Best movies like The Hurt Locker
Last updated March 2024
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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
Best tv shows and movies like The Hurt Locker (2008):
Similar in 89%
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 81%
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Plot Summary:
The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: cult classic, realistic, black and white, action adventure, independent film, rough, serious, suspenseful, gloomy, political thriller
Similar in 83%
Battle for Haditha (2007)
Plot Summary:
An investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgents who plant the roadside bomb.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, disturbing, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, captivating, sexy, touching
Similar in 75%
A War (2015)
Plot Summary:
Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Denmark, France
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: social, psychological, tense, captivating, realistic, art house
Similar in 87%
Boys of Abu Ghraib (2014)
Plot Summary:
An American soldier deployed at Abu Ghraib finds himself behind the walls of the infamous Hard Site, where he develops a secret friendship with an Iraqi detainee.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, captivating, serious, realistic, tense, disturbing, independent film
Similar in 83%
The Kingdom (2007)
Plot Summary:
A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 131000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, exciting, suspense, tense, action packed, intense, rough, serious, political
Similar in 82%
Three Kings (1999)
Plot Summary:
A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 179000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, War
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: suspense, humorous, entertaining, intense, suspenseful, thought provoking, surreal, action comedy, stylized, satirical
Similar in 82%
Good Kill (2014)
Plot Summary:
In the shadowy world of drone warfare, combat unfolds like a video game–only with real lives at stake. After six tours of duty, Air Force pilot Tom Egan now fights the Taliban from an air-conditioned bunker in the Nevada desert. But as he yearns to get back in the cockpit of a real plane and becomes increasingly troubled by the collateral damage he causes each time he pushes a button, Egan’s nerves—and his relationship with his wife—begin to unravel.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: tense, psychological, intense, thought provoking, suspenseful, realistic, suspense, social, action thriller, serious
Similar in 82%
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%
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Plot Summary:
A US Army officer had made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up and he was reassigned to a desk job. Later he was tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. At first all seemed in order then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 59000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: suspense, political, realistic, dark, sad, hood, cult classic, suspense thriller, rough, thought provoking
Similar in 90%
Generation Kill (2008)
Plot Summary:
Marines prepare to invade Iraq at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom; while the soldiers wait to receive their orders, they learn a Rolling Stone columnist will be embedded with them.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, tense, disturbing, political, realistic, rough, dramatic, exciting, stylized, anime
Similar in 88%
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Plot Summary:
While flying a routine reconnaissance mission over Bosnia, fighter pilot Chris Burnett photographs something he wasn't supposed to see and gets shot down behind enemy lines, where he must outrun an army led by a ruthless Serbian general. With time running out and a deadly tracker on his trail, Burnett's commanding officer decides to risk his career and launch a renegade rescue mission to save his life.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 111000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, dramatic, rough, suspenseful, serious, intense, action packed, realistic, psychological
Similar in 75%
United 93 (2006)
Plot Summary:
A real time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 110000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, realistic, emotional, controversial, tense, political, rough, serious, disturbing, bleak
Similar in 79%
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 88%
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 78%
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 85%
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 76%
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May, 2011.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 315000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, suspense, political, realistic, harsh, talky, controversial, brutal, motivational
Similar in 75%
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 84%
Rendition (2007)
Plot Summary:
When an Egyptian terrorism suspect "disappears" on a flight from Africa to Washington DC, his American wife and a CIA analyst find themselves caught up in a struggle to secure his release from a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, tense, suspenseful, disturbing, dramatic, realistic, psychological thriller, sincere, sexy
Similar in 80%
Lone Survivor (2013)
Plot Summary:
Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 303000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: rough, tense, captivating, emotional, exciting, disturbing, realistic, serious, intense, touching
Similar in 84%
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 82%
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 85%
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Plot Summary:
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 777000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, bleak, cult classic, psychological, psychological thriller, clever, political, visually stunning, tense
Similar in 90%
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Plot Summary:
Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, suspense, factual, compassionate, brutal, political, rough, suspenseful, entertaining
Similar in 75%
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Plot Summary:
Based on the graphic novel by James Jones, The Thin Red Line tells the story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived. A powerful frontline cast - including Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson and George Clooney - explodes into action in this hauntingly realistic view of military and moral chaos in the Pacific during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 197000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, epic, visual, philosophical, visually appealing, atmospheric, rough, captivating, intense, existential
Similar in 82%
Dunkirk (2017)
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
Similar in 84%
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 88%
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
Similar in 89%
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