Continuously rising up in the entertainment industry and giving Hollywood a run for its money, Korean filmmaking is a true art form now making waves around the world. In addition to their already popular K-dramas reality series and documentaries, we are eager for more great films from strong contenders in the past two recently released. Be sure to read this article till last and add these movies to your watch list.
13 Movies better than Hollywood movies
13. Parasite
This Oscar-winning film goes on to follow the story of a lower-class family, who through a chance circumstance will come to be employed by a wealthy household through a web of lies and deceit. This family takes on a parasitic nature, clinging and decisively elevating themselves to a tragic point of escalation where they just can't turn back.
The stellar cast delivered incredible performances, and it brought attention to the ranks of society with dark, dramatic undertones. The film was celebrated not only in South Korea but globally.
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12. Extreme Job
This 2019 film, Extreme Job stars Ryu Seung Ryong, Lee Ha Ni, and Jin Seon Kyu in the main roles with action, mystery, and Crime will follow a detective squad, which consists of five detectives who will go undercover as staff at a chicken restaurant.
But there's a comedic twist the restaurant becomes famous for serving up delicious chicken, and due to its sudden popularity, the detectives are now in an unexpected situation. While trying to remain on the case with multiple main characters, the movie focuses on cooking and investigations. It ranked highly among viewers and continues to maintain that high rating even now.
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11. Unlocked
A terrifying thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat in this mystery crime film where the dangers of a phone unlocked will arise for our female lead. After losing her cell phone, a person she thinks is a good Samaritan actually steals her identity.
Our male lead, who in this situation is a villain, is cold and calculating. He is a killer. And as her world comes crashing down around her in part due to the access that he now has to her phone. Yim Si Wan and Choon Woo Hee star as our leads.
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10. Oldboy
Now we're going to revisit 2003 to take a look back at a psychological mystery thriller, Choi Min Shik, Yoo Ji Tae, and Kang Hye Jung star in the leading roles.
The premise of this movie will have viewers following our male lead, who remained imprisoned within a cell that resembles that of a hotel room held captive for 15 years. He doesn't even know why he's been imprisoned, but finally released, he'll find himself still entangled in a vicious web of conspiracy and violence.
The silver lining throughout is the love he feels for an attractive chef, and despite all the brooding drama, he will fall for her. This movie's genre tags include revenge and age gap, noir, and suspense.
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9. Train to Busan
A well-directed and talented main cast brings us multiple storylines as we follow those who will try to survive a deadly zombie outbreak, fighting for their very lives on a train ride that soon will head to Busan.
Our leading characters will not only face the monsters around them, but the situations will challenge their humanity as well. Our male lead is a busy father who is traveling with his young daughter. As they face these dire circumstances.
Many top stars were among the main cast, including Gong Yoo and Ma Dong Seok. The action survival film did phenomenally and was well received around the world.
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8. Along With The Gods
This film series includes the films, Along with The Gods: The Two Worlds (2017), Along with the Gods 2: The Last 49 Days (2018), and then Along With The Gods 3, Along With the Gods 4 is also waiting to be announced as well.
However, films 3 and 4 will deliver a new story direction as the first two films were based on the webtoon. The premise followed that of our male lead, who dies a heroic death, but he's caught in the afterlife and is accompanied by three guardians.
Over a period of 49 days, he'll face different trials while meeting the Gods of Hell, who will determine his fate. Our main cast reprised their roles. The fantasy action series captured the viewer's attention for its plot, stunning visuals, and dynamic story.
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7. Ballerina
This 2023 film took viewers by surprise with our action-oriented female lead, who was a former bodyguard, but now she's lost one of her closest friends, who was a ballerina in a tragic situation, now rising to the occasion and seeking vengeance for this friend.
Our female lead will uncover a terrible truth. Using her incredible combat skills, she'll face many adversaries. Starring as our female lead, we have Jeon Jong Seo, and in the role of our villainous male lead, we have Kim Ji Hoon and his amazing hair with the Well-choreographed fight scenes it had.
