K-Dramas That Nail Action Better Than Most Films
For those done with slow burns
You won’t be the only one if you admit that you have dismissed K-dramas into the lovey-dovey corner of television before. After all, the most famous dramas of all time are exactly that: saccharine sweet love stories with a dose of slapstick slowmos of lead actors getting shot with a sad ballad playing in the background.
Yet, this is also the industry that produced Squid Game, and movies like Oldboy and Parasite. Which, admittedly, is a completely different vibe altogether.
And that’s because, when you look beyond the moniker of the most famous, the Korean entertainment industry has a treasure trove of beautifully choreographed action shows. Some, like Weak Hero and the recently released Bloodhounds, have cut through the noise, but there are many more that deserve their flowers. Here, we rounded up the best action K-dramas to watch, if you are looking for something with more gravitas than Vincenzo.
Vagabond
Cha Dal-gun (Lee Seung-gi, also in Mouse) is a stuntman whose nephew dies in a plane crash that he soon discovers was sabotaged. Determined to expose the truth, he teams up with intelligence agent Go Hae-ri (Bae Suzy). Together they uncover a massive conspiracy involving corrupt officials, arms deals, and corporate cover-ups. As they chase evidence across countries, they become targets themselves, with the truth constantly slipping just out of reach.
Where to watch: Netflix
Bloodhounds
Set during the COVID-19 era, Kim Geon-woo (Woo Do-hwan from The King: Eternal Monarch) is a promising boxer whose mother falls deep into debt with a brutal loan shark. He teams up with fellow ex-Marine and boxer Hong Woo-jin (Lee Sang-yi, also in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) to take down the predatory network from within. The stakes in this show are deliciously high, with most of the cast getting wiped out by episode six. Recently, season 2 dropped on Netflix, bringing in Rain and expanding the scale.
Where to watch: Netflix
Weak Hero Class 1
This is the high school edition of Bloodhounds. Very literally. Yeon Si-eun (Park Ji-hoon from At a Distance, Spring Is Green) is a straight A student who uses physics formulas to knock down bullies, while Ahn Su-ho (Choi Hyun-wook, also in Twenty-Five Twenty-One) is a former martial arts champion. Together with Oh Beom-seok (Hong Kyung, also in D.P.), the trio takes down a ring of bullies, till Beom-seok’s insecurities cause the group to tear apart, making him one of the most hated, misunderstood antagonists in recent K-dramas.
Where to watch: Netflix
Bad and Crazy
Ryu Soo-yeol (Goblin’s Lee Dong-wook) is a corrupt cop who suddenly finds his life hijacked by K (Wi Ha-joon from Squid Game), a violent vigilante who forces him to take on cases he would normally ignore. Goaded on by K, Ryu takes on these cases, only to realise that K is a split personality born from his trauma, pushing him to confront his past while taking down the system he once enabled. Quite Fight Club, if you ask me.
Where to watch: Netflix
Taxi Driver
Kim Do-gi (Lee Je-hoon from Signal) works for a secretive taxi service that takes revenge on behalf of victims the law has failed. Each case sees him infiltrate different criminal setups, from abusive employers to trafficking rings, while the team executes elaborate plans to punish them. Running alongside these missions is a larger investigation into the organisation itself and the limits of vigilante justice, as prosecutors and enemies begin closing in on their operation.
Where to watch: Viu (a few seasons are on Netflix)
Mercy for None
Nam Gi-jun (So Ji-sub, also in Oh My Venus) is a former gangster who left the underworld but is forced back in after his brother is murdered under suspicious circumstances. As he hunts down those responsible, he uncovers a deeper web of betrayal within his old organisation, where loyalties have shifted, and power struggles are already in motion. Each step brings him closer to the truth, while also pulling him further into the violence he tried to escape.
Where to watch: Netflix
The Worst of Evil
Park Jun-mo (Ji Chang-wook, from Healer) goes undercover inside a drug cartel run by Jung Gi-cheul (Squid Game's Wi Ha-joon), infiltrating its inner circle to bring it down from within. As he gets deeper, his wife Yoo Eui-jung (Im Se-mi from True Beauty), who is also a cop, becomes entangled with the same network, blurring personal and professional lines. What starts as a regular cop operation slowly turns into a dangerous balancing act between husband and wife, where trust is fragile and every move risks exposure.
Where to watch: JioHotstar