The 10 best war movies of the 21st century

Alex Garland’s latest movie, Warfare, hits US cinemas on April 11th, while UK audiences can catch it at their local multiplexes on April 18th. There’s every indication this impeccably cast war film is going to be a real shock to the senses.

It’s based on the experiences of Ray Mendoza, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who served in the second Irag War. The film follows a platoon of SEALs into insurgent territory, all played out in real time.

The result, according to early reviews, is a brutal and cacophonous depiction of modern warfare that brings the audience about as close to the real thing as it’s possible to get through traditional cinematic means.

Warfare joins a steadily growing list of 21st century war movies that are worthy of joining the genre greats from the previous century. The following films often double down on realism (with one notable exception) using modern special effects and innovative shooting techniques to add a visceral edge.

With these more modern takes, jingoism tends to take a backseat in favour of highlighting the human cost of war, not to mention the chaos of the battlefield.

All are essential watches for a range of reasons, from historical education to pure entertainment. Here are 10 of the best.

1. Fury

Writer-director David Ayer is well known for his gritty stories about tight-nit groups of law enforcement officers serving in the field. In Fury, he transposes that formula successfully to World War II. Brad Pitt’s Don “Wardaddy” Collier leads a seasoned American tank crew fighting their way through Europe during the final days of the war. The unique combination of empowerment and intense vulnerability that tank combat entails gives Fury a unique spin on a deeply familiar conflict, but it’s the believable camaraderie between the crew members that really makes you care about the film’s outcome.

2. Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino infamously played fast and loose with history in his latest movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but he had already pulled a similar trick with Inglourious Basterds. Indeed, depicting an alternate reality where Adolf Hitler and his goon squad meet an even bloodier (and quite literally cinematic) end at the hands of a group of Nazi hunters is arguably a much bolder gambit. Somehow, the whole thing pays off, with Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz both getting into the ’40s comic book propaganda spirit of things.

3. 1917

Sam Mendes’s ambitious First World War movie follows hot on the heels of two young British soldiers as they carry an urgent message through the trenches and battle-scarred fields of Northern France. While it’s not quite the one-shot film that many refer to it as, 1917’s cleverly inserted cuts serve to convey the impression of a single 80-minute journey through one hellish day. You might not dare to draw breath until the closing credits roll.

4. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

It’s all too easy to forget that Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is more than just a superb historical drama. It’s also a fabulous war film – specifically the Napoleonic Wars. Peter Weir’s lavishly shot movie depicts 19th century naval combat better than any other, as well as concerning itself with the quotidian aspects of life at sea. Russell Crowe’s Captain Jack Aubrey and his crew (including Paul Bettany’s droll surgeon) both swash and buckle their way across the seven seas in hugely evocative fashion.

5. Letters from Iwo Jima

The first part of Clint Eastwood’s ambitious war movie two-parter, Flags of Our Fathers, dealt with the relatively familiar American perspective during the Battle of Iwo Jima, which was fought in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Letters from Iwo Jima boldly shows the same events from the opposing (and ultimately losing) side, with Ken Watanabe’s General Tadamichi Kuribayashi struggling to organise the last-ditch defence of this pivotal Japanese island. It’s powerful stuff, shot with an admirably even hand by the Hollywood veteran.

6. The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker won Kathryn Bigelow the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars back in 2010, among four others. That arguably makes it the biggest critical hit on this list. Cut through all the awards season bluster, however, and it’s simply a really lean and well constructed war movie that takes a slightly different angle to most. This time we’re focusing on an American bomb disposal unit as they serve during the second Iraq war. That means steadily escalating tension rather than kinetic run-and-gun action, with a couple of truly stomach-churning set-pieces.

7. Black Hawk Down

You know a war movie has entered into the cinematic firmament when its title becomes the accepted shorthand for a particular vibe or situation. In this case it relates to the true-to-life events of the Battle of Mogadishu in 1992, when two US military helicopters were shot down in the middle of the densely populated Somalian city, prompting an overnight standoff followed by a desperate rescue operation. Ridley Scott’s movie also features a red hot cast of then up and coming actors, including Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, and Ewan McGregor.

8. Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan is renowned for his obsession with stretching and contracting time in his films, and that applies just as much to his World War II masterpiece as it does to Tenet. Dunkirk smartly tells the famous story of the last-ditch Allied evacuation of northern Europe from multiple overlapping perspectives, taking in British forces serving on land, sea, and air. The combined effect is a meticulously woven tapestry of tension, in which you’ll find yourself anxiously tapping your feet irrespective of your level of historical knowledge.

9. All Quiet on the Western Front

Edward Berger’s 2022 Netflix production takes Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel and uses it to tell a potent World War I story from a perspective we’re not accustomed to seeing too much – that of the Germans. This is truly devastating stuff, as a young group of friends naively signs up to the doomed German war effort, only to be subjected to the horrific realities of trench warfare. Little wonder that the film won four Oscars, including Best International Feature and Best Cinematography.

10. Downfall

If Inglourious Basterds shows Hitler’s demise as imagined by the fevered mind of a pop culture junkie unconcerned with historical fidelity, Downfall takes the precise opposite approach. It’s close to a forensic reconstruction, based on historical documentation and witness testimony, of the Führer’s last days. The resulting film is as insightful as it is sombre. Whilst we largely only hear the rumble of war as it closes in above its delusional instigator, cowering in his bunker, this has to be one of the most disturbing war movies ever made. Essential viewing.

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