20 Best War Movies On Netflix to Watch in 2022

What are some of the best Netflix movies of the year so far? Even if you have a large Netflix library at your disposal, your indecisiveness might make it difficult to choose the correct show.

If you don’t know what to watch, too much of anything might be a hassle. As a result, we decided to dig out the 20 best war movies on Netflix.
Streaming services like Netflix have improved this year, but the real standouts are the ones we’ve highlighted here. On this list, Leonardo DiCaprio has more than four of his films that rank as some of his most memorable parts throughout his career.
War is a popular and frequently controversial topic for a film, and it naturally elicits strong emotions. That’s a wonderful thing when it comes to filmmaking. From classic Globe War II flicks to gritty modern-day thrillers to historical epics featuring swords, infantry, or both, the world has produced some terrific war pictures. There’s no lack of fascinating stories for filmmakers to convey since the tension and stakes are built right into the storyline. And there are always fresh areas to discover, whether it’s gazing at civilians on the sidelines or learning about neglected historical events.

Here is a selection of titles under war, action, and thriller genres, such as 300, Braveheart, and more, that you may peruse at your leisure. These include historical war modern age wars, such as The Eye in the sky, and Mosul, which are guaranteed to please you. Without delaying any further, let’s look into the 20 best war movies on Netflix.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus, Edin Hasanoviç, Daniel Brühl
Year: 2022
Director: Edward Berger
Runtime: 123 minutes
IMDb: 7.9/10

Three significant films have been made based on All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The first two were bleak depictions of the conflicts of their respective eras, but they are still intriguing to watch today, not just because of how they handle Remarque’s writing but also because of how they mirror the times in which they were created. The 1930 picture by Lewis Milestone fell smack in the centre of the two wars that would change Europe forever; the 1979 TV remake by Delbert Mann inevitably brought up the Vietnam War. Netflix is putting out the latest adaptation of a book by Edward Berger, which is different from the others because it is filmed in German and directed by Germans. Even though they tried to show the futility and inhumanity of modern war for everyone, the previous productions still had an American perspective on the story. Berger (who was born in what was then West Germany in 1970) does not. So, it’s a little strange that this adaptation leaves out a lot of the novel’s details, adds top German officers as main characters, glosses over characters, and changes the details of major plot points to tell what is basically a different story, albeit one with a bigger scope. Since it has two main characters, it tries to go beyond the trenches and criticize the callousness of people whose words cause war.

Outside the Wire:

Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus, Edin Hasanoviç, Daniel Brühl
Year: 2022
Director: Edward Berger
Runtime: 123 minutes
IMDb: 7.9/10

Even though the science fiction military picture Outside the Wire seems like little more than an action flick, it really has a lot to say. The futuristic drama stars Damson Idris as drone pilot Harp, who makes a bad strategic call and pays for it. As punishment for his misdeeds, he is sent to serve under Captain Leo, an android with the capabilities of a human super-soldier. The chemistry between Idris and Mackie as frenemies is crucial to the success of the picture. Neither can fully rely on the other, and it is unclear whether or not the viewers can either. Like most movies of this type, there is a bigger plot going on, which is slowly revealed. If there’s one thing wrong with Outside the Wire, it’s that it buries the lede too deeply. The film’s main message isn’t revealed until the last act, which is disappointing. It’s in your best interest to see the story through to its conclusion. Due to the present situation in Ukraine, we advise taking care while reading this novel based on the nation.

Father Soldier Son:

Stars: Brian Eisch, Isaac Eisch, Joey Eisch
Year: 2020
Director: Catrin Einhorn, Leslye Davis
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
IMDb: 7.3/10

Father Soldier Son is an American documentary film that examines how a soldier’s deployment affects his family. This movie is mostly about the Eisch family, which includes Brian Eisch, who is the subject of a documentary. Sgt. 1st Class Eisch served for six months in Afghanistan with the United States Army. Eisch is a single father to two young boys, and his absence during the war was difficult for them. Eventually, however, Eisch is reunited with his loved ones, and he makes an effort to resume just where he left off. In the movie, his worries about how his time in war might affect his children are shown.

Eisch, who is scarred on the outside and confused on the inside, finds it hard to balance his new responsibilities as a parent with his ongoing fight to get over the effects of war on his mind. You’ll feel the sting of your heartstrings being tugged by “Father Soldier Son,” a moving account of one soldier’s struggle to find peace in the wake of war and the death of his family.

