Best movies like Dunkirk
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 721000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: UK, Netherlands, France, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: epic, atmospheric, dramatic, suspense, realistic, visually stunning, suspenseful, stylized, intense, visual
Best tv shows and movies like Dunkirk (2017):
Similar in 85%
Saints and Soldiers (2003)
Plot Summary:
Five American soldiers fighting in Europe during World War II struggle to return to Allied territory after being separated from U.S. forces during the historic Malmedy Massacre.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, intense, rough, emotional, epic, realistic, talky, christian film, exciting, sad
Similar in 87%
Midway (1976)
Plot Summary:
This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, factual, suspense, intense, exciting, suspenseful, serious, historical drama, spectacular
Similar in 78%
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Plot Summary:
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: epic, factual, talky, intense, serious, exciting, suspenseful, realistic, political, patriotic
Similar in 82%
Greyhound (2020)
Plot Summary:
A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the “Black Pit” to the front lines of WW2. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 109000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Canada, China
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, emotional, compassionate, psychological thriller, motivational, inspirational, cult classic, powerful, independent film
Similar in 83%
Memphis Belle (1990)
Plot Summary:
The "Memphis Belle" is a World War II bomber, piloted by a young crew on dangerous bombing raids into Europe. The crew only have to make one more bombing raid before they have finished their duty and can go home. In the briefing before their last flight, the crew discover that the target for the day is Dresden, a heavily-defended city that invariably causes many Allied casualties.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, emotional, rough, serious, inspirational, suspense, intense, period piece, realistic
Similar in 81%
Battle of Britain (1969)
Plot Summary:
In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing the Nazi invasion of Britain.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: epic, cult classic, exciting, realistic, patriotic, dieselpunk, spectacular, sincere, serious, black comedy
Similar in 83%
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Plot Summary:
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 surviving servicemen – John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes, who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 128000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: sincere, emotional, realistic, epic, factual, suspense, serious, touching, patriotic, historical drama
Similar in 87%
Red Tails (2012)
Plot Summary:
The story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: epic, exciting, serious, suspenseful, realistic, action packed, historical drama, retro, disgusting, uplifting
Similar in 85%
Land of Mine (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the days following the surrender of Germany in May 1945, a group of young German prisoners of war were handed over to the Danish authorities and subsequently sent out to the West Coast, where they were ordered to remove the more than two million mines that the Germans had placed in the sand along the coast. With their bare hands, crawling around in the sand, the boys were forced to perform the dangerous work under the leadership of the Danish sergeant, Carl Leopold Rasmussen.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 45000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Denmark, Germany
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, emotional, sentimental, brutal, realistic, heartbreaking, suspenseful, intense, historical drama
Similar in 88%
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%
'71 (2014)
Plot Summary:
A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, political, atmospheric, intense, rough, bleak, tense, realistic
Similar in 89%
Defiance (2008)
Plot Summary:
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. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 154000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: emotional, sincere, epic, period piece, dramatic, realistic, historical drama, psychological, motivational, clever
Similar in 89%
Darkest Hour (2017)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 216000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA, China
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: period piece, political, inspirational, serious, suspense, realistic, exciting, harsh, motivational, tense
Similar in 86%
Valkyrie (2008)
Plot Summary:
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 assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 256000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: factual, bad ending, tense, suspense, suspenseful, captivating, realistic, political, contemplative, dramatic
Similar in 76%
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Plot Summary:
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 324000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, India, Germany
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: suspense, realistic, dramatic, tricky, intense, historical drama, serious, entertaining, period piece, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Allied (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, an intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 166000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspense, sexy, emotional, exciting, tense, romantic, suspenseful, scenic, intense, factual
Similar in 87%
Windtalkers (2002)
Plot Summary:
Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 73000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: realistic, factual, stylized, intense, sincere, serious, rough, emotional, suspense, exciting
Similar in 76%
War Horse (2011)
Plot Summary:
Follows a young man named Albert and his horse, Joey, and how their bond is broken when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to the trenches of World War One. Despite being too young to enlist, Albert heads to France to save his friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 164000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, epic, uplifting, captivating, sentimental, melancholic, serious, crying, sad
Similar in 77%
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Plot Summary:
A Bridge Too Far tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt by the allies to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland and allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German Panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine, the titular 'bridge too far') was doomed to failure.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, suspense, intense, rough, serious, suspenseful, breathtaking, cult classic, spectacular
Similar in 78%
The Longest Day (1962)
Plot Summary:
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day".
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, factual, black and white, tense, suspense, harsh, suspenseful, touching, serious
Similar in 76%
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 168000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: emotional, bleak, realistic, epic, disturbing, contemplative, touching, bloody, dramatic, black and white
Similar in 89%
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Plot Summary:
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 casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 417000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, rough, captivating, suspenseful, intense, factual, brutal, disturbing, political
Similar in 76%
1917 (2019)
Plot Summary:
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers—Blake's own brother among them.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 654000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA, India, Spain
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: tense, period piece, entertaining, sad, visually stunning, suspense, psychological, rough, serious, captivating
Similar in 90%
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
Similar in 77%
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 149000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: serious, factual, realistic, emotional, suspenseful, sentimental, brutal, epic, suspense, intense
Similar in 76%
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Plot Summary:
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 nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 348000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 183 min
Plot tags: romantic, sentimental, emotional, epic, period piece, factual, exciting, serious, realistic, captivating
Similar in 81%
Midway (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story of the soldiers and aviators who helped turn the tide of the Second World War during the iconic Battle of Midway in June 1942.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 93000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Canada, China, Hong Kong
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: historical drama, exciting, bleak, scary, suspense, sad, motivational, stylized, patriotic, cult classic
Similar in 75%
The Patriot (2000)
Plot Summary:
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 when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 289000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: period piece, dramatic, rough, uplifting, factual, inspirational, sincere, realistic, historical drama, sentimental
Similar in 88%
The 12th Man (2017)
Plot Summary:
After a failed anti-Nazi sabotage mission leaves his 11 comrades dead, Norwegian resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud finds himself fleeing from the Gestapo through the snowbound reaches of Scandinavia.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: uplifting, suspense, serious, motivational, inspirational, entertaining, dark, costume drama, action adventure, beautiful
Similar in 75%
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Plot Summary:
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 15000000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, breathtaking, captivating, touching, motivational, rough, visually stunning, tense, inspirational