Netflix may have the most subscribers of any streaming video service, but in terms of content, Prime Video is king. Prime Video's streaming video service offers a library of over 9,700 movies, twice the number Netflix currently has on its platform. For fans of war films, that means hundreds of great films from the genre are available, including classics, modern blockbusters, and undiscovered gems.
Unfortunately, if you want to browse for a war movie to watch, the Prime Video app (for smart TVs and phones) isn't going to be much help. It doesn't offer "War" as a genre to browse through, so war films are lumped into the "Action/Adventure" genre, which is crowded with titles. The app's search function isn't very user-friendly, as a search for "war movies" includes many unrelated titles, so finding a good film may be difficult. We've scoured Prime Video and found the best war films on the platform, which feature combat or the effects of war on soldiers, ranked in alphabetical order.
Updated on August 5, 2023, by Rudransh Bundela: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
21 A Bridge Too Far (1977)
A Bridge Too Far is director Richard Attenborough's retelling of World War II's Operation Market Garden, a disastrous attempt by the Allies to break through Germany's lines in the Netherlands. It's a faithful, mostly entertaining retelling of the battle.
It features an all-star cast that is quite good. Despite the presence of Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, and Sir Laurence Olivier, the film's three-hour run time is a bit taxing, but the historical value is strong.
20 A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Gary Cooper solidified his movie star status with A Farewell to Arms, the Oscar-winning adaptation of the classic Ernest Hemingway novel. Cooper plays Frederic, an American ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, who sparks a torrid love affair with a British nurse (Helen Hayes).
Cooper is excellent in the lead, although Hemingway (who later became friends with Cooper) disliked the film's focus on romantic themes. A Farewell to Arms was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two, for Best Cinematography and Best Sound.
19 Allied (2016)
Allied’s powered by the palpable chemistry between Brad Pitt and Marron Cotillard, closely walking the tightrope between a romantic war film and a thriller. Despite being led by a heavyweight case, the film didn’t have much pull at the box office, while receiving positive reviews from critics...
Numbers aside, Robert Zemeckis’ film has a lot going for it in terms of a taut script that twists and turns at every corner accompanied by Don Burgess’ gorgeous cinematography. While it may not be the modern-day equivalent of Casablanca, Allied is or aspires to belong to a similar DNA of films doing so with an abundance of violence, sex, and profanity that wouldn’t fly back in the day.
18 American Sniper (2014)
American Sniper, Clint Eastwood's biopic of the life of Navy S.E.A.L. Chris Kyle, is an intense, unflinching look at the perils experienced by soldiers in Iraq. Battle scenes are depicted with chaotic energy, and there's a focus on the jarring transition soldiers face when coming home. After the war, Kyle helped veterans deal with their PTSD, an effort that would have tragic consequences for him.
The film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper, who is outstanding in the role. He gives Kyle a warts-and-all portrayal, showing that heroes aren't always perfect, even if their actions are. Keep an eye out for Luke Grimes playing a soldier, years before he rose to fame playing Kayce Dutton in Yellowstone.
17 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 1946, follows three veterans coming home from World War II and explores how each adjusts to civilian life once again. Despite the film's lack of combat, the war looms large in every scene, as each soldier struggles with their experiences. While many war films of the era glossed over the personal issues soldiers faced, this film addressed them head-on.
The film won seven Oscars in all, including Best Actor for Fredric March, who played a soldier struggling with sobriety. Harold Russell won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing a Navy man who lost his hands in battle. In reality, Russell had lost his hands during an accident during a training exercise, and director William Wyler cast him after seeing his work in an Army training film. Russell also won an honorary Oscar for his inspirational role, giving "hope and courage" to other disabled veterans.
16 The Captain (2017)
The German film The Captain is set on the Axis side in the final days of World War II. It follows a deserter from the Third Reich who stumbles across a captain's uniform in an abandoned car and begins wearing it. He then begins bluffing his way through numerous tense situations with German officers in an effort to get away from the war front.