The Hurt Locker:

Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Year: 2008
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Runtime: 2 hours and 11 minutes
IMDb: 7.5/10

Even though Zero Dark Thirty was more ambitious and gave a more detailed account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s first War on Terror movie, still hits audiences harder. Bigelow’s subject is Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), a daredevil maverick who not only has a talent for disarming explosives but also likes doing it to a reckless degree in this action film that is really more of a character study than an actual action film. Much of the film’s drama is driven by the tensions James’s hot-dog tendencies generate between himself and everyone else rather than by the film’s thrilling action and suspense set pieces. Bigelow’s uncanny ability to embody James’ viewpoint while the remaining objective is possibly the film’s greatest success. After almost two hours of constant nervous tension, when the movie ends on a peaceful note and James is instantly bored with suburban life and wants to go back to the adrenaline-filled battlefield, the audience feels the same sense of stagnation that he does. Opening the film with the words, “War is a narcotic,” journalist Chris Hedges Bigelow shows us this viewpoint in The Hurt Locker, and it has a profoundly illuminating impact.

Zero Dark Thirty:

Stars: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, Edgar Ramirez, Harold Perrineau, Mark Duplass, James Gandolfini
Year: 2012
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Runtime: 1 hour and 57 minutes
IMDb: 7.4/10

Zero Dark Thirty, the critically acclaimed military thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is one of the few blockbuster movies that seem so current. Prior to the al-Qaeda leader’s death at the hands of Seal Team 6, Bigelow and her “The Hurt Locker” co-screenwriter Mark Boal were working on a film about the fruitless quest for bin Laden. Bigelow and Boal had to rewrite the film’s whole third act, but they stayed true to the story’s fundamentals. The result is a 2.5-hour history of American grit that is surprisingly cinematic and covers a lot of ground. A sense of thankfulness for the intelligence wits and military balls who penetrated the cover of the world’s most wanted guy and for the fact that someone like Michael Bay didn’t get his explosive-happy hands on this subject is the overarching feeling one gets from Zero Dark Thirty. Jessica Chastain brings an air of gritty elegance to the role of Maya, an intelligence operator who starts off a little green in 2003 but, by the conclusion of her mission in 2011, has become a harsh, semi-obsessed specialist.

The Outpost:

Starring: Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom
Year: 2020
Director: Rod Lurie
Stars: Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom
Runtime: 123 minutes
IMDb: 6.8/10

When you watch “The Outpost,” you’ll feel like you’re present in the war ground on your own and experiencing it. It’s based on the actual account of a U.S. outpost in Afghanistan called “Camp Custer.” Because of this, it has no better option except to surrender. However, military personnel stationed at this notoriously lethal location must do their best, even when a horrific attack occurs. When it comes to depicting and picturizing the war, “The Outpost” is a master at evoking both horror and bravery in equal measure.

300:

Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Lena Headey
Runtime: 116 minutes
IMDB: 7.6/10

“300” is a bloody, stylish, and graphically ambitious film that depicts the narrative of the Battle of Thermopylae as the Spartans would have recounted it. It’s thrilling, pulpy fun at its best, with slow-mo action scenes of infinite Spartan heroics. King Leonidas deploys his 300 warriors to create a choke point in the route of King Xerxes’ army. Yet, despite overwhelming odds and several betrayals, the Spartans persevere. Though their attempts were infamously doomed, that doesn’t mean they weren’t memorable, and “300” does a fantastic job of making the story memorable amid can radicalize 2007.

IP Man:

Year: 2008
Director: Wilson Yip
Stars: Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung, Dennis To, Syun-Wong Fen, Simon Yam, Gordon Lam
Runtime: 106 minutes
IMDB: 8.0/10

IP Man (2008) represented when the outstanding but never fairly appreciated Donnie Yen came into his own, portraying a roughly biographical version of the famed Wing Chung grandmaster and instructor of several maiden rolls martial arts artists (one of whom was Bruce Lee). An unassuming Wing Chung practitioner tries to weather the 1937 Japanese invasion and annexation of China gently in Foshan (a city famed for martial arts in southern/central China) but is finally driven into action. This semi-historical picture is filled with limb-breaking, face-pulverizing violence, and it works magnificently “Alexander K. Smith” as both a riveting narrative and martial arts fan-bait.

Apocalypse Now:

Year: 1979
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen
Runtime: 196 minutes
IMDB: 8.4/10

“Apocalypse Now Redux” is an enhanced version of the classic “Apocalypse Now,” a Vietnam War-era descent into violence and a perilous loss of sanity. Willard, an Army operative, is dispatched into the jungle to take down Kurtz, a renegade Special Forces colonel waging his kind of war — unusually merciless and violent — and attracting worshipful followers. Willard’s search for him will take him through a terrifying mix of terror and discovery. “Apocalypse Now,” a violent, philosophical, and gorgeously photographed epic, is indelibly etched in cinema history as one of the defining war films.