Viewers discussed the intensity of our female lead with such attention to detail, not to mention how it was filmed and how the color gradients were so well captured. The casting from main to supporting roles gave outstanding performances.
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6. 20th Century Girl
A First Love, which is set in the late 90s, gives us a nostalgic theme. The film covers a friendship, a love triangle backed up with a school setting. Our female lead has a favor requested of her by her bestie, who has a crush on a certain guy.
So to help out her friend who is about to have surgery, our female lead will set out to discover more about the guy. She'll cross paths with the best friend of the guy she's looking for, information on these two will have continued shenanigans, and a sweet and touching romance will unfold.
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5. Kill BokSoon
If John Wick ever needed an assistant, Bok Soon could certainly fill that role. Our female lead, who is a single mother, is an exceptional and lethal contract killer. The company she works for seems to have some loose ends, and before her contract is renewed, she'll find herself in a sudden kill-or-be-killed situation.
Using her expertise, she will face off against many challengers, some of whom may begin to threaten her personal life. The action sequences were superb and viewers really rooted for our female lead. Starring Jeon Do Yeon as Kilbarchan, who won viewers over with her impressive skills. Also starring Sol Kyung GU and Kim Shi Ah.
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4. Silenced
This 2011 film, which was adapted from the novel The Crucible, was based on true events that took place way back in the early 2000s, which were horrific abuse towards children at a school for the deaf and hearing impaired.
Our male lead, played by Gong Yoo, is a new arrival teacher. As some students feel that they can trust him, they begin to open up about what they've been facing. After the film was released, massive protests took place to protect the rights of children.
The film was heartbreaking and for some, difficult to watch, but it shed light on a darkness where justice needed to be served.
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3. The Handmaiden
Set in 1930s Korea during the period of the Japanese occupation, one of our female leads is hired as a handmaid to a Japanese heiress. From a poor and questionable background, she's given this opportunity by a conman who is posing as a Japanese count.
The story will take an unexpected twist as our female lead begins to develop feelings for the heiress. The Handmaiden was adapted from the novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
That Victorian-set story has now been updated to a Korean time period with incredible performances. Our leading cast brought about memorable characters and the film itself gained much success.
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2. Concrete Utopia
Set in a city that is in ruins after the destruction of a massive earthquake, those who made it through will now try their best to survive amidst the destruction around them. Loosely adapted from the webtoon Happy Boy, one of our leads works hard to protect an apartment building from outsiders, but they'll face several unexpected and dangerous situations.
Lee Byung Hun, Park Seo Joon, and Park Bo Young are among the main cast. This disaster movie has themes of sci-fi along with thrilling dramatics. Having been released in 2023, it quickly became an exciting disaster film.
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1. Noryang: Deadly Sea
The box office hit Noryang is a historical fiction film that should be on your list. Taking place in 1598, right around the time of the Imjin war. Here we have a Joseon admiral. We'll be taken right into the direct path of military action in the Noryang Strait, depicting the last final battle of Admiral Yi. The just over 2.5-hour film thrilled moviegoers and did extremely well at the box office in 2023.
The film stars Kim Eun Sook, Baek Yoon Shik, Heo Jun Ho, and Jung Jae Young, and is part of a trilogy of films that includes 2014 The Admiral: Roaring Currents, 2022 Hassan Rising Dragon, and then 2023 Noryang: Deadly Sea.
We also have some cast who reprised their roles along with some new faces. Different actors portrayed Admiral Yi Sun-Shin at different points in time.
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Wrapping Up
And that wraps up our list of Top 13 Korean Movies That Are Better Than Hollywood Movies. Although Park Jin Hei's The Call is a good thriller and could be worth mentioning, also, Midnight Runners.
Have you seen all of these movies and do you have any favorites that were not on this list? You can let us know in the comment section below.
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