Movies about war have persisted since the early days of major motion pictures. Here we list the 10 best war movies of all time.
War never changes. This famous quote, attributed to Ron Perlman’s opening narration for the Fallout video game franchise, underpins the consistency of war. While the weapons, the battlegrounds and the combatants swap and change, the fundamental nature of war remains the same: brutal and destructive.
Hollywood has seen no shortage of movies that explore the impact of war: from the home front to the front line, across the centuries and varying locales, from sword fights to trench warfare and beyond. Some glorify the individual experience of war, or the camaraderie shared by fellow men and women serving their country; others lambast the senseless violence, the poisonous politics and the futility of the very concept.
Among the countless cinematic depictions of bombs dropping, bullets flying and bloodshed galore, there are plenty of spellbinding films that command our attention and deserve our reverence. With that in mind, we’ve compiled the 10 best war movies of all time for your reading pleasure. In no particular order…
1. The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Release Date: 2008
So much of action cinema sensationalises the tragedy and terror of warfare that we rarely see its intoxicating, corruptive side; how some become so accustomed to life as a soldier that ordinary life loses its colour. In The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner plays Sergeant First Class William James, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team leader assigned to Bravo Company during the Iraq War. Sgt. James and his unit find themselves in numerous near-death situations, each of which causes them to reflect on the value of their lives and what matters most to them.
Kathryn Bigelow spotlights the addictive potency of combat in The Hurt Locker, exhibited by James’ flagrant disregard for the well-being of his men on several occasions to service his inflated ego. James isn’t terrified of war; he’s charged by it, and a simple sequence of aimless trudging down everyday supermarket aisles serves to rubber-stamp the complexities of coming home having found purpose amongst mortal peril. The Hurt Locker is a supremely well-executed film that completely sells varying scale, from the dichotomy of vast desert expanses to the suffocation our characters experience as they face threats from every direction. It’s intense, and it underpins the importance of protecting the psychological fortitude of returning veterans, otherwise left mentally in the war zones they left behind.
2. Crimson Tide
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortensen
Release Date: 1995
There are few settings more purpose-built for inescapable tension than a submersible, particularly one tasked with launching a preemptive missile strike in the event of imminent nuclear war, and even more so with genre master Tony Scott at the con. Crimson Tide is a slow powder keg that details the escalating tension between USS Alabama captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) and his executive officer, Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington), who clash over separate interpretations of an incomplete Emergency Action Message received from the surface.
Crimson Tide excels at generating authentic tension from the tight spatial restrictions of the U.S. Navy submarine, dropping us in amongst the pressurised crew and providing few moments to breathe adequately. Scott prioritises compelling dialogue and a strong sense of urgency, keeping the audience hooked on every sentence with bated breath, with each of the key players rising to match the required energy. Though not action-packed per se, Crimson Tide instead concerns itself with conflicting ideologies, the unstoppable force versus the immovable object, and how experience doesn’t always trump reason. It’s a philosophical thriller that constantly teeters on the brink of war, and it’s never less than utterly entrancing.
3. Full Metal Jacket
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey
Release Date: 1987
Stanley Kubrick’s theme of nihilism lingers over the entirety of Full Metal Jacket like a ghostly remnant of war horrors past, linking two distinctive halves that explore the psychological effects of ordinary men dropped into extraordinary situations. Beginning in Parris Island boot camp and tracking the same platoon as they serve in the Battle of Huế during the Vietnam War, the movie is a harsh, cold indictment of the pressures of war and the caustic, mental anguish that accompanies serving one’s country by taking the lives of others in a foreign land.
Matthew Modine is Joker, our lead, who connects the former and latter halves, but the bulk of the emotional weight is felt in the opening act, with the heavy lifting performed by Drill Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) and the dim-witted Private “Gomer Pyle” (Vincent D’Onofrio). Full Metal Jacket is as much a commentary on the mental battery that soldiers are forced to endure as it is a criticism of how wartime bloodshed has become normalised. Pyle suffers damaging abuse at the hands of Hartman’s intense and frequent haranguing, and it speaks to the indoctrinating requirement of warfare that further underscores the evil of the very concept.
