War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
Flyboys (Blu-ray) (2006)
6.5/10
Director: Tony Bill
Starring: Jean Reno, Tim Pigott-Smith, James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jennifer Decker, Ty...
Inspired by the true story of American volunteers who, before the US became involved in World War I, went to fly with the French airforce in a squadro... Read more
A Hero's Choice (A Farewell to Fools) (2013)
5.4/10
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Harvey Keitel, Laura Morante
Once upon a time, during World War II, somewhere in Nazi occupied Romania, a night of comic misadventures ensues when a boy discovers a dead soldier. Read more
The Great War (2019)
3.7/10
Starring: Ron Perlman, Billy Zane
During the last days of the Great War, a group of U.S. soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to rescue a lost platoon. Read more
Rosamunde Pilcher's: Coming Home (1998)
6.9/10
Director: Giles Foster
Starring: David McCallum, Joanna Lumley, Peter O'Toole, Emily Mortimer, Paul Bettany, Pene...
An epic tale of friendship, family and love set before, during and after World War II in beautiful coastal England, and based on Rosamund Pilcher's be... Read more
Kajaki: Kilo Two Bravo (Blu-ray) (2014)
Director: Paul Katis
Starring: David Elliot, Mark Stanley, Scott Kyle
KILO TWO BRAVO relives the true story of a platoon tasked with neutralizing a Taliban roadblock in the Kajaki region of Afghanistan. As they close in... Read more
The Red Baron (Blu-ray) (2008)
6.4/10
Director: Nikolai Mullerschon
Starring: Matthias Schweighofer, Lena Headey, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes
Baron Manfred von Richthofen (Matthias Schweighofer) is the most feared and celebrated pilot of the German air force during World War I, eventually ra... Read more
Saints and Soldiers (Blu-ray) (2003)
6.7/10
Director: Ryan Little
Starring: Corbin Allred, Alexander Niver, Kirby Heyborne, Lawrence Bagby, Peter Holden
A dramatic, intense and heroic WWII film based on the horrifying historical event known as the "Malmedy Massacre". In mid-December 1944, while Hitler'... Read more
Iron Eagle II (1988)
5.5/10
Director: Sidney J Furie
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr
A young pilot plans a rescue mission when his father, an Air Force Colonel, is shot down over enemy territory and captured. Read more
Against the Sun (Blu-ray) (2014)
6.2/10
Director: Brian Falk
Starring: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel
Three men. One raft. 100 million square miles of ocean. In one of the most harrowing true stories of World War II, three US Navy airmen crash land... Read more
The Captain (2017)
7.3/10
Director: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Alexander Fehling
In the last moments of World War II, a young German soldier fighting for survival finds a Nazi captain's uniform. Impersonating an officer, the man qu... Read more