Best Films - Action & War genre
by graham_little | created - 29 Jul 2017 | updated - 17 May 2021 | PublicMy list of favourite action and war movies, this list is not in order of preference.
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1. Starship Troopers (1997)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
Votes: 321,289 | Gross: $54.81M
2. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill
Votes: 214,812 | Gross: $122.01M
3. Lone Survivor (2013)
R | 121 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster
Votes: 306,770 | Gross: $125.10M
4. American Sniper (2014)
R | 133 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Cole Konis
Votes: 529,419 | Gross: $350.13M
5. Jarhead (2005)
R | 125 min | Biography, Drama, War
A psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues back home.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Scott MacDonald
Votes: 206,615 | Gross: $62.66M
6. We Were Soldiers (2002)
R | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.
Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott
Votes: 151,300 | Gross: $78.12M
7. The Hurt Locker (2008)
R | 131 min | Drama, Thriller, War
During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce
Votes: 473,920 | Gross: $17.02M
8. Black Hawk Down (2001)
R | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The 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.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana
Votes: 423,733 | Gross: $108.64M
9. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,496,938 | Gross: $216.54M
10. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
R | 116 min | Drama, War
A 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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Votes: 790,660 | Gross: $46.36M
11. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 594,490 | Gross: $67.21M
12. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,358 | Gross: $44.91M
13. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava
Votes: 115,993 | Gross: $70.00M
14. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 258,983 | Gross: $12.10M
15. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 703,175 | Gross: $37.63M
16. Empire of the Sun (1987)
PG | 153 min | Drama, War
A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers
Votes: 134,344 | Gross: $22.24M
17. The Imitation Game (2014)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech
Votes: 825,275 | Gross: $91.13M
18. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,403 | Gross: $11.49M
19. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
Votes: 277,678 | Gross: $51.40M
20. The Last Samurai (2003)
R | 154 min | Action, Drama
Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, William Atherton
Votes: 471,270 | Gross: $111.11M
21. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 199,645 | Gross: $36.40M
22. Tears of the Sun (2003)
R | 121 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A Special-Ops commander leads his team into the Nigerian jungle in order to rescue a doctor who will only join them if they agree to save 70 refugees too.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Bruce Willis, Cole Hauser, Monica Bellucci, Eamonn Walker
Votes: 130,581 | Gross: $43.73M
23. Legends of the Fall (1994)
R | 133 min | Drama, Romance, War
In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond
Votes: 183,159 | Gross: $66.64M
24. Green Zone (2010)
R | 115 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear, Igal Naor
Votes: 142,724 | Gross: $35.05M
25. Body of Lies (2008)
R | 128 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordan Intelligence.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani
Votes: 239,584 | Gross: $39.39M
26. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
R | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
During an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale, David Denman
Votes: 160,880 | Gross: $52.85M
27. The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
Approved | 131 min | Action, Drama, History
Norwegian resistance tries to stop German efforts to produce an atomic bomb component during World War II.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 8,068
28. John Wick (2014)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters who killed his dog and stole his car.
Director: Chad Stahelski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 739,349 | Gross: $43.04M
29. John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.
Director: Chad Stahelski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose
Votes: 511,934 | Gross: $92.03M
30. Logan (2017)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In a future where mutants are nearly extinct, an elderly and weary Logan leads a quiet life. But when Laura, a mutant child pursued by scientists, comes to him for help, he must get her to safety.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook
Votes: 831,760 | Gross: $226.28M
31. Clear and Present Danger (1994)
PG-13 | 141 min | Action, Crime, Drama
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Almeida
Votes: 107,952 | Gross: $122.19M
32. Patriot Games (1992)
R | 117 min | Action, Thriller
When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin
Votes: 120,470 | Gross: $83.29M
33. Crimson Tide (1995)
R | 116 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
On a U.S. nuclear missile sub, a young First Officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy Captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Matt Craven, George Dzundza
Votes: 123,368 | Gross: $91.40M
34. Man on Fire (2004)
R | 146 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In Mexico City, a former CIA operative swears vengeance on those who committed an unspeakable act against the family he was hired to protect.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Dakota Fanning, Radha Mitchell
Votes: 389,732 | Gross: $77.91M
35. The Equalizer (2014)
R | 132 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him cannot stand idly by when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour
Votes: 420,297 | Gross: $101.53M
36. The Sum of All Fears (2002)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's President by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore, Maryland.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt
Votes: 124,433 | Gross: $118.91M
37. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,275 | Gross: $96.90M
38. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,654 | Gross: $32.57M
39. Shooter (I) (2007)
R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A marksman living in exile is coaxed back into action after hearing of a plot to kill the President. After being-double crossed for the attempt and on the run, he sets out for the real killer and the truth.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, Rhona Mitra, Danny Glover
Votes: 355,777 | Gross: $47.00M
40. Conspiracy Theory (1997)
R | 135 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
A taxi driver with a penchant for conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of these theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart, Cylk Cozart
Votes: 107,261 | Gross: $75.98M
41. American Assassin (2017)
R | 111 min | Action, Thriller
After the death of his girlfriend at the hands of terrorists, Mitch Rapp is drawn into the world of counterterrorism, mentored by tough-as-nails former U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. Stan Hurley.
Director: Michael Cuesta | Stars: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Taylor Kitsch
Votes: 90,978 | Gross: $36.25M
42. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City.
Director: Jon Watts | Stars: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei
Votes: 719,727 | Gross: $334.20M
43. Hunter Killer (2018)
R | 121 min | Action, Thriller
An untested American submarine captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a rogue general.
Director: Donovan Marsh | Stars: Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Linda Cardellini
Votes: 73,633 | Gross: $15.77M
44. The Foreigner (I) (2017)
R | 113 min | Action, Thriller
A humble businessman with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official, whose past may hold clues to the killers' identities.
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones, Mark Tandy
Votes: 123,327 | Gross: $34.39M
45. Polar (I) (2019)
TV-MA | 118 min | Action, Thriller
A retiring assassin suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of a hit, contracted by none other than his own employer seeking to cash in on the pensions of aging employees.
Director: Jonas Åkerlund | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, Fei Ren
Votes: 99,011
46. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
R | 130 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassins' guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head, he is the target of hit men and women everywhere.
Director: Chad Stahelski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne
Votes: 425,991 | Gross: $171.02M
47. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
PG-13 | 147 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg
Votes: 378,261 | Gross: $220.16M
48. The Witcher (2019– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
Stars: Freya Allan, Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Eamon Farren
Votes: 570,219
49. Extraction (2020)
R | 116 min | Action, Thriller
Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary, embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he's enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.
Director: Sam Hargrave | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Bryon Lerum, Ryder Lerum, Rudhraksh Jaiswal
Votes: 263,092
50. 12 Strong (2018)
R | 130 min | Action, Drama, History
12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11; under the leadership of a new captain, the team must work with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban.
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban
Votes: 91,867 | Gross: $45.82M
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