Best movies like Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies similar to Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk? Provide your expertise to steer others to movies and tv series you've watched already that may also enthral them. Help expand the group of people raising videos amongst one another. We welcome your participation!
Plot Summary:
19-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad - contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sport, Thriller, War
Country: UK, China, USA, Taiwan
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: tense, thought provoking, bleak, suspenseful, sad, novela, cult classic, surprise ending, independent film, black comedy
Best tv shows and movies like Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016):
Similar in 88%
The Four Horsemen (2008)
Plot Summary:
Four high school football stars enlist in the Marines and head off to fight in the war in Iraq. When one of them is killed and another wounded, they return home only to find is extremely difficult to pick up the threads of their old lives. The memories of events in Iraq combined with the lack of public support pushes many of these men to the breaking point.
IMDB Rating: 3.4
IMDB Votes: 466
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, realistic, bleak
Similar in 90%
Man Down (2015)
Plot Summary:
A haunted Afghanistan war veteran attempts to come to terms with his past while searching for his family in a post-apocalyptic America.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: suspense, rough, bleak, suspenseful, mind bending, serious, sad, apocalyptic, anamorphic, twisted
Similar in 87%
The Last American Soldier (1988)
Plot Summary:
Jungle action from the glorious period of Rambo ripoffs.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 195
Genere: Action, War
Country: Italy, Philippines
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: mockbuster, cult classic, surprise ending, psychotronic, independent film, grindhouse, cult film
Similar in 85%
Sniper: Legacy (2014)
Plot Summary:
A rogue gunman is assassinating high-ranking military officers one by one. When Gunnery Sgt. Brandon Beckett is informed his father, legendary shooter Thomas Beckett has been killed, Brandon springs into action to take out the perpetrator. But when his father rescues him from an ambush, Brandon realizes he's a pawn being played by his superiors to draw out the killer. It's up to the two men, bound by blood, to bring an end to the carnage.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Bulgaria
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, perverse, action thriller, bleak, realistic, vintage
Similar in 83%
Black Thunder (1998)
Plot Summary:
When the top secret prototype of the Nova Stealth fighter has been stolen, the Pentagon launches big alarm; the plane shouldn't come into hostile hands.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 611
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspense, independent film, realistic, suspenseful, fast, surprise ending, black comedy
Similar in 83%
Home of the Brave (2006)
Plot Summary:
The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, Morocco
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: psychological, realistic, disturbing, rough, serious, suspenseful, sincere
Similar in 85%
The One That Got Away (1996)
Plot Summary:
The existence of the anti-Iraq coalition was threatened when Saddam targetted Israel. In order to keep Israel out of the war, and the coalition together the Scuds had to be stopped. SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero, under the command of Sgt. Andy McNab was tasked to destroy these weapons. Three of the SAS troopers were killed and four captured: Only one escaped - Cpl. Chris Ryan.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 441
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 82%
Taking Chance (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, sincere, sentimental, sad, serious, harsh, christian film, motivational
Similar in 89%
Soldier Boyz (1995)
Plot Summary:
A group of prisoners are going to Vietnam to rescue the daughter of a V-I.P. The Ones who survive get their freedom back...but hell awaits them.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, black comedy, dark comedy, cult film
Similar in 76%
Bravo Two Zero (1999)
Plot Summary:
When an elite eight-man British SAS team is dropped behind enemy lines, their mission is clear: take out Saddam Hussein's SCUD missile systems. But when communications are cut and the team finds themselves surrounded by Saddam's army, their only hope is to risk capture and torture in a desperate 185-kilometer run to the Syrian border. Based on the true story of a British Special Forces unit behind enemy lines during the Gulf War, Bravo Two Zero explores the tragedies and triumphs of men taken to the edge of survival in the Persian Gulf War.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: South Africa, UK
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 76%
Stop-Loss (2008)
Plot Summary:
A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: emotional, sad, harsh, serious, thought provoking, realistic, suspense, cult classic, edutainment, psychological
Similar in 89%
Mosul (2019)
Plot Summary:
When ISIS took their homes, families and city, one group of men fought to take it all back. Based on true events, this is the story of the Nineveh SWAT team, a renegade police unit who waged a guerrilla operation against ISIS in a desperate struggle to save their home city of Mosul.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, captivating, disturbing, perverse, neo noir, independent film, tension, surprise ending
Similar in 89%
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
Plot Summary:
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: cult classic, grindhouse, independent film, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, psychotronic
Similar in 83%
Chain of Command (1994)
Plot Summary:
When Merrill Ross (Michael Dudikoff) is thought to be a C.I.A. agent gone bad and teaming with some other alphabet named agency to take over the oil rich country of Qumir, he finds he's in the middle of a very explosive situation. Not knowing who he can trust, he's forced to use a process of elimination thru the chain of operatives he encounters.
