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....
Rise & Fall (2010)
8.4/10
Starring: Tobias Moretti, Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu
Rise and fall of actor Ferdinand Marian, who takes the chance and stars in the anti-semitic movie Jud Süß (1940). Read more
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Blu-ray) (2016)
6.2/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chris Tucker, Steve Martin, Vin Diesel, Kristen Stewart, Joe Alwyn, Garrett Hedl...
Two-time Academy Award® winner Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling... Read more
Iron Eagle (1986)
5.5/10
Director: Sidney J Furie
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr, Jason Gedrick, David Suchet
A young pilot plans a rescue mission when his father, an Air Force Colonel, is shot down over enemy territory and captured. Read more
Dauntless: The Battle of Midway (2019)
3.3/10
Starring: Judd Nelson, C Thomas Howell
By June 1942, the Japanese Navy has swept across the Pacific. In an effort to change the course of the war, a United States carrier group is positione... Read more
The Bombing (Air Strike) (Blu-ray) (2018)
8.1/10
Director: Xiao Feng
Starring: Adrien Brody, Bruce Willis, Kenny Bee, Wu Gang, Liu Ye, Rumer Willis
During World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chon... Read more
The Reader (Blu-ray) (2008)
7.6/10
Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz, Matthias Habich, Susanne Lothar, Lena O...
Kate Winslet won an Oscar and a BAFTA for her complex and gripping portrayal of a post-war German woman who discovers a sick teenage boy in the street... Read more
Deadline Gallipoli (2015)
7.2/10
Director: Michael Rymer
Starring: Sam Worthington, Hugh Dancy, Bryan Brown, Charles Dance, Rachel Griffiths
Three journalists, Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead Bartlett and Phillip Schuler, arrive at Gallipoli with the invading British and Allied troops in 1915.... Read more
New Worlds (2014)
6.2/10
Director: Charles Martin
Starring: Jamie Dornan, Jeremy Northam, Michael Maloney, Freya Mavor, Alice Englert
The 1680s bring a new King, Restoration, and more tyranny. In Massachusetts, a robber's son falls for an anti-monarchist. In England, a young lady fal... Read more
Birdsong (2012)
7.4/10
Director: Philip Martin
Starring: Anthony Andrews, Matthew Goode, Marie-Josee Croze, Clemence Poesy, Eddie Redmayn...
This two-part made-for-British-television adaptation of Sebastian Faulks' epic love story stars Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy. The action moves be... Read more
Lions For Lambs (2006)
6.2/10
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Michael Pena, Andrew Garfield, Peter B...
Robert Redford directs this dramatic tale of intersecting lives surrounding American troops in the Middle East. Weaving together the stories of a prof... Read more