20 Best War Movies On Netflix According To Critics And Audiences

There are movies that recreate some of the most significant events in world history from a variety of perspectives and with a variety of purposes and intentions. The war movies are simply adventured films with war providing a compelling setting and situation. Here we have listed the best war movies on Netflix according to the critics and audience.

 

*Disclaimer: The movies listed in the blog are available on Netflix on a temporary basis.

 

1. A War

Director:  Tobias Lindholm

Stars: Pilou Asbæk, Tuva Novotny, Søren Malling

 

Starting with the list of best war movies on Netflix, the first movie is "A War." A War is a small scale drama movie that outsized its power. This war movie shows about war not only from the point of view of a soldier but also from the surface of the family of the soldier too. “A War” is a film that focuses a lot on two major emotions which are empathy and belief. As the narrative develops even the very virtues evolves the characterization account for tricky moral complications. 

IMDb Ranking: 7.1/10

 

 

2. The Siege of Jadotville 

Director: Richie Smyth

Stars:  Richard Lukunku, Danny Sapani, Andrew Stock 

 

Directed by Richie Smyth, this 2016 historical war movie on Netflix is about how an Irish commander along with his 150 men stood against 3,000 Congolese troops which were led by French and Belgian mercenaries. Siege Of Jadotville is one of those good war movies that have a thrilling and respectful look at the heroic group of men who fought with the army of 3,000 Katangese attackers who were on a peacekeeping mission in 1961, some of which were teenagers at the time.

IMDb Ranking: 7.3/10

 

3. Troy

Director:  Wolfgang Petersen

Stars: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom

 

Troy is the war movie that is inspired by the Homer's "The Iliad." The plot of the movie kicks into gear when Paris who is the Prince of Troy, falls for the Queen of Sparta and whisks her away from her dastardly husband, King Menelaus. Being one of the top war movies, Troy has an engaging plot. Director Wolfgang Petersen combines the close quarters, the swords-and-sandals combat of Gladiator.

IMDb Ranking: 7.2/10

 

4. The Look of Silence

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

Stars:  Adi Rukun, M.Y. Basrun, Amir Hasan 

 

Being one of the best war documentaries, The Look of Silence is about a man named Adi Rukun from Indonesia who looks an Indonesia's bitter past where countless people were butchered during that country’s anti-Communist purges of 1965 and 1966. This movie has a surreal, conceptual feel: Men who participated in the death squads, now elderly, agreed to reenact their gruesome deeds.

IMDb Ranking: 8.3/10

 

5. Schindler's List

Director: Steven Spielberg

Stars:  Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley

 

A good thing to watch on Netflix which is about the era when Jews were prosecuted by the Nazis. During that time a German industrialist named Oskar Schindler tried to save his Jewish employees. This is one of the best war documentaries, 'Schindler's List' is at once the most celebrated and most keenly criticized film in the Spielberg canon. In Schindler’s List, there is an unavoidable belief in hope and optimism among the powerless, among the ones who are trapped and tormented.

IMDb Ranking: 8.9/10

 

6. Inglourious Basterds 

Director: Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth 

Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth

 

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is one of the best war movies on Netflix which is about the World War II adventure starring Brad Pitt is full of food for thought. Tarantino tells the story in chapters. The movie has the feel of reading a novel visually. Charming, intelligent and ruthless --- Waltz gets every aspect of the part spot-on. Without him, Inglourious Basterds wouldn't have been half the war movie it is.

IMDb Ranking: 8.3/10

 

7. The Imitation Game 

Director: Morten Tyldum

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode 

 

The Imitation Game is the sort of fresh, British esteem piece you could presume of taking advantage of Downton fever. It's a disastrous war film made simply more so by the hugeness of Turing's commitments not exclusively to the war exertion yet to the mechanical advances of the twentieth century. The key to The Imitation Game’ being one of the best war movies of Netflix is the way it seamlessly combines its thriller and biopic elements: the story of Turing, it posits, is the story of the Enigma code breaking.

IMDb Ranking: 8.0/10

 

8. First They Killed My Father 

Director: Angelina Jolie

Stars: Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata

 

The world is already a big fan of Angelina Jolie's acting skills, but now that she has also entered the director's squad it is more huge than anything else.  First They Killed My Father is a good war movie that offers a valid alternative solution, by assuming the point of view of five-year-old Loung, whose childlike inability to process the events unfolding around her theoretically mirrors our own. Adapted from her book, this war movie tells the story of her childhood, when Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh was invaded in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge.

IMDb Ranking: 7.2/10

 

9. Full Metal Jacket

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Stars:  Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio

 

By the time The Shining had been released in theaters, Stanley Kubrick had already decided that for his next project he wanted to make a film that depicted what war was like. This war movie left a lasting impact on people. This movie is one of those war movies on Netflix that is unsparing in its portrayal of wartime violence -- soldiers get into firefights, are shot by snipers, and are shown dying slowly on the battlefield. A war movie by Kubrick that makes sure to warm you with repeated viewings.

IMDb Ranking: 8.3/10

 

10. The Hurt Locker 

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty 

 

Kathryn Bigelow, who has not made enough great movies given the talent she so often flourishes, likes to pitch her films in “heightened emotional states.” The Hurt Locker is one of those new war movies that is full of very realistic, graphic violence and danger -- shootings, death by explosion and images of dead bodies. This war movie shows the time of the Iraq war when Sergeant William James was training a bomb disposal team. The beauty of Bigelow's film lies in the middle-of-the-road path it traverses.