Eventually, the privilege of authority goes to his head and corrupts him completely. The film is a captivating look at how war can bring out the very worst in weak people, and is directed by German filmmaker Robert Schwentke, who would go on to helm Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.
15 Dick Winters: Hang Tough (2012)
If you've seen the landmark HBO series Band of Brothers, you're likely familiar with Maj. Dick Winters. He led the 101st Airborne Division's "Easy Company" and saw some of the biggest battles of World War II.
Dick Winters: Hang Tough is a 2012 documentary about the war hero's life and exploits in Europe, and features interviews with both him and the surviving members of Easy Company. This excellent documentary is narrated by actor Damian Lewis, who portrayed Winters in Band of Brothers.
14 Glory (1989)
Denzel Washington won his first Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actor) for 1989's Glory, playing a former slave who joined the Union's first all-black infantry regiment, the 54th Massachusetts. Based on a true story, Glory stars Matthew Broderick as Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the white commanding officer of the 54th.
Morgan Freeman is excellent as a major in the 54th, determined to hold his men to a higher standard, and Cary Elwes and Andre Braugher round out the cast. Director Edward Zwick's epic tale is an underrated classic, with a stirring ending. James Horner's absolutely masterful score was somehow not nominated for an Oscar but remains some of the finest music ever put to film. While it's not available on Prime Video, fans can try out the MGM+ channel that's available on Prime Video to catch Glory.
13 Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
A deeply patriotic film with a complicated core, Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of an American combat medic Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield), who refuses to touch a gun, becoming the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Picked on at first for his stance on violence, Doss transcends his tag of being a coward by putting his own life on the line to save a lot of his comrades in the Battle of Okinawa. While there are moments where Mel Gibson’s film ventures into dangerously corny territory, the real-life heroism of Doss is genuinely commendable, automatically making up for Gibson's cheesy cinematic liberty.
12 Hamburger Hill (1987)
Hamburger Hill is a grounded, often harsh look at one of the most infamous battles of the Vietnam War. In 1969, U.S. troops spent days trying to take "Hill 937" in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, in what would become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
The film highlights the illogical decisions soldiers often had to follow, and while the film is a realistic depiction of war, some odd editing and narrative decisions by director John Irwin keep it just short of being a classic.
11 The Lost Battalion (2001)
By 2001, former child star Ricky Schroder had made a successful transition to more adult roles, including a stretch on NYPD Blue. During that time, he also starred in the 2001 A&E TV movie The Lost Battalion.
It told the true story of World War I of a 500-man battalion of American troops who held off thousands of German troops after being cut off from reinforcements. The film, by director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander), earned three Emmy nominations.
10 Megan Leavey (2017)
Megan Leavey tells the true story of a young woman who joins the Marines after 9/11 and becomes a K9 handler. Leavey (Kate Mara) is deployed to Iraq with her dog Rex to detect improvised explosives.
Both are wounded in the conflict, but Megan must then fight to keep Rex as her own. The Iraq War scenes are very well done, and Mara gives a great performance as Leavey, highlighting the dangers dog handlers faced during the Iraq War.
9 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc is director Luc Besson's not-quite-accurate depiction of the brief life of Joan of Arc. If you're looking for a historical lesson here, keep looking, because Besson's over-dramatized and over-stylized movie is more about the spectacle and tragedy of war.
It's best to appreciate this film for its entertaining broad strokes and forget the fact that Joan is a French woman being portrayed by a Ukrainian-born actress (Milla Jovovich) speaking with an American accent. While she's no Renée Jeanne Falconetti, Jovovich gives a strong performance, however, despite the choice of how the character was portrayed. Although heavy on style and imagery, the film's battle sequences are quite good, and there are some decent dramatics about the politics of war as well.
8 No Greater Love (2017)
No Greater Love is a sadly overwhelming documentary that follows an Army chaplain who reunites with his fellow soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division (known as the "No Slack") as they recount their experiences in the Afghanistan War against the Taliban.