IMDB Rating: 4.2
IMDB Votes: 610
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: suspense, grindhouse, perverse, surprise ending, independent film, black comedy, dark comedy, campy
Similar in 87%
Black Water (2018)
Plot Summary:
A deep cover operative awakens to find himself imprisoned on a submarine. With the help of a fellow prisoner and an amateur agent, he must race against the clock to escape the vessel and expose who set him up.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, serious, captivating, tense, cult classic, surprise ending, independent film
Similar in 83%
Redemption Day (2021)
Plot Summary:
Having just returned home, decorated U.S. Marine Captain Brad Paxton's wife, Kate, is kidnapped by a terrorist group while working in Morocco. He is forced back into action for a daring and deadly operation to save the woman he loves.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, disturbing, tense, suspenseful, independent film, freeze frame, islamic, surprise ending, heroic
Similar in 75%
Cartels (2016)
Plot Summary:
An elite team of DEA agents are assigned to protect a dangerous drug lord and take refuge in a luxury hotel while they await extraction. They soon find themselves at the center of an ambush as the drug lord's former associates launch an explosive assault on the hotel.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, Monaco, Romania
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: suspense, tense, suspenseful, exciting, surprise ending, neo noir, ambiguous ending, independent film
Similar in 82%
I Am Wrath (2016)
Plot Summary:
A man is out for justice after a group of corrupt police officers are unable to catch his wife's killer.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, suspense, bleak, neo noir, action thriller, surprise ending, detective, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 88%
Dead Presidents (1995)
Plot Summary:
Depicts a heist of old bills, retired from circulation and destined by the government to be "money to burn". However, more broadly, it addresses the issues of Black Americans' involvement in the Vietnam War and their subsequent disillusionment with progress in social issues and civil rights back home in the United States, during the 1960s.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, disturbing, intense, neo noir, tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, cult classic
Similar in 76%
Harsh Times (2005)
Plot Summary:
Jim Davis is an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates. His best friend is pressured by his girlfriend Sylvia to find a job, but Jim is more interested in hanging out and making cash from small heists, while trying to get a law enforcement job so he can marry his Mexican girlfriend.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 68000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: tense, bleak, intense, hood, serious, suspense, cult classic, independent film, realistic, exciting
Similar in 81%
6 Bullets (2012)
Plot Summary:
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, rough, serious, suspenseful, suspense, cult classic, action packed, independent film, exciting, surprise ending
Similar in 75%
Uncommon Valor (1983)
Plot Summary:
A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: intense, tense, suspense, exciting, serious, suspenseful, cult classic, perverse, surprise ending, black comedy
Similar in 80%
12 Strong (2018)
Plot Summary:
A team of CIA agents and special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 90000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: touching, exciting, suspenseful, anamorphic, historical drama, rough, inspirational, bloody, entertaining, factual
Similar in 75%
Jarhead (2005)
Plot Summary:
Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swafford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 203000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, factual, tense, serious, disturbing, suspenseful, psychological, visually stunning, dark comedy
Similar in 78%
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
Plot Summary:
An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 157000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Malta, Morocco
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: intense, realistic, suspenseful, tense, factual, political, anamorphic, historical drama, motivational, sad
Similar in 80%
The Outpost (2019)
Plot Summary:
A small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it was known, was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 39000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, brutal, perverse, cult classic, surprise ending, independent film, black comedy, dark comedy, captivating
Similar in 78%
Green Zone (2010)
Plot Summary:
During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors were dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK, France, Spain, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political thriller, suspense, tense, exciting, political, serious, suspenseful, intense, entertaining, factual
Similar in 80%
Body of Lies (2008)
Plot Summary:
The CIA’s hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agency’s man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky – a satellite link – watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIA’s Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 237000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: clever, political, exciting, tense, realistic, political thriller, serious, suspense, entertaining, enigmatic
Similar in 78%
American Sniper (2014)
Plot Summary:
U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle takes his sole mission—protect his comrades—to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he cannot leave the war behind.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 519000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, factual, serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful, political, clever, sad
Similar in 87%
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Plot Summary:
Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 468000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, emotional, tense, serious, rough, psychological, political, sad, factual