IMDb Ranking: 7.6/10

 

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11. Walking With the Enemy 

Director:  Mark Schmidt

Stars: Jonas Armstrong, Ben Kingsley, Hannah Tointon 

 

One of the World War II movies where a young Hungarian disguises himself as a Nazi officer to save his family and thousands of his countrymen from the death camps. It is a true war movie about love, courage, and sacrifice. Interesting telling of life for jews at a horrible time in history which is an emotionally wrenching movie which is a fitting tribute to the hero Pinchas Tibor Rosenbaum and a memorial to the Hungarian Jews.

 

IMDb Ranking: 6.3/10

 

12. Tell Spring Not to Come This Year 

Director:  Saeed Taji Farouky 

 

This powerful and beautifully shot war movie is one of the best war documentaries that tracks the intense, grim lives of the Afghan national army as they fight the Taliban alone after the US departed. This film pursues the Afghan National Army (ANA) for one year as they are sent in Helmand territory without the help of NATO out of the blue. Just Like "Restrepo," "Tell Spring Not to Come This Year" explores the deep personal motivations, desire, and struggles of a band of fighting men on the front line.

IMDb Ranking: 6.9/10

 

13. Little Dieter Needs to Fly  

Director:  Werner Herzog

Stars: Dieter Dengler, Werner Herzog, Eugene Deatrick

 

Werner Herzog's "Little Dieter Needs to Fly'' lets Dieter tell his own story. This war documentary tells the story of such a haunted man, whose memories include being hung upside down with an ant nest over his head, and fighting a snake for a dead rat they both wanted to eat. Werner Herzog is a very great storyteller, and the thing about story-telling is that it creates pictures in our heads. Rated as one of the best war movies on Netflix, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" is a must watch for people who love a real story. 

IMDb Ranking: 8.1/10

 

14. Captain America: Civil War

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Stars: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson 

 

This avenger meets Captain America film is finely built through the hints that previous Marvel films like Age Of Ultron and Antman showcased. The reason of conflict between the two superheroes is fully justified. Not a complete war movie, but it has to be compiled along with the other best war movies on Netflix.

IMDb Ranking: 7.8/10

 

15. The Battle of Midway 

Stars: John Ford, Dudley Nichols, James Kevin McGuinness

 

This war movie is about the Midway Island that was attacked by the Japanese in the year 1942 giving rise to the Battle of Midway. The movie starts where a man is shown telling about the location of the Midway Island and its strategic importance. Suddenly the account swings to the fight itself with roughly five minutes committed to the guard of the island, the maritime fight, and the consequence. This movie played by stars like John Ford, Dudley Nichols and more is considered as one of the best-rated war movies on Netflix.

IMDb Ranking: 7.3/10

 

16. Atonement

Director:  Joe Wright

Stars: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn

 

Filmmaker Joe Wright burst onto the scene with his excellent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that remains the greatest modern film about love and war. Atonement really showed the director’s flair for inventiveness. It manages topics - including youthful youthfulness, class contrasts, lying, and enthusiasm - that is excessively unpredictable for everything except the most develop adolescents to truly have the capacity to handle and put in the setting.

IMDb Ranking: 7.8/10

 

17. Beasts of No Nation 

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor 

 

Beasts of No Nation is one of those best war movies on Netflix that throws a bright if baleful light on the special horror of child soldiers. For starters, it’s written and directed by Cary Fukunaga, who’s achieved notable success in both mediums with the movies Jane Eyre and Sin Nombre. Fukunaga’s script is based on Uzodinma Iweala’s 2005 novel of the same name and follows a West African boy, Agu. Agu is shown to be torn out of his family by militants and eventually inducted into a mercenary unit.

IMDb Ranking: 7.8/10

 

18. 6 Days

Director: Toa Fraser

Stars: Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish 

 

6 Days is one of the true story movies on Netflix that shows the real-life hostage situation of the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London. Here in this war movie, you'll see Jamie Bell playing a SAS soldier leading a team of heavily armed, black-clad heavies called in as a backup should talk and stall the terrorists. The movie shows the actions that took place over the six days of the siege, moment to moment, the clock ticking and making people glued to their seats.

IMDb Ranking:  6.2/10

 

19. Sand Castle

Director: Fernando Coimbra

Stars:  Nicholas Hoult, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Cavill 

 

A Netflix Original Movie which is also a war movie being centered upon the small-scale struggle in the early years of the American-Iraqi conflict. That microcosm of the devastating war where the character of Ocre signed up to the Army Reserves two months before 9/11 had to go to war. The main protagonist tells the story in such a way that the audiences get an intimate look at the critical relationships formed and attacks that occurred.

IMDb Ranking: 6.3/10

 

20. Body of Lies

Director:  Ridley Scott

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong 

 

This movies rightly conveys our prejudiced mindset, preconceived notions and exposes the greed and arrogance of the superpowers.  When you have Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe planning special operations to nab the Al Qaeda jihadis, how can the movie not belong to the list of best war movies on Netflix? The script of Body of lies hints at wisdom, moral complexity, suspense even, but it’s all too jargonized and impatient. 

IMDb Ranking: 7.1/10

 

We think that's enough shows to cover for 2018. Get binging, because that is what you and we are best at.

 

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FAQ

Q: What are some of the best war-based movies of all time?

A: Schindler's List, Full Metal Jacket, The Look of Silence

 

Q. How much does Netflix cost in India?

A. You can get a one-month free subscription but to continue, Netflix India rates start at Rs.500 (roughly $8.00) per month. It costs Rs. 650 a month (HD plan) which can be shared on 2 screens. So, you can share the password with a friend and effectively pay Rs. 325 a month. The video library of Netflix is Ad Free which makes it a delightful experience.