4. Black Hawk Down
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore
Release Date: 2001
Ridley Scott made unflinching chaos the name of the game with Black Hawk Down, a frenetic, noisy, immersive vision of a hellish war-torn environment torn asunder, and the scattered American forces desperately scrambling through the rubble. Adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name by author Mark Bowden, the film relives the pyrrhic victory that was 1993’s Battle of Mogadishu, where three Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, two of which were downed deep in hostile territory, and which resulted in the most casualties of U.S. soldiers of any battle since the Vietnam War.
Scott strips out the majority of the typical hallmarks of a Hollywood war movie in Black Hawk Down; there’s no jingoistic sense of patriotism, and the characters are barely given a shred of depth. Instead, the movie works as a potent piece of anti-war propaganda that throws its characters into a nightmarish situation that endlessly spirals out of control, with horror and visceral violence ever looming. Black Hawk Down doesn’t charge us with rooting for our favourite characters or actors, of which there are a great many names in the cast; it asks that we sink into the dark and terrifying experience, and witness the mental fortitude it took for the surviving men to galvanise and come out the other side. It’s a bleak film with entertaining wall-to-wall action, an admirable contrast, and its sombre genius shines through.
5. The Last of the Mohicans
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Jodhi May
Release Date: 1992
Far removed from dusty Middle Eastern deserts, tropical Vietnamese combat zones and East African badlands, Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans is a sweeping action epic that places drama and romance at the centre of the French and Indian War. Set during the mid 1700s, the film follows “Hawkeye” (Daniel Day-Lewis), the adopted son of Mohican chief Chingachgook (Russell Means), and his biological son Uncas (Eric Schweig), with the trio agreeing to escort the two daughters of Colonel Edward Munro (Maurice Roëves) to safety after their escort troop of British soldiers are massacred by Hurons, led by the bloodthirsty Magua (Wes Studi).
The Last of the Mohicans is firmly an anti-war period piece that emphasises the dark, devastating futility of war with mindless, brutal, violent splendour, demonstrated across dense forest thickets, perilous clifftop edges and heavily manned forts. Mohicans is known as much for its stunning cinematography and operatic musical backdrop — with “Promentory” being one of the most significant pieces of movie music written — as it is for its performances and blockbuster action thrills. Mann crafts a romantic, inspirational whimsy that pairs with the bleak bloodshed, littering bodies across the frontier, while paying reverence to a land torn apart by settlers and wars waged against deterministic conquerors.
6. 1917
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Dean-Charles Chapeman, George MacKay, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott
Release Date: 2019
Read Also: 1917 and the “Cinema of the Moment”
Movies filmed to appear as if shot in a single unbroken take are a rarity; it takes an incredible amount of filmmaking precision to pull the technique off effectively, and director Sam Mendes somehow managed to do so across tense battlefields and occupied French countryside. Set during the First World War, 1917 follows two Lance Corporals, Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Will Schofield (George MacKay), who are sent on a mission to hand deliver a message that would prevent a British assault, in turn saving thousands of lives from falling into a German trap. The two men must traverse across hostile territory to deliver their message, uncertain of what lies over every hill and around every corner.
1917 is a stunning technical accomplishment from front to back, executed with precision by Mendes and cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins. Mendes manages to make the one-shot gimmick feel organic and necessary to convey the weight of the story, anchoring our experience in the real-time plight of the characters. Choosing to remain so deeply rooted within their journey makes the movie feel claustrophobic; restricting our line of sight makes danger feel palpable, and nerves are shredded every time someone moves out from behind cover. 1917 looks the part, but thematically it also resonates, not by being as punchy as some of its contemporaries with its anti-war messaging, but the destructive and futile nature of warfare still shines through.
7. Saving Private Ryan
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg, Matt Damon
Release Date: 1998
Perhaps lauded more for its devastating D-Day opening sequence than its inspirational story of honour, bravery and wilful determination in the face of insurmountable odds, Saving Private Ryan is a revolutionary genre epic that rewrote the war film formula in one fell swoop. Tom Hanks stars as Captain John H. Miller, an American soldier serving in France in 1944 who is tasked with retrieving the missing Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), after a General orders for him to be found and sent home to his family following the deaths of his three brothers.
Populated with a bevvy of recognisable acting talent and steered true by a plot compelling enough to forgive the character clichés, Saving Private Ryan delivers nail-biting action that horrifies as much as it impresses. Director Steven Spielberg portrays the violence in such a stark and grim light, refusing to glamourise but instead showing war to be far more horrifying than one might imagine. Ultimately, the movie is about sacrifice and the impact that the actions of some can have on the lives of others, and in that way, it’s a triumphant tribute to the countless heroes who gave their lives for others.
