The Best War Movies on Netflix Right Now
The Best War Movies on Netflix Right Now
From patriotic films and public service announcements to retellings of historical events, the subject of war in cinema has evolved into a genre of its own and is now an important artistic expression of people and politics. But why are war movies so popular among viewers, filmmakers, and critics alike? It’s not because anyone wants to see the atrocities that wars bring with them but because we want to see the story behind the scenes and be somewhere we haven’t been or learn something that no one should ever have to experience directly in real life.
Most of the time, war movies gain popularity among fans not just for the heroism or the glorified portrayal of events but for the atmosphere they create. War movies, as grim as they might be, are a way of turning the most horrific acts of human society into a compelling and immersive work of art. It recreates history for future generations and evokes empathy, pushing us to be better as a species. Stories of war make its machinations more humanized for us, bring us closer to things we often distance ourselves from, and give us a different perspective.
This genre of movies has a very special place in filmmaking and finds fans across all categories. So, we did some digging and found these titles that you cannot miss. Here’s a list of the best war movies you can watch on Netflix right now. In this list, there are heroic sacrifices, psychological struggles, political conspiracies, historical events, and more. Whether you are a history buff or just eager to learn about the past, these Netflix war movies are sure to fulfill all your entertainment goals.
Editor's note: This article was updated October 2022 to include Zero Dark Thirty.
Outlaw King (2018)
Director: David Mackenzie | Run Time: 2 hr 17 min
Cast: Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh, Stephen Dillane
If you need a slice of Scottish history served to you in bloody fashion, Outlaw King is a great follow-up to Braveheart. Anyone who saw Mel Gibson’s Best Picture-winning epic knows how the rebel leader William Wallace perished during the conflict against the English crown, and Outlaw King picks up with a subsequent rebel movement led by Wallace’s close ally, Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine). Bruce gathers a group of loyal lords, and they gradually take back their homeland castle-by-castle. As you might expect, there’s no shortage of brutal combat. Pine re-teamed with his Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie for this fast-paced historical thriller. — Liam Gaughan
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
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Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Run Time: 2 hr 37 min
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle
Nominated for five Oscars and grossing over $130 million, Zero Dark Thirty was both a critical and box office success. The film stars an excellent Jessica Chastain as Maya, a CIA analyst tasked with finding Osama bin Laden – the man responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Dark, gripping, and expertly crafted, the film is sure to have you on the edge of your seat and raises some interesting, complicated questions about terrorism and war. – Taylor Gates
Darkest Hour (2017)
Director: Joe Wright | Run Time: 2 hr 5 min
Cast: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn
Gary Oldman finally took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his brilliant performance as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s biopic. Rather than focus on the Prime Minister’s entire life, Darkest Hour shows the critical period involving Churchill’s surprise election into office and the early stages of World War II. It covers similar material to Dunkirk, and shows the political maneuvering Churchill had to handle in order to pull off the daring rescue of British troops from the French coast. Darkest Hour is much more thrilling than what you may expect; Oldman gives the role his all, and shows the subtle moments of humanity as Churchill faces skepticism from opponents that surround him. — Liam Gaughan
Blood Diamond (2006)
Director: Edward Zwick | Run Time: 2 hr 23 min
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Dijmon Honsou, Jennifer Connoelly, Michael Sheen
Blood Diamond is a gripping action-thriller set within the height of the Sierra Leone Civil War. Decades of civil war have tarnished the country, and amidst the never ending cycle of violence, many families are separated. The local fish trader Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is forced to enlist the aid of a Rhodesian smuggler, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), to help him locate rare jewels that could help his family survive. Although DiCaprio pulls off the difficult South African accent, it's Honsou who is the heart of the film. It easily could have felt like Blood Diamond was making pulp entertainment out of a real tragedy, but Honsou shows the desperate efforts common people must make to survive. — Liam Gaughan
Outside the Wire (2021)
Director: Mikael Håfström | Run Time: 1 hr 55 min
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Emily Beecham
Outside the Wire is a science-fiction military film that seems little more than an action-packed romp, but it has so much more to say. Set in the near future, Damson Idris plays drone pilot Harp who makes a tactical decision and is subsequently punished for it. For his crimes he’s redeployed and assigned to work with Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie), who is secretly a highly sophisticated android super-soldier. Much of the film rides on Idris and Mackie’s banter and frenemy chemistry. Neither can really trust each other, and it isn’t clear if the audience can either. As most action films of this kind go, there’s a grander conspiracy at play, which is revealed slowly. If Outside the Wire is guilty of anything, it’s that it thoroughly buries the lede! This film has a very important message to send but doesn’t get to it till well into the third act. It’s highly recommended to stick around because the denouement is rewarding. We do suggest caution as this fictional story is set in Ukraine and can be upsetting given the current war in the country. – Monita Mohan
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Run Time: 3 hr 22 min
Cast: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest
If you have seen the original classic Apocalypse Now, then this should be your follow-up. And if you haven’t, then this should be on the top of your classic war movies list. This epic psychological war film is considered to be one of the best works of award-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. In 1979, Coppola made Apocalypse Now, and then 22 years later, he released an extended version titled Apocalypse Now Redux. This 2001 movie is technically a re-edit of Apocalypse Now, which includes about 50 minutes of additional material that was not there in the original version.
Set during the Vietnam War, the plot follows the journey of U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) from South Vietnam to Cambodia on the Nung River. Willard is sent on a mission to take out Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a rebel officer of the Army Special Forces, who is accused of murder and is also considered to have lost his mind. What follows is an intense interaction between the two men and a mind game that would leave you with a lot of questions. Suspenseful and cerebral, Apocalypse Now is nothing like all the other war movies you would have seen before and it's a major cultural milestone in cinematic history.