Beasts of No Nation:

Year: 2015
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Stars: Abraham Atta, Idris Elba, Ama K. Abebrese
Runtime: 137 minutes
IMDB: 7.7/10

“Beasts of No Nation” is a violent and vivid narrative of a juvenile soldier in the midst of a tragic battle. Young Agu cannot leave his community safely, and the conflict is becoming closer by the day. He flees the murder at home, only to be compelled to enrol. He is compelled to fight in wars and murder a prisoner, and his commander abuses him. All of this is grim, but happily, the film can uncover a vital glimmer of hope for Agu.

Brave Heart:

Year: 1995
Director: Mel Gibson
Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Angus Macfadyen
Runtime: 178 minutes
IMDB: 8.3/10

“Braveheart” may not convey much historical truth, but it does deliver spectacular enough, energizing drama. William Wallace grew up in a Scotland ruled by a brutal English monarch whose devastating authority inspired revolt. He motivates a swarm of followers to take up arms against King Edward in a series of bloody conflicts. Wallace’s unwavering pursuit of his country’s liberty may cost him everything, and “Braveheart” extracts plenty of thrill, anxiety, and inspiration from his legacy.

Da 5 Bloods:

Year: 2020
Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors
Runtime: 155 minutes
IMDb: 6.5/10

Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” features a fantastic ensemble and a lively — almost frenzied — plot that deals not just with the Vietnam War but also with the long-term effects of fighting on those who participate in it. During the Vietnam War, five African-American troops found a wrecked CIA jet filled with gold bars. Instead of giving in the gold, they resolved to hide it and return for it later as a form of retaliation for their racist superiors’ exploitation of them as cannon fodder. Now, decades later, the four “Bloods” survivors are returning to find the missing treasure and the remains of their beloved commanding officer, who was slain at the location. On the other hand, returning to Vietnam will plunge them into troubling memories and an equally perilous reality.

Eye in the Sky:

Year: 2015
Director: Gavin Hood
Stars: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, John Heffernan
Runtime: 102 minutes
IMDb: 7.3/10

Colonel Katherine Powell is a British military officer in charge of a top-secret drone operation in Kenya to apprehend terrorists. Through distant monitoring and on-the-ground intelligence, Powell learns that the targets are plotting a suicide attack, and the mission shifts from “capture” to “kill.” However, as American pilot Lieutenant Steve Watts prepares to engage, a nine-year-old girl enters the kill zone, sparking a worldwide debate about contemporary warfare’s moral, political, and personal ramifications that reaches the highest echelons of US and British governments. Do they go forward with the understanding that there would be collateral damage?

First They Killed My Father:

Year: 2017
Director: Angelina Jolie
Stars: Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, SvenKerosa Socheata
Runtime: 136 minutes
IMDb: 7.2/10

First They Killed My Father is a highly personal depiction of the Cambodian genocide and one small girl’s courageous survival. Angelina Jolie adopted the film from Loung Ung’s memoir and transformed it into a unique child’s eye perspective of war’s relentless devastation and savages. We can’t think of another film that puts us in the shoes of a kid victim; we can sense her terror, comprehend her bewilderment, and pleasure in her reunions with family members. Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography makes the most of this viewpoint.

The Guns of Navarone:

Year:1961
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Stars: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn
Runtime: 156 minutes
IMDb: 7.5/10

An impossible task is handed to a band of Allied saboteurs: enter a mysterious Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two massive long-range field guns that hinder the rescue of 2,000 imprisoned British soldiers.

The British Navy was unable to rescue 2,000 men stranded on the Island of Keros in 1943 because two strong German cannons on the summit of Navarone Island were drowning Allied ships. Following a failed aerial attack, the Allied command sent a six-man squad camouflaged as a fisherman to Navarone to blow out the cannons. Maj. Roy Franklin leads the team, which includes Capt. Keith Mallory, a seasoned mountain climber, and his former partner Col. Andrea Stavros; explosive specialist Cpl. John Anthony Miller; engineer CPO ‘Butcher’ Brown; and Greek assassin Spyros Pappadimos, born in Navarone. They sail through the night and arrive in Navarone after a meeting with a German patrol boat and a storm in the sea, where Capt. Mallory must scale a cliff face during a stormy wet night to complete their task. Will they be successful?

Mosul:

Year: 2019
Director: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Stars: Adam Bessa, Suhail Dabbach, Is’haq Elias
Runtime: 102 minutes
IMDb: 7.2/10

Netflix’s ambition to monopolize military-themed action films continues with “Mosul,” which checks many of the same boxes as the streaming service’s past offerings. “Mosul,” like “Extraction,” is produced by the Russo Brothers and stars Adam Bessa. “Mosul,” like “6 Underground,” is set in the Middle East, in a nation fighting for independence from tyrannical people. And, like both of those Netflix originals, as well as the Morocco-set “Close,” “Mosul” is directed and written by someone who is not from the part of the globe that is central to and implicitly condemned by these films. All of this is to saystoryBielski, “Mosul” has the appearance of a specific kind of problematic thriller that others the very people its characters are attempting to save.

