Best movies like Kokoda: 39th Battalion
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, tense, inspirational
Best tv shows and movies like Kokoda: 39th Battalion (2006):
Similar in 89%
Ardennes Fury (2014)
Plot Summary:
As the Battle of the Bulge rages on, an American tank unit gets trapped behind Nazi lines. With just hours before the bombs of Operation Ardennes Fury fall, the tank's commander makes the risky decision to rescue an orphanage.
IMDB Rating: 2.3
IMDB Votes: 939
Genere: Action, War
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, psychological, tense, mockbuster, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Panfilov's 28 (2016)
Plot Summary:
USSR, Late November, 1941. Based on the account by reporter Vasiliy Koroteev that appeared in the Red Army's newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, shortly after the battle, this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight soldiers of the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division, under the command of General Ivan Panfilov, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four Nazi tanks of the 11th Panzer Division for several days. Though armed only with standard issue Mosin-Nagant infantry rifles and DP and PM-M1910 machine guns, all useless against tanks, and with wholly inadequate RPG-40 anti-tank grenades and PTRD-41 anti-tank rifles, they fight tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, rough, captivating, suspense, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
USS Seaviper (2012)
Plot Summary:
Direct to DVD movie: The German U-Boat, U-234, from the Port of Kiel is trading cargo with the Japanese. USS Seaviper must locate and stop this dangerous exchange. The Captain of USS Seaviper must go ashore to conduct reconnaissance on an island near Sumatra, but the ship is left in the hands of Mister Cutter, after the Executive Officer is injured in battle. A conflict between Cutter and the Chief of the Boat puts the submarine in jeopardy. Seaviper is trapped below the surface, with decreasing oxygen, and a Japanese destroyer hunting them from above. Damage to the boat also leave her survival in question. They must fight the Japanese destroyer and get the information about U-235 back to Pearl Harbor.
IMDB Rating: 2.4
IMDB Votes: 966
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 83%
Sahara (1995)
Plot Summary:
After the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, U.S. Army sergeant Joe Gunn leads his tank into the Sahara desert, in order to evade advancing Rommel's forces and reach Allied lines. Along the way he picks up few Allied soldiers, but soon they are running out of water. They find water at the ancient well, but the well is a goal of an entire German battalion. Despite the impossible odds, Sergeant Gunn decides to defend the well.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, War
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 83%
71: Into the Fire (2010)
Plot Summary:
A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P'ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P'ohang-dong Girl's Middle School against the NKPA's advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, touching, captivating, stylized
Similar in 83%
My Way (2011)
Plot Summary:
Jun-shik, who works for Tatsuo’s grandfather’s farm while Korea is colonized by Japan, dreams about participating in the Tokyo Olympics as a marathon runner. Tatsuo also aims to become a marathon runner, so the two become rivals. But the war breaks out and they both are forced to enlist in the army. Tatsuo becomes the head of defense in Jun-shik’s unit and he devises a scheme but fails. Jun-shik and Tatsuo are held captive by the Soviets. They run away but soon are captured by the Germans and forced to separate. In 1944, they meet again on the shores of Normandy.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: South Korea
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, rough, captivating, touching, epic, realistic, odd
Similar in 87%
Back Door to Hell (1964)
Plot Summary:
During WWII, a three-man commando team places its trust in the hands of a band of Filipino resistors, as they try to knock out a Japenese communication center.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 907
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Philippines, USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, tense, psychotronic, bleak, suspenseful
Similar in 88%
The Last Lieutenant (1993)
Plot Summary:
Norwegian war drama. The old sea-captain retires, but the next day German WWII occupation of Norway begins. He then kisses his wife good-bye and is off to Army HQ. There he finds a lack of leadership and morale that offends him. They even laugh at him and his out-dated uniform and officer-rank. Secondloitnanten then finds and leads his private troop of volunteers against the German attack. The movie tells the story of a man that refuses to give up, even when everybody else leaves. He will fight for the country he loves and do his duty.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 365
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Norway
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 76%
Stalingrad (2013)
Plot Summary:
