Movies Like Shanghai (2010)

Shanghai is a 2010 drama, mystery, thriller film from Mikael Håfström with a MovieMagicScore of 6.1/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with The Kremlin Letter and The Sea Chase.

Drama Mystery Thriller

The Kremlin Letter

1970

After an unauthorized letter suggesting U.S. support for a Russian attack on China is sent to Moscow, a former naval officer and his team go undercover to retrieve it. Their plans are disrupted when a cunning politician raids their hideout.

6.0

MagicScore

The Sea Chase

1955

As the Second World War breaks out, German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich is about to leave Sydney, Australia with his vessel, the Ergenstrasse. Ehrlich, an anti-Nazi but proud German, hopes to outrun or out-maneuver the British warship pursuing him. Aboard his vessel is Elsa Keller, a woman Ehrlich has been ordered to return to Germany safely along with whatever secrets she carries. When Ehrlich's fiercely Nazi chief officer Kirchner commits an atrocity, the British pursuit becomes deadly.

6.1

MagicScore

Betrayed

1954

When the Dutch resistance brings in Carla Van Oven to spy on the Nazis, Col. Pieter Deventer initially suspects she could be a double agent. Van Oven eventually convinces Deventer of her character, and when she is sent into occupied territory, she joins up with a rebel leader known as "The Scarf". As the resistance endures severe losses and their missions fail, Deventer starts to wonder whose side Van Oven is fighting on.

5.6

MagicScore

Empire of the Sun

1987

Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.

7.5

MagicScore

Purple Butterfly

2003

Ding Hui is a member of Purple Butterfly, a powerful resistance group in Japanese occupied Shanghai. An unexpected encounter reunites her with Itami, an ex-lover and officer with a secret police unit tasked with dismantling Purple Butterfly.

6.7

MagicScore

No Way Out

1987

Navy Lt. Tom Farrell meets a young woman, Susan Atwell , and they share a passionate fling. Farrell then finds out that his superior, Defense Secretary David Brice, is also romantically involved with Atwell. When the young woman turns up dead, Farrell is put in charge of the murder investigation. He begins to uncover shocking clues about the case, but when details of his encounter with Susan surface, he becomes a suspect as well.

6.9

MagicScore

Dhurandhar

2025

A mysterious traveler slips into the heart of Karachi's underbelly and rises through its ranks with lethal precision, only to tear the notorious ISI-Underworld nexus apart from within.

7.3

MagicScore

Red Sparrow

2018

Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.

6.5

MagicScore

The Man Who Knew Too Little

1997

An American gets a ticket for an audience participation game in London, then gets involved in a case of mistaken identity. As an international plot unravels around him, he thinks it's all part of the act.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

British Intelligence

1939

During WWI pretty German master spy Helene von Lorbeer is sent undercover to London to live with the family of a high-placed British official where she is to rendezvous with the butler Valdar, also a spy, and help him transmit secret war plans back to Germany.

5.7

MagicScore

#11

The Wasted Times

2016

Shanghai gangsters grapple with lust and loyalty on the eve of war with Japan as they try to navigate an alliance with the enemy's army.

6.9

MagicScore

#12

The White Countess

2005

In 1930s Shanghai, 'The White Countess' is both Sofia, a fallen member of the exiled Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.

6.2

MagicScore

#13

Shanghai Surprise

1986

Glendon Wasey is a fortune hunter looking for a fast track out of China. Gloria Tatlock is a missionary nurse seeking the curing powers of opium for her patients. Fate sets them on a hectic, exotic, and even romantic quest for stolen drugs. But they are up against every thug and smuggler in Shangai.

4.2

MagicScore

#14

Mr. Klein

1976

Paris, France, 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Robert Klein, a successful art dealer who benefits from the misfortunes of those who are ruthlessly persecuted, discovers by chance that there is another Robert Klein, apparently a Jewish man; someone with whom he could be mistakenly identified, something dangerous in such harsh times.

7.2

MagicScore

#15

The Message

2009

After a series of assassinations in Nanking, a Japanese spy master gathers a group of suspects in a mansion, then a tense cat-and-mouse game erupts as the Chinese agent tries to keep his or her identity a secret.

7.4

MagicScore

#16

Manon

1949

Port of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a ship, Manon, a young woman who was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and Robert, a freedom fighter who saved her from reprisals, tell the captain about the many challenges they have had to face in order to survive.

6.9

MagicScore

#17

Operation Finale

2018

In 1960, a team of Israeli secret agents is deployed to find Adolf Eichmann, the infamous Nazi architect of the Holocaust, supposedly hidden in Argentina, and get him to Israel to be judged.

6.7

MagicScore

#18

The Birdcatcher

2019

Norway, 1942, during World War II. After being separated from her family, Esther, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim, arrives at an isolated farm where she must assume a new identity in order to survive the Nazi persecution.

5.5

MagicScore

#19

Eyes in the Night

1942

Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.

5.9

MagicScore

#20

Grave of the Fireflies

1988

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

8.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Shanghai?

The top films similar to Shanghai by MovieMagicScore are The Kremlin Letter (6.0), The Sea Chase (6.1), Betrayed (5.6). Each shares drama/mystery/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Shanghai worth watching?

Shanghai holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.1/10 from 182 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Shanghai?

Shanghai (2010) is a drama, mystery, thriller film directed by Mikael Håfström, starring John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat.

Where can I find more recommendations like Shanghai?

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

Keep exploring

Movies like The Kremlin Letter Movies like The Sea Chase Movies like Betrayed Movies like Empire of the Sun Movies like Purple Butterfly Movies like No Way Out

About movies like Shanghai

This ranked list pairs Shanghai (2010), a drama and mystery and thriller film from Mikael Håfström, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of John Cusack 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.

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