Top 10 War Films
- The Top1029
- Zoe Chal’s version
- Your version
×Full Metal Jacket
The controversial war in Vietnam has spawned the most realistic view of the senselessness of modern combat. Directed by Stanley Kubrick Full Metal Jacket bathes you in the blood of the experience. From the masterfully played Drill Sergeant ( R. Lee Emery ) to the pressure cracked jar head ( Vincent D’Nofrio ) to the joker journalist this movie displays this war as few have before or since
×Platoon
Oliver Stone’s opus of a war he fought in. This tells the tale of a young idealist who could have just as easily avoided this war. His platoon from the translator ( played by a young Johnny Depp ) to the platoon leaders ( Willem DaFoe and Thom Berrenger ) this movie shows the utter brutality of the men to the Vietnamese and to each other.
×Band of Brothers (MiniSeries)
This series produced by HBO deserves a mention as one of the best realized pieces on the overly romanticized World War Two. Telling the tale of "Easy company" with it’s depiction of true camaraderie and brothers in arms. This series is worth a look for it’s historical pertinence and accuracy
×The Dirty Dozen
Lee Marvin srtars in this heroic and somewhat foul smelling ensemble piece. It has Charles Bronson, John Casavettes, Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas as members of a suicide squad of pardoned criminals about to be sent before D-day into Germany.
×Braveheart
Putting aside Mel Gibson’s current problems it is one of most accurate depictions of medieval combat ever put on film. The love story was tacked on, let’ be honest. But big men in kilts whacking each other with broadswords rarely goes out of style. History of course be damned.
×Bang Rajan
A war epic that crosses elements of the Seven Samurai and The Alamo. When a group of villagers in a little known but fiercely populated Thai town must fight for their rights to live. The touching series of relationships makes this epic worth watching.
×Henry V
Still a shining example of the glories and pitfalls of warfare. Shakespeare, as directed by Branagh divides the story between the two sides in the conflict. A host of the RSC acting company pushed through the narrative by Derek Jacobi and assisted by an angelically young Christian Bale. It definitely outshine’s Olivie'sr wartime propagandist Henry.
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Letters from Iwo Jima
The Clint Eastwood directed World War two epic stars Ken Wanatabe as a commander in a lost cause. His skill and subtlety are unmatched and there is a quiet haunting pain in every monochromatic cell of the movie about fighting the lost cause. In the film climatic battles are offset by the very painfully human aspects.
×Apocalypse Now
Coppola at his best and tightest in this adaptation of Heart of Darkness. The characters see the war through vivid and somewhat dreamlike imagery. The portrayal by Sheen and Brando flow though this movie like blood on a river.
×Red Cliff, Parts 1 and 2
Far and away the masterpiece of Chinese action director John Woo. It tells the tale of an ancient Chinese battle for the soul of china. Directed with a lusty precision It depicts the nature of war and its calculations better than any film in the past decades. It is definately worth a look.
