The Best War Movies
Have you ever wanted to know what the best war movies of all time are? Looking for a great list to choose your next movie night winner? Look no further! We've put together a list of the best war movies based on user votes and ratings. In this list, you'll find movies in every time period that have won over the hearts of film viewers around the world. So, get ready to dive into a world of adventure, drama and suspense with some of the greatest war movies ever created.
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Rank 1The film is a powerful and unflinching portrayal of the Vietnam War and its impact on the soldiers who fought in it. The performances are outstanding, with Matthew Modine delivering a strong performance as Private Joker and Vincent D'Onofrio giving a memorable turn as Private Pyle.
Visually, the film is stunning, with Kubrick's trademark use of long takes and striking compositions. The film's score, composed by Abigail Mead, is also excellent, perfectly capturing the tension and emotion of the story.
Overall, "Full Metal Jacket" is a haunting and thought-provoking film that explores the brutality and dehumanization of war. It is a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made by those who serve in the military and the toll that war takes on the human psyche. It is a must-see for anyone interested in the Vietnam War or great filmmaking in general.
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Rank 2Mel Gibson delivers a stunning performance as William Wallace, perfectly capturing the fierce and determined spirit of the Scottish warrior. The supporting cast, including Patrick McGoohan as King Edward Longshanks and Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabella, is equally impressive and brings depth to the film's characters.
The film's battle scenes are nothing short of breathtaking. From the iconic Battle of Stirling Bridge to the final showdown at the Battle of Falkirk, the film's intense action sequences are masterfully choreographed and executed. The film's score, composed by James Horner, also plays a pivotal role in creating an immersive and emotional experience for the viewer.
At its core, Braveheart is a powerful tale of freedom, patriotism, and sacrifice. It is a film that inspires and uplifts, reminding us of the importance of fighting for what we believe in and standing up against injustice.
Overall, Braveheart is an outstanding film that has stood the test of time. Its timeless themes, exceptional performances, and stunning visuals continue to captivate audiences today, making it a must-watch for any fan of historical epics.
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Rank 3Living with her tyrannical stepfather in a new home with her pregnant mother, 10-year-old Ofelia feels alone until she explores a decaying labyrinth guarded by a mysterious faun who claims to know her destiny. If she wishes to return to her real father, Ofelia must complete three terrifying tasks.
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Rank 4At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.
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Rank 5As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
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Rank 6At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
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Rank 7In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
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Rank 8In 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.
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Rank 9After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.
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Rank 10A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
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Rank 11Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
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Rank 12A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
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Rank 13The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.
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Rank 14In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.
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Rank 15A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.
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Rank 16In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.
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Rank 17The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
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Rank 18The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson , the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
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Rank 19With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare's King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa's late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power.
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Rank 20In a desolate war zone where screams of the innocent echo, on the very line between disaster and valor, 7 Maroon Berets will dance with death.
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Rank 21During the Nazi-occupied Ustasha regime "NDH" in former Yugoslavia during WWII, little girl Dara is sent to the concentration camp complex Jasenovac in Croatia also known as "Balkan's Auschwitz".
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Rank 22As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
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Rank 23A group of working-class friends decide to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.
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Rank 24An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.
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Rank 25It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
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Rank 26A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I. Together with several other young German soldiers, he experiences the horrors of war, such evil of which he had not conceived of when signing up to fight. They eventually become sad, tormented, and confused of their purpose.
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Rank 27Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
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Rank 28It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17 and the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem—there seems to be a security leak.
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Rank 29A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.
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Rank 30"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.
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Rank 31The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
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Rank 32Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
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Rank 33When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.
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Rank 34Jamie 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 spirits, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
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Rank 35Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of an unnamed, fictional West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.
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Rank 36In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
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Rank 3712 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.
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Rank 38The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.
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Rank 39World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.
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Rank 40"Religulous" is a documentary-style comedy film directed by Larry Charles and featuring comedian Bill Maher. The film was released in 2008 and explores the topic of religion and religious beliefs through a comedic and satirical lens. While it incorporates documentary elements, such as interviews and visits to religious sites, it primarily aims to entertain and provoke thought through humor and satire.
In "Religulous", Bill Maher travels to different locations and interviews individuals from various religious backgrounds, engaging them in discussions about their faith and beliefs. The film includes conversations with religious leaders, followers, and people with diverse religious perspectives.
"Religulous" is known for its irreverent and critical approach to organized religion and belief systems. It uses humor to raise questions and challenges aspects of religious dogma, but it should be noted that it is not a traditional, purely informative documentary. Instead, it offers a comedic and critical perspective on religion and spirituality.
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Rank 41A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.
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Rank 42In the last months of World War II, as the Allies make their final push in the European theatre, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant named 'Wardaddy' commands a Sherman tank called 'Fury' and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
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Rank 43During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
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Rank 44A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.
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Rank 45An epic tale of three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of 1900s USA and how their lives are affected by nature, history, war, and love.
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Rank 46While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
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Rank 47"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a documentary film directed and produced by filmmaker Michael Moore. It was released in 2004 and is known for its critical examination of the presidency of George W. Bush, particularly focusing on the aftermath of the 2000 U.S. presidential election and the events surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In "Fahrenheit 9/11", Michael Moore critiques the Bush administration's actions and policies, including the handling of the 2000 election controversy, the response to the 9/11 attacks, and the subsequent war in Iraq. The film combines interviews, news footage, and commentary to present Moore's perspective on these events.
The documentary also explores various political and social issues, such as the influence of corporate interests on politics, the media's role in shaping public opinion, and the consequences of military interventions. It was released during the 2004 presidential election campaign and played a role in the national conversation surrounding the election.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" generated significant controversy and discussion upon its release, and it remains a notable example of politically charged documentary filmmaking. It received the Palme d'Or, the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and was one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time.
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Rank 48In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.
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Rank 49A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.
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Rank 50In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.