsaw 44
2014 · dir. Jan Komasa
★ 6.6drama · history · war

Both lean on romance more than on action

City of Warsaw, Poland, August 1st, 1944. Citizens have experienced inhuman acts of terror and violence during five long years of Nazi occupation. As the Soviet Army relentlessly approaches, the youngest and bravest among them rise up as one and face tyranny fighting street by street, but the price to pay will be high and hard the way to freedom…

Tears of the Sun poster
Tears of the Sun
2003 · dir. Antoine Fuqua
🍅 34%★ 6.6war · action · dramaNetflix

The shared currency is bleakness

Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.

A War poster
A War
2015 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 90%★ 7drama · war

Drama of the same temperament

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

To Live poster
To Live
1994 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 87%★ 8.3drama · romance · war

A streak of romance through both

Married couple Fugui and Jiazhen endure tumultuous events in mid-20th century mainland China as their personal fortunes move from wealthy landownership to peasantry.

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The best-reviewed films that share Ashes of Time’s defining feeling.