Movies Like School on Fire (1988)

School on Fire is a 1988 crime, drama, thriller film from Ringo Lam Ling-Tung with a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 and Extraordinary Mission.

Crime Drama Thriller

Too Many Ways to Be No. 1

1997

A small-time triad must make a fateful decision to discover who he is. With that decision, his life can diverge in two paths, each leading to an ultimate fate.

6.6

MagicScore

Extraordinary Mission

2017

An undercover police officer attempts to take down a drug trafficking syndicate from the inside.

6.4

MagicScore

Shinjuku Triad Society

1995

Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.

6.3

MagicScore

Bullets Over Summer

1999

Plainclothes policemen Brian and Mike use an elderly woman's apartment for surveillance, hoping to catch a fugitive gangster. They develop a warm relationship with their hostess, whom they call "granny." Meanwhile, each man develops a romantic relationship: Brian with a strange wandering teenage girl, and Mike with a pregnant woman at the dry cleaning shop. When the gangster returns to his flat, Brian and Mike are forced into an explosive confrontation.

6.2

MagicScore

My Wife Is a Gangster 3

2006

When Aryong, the daughter of a triad boss from Hong Kong is accused of killing the boss of a competing triad, she goes into hiding in Korea. Upon arriving, she is guided by a nimble but loyal Gi-chul and his motley crew, who are assigned to protect her until her return.

5.8

MagicScore

Infernal Affairs

2002

Chan Wing Yan, a young police officer, has been sent undercover as a mole in the local mafia. Lau Kin Ming, a young mafia member, infiltrates the police force. Years later, their older counterparts, Chen Wing Yan and Inspector Lau Kin Ming, respectively, race against time to expose the mole within their midst.

7.8

MagicScore

Righting Wrongs

1986

Jason Chan, a Hong Kong lawyer, is angry at the way the law protects criminals and decides to take the law into his own hands, dishing out vigilante justice when a key witness and his entire family are murdered. But hotshot cop Cindy Si is soon on Chan's case, and the situation unravels into a fight that only a few will survive.

7.6

MagicScore

The Killer

1989

Mob assassin Jeffrey is no ordinary hired gun; the best in his business, he views his chosen profession as a calling rather than simply a job. So, when beautiful nightclub chanteuse Jennie is blinded in the crossfire of his most recent hit, Jeffrey chooses to retire after one last job to pay for his unintended victim's sight-restoring operation. But when Jeffrey is double-crossed, he reluctantly joins forces with a rogue policeman to make things right.

7.6

MagicScore

Running Out of Time

1999

Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime syndicates.

7.3

MagicScore

#10

New Police Story

2004

Sent into a drunken tailspin when his entire unit is killed by a gang of thrill-seeking punks, disgraced Hong Kong police inspector Wing needs help from his new rookie partner, with a troubled past of his own, to climb out of the bottle and track down the gang and its ruthless leader.

7.2

MagicScore

#11

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind

1980

Three lazybones friends manufacture a firebomb and place it in a cinema. Pearl, a sadistic young girl, has observed the scene, follows the bombers and starts to manipulate them. The four criminals plan more and more daring acts.

7.1

MagicScore

#12

Tiger on the Beat

1988

A seasoned cop and his rookie partner try to solve the murder of a heroin trafficker.

6.4

MagicScore

#13

Taxi Hunter

1993

Kin is a hard-working insurance salesman with a very pregnant wife. When his wife starts haemorrhaging, he calls a taxi, but it leaves when someone else offers more money. After his wife dies, Kin vows to get revenge on all taxi drivers by taking them out one at a time.

6.2

MagicScore

#14

Double Impact

1991

Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris, Alex becomes a petty crook in Hong Kong. Seeing a picture of Alex, Chad rejoins him and convinces him that his rival in Hong Kong is also the man who killed their parents. Alex is suspicious of Chad, especially when it comes to his girlfriend.

6.2

MagicScore

#15

Bullet in the Head

1990

Three childhood friends from the slums of Hong Kong flee to war-time Saigon after accidentally murdering a gang leader, but their troubles only escalate.

7.6

MagicScore

#16

Hard Boiled

1992

A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

7.5

MagicScore

#17

Made in Hong Kong

1997

Hong Kong 1997, where young people dream of love and death, suicide and murder. Moon is a cynical young debt collector, smitten by Ping, a young woman dying of kidney disease. A suicide note from a student they don't know ends up intertwining their fates.

7.5

MagicScore

#18

A Better Tomorrow

1986

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

7.4

MagicScore

#19

Lust, Caution

2007

During World War II, a secret agent must seduce and assassinate an official who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai.

7.3

MagicScore

#20

A Better Tomorrow II

1987

A restauranteur teams up with a police officer and his ex-con brother to avenge the death of a friend's daughter.

7.1

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like School on Fire?

The top films similar to School on Fire by MovieMagicScore are Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 (6.6), Extraordinary Mission (6.4), Shinjuku Triad Society (6.3). Each shares crime/drama/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is School on Fire worth watching?

School on Fire holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10 from 32 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is School on Fire?

School on Fire (1988) is a crime, drama, thriller film directed by Ringo Lam Ling-Tung, starring Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying, Sarah Lee, Roy Cheung Yiu-Yeung.

Where can I find more recommendations like School on Fire?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 Movies like Extraordinary Mission Movies like Shinjuku Triad Society Movies like Bullets Over Summer Movies like My Wife Is a Gangster 3 Movies like Infernal Affairs

About movies like School on Fire

This ranked list pairs School on Fire (1988), a crime and drama and thriller film from Ringo Lam Ling-Tung, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

← Back to School on Fire