8. Platoon
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger
Release Date: 1986
Knowing that Platoon was heavily inspired by director Oliver Stone‘s own experience serving as an infantryman in Vietnam only adds to the disconcerting, immersive nature of the piece. Charlie Sheen stars as a young army enlistee deployed in Vietnam who finds himself in the centre of three warring factions: those loyal to hard-edged Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), those loyal to the more compassionate Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), and the Viet Cong. Stone’s vision is an honest one; a gruelling, unflinching depiction of the realities of warfare that drags us down with the characters into the mud and the heat.
Platoon was an Oscar darling in the late ’80s, winning in several major categories, but its legacy largely remains intact almost 40 years later because of how vividly it showcases the horrors of the Vietnam War. It feels more reminiscent of reportage than a fictitious account of a historic event; the sights, sounds and smells are so tangible, and the narrative is tinged with an existential decrying of the past. Platoon shatters illusions built by nationalist propaganda by dismantling the misconception that war can and is ever meaningful; it’s a painful, morose scenario that we should avoid at all costs, and Stone wields his performers wonderfully to elicit the kind of world-weary tiredness that accompanies company men pushed beyond their breaking point.
9. Dunkirk
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: 2017
Perhaps inspired by the visceral, stark nature of Platoon, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is a movie crafted to be an experience; a stripped-down, realistic vision of the madcap horror of warfare and the ripple effects it causes. In the film, a young British soldier named Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) awaits rescue from the beach at Dunkirk, where the threat of Luftwaffe and U-boat attacks makes fleeing France a challenging prospect. Elsewhere, civilian sailor Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) and his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) chart a course for Dunkirk to aid in the rescue efforts, encountering on the way a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) sitting alone on a capsized naval destroyer.
Dunkirk is a film told almost exclusively through atmosphere and tone. It lacks comprehensive dialogue, any real form of characterisation, or Hollywood glamour. Nolan abandons typical war movie conventions to focus on visual storytelling; he prefers that each character is a blank canvas to be shaded in — mere vessels through which we experience fear, isolation, and hopelessness firsthand. No attempt is made to make us pull for one character over any other; instead, Nolan prefers to accentuate the technical proficiency of the piece, making the piercing whistle of bullets flying by ring loudly and allowing cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to work his magic. Dunkirk works because we aren’t able to be distracted by flashy characters or “action movie” story beats; instead, it’s a paranoia-inducing, terrifying depiction of a time that should never be forgotten.
10. Inglorious Basterds
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth
Release Date: 2009
Quentin Tarantino has built himself quite an impressive career canon since Reservoir Dogs in the early ’90s, and many critics would argue that Inglourious Basterds is his most daring, most unrestrained and, possibly, his best film so far. Brad Pitt stars as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American soldier who commands the Basterds, a group of Jewish American soldiers whose specific aim is to hunt down and dispatch Nazis. Mélanie Laurent is Soshanna, a French woman seeking revenge after the murder of her family by Nazi officer Hans Landa, played with indeterminably dangerous confidence by Christoph Waltz, and who also comes into contact with Raine and his men.
Inglourious Basterds champions the majesty of Tarantino’s uniquely lyrical dialogue, his penchant for explosive violence and the art of chop shop storytelling. It’s a masterful example of meticulously generated tension that’s maintained expertly on a knife’s edge, as villains and heroes are thrown together with exuberance and gleeful blood splatter. Tarantino threads the needle between comedy, drama and excruciating suspense, before revealing his film to be a grand revenge movie played out on a larger-than-life scale. Inglourious Basterds is revisionist history done right; it’s an unyielding wartime piece that simultaneously embraces and expels the value of violence, distilling the essence of war movies into a bombastic romp full of laughs, gunfire and terrible Italian accents.
Need more recommendations? Here are some honourable mentions of excellent war movies that were equally deserving of making the cut.
- Das Boot
- Grave of the Fireflies
- Fury
- Apocalypse Now
- Come and See
- Hacksaw Ridge
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- Ran
- Paths of Glory
- Braveheart
- The Deer Hunter
- Stalag 17
