Best modern warfare (20th and 21st Centuries) battles in films.
Another list of battles in film. Only "real world" battles, even if it the battle itself didn't happen. No particular order, I just remember and add them. Please, make any suggestion and comment you want. I DID NOT add small engagements (Das Boot, Top Gun, Fury) on purpose, not because they are not good, I just don't think they are "big" enough to be considered battles.
This is the longest list, and many films are missing. Chech out the other ones too!
Best battles since 1900 in films.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281092
Best ancient and medieval battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281160/
Best Fantasy battles:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281486/
Best "modern" (XVth to XIXth century) era battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281222
Best Sci Fi Battles
www.imdb.com/list/ls068287536/
This is the longest list, and many films are missing. Chech out the other ones too!
Best battles since 1900 in films.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281092
Best ancient and medieval battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281160/
Best Fantasy battles:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281486/
Best "modern" (XVth to XIXth century) era battles.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls068281222
Best Sci Fi Battles
www.imdb.com/list/ls068287536/
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- 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.The landing atOmaha Beach is often regarded as the best battle of all time on the screen. I don't think it is, but it's still amazing. The last skirmish is also great.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.One of the first films to feature large a battle and it does it greatly.
- DirectorKen AnnakinAndrew MartonGerd OswaldStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanRichard BurtonThe events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.If you think those 20 minutes of SPR weren't enough of Omaha Beach , this 3 hours film with John Wayne, Sean Connery, Richard Burton among others about the D Day is for you.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsSean ConneryRyan O'NealMichael CaineOperation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.I don't think this long, expensive movie is that great, but the potrail of Operation Market Garden and its battles scenes really worth
- DirectorRichard FleischerKinji FukasakuToshio MasudaStarsMartin BalsamSô YamamuraJason RobardsThe story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.So better than Pearl Harbour it hurts.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsBen AffleckKate BeckinsaleJosh HartnettA tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.Terrible flick, but with good action scenes. The 40 minutes attack sequence is great.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsAndrew GarfieldSam WorthingtonLuke BraceyWorld 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.Perhaps the greatest battles of this century. Even more shocking and violent than Saving Private Ryan. Maybe the most violent war film of all time.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsPeter O'TooleAlec GuinnessAnthony QuinnThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.One of the greatest films of all time, maybe the greatest. There are many battles on other films better than Aqaba, but I think we need it here too.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Ride of the Valkyries/Helicopter attack. Here we go... the ultimate battle... Not bad at all, but overrated IMHO.
- 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.One hour and a half hour of battle. Despite having too much action, very insightful.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsDominique HorwitzThomas KretschmannJochen NickelThe story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.Being smarter and less expensive than your average American film do not prevent this German movie to have some of the best combat scenes ever. Very antiwar, makes Omaha Landing in SPV looks child stuff.
The tanks scene is the best and the most thrilling of the film. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.This quite short film by him, Stanley Kubrick has also a very well executed small battle.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsKen WatanabeKazunari NinomiyaTsuyoshi IharaThe story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsRyan PhillippeBarry PepperJoseph CrossThe life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.
- DirectorRandall WallaceStarsMel GibsonMadeleine StoweGreg KinnearThe 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.Of course, Apocalypse Now is a better Vietnam War film. Actually this is not on my top 5 Vietnam War films of all time. But I think We Were Soldiers has the best Vietnam battles. It also has my second favorite air and ground battle scenes, after Black Hawk Down.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsJim CaviezelSean PennNick NolteAdaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.Battle of Guadalcanal. A gorgeous film with a gorgeous battle.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsGeorge C. ScottKarl MaldenStephen YoungThe World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.Tanks battle. IIRC there's also another good one.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsJude LawEd HarrisJoseph FiennesA Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.The "suicide" march.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaKokinji KatsuraAs a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.One of theleast voted films of all these lists.
The whole trilogy is one of my favorites (if not my favorite) film all time, and the second one, despite not being my favorite part, has a great battle too. - 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.The Battle of Hue. I do not like this film a lot though. Kubrick has many better films.
- 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.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsAl PacinoRobert De NiroVal KilmerA group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.The most unusual choice on the list. Well, not actually a battle, and along with Gangs of New York, the only film without armies. But the violence and the noise on THAT scene almost made me deaf. Superb.
- StarsScott GrimesDamian LewisRon LivingstonThe story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.Yeah, it's a mini-series, but has so many good battles I needed to add too.
- DirectorGillo PontecorvoStarsBrahim HadjadjJean MartinYacef SaadiIn the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.Despite the militaristic title, there are virtually no big conflicts on this one. What makes it so good is the atmosphere.
- DirectorKen AnnakinStarsHenry FondaRobert ShawRobert RyanA dramatization of Nazi Germany's final Western Front counterattack of World War II.
- 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.
- DirectorJack SmightStarsCharlton HestonHenry FondaJames CoburnA dramatization of the battle that was widely heralded as a turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
- DirectorPekka ParikkaStarsTaneli MäkeläVesa VierikkoTimo TorikkaIn 1939, two Finnish brothers are conscripted in the army to fight in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union.Maybe it gets too repetitive after three hours of seeing trees exploding, but still great.
- DirectorVeljko BulajicStarsYul BrynnerHardy KrügerFranco NeroWorld War II drama about the 1943 battle around the Neretva River between Axis forces and Yugoslav partisan units.Masterpiece
If you want to watch this one (and trust me, you should), watch the original version, not the American one. - DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.The "funny" one. Another unusual choice.
- DirectorFedor BondarchukStarsMariya SmolnikovaYanina StudilinaPyotr FyodorovA group of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to two Russian women who have been living there.This is the third film about Stalingrad on this list. Not near as good as its German homonym , but also not bad. There are also at least tw Russian films from about Stalingrad that I haven't seen, and both seem to have great battles.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsSean ConneryClaudine AugerAdolfo CeliJames Bond heads to the Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.
At first I didn't want to put this one on the list, but after rewatching I had no doubts about how good was the underwater battle. - DirectorJohn IrvinStarsAnthony BarrileMichael BoatmanDon CheadleA very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
- DirectorPeter BergStarsMark WahlbergTaylor KitschEmile HirschMarcus 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.