The King (2019)
Director: David Michôd | Run Time: 2 hr 20 min
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Tom Glynn-Carney
Though based on and made as an epic, The King is technically a movie about a historical war. The story is based on William Shakespeare’s Henriad. Adapted from three different plays about Henry IV and Henry V, the plot focuses on Henry V, the eldest son of King Henry IV of England. The prince is an emotionally distant and disenchanted individual, who experiences a turnaround of life and character after his father’s death. Henry must navigate his emotions, royal politics, and the adversaries that his father left behind and become the rightful king that his kingdom expects him to be.
The tone of The King is very classic Shakespearean, as you would imagine. While there's no constant sword-crossing, there are a couple of significant and historical battles which are quite brutal and make this movie fit well into the war genre.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Director: Spike Lee | Run Time: 2 hr 34 min
Cast: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis
There are the usual stories of Vietnam war vets and then there’s Da 5 Bloods. An acclaimed and still underrated movie, to say the least, Da 5 Bloods is a powerful story that would be hard to forget if you watch it once.
Co-written and directed by Spike Lee, the movie follows a group of black Vietnam veterans who reunite in Vietnam after years to search for the remains of their squad leader and a buried treasure they had left behind when they were serving in the war. You may not look at it as a “war story” per se, but this is war-adjacent and shows enough of the struggle and trauma that wars bring to people, even if it’s years later. While the journey of these old war vets reconnecting with their past is very emotional, the performances are the real delight. Also, Chadwick Boseman’s work is something to look out for.
First They Killed My Father (2017)
Director: Angelina Jolie | Run Time: 2 hr 16 min
Cast: Sreymoch Sareum, Kompheak Phoeung, Socheata Sveng, Dara Heng, Kimhak Mun
Loung Ung, a Cambodian-American author and human rights activist, penned her personal experience as a little girl during the Khmer Rouge regime in her book First They Killed My Father. The eponymous movie is a cinematic recount of the same incidents that took place in the 1970s, during the Vietnam War. When Ung was seven years old, her parents and siblings were sent to labor camps and she was forced into training as a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer-language biographical historical thriller, directed by Angelina Jolie, explores the traumatic events in Ung and her family’s life in the camps and how she and some of her siblings manage to escape and eventually reunite.
Although the movie is a dramatized retelling of the true story, the struggles of Ung and her family as depicted are quite horrific and painful. But at the same time, it also gives a first-person insight into the events of the Vietnam war, parts of which are still unknown to many.
Too Young the Hero (1988)
Director: Buzz Kulik | Run Time: 1 hr 37 min
Cast: Ricky Schroder, R. Pickett Bugg, Jon DeVries, Rick Warner, Mary-Louise Parker
Another war movie based on true events, Too Young the Hero is a fictional retelling of the life of Calvin Graham, who was jailed as a deserter after becoming a WWII hero. Graham is also known to be the youngest American serviceman to serve and fight in WWII.
Set in 1942, this historical war drama film follows a 12-year-old Graham, who joins the United States Navy in Houston. Though he is only 12, he looks older than his age and he forges his mother’s signature to enlist in the navy. After completing basic training, he is assigned to the USS South Dakota to fight the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. But after the war, things take a bad turn when his officers learn the truth about his age and send him to a military prison. The story is told through a series of flashbacks to all the events that led Graham to prison. There are many elements in this movie that makes it a great watch – the story of a young boy doing the most daring thing one could imagine, wanting adventure in his life, a soldier fighting at all costs for his country, and a man fighting for his truth.
War Machine (2017)
Director: David Michôd | Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Cast: Brad Pitt, Anthony Michael Hall, Anthony Hayes, Topher Grace
There is nothing humorous about war but sometimes, the best way to understand the most complex and brutal things is to add some humor to them. War Machine is such a movie. The satirical, dark war comedy is set to the backdrop of the Afghanistan war and is based on the non-fiction book, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings.
The plot follows madcap four-star U.S General Glen MacMahon, played by Brad Pitt, who is sent to Afghanistan with a mission to end the war. The catch is he can’t request more troops but MacMahon goes ahead and decides to recruit 40,000 additional troops. His decision leads to a series of unpredictable consequences, including press coverage and an exposé that discredits him and jeopardizes his mission. The movie is a dramatized and fictionalized account of the events of Hastings’ book with MacMahon’s character derived from U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal. With its quirky, tongue-in-cheek narrative, this movie is sure to make you look at the whole concept of war in a different way. And of course, there’s a subtle lesson at the end.
The Wolf’s Call (2019)
Director: Antonin Baudry | Run Time: 1 hr 55 min
Cast: François Civil, Omar Sy, Mathieu Kassovitz, Reda Kateb, Paula Beer
This 2019 movie is a peek into a grittier, darker narrative that many don’t associate French cinema with. The Wolf’s Call, or Le Chant du loup in French, follows the events surrounding the members on board the French submarine Titane. On a rescue mission, they pick up an unidentified sonar contact. Officer Chanteraide, known to have an infallible sense of hearing, must use his skills to track down what appears to be a nuclear threat. But as is the case with most of such incidents, he makes a mistake, putting the mission and his crew at risk. To know what happens next, or whether he saves the day, you have to watch the movie. The Wolf’s Call was highly acclaimed and well-reviewed among fans and critics alike. So, it’s definitely worth a shot.
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