A mix of combat footage (most recorded by the chaplain) and interviews, the film provides an insight into the conflict rarely seen. In one heart-wrenching scene, a medic recounts how he saved the life of a suicide bomber who had just killed his friend and injured him because he felt it inhuman to let him die. It's a profoundly affecting film.
7 Ran (1985)
An intricate marriage between Eastern and Western sensibilities, Akira Kurosawa borrows from Shakespeare’s narrative frameworks and sets them against the Sengoku period in Japan with a special focus on the legendary feudal lord Mōri Motonari.
Unlike modern-day war films that work on the visual overdose of bombs and bullets, Ran advocates for brains over brawn, and strategy over strength. Having rooted the story in Shakespeare’s King Lear, Kurosawa’s film offers a refreshing perspective into the ills of power and the political machinations that contaminate it.
6 Red Dawn (1984)
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Upon its release in 1984, Red Dawn was dismissed by many critics as crude, Cold War fantasy, with its depiction of an invasion of America by Russian and Cuban troops. It also garnered a fair amount of controversy at the time for its violence, which included teenagers being gunned down at a high school. Time and a fair amount of nostalgia have softened some opinions, and the film is now embraced as one of the better action films of the 1980s.
Ukrainian soldiers even used the "Wolverines!" battle cry in their war with Russian troops, mimicking the youngsters who revolt against the Communists in the film. There's a good amount of crowd-pleasing action to this revolution as Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen take it to the Russians, but director and co-writer John Milius made this a much deeper, more profound film about the personal cost of war. The cast is excellent, and the iconic Powers Boothe reminds us what an underappreciated screen presence he was.
5 Sobibor (2018)
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Fetisov Illusion
Sobibor tells the story of one of the most famous instances of courage and resistance to emerge from the dark period of the Holocaust. Centering around the Sobibor revolt of 1943, Konstantin Khabensky’s film follows Jewish-Soviet soldier Alexander Pechersky who previously served as a lieutenant in the Red Army before being captured and deported to the Sobibor death camp.
Within just three weeks of his imprisonment, Pechersky organized and orchestrated the revolt that allowed 300 prisoners to escape, many of whom were unfortunately recaptured and killed by the Nazis. A powerful examination of hope and darkness,Sobibor is a haunting reflection on one of the darkest phases of humanity.
4 The Somme (2005)
The Somme (also known as Line of Fire: The Somme) takes a documentary-like approach to the deadliest battle of World War I. In 1916, The Battle of the Somme was fought along the French river and ultimately involved three million troops during the months-long battle.
20,000 British troops died in a single day in one of the most terrifying statistics from the battle. Narrators read letters from soldiers detailing their experiences, and dramatic reenactments of the battle make for a compelling film.
3 To End All Wars (2001)
Based on the real-life story that inspired Bridge on the River Kwai, To End All Wars focuses on a part of the history the classic film did not. Rather than dramatize the bridge-building and the effort to blow it up, this 2001 drama focuses on the prison camp experiences of the imprisoned Allied soldiers, and the spiritual journey they take to cope with brutal conditions.
The film is packed with fantastic performances from some great actors, including Kiefer Sutherland, Robert Carlyle, and Mark Strong. Ciarán McMenamin is equally good in a film that packs an emotional punch. Prime Video offers the director's cut of the film, with over 20 minutes of footage not seen in theaters.
2 The Tomorrow War (2021)
The Tomorrow War is one of Prime Video's big-budget original films, featuring A-lister Chris Pratt in the lead. The film is often loud, silly sci-fi, but alongside some excellent action sequences is an interesting premise.
In the future, humanity is on the brink of extinction from an alien invasion. In response, soldiers from that time come to the present to recruit more humans to fight the aliens, including former Green Beret Dan Forester (Pratt), who leads untrained civilians into combat. While there is a strong focus on the call of duty for humanity to fight for their future, the special effects are the draw in this entertaining film.