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Best War Movies of the 2000s

War films released 2000–2009, ranked by TMDB rating among titles with at least 500 votes.

📊 A century of movies in numbers 62 titlesavg ★ 6.97 avg 127 min War Drama Action History

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#1 The Pianist (2002) · ★ 8.4 · 10,494 votes · 2h 30m · drama, war
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work…
#2 Inglourious Basterds (2009) · ★ 8.2 · 24,844 votes · 2h 33m · thriller, drama, war
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalpi…
#3 Innocent Voices (2005) · ★ 8.2 · 523 votes · 2h 0m · drama, war
A young boy, attempting to have a normal childhood in 1980s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life when he desperately tries to avoid the war that is raging all…
#4 Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) · ★ 8.0 · 794 votes · 2h 28m · action, adventure, drama
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.…
#5 Downfall (2004) · ★ 7.9 · 4,479 votes · 2h 35m · drama, history, war
In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capita…
#6 Pan's Labyrinth (2006) · ★ 7.8 · 11,767 votes · 1h 58m · fantasy, drama, war
In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun wh…
#7 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) · ★ 7.8 · 7,846 votes · 1h 34m · drama, history, war
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems…
#8 Joint Security Area (2000) · ★ 7.8 · 882 votes · 1h 48m · action, thriller, drama
Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead inves…
#9 Hotel Rwanda (2004) · ★ 7.7 · 3,290 votes · 2h 2m · drama, history, war
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world.…
#10 Waltz with Bashir (2008) · ★ 7.7 · 1,089 votes · 1h 30m · drama, animation, war
A film director from Israel interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.…
#11 The Last Samurai (2003) · ★ 7.6 · 7,793 votes · 2h 34m · action, drama, war
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that ru…
#12 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) · ★ 7.5 · 2,401 votes · 2h 21m · action, drama, war
The 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.…
#13 No Man's Land (2001) · ★ 7.5 · 519 votes · 1h 38m · action, history, war
Two soldiers from opposite sides get stuck between the front lines in the same trench. The UN is asked to free them and both sides agree on a ceasefire, but will they stick to it?…
#14 Black Hawk Down (2001) · ★ 7.4 · 6,618 votes · 2h 25m · action, history, war
When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy cas…
#15 Enemy at the Gates (2001) · ★ 7.4 · 4,197 votes · 2h 11m · romance, drama, history
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.…
#16 Black Book (2006) · ★ 7.4 · 1,283 votes · 2h 25m · thriller, drama, war
Israel, 1956: Jewish teacher Rachel Stein rather unexpectedly meets an old friend at the kibbutz. It brings back memories of her experiences in the Netherlands during the war, memo…
#17 Joyeux Noel (2005) · ★ 7.4 · 955 votes · 1h 56m · romance, drama, history
France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans……
#18 The Counterfeiters (2007) · ★ 7.4 · 717 votes · 1h 38m · drama, war
The story of Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch, who was coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.…
#19 Brothers (2009) · ★ 7.3 · 4,035 votes · 1h 45m · thriller, drama, war
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, a…
#20 A Very Long Engagement (2004) · ★ 7.3 · 1,371 votes · 2h 13m · romance, drama, war
Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone.…
#21 The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) · ★ 7.3 · 933 votes · 2h 7m · drama, war
In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and…
#22 Red Cliff II (2009) · ★ 7.3 · 513 votes · 2h 21m · action, adventure, drama
The battle of Red Cliff continues and the alliance between Xu and East Wu is fracturing. With Cao Cao's massive forces on their doorstep, will the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu survi…
#23 300 (2007) · ★ 7.2 · 15,102 votes · 1h 57m · action, adventure, war
A story very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians.…
#24 Troy (2004) · ★ 7.2 · 11,341 votes · 2h 43m · action, adventure, history
In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sa…
#25 The Hurt Locker (2008) · ★ 7.2 · 6,384 votes · 2h 11m · thriller, drama, 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.…
#26 The Patriot (2000) · ★ 7.2 · 4,494 votes · 2h 45m · action, drama, history
After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But wh…
#27 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) · ★ 7.2 · 3,626 votes · 2h 18m · adventure, drama, war
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or d…
#28 Kingdom of Heaven (2005) · ★ 7.1 · 5,261 votes · 2h 24m · action, adventure, drama
After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.…
#29 We Were Soldiers (2002) · ★ 7.1 · 2,377 votes · 2h 18m · action, history, war
The year is 1965 and America is at war with North Vietnam. Commanding the air cavalry is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his troops. His target: the Ia Dr…
#30 Red Cliff (2008) · ★ 7.1 · 920 votes · 2h 25m · action, adventure, drama
In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms o…
#31 Valkyrie (2008) · ★ 7.0 · 4,225 votes · 2h 1m · thriller, drama, war
Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and as…
#32 Rescue Dawn (2007) · ★ 7.0 · 1,492 votes · 2h 5m · adventure, drama, war
A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.…
#33 Pearl Harbor (2001) · ★ 6.9 · 7,197 votes · 3h 3m · action, romance, drama
The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval…
#34 Tears of the Sun (2003) · ★ 6.9 · 2,722 votes · 2h 1m · action, drama, war
Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the…
#35 Cold Mountain (2003) · ★ 6.9 · 2,037 votes · 2h 34m · adventure, romance, drama
In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across th…
#36 Flags of Our Fathers (2006) · ★ 6.8 · 2,084 votes · 2h 15m · drama, history, war
There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six survi…
#37 Defiance (2008) · ★ 6.8 · 1,965 votes · 2h 17m · action, drama, history
Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. Th…
#38 Che: Part One (2008) · ★ 6.8 · 853 votes · 2h 14m · drama, history, war
Ernesto Guevara, known as 'Che', leads a group of Cuban exiles under Fidel Castro in a revolution to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, the dictator of Cuba.…
#39 Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007) · ★ 6.8 · 775 votes · 2h 5m · action, adventure, history
The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.…
#40 Tropic Thunder (2008) · ★ 6.7 · 7,219 votes · 1h 47m · action, comedy, adventure
A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to st…

Questions

What is the best war movie of the 2000s?

The Pianist (2002) tops the decade with 8.4/10 on TMDB, ahead of Inglourious Basterds (2009).