Drama set in 1942, during one of the most important battles of World War II, which stopped the progress of Nazi forces and turned the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Soviet army mounts a counter-attack on the Nazi forces that occupy half of Stalingrad on the other side of the Volga, but the operation to cross the river is unsuccessful. A few soldiers who managed to get to the other side take refuge in a house on the bank of Volga. Here they find a girl who didn’t escape when the Germans came. While the whole might of the German army descends onto them, the heroes of Stalingrad experience love, loss, joy and the sense of ultimate freedom that can only be felt by those about to die. They defend the house at all costs while the Red Army prepares for another attack.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, exciting, rough, serious, bleak, epic, historical drama
Similar in 78%
The Fallen (2004)
Plot Summary:
THE FALLEN is a three-sided story about German, Italian, and American soldiers, set in Northern Italy during the final weeks of the World War II. On the one side, a group of American supply soldiers delivers ammunition to the front line, a journey that becomes a descent into hell, the success of the mission becomes less likely with every setback. On the other, a doomed German unit and their ragtag Italian partners struggle to maintain morale and discipline amongst their beleaguered troops in the face of certain defeat. Torn between these are the divided loyalties of the Italians, both fascist soldiers and communist partisans, who have turned brother against brother in a bloody civil war. The film looks at the everyday life of the soldiers, their encounters on the road, their hopes and dreams, and the differences in values, morals, and patriotism between the cultures at the end of that era.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 932
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, Germany, Italy
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, realistic, bleak
Similar in 87%
Too Late the Hero (1970)
Plot Summary:
A WWII film set on a Pacific island. Japanese and allied forces occupy different parts of the island. When a group of British soldiers are sent on a mission behind enemy lines, things don't go exactly to plan. This film differs in that some of the 'heroes' are very reluctant, but they come good when they are pursued by the Japanese who are determined to prevent them returning to base.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, suspense, psychological, exciting, realistic, rough, serious, historically accurate, independent film
Similar in 85%
The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988)
Plot Summary:
A Marine patrol stops at Firebase Gloria at the start of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam war. With the firebase attacked, the patrol remains to help defend it. The Marines barely hold off the VC (Viet Cong), but in the end, hold the base.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Australia, USA, Philippines
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic, independent film, cult film
Similar in 83%
The Star (2002)
Plot Summary:
The film is based on the eponymous book by Emmanuil Kazakevich. In the summer of 1944 the Nazi Armies prepare a massive Tank Division named 'Viking" for the offensive on occupied Russian land. The Russian Army's special group of seven snipers named "Zvezda" is sent for a reconnaissance operation behind the enemy lines in the back of the Nazi Tank Division. Two previous Russian groups never came back. The seven Russians know that they are going to an almost certain Death for the sake of Victory.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, bleak, captivating, epic, rough
Similar in 81%
Farewell to the King (1989)
Plot Summary:
An American soldier who escapes the execution of his comrades by Japanese soldiers in Borneo during WWII becomes the leader of a personal empire among the headhunters in this war story told in the style of Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling. The American is reluctant to rejoin the fight against the Japanese on the urging of a British commando team but conducts a war of vengeance when the Japanese attack his adopted people.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: epic, exciting, rough, serious, independent film, thought provoking, brutal, enigmatic, unusual plot structure, bloody
Similar in 79%
The Lost Battalion (2001)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I. Based on a true story, The Lost Battalion is set in 1918 during the final months of WWI. Assigned to capture an enemy stronghold in Charlvaux at the height of the Argonne campaign, the men of the AEF 308th Battalion, 77th Division, are led by young American major Charles Whittlesey, an inexperienced but dedicated "citizen soldier." Totally cut off from the other allied troops, unaware of their vulnerability, and barraged by "friendly fire," the 500-plus men of the 308th bravely hold their position, suffering incredible losses and unspeakable deprivations in the process -- while the battalion's superior officers, far from the firing line, callously prepare to write off the men as expendable casualties.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Luxembourg, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, philosophical, political, historical drama, gloomy
Similar in 81%
Only the Brave (2006)
Plot Summary:
A searing portrait of war and prejudice, 'Only the Brave' takes you on a haunting journey into the hearts and minds of the forgotten heroes of WWII - the Japanese-American 100th/442nd.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 909