A Private War:

Year: 2018
Director: Matthew Heineman
Stars: Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander
Runtime: 110 minutes
IMDb: 6.8/10

Marie Colvin, one of the most acclaimed war journalists of our time, is a bold and rebellious soul pushed to the frontlines of wars throughout the world to give voice to the voiceless.

Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike) is one of the most acclaimed war journalists of our time in a world where media is under siege. Colvin is a courageous and rebellious soul, drawn to the frontlines of wars around the globe to give voice to the voiceless while continuously pushing the boundaries of bravery and audacity. She wears a unique eye patch after being struck by a grenade in Sri Lanka, and she is equally at ease drinking martinis with London’s elite as she is facing tyrants. Yet, Colvin sacrifices loving connections, and her personal life begins to crumble over time as the tragedy she has experienced takes its toll. However, her ambition to illustrate the actual cost of war takes her renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan), to the most perilous job of their life in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.

Shadow:

Year: 2018
Director: Zhang Yimou
Stars: Chao Deng, Sun Li, Ryan Zheng, Qianyuan Wang, Xiaotong Guan, Wang Jingchung
Runtime: 115 minutes
IMDb: 7.0/10

An army commander in a Chinese royal court covertly prepares a “shadow” to reclaim a city against the king’s desires.

Set during the Three Kingdoms period in China (AD 220-280). The story of a great monarch and his people exiled from their kingdom and yearning to return. The characters who will turn the relentless forces of this story will be. People who work for the king are violent, ambitious, and have unknown methods or motives. His general is a visionary who wants to win the final battle but must plan it secretly. Finally, it’s about the women of the palace, who try to find redemption in a world where they don’t belong, and a commoner called “Lord of all the world.”

The military commander has a hidden weapon in a kingdom controlled by a youthful and unpredictable king: a shadow, a look-alike who can trick his opponents and the King himself. Now he must employ this weapon as part of a complex strategy that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not desire.

Cold Mountain:

Year: 2003
Director: Anthony Minghella
Stars: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Donald Sutherland
Runtime: 154 minutes
IMDb: 7.2/10

In the final days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier goes on a treacherous trek home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, to reconnect with his sweetheart.

“Cold Mountain” chronicles the narrative of Inman (Jude Law), a wounded Confederate soldier who strives to return home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina, as well as to Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), the lady he left behind before heading out to fight in the Civil War. He encounters a slew of unusual and colorful individuals along the journey, while Ada is learning the ins and outs of maintaining her late father’s farm alongside Ruby Thewes (Renée Zellweger). This scrappy wanderer aids and teaches Ada along the way.

Five Came Back:

Year: 2017
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Stars: Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Meryl Streep
Runtime: 195 minutes
IMDb: 8.3/10

Five Came Back, at its finest, mirrors its source material, the skilled blend of historical study and sharp critique that marks Mark Harris’ monograph on Hollywood filmmakers during WWII: Laurent Bouzereau, the series’ director, substitutes cinematic language for Harris’ descriptive accuracy, demonstrating craft in ways that even the best writers cannot. Even though Netflix’s version lacks certain nuances, Five Came Back is a wonderful introduction to the subject of the story Bielski Zeus Except Zeus companion to the text for the rare footage alone. Bodies floating off the coast of France on D-Day; gory viscera scattered over the floor of a Higgins boat; Stevens’ horrific record of the Holocaust, subsequently offered as evidence at Nuremberg, which he recorded in Dachau in the aftermath of the German retreat: These serve as the crux of the series’ poignant conclusion, in which images—like journalism, propaganda, training, and bearing witness – are critical to our comprehension of the Second World War and its unfathomable cost. – Brendan, Matt

Defiance:

Year: 2008
Director: Edward Zwick
Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Ravil Isyanov
Runtime: 136 minutes
IMDb: 7.2/10

On the run and hiding in the dense woods of German-occupied Poland and Belorussia during World War II, the four Bielski brothers face the daunting job of searching for food and weapons to ensure their life. They live not only in terror of being discovered, struggling with adjacent Soviet partisans, and not knowing who to trust, but they also have the burden of protecting a huge number of escaping Polish Jews from the German war machine. In the darkest moments of German-occupied Eastern Europe, women, men, children, the elderly, and the young are in improvised dwellings in the dark, cold, and ruthless woods.

What Else You Can Watch on Netflix?

There are several genres of movies and shows you can watch on Netflix. Here are some:

netflix movies War