War Movies
As long as there has been man there has always been conflict, conflicts that have grown as newer methods of killing are invented. Movies give us that insight into these, how it affected those involved and the brutality of battles that books cannot.
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- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.This lost out to Saving Private Ryan when it came to awards season but many have considered it better. There's a reason it lost out and that is it's so boring and slow. War movies need a slow moment, Saving Private Ryan had them but this movie is made up almost entirely of them, it's one of the few movies I have had to fast forward through in order to watch it
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMatt DamonTom SizemoreFollowing the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.Steven Spielberg knocked it out of the park with this movie. The film starts slowly but then drops us in the deep end with the brutally realistic depiction of Omaha Beach on D-Day with iconic moments that have been replicated ever since and the movie doesn't feel like it slows down once. The cinema verite style of shooting puts you right in the middle of the action and you grow to care about these soldiers hoping they complete their mission and make it home alive. Truly one of the greatest war movies ever made.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.A story in the middle of a vicious war as told by a man who served, Oliver Stone brings his experience in the Vietnam War to the screen is this epic. Watching it you do realise that even the soldiers themselves were growing tired of the war and that the most dangerous enemy to them was each other with tensions amongst the platoon concerning their sergeants. Very underrated and overshadowed by the likes of Full Metal Jacket when it comes to Vietnam War movies
- DirectorJohn WooStarsNicolas CageAdam BeachPeter StormareTwo U.S. Marines in World War II are assigned to protect Navajo Marines, who use their native language as an unbreakable radio cypher.Fairly decent war movie about the Navajo code talkers in the Pacific Theatre with some great battle scenes. Only problem is the overuse of slow-motion which seems to appear every 5 seconds in a battle scene (only works on a couple of occasions) and action movie tropes like running into combat, forward rolling then firing from the hip killing 3 or 4 Japanese soldiers (how many marines would honestly do that in battle?) or firing a heavy weapon at arms length one handed. John Woo has made some cool action movies, Mission: Impossible 2 for instance is amazing, but please don't ever let him make another war movie
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.Said to be one of the best war movies ever made but the best part of the movie is the first half in the boot camp with R. Lee Ermey as the foul mouthed, tough as nails drill sergeant. The movie then falls downhill upon reaching Vietnam. It could've been so much better but to me, it seems like a lot of the praise is because of the director's name alone.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.The only movie I have been left completely speechless after watching. From history lessons in school I was obviously aware of just how horrific the Holocaust was but Spielberg's movie showed every graphic detail of the darkest chapter of our history, it's hauntingly realistic and heart breaking especially when you realise this really happened. Spielberg doesn't consider this a war movie rather seeing the Holocaust as it's own category of sorts but it takes place during a wat so that's why it's on this list and while it's not a movie you would pop in and watch all the time it is definitely one that needs to be seen at least once in your life
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsJosh HartnettEwan McGregorTom SizemoreThe story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.Another great war movie with at least one name in the cast you'll recognise. It brings home the whole "no man gets left behind" cliche but does so effectively while telling the true story of what happened in Somalia in 1993. You see just how determined the Rangers and Delta Force troops were at getting all their teammates home in one piece despite being up against untrained guerillas in overwhelming numbers. Once again you grow to care about these men and even though it is a movie you hope they all make it and you become even more astonished by the story when you learn about the real people who were involved
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsMichael CaineTrevor HowardHarry AndrewsIn 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.Our finest hour, Europe under Hitler's foot and our tiny island defended by The Few dealt the first major defeat to the Nazis in WWII, watching this movie certainly makes me more proud to be British. The dogfights in this movie are incredible obviously difficult to achieve due to how limited the numbers of surviving WWII aircraft is even for the 60s, on the same level as if not better than the ones seen in Top Gun which are equally impressive. It's filmed in such a way that I wasn't aware it was from the 60s until the movie had ended and the acting is top notch, definitely one of my movie recommendations