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspenseful, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 79%
Saints and Soldiers: The Void (2014)
Plot Summary:
Germany, May 1945, deep in the Harz Mountains a U.S. tank crew discovers a platoon of Germans preparing to ambush U.S. supply trucks.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, suspenseful, exciting, captivating, realistic, christian film, historical drama, independent film
Similar in 87%
When Trumpets Fade (1998)
Plot Summary:
In WWII Western Germany, Private David Manning reluctantly leaves behind a mortally wounded fellow soldier and searches for survivors from his platoon, only to learn from commanding officer Captain Pritchett that they have all been killed in action. Despite requesting a discharge on the grounds of mental disability, Manning is promoted to sergeant and assigned to lead a new platoon of young inductees.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, captivating, realistic, bleak
Similar in 75%
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019)
Plot Summary:
Vietnam War, 1966. Australia and New Zealand send troops to support the United States and South Vietnamese in their fight against the communist North. Soldiers are very young men, recruits and volunteers who have never been involved in a combat. On August 18th, members of Delta Company will face the true horror of a ruthless battle among the trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tân. They are barely a hundred. The enemy is a human wave ready to destroy them.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, tense, rough, disturbing, perverse, cult film
Similar in 76%
Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed (2012)
Plot Summary:
A group of American GIs work their way through war-torn France during the final days of the Second World War.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, christian film, action packed, historical drama, exciting, tense, rough
Similar in 77%
Fires on the Plain (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the final days of World War II, occupying Japanese forces in the Philippines face resistance from the local population and the American offensive. The dwindling Japanese soldiers attempt to survive through the horrors of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 831
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, atmospheric, realistic, captivating, rough, bleak, serious, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 90%
Fortress (2012)
Plot Summary:
When the commander of the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber is killed in action in a raid over Sicily in 1943, his replacement, a young, naive pilot struggles to be accepted by the plane's already tight-knit Irish American crew.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, tense
Similar in 78%
Submarine X-1 (1968)
Plot Summary:
After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
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 85%
The Bridge at Remagen (1969)
Plot Summary:
In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, Czechoslovakia, West Germany
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: realistic, harsh, intense, exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, surprise ending, spectacular, bleak
Similar in 80%
The Great Raid (2005)
Plot Summary:
As World War II rages, the elite Sixth Ranger Battalion is given a mission of heroic proportions: push 30 miles behind enemy lines and liberate over 500 American prisoners of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, realistic, epic, scenic, edutainment, historical drama, atmospheric
Similar in 84%
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 83%
The Devil's Brigade (1968)
Plot Summary:
1968 American war film about the formation and first mission of the joint Canadian-American WWII special forces winter and mountain unit formally called 1st Special Service Force, but commonly known as “The Devil’s Brigade”. The film dramatises the Brigade's first mission in the Italian Campaign, the task of capturing the German mountain stronghold Monte la Difensa, in December 1943. The film is based on the 1966 book of the same name, co-written by American novelist and historian Robert H. Adleman and Col. George Walton, a member of the brigade.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, tense, harsh, serious, suspenseful, epic, retro, cult classic, historical drama
Similar in 81%
The Pacific (2010)
Plot Summary:
A 10-part mini-series from the creators of "Band of Brothers" telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 125000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 530 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, epic, exciting, motivational, heartbreaking, political, educational
Similar in 84%
Fury (2014)
Plot Summary:
Last months of World War II in April 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant in the 2nd Armored Division named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank called "Fury" and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 532000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, China, UK
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, tense, rough, suspenseful, realistic, sad, cult classic, historical drama, psychological