Best tv shows like World War III
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Soviet paratroopers drop into Alaska to sabotage the oil pipeline in retaliation against a United States grain embargo. A skirmish occurs at a pumping station, lightly defended by Col. Jake Caffey and a National Guard reckon unit. A stalemate ensues while the possibility of World War III hangs in the balance. The danger escalates as the Russian leaders and the American President play a cat-and-mouse game.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 774
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, epic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, political thriller, tragic ending
Best tv shows and movies like World War III (1982):
Similar in 89%
Ultimate Force (2002)
Plot Summary:
Ultimate Force is a British television drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of the fictional Red Troop of the SAS. The programme started on 16 September 2002 and four series were produced.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 74 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cerebral
Similar in 79%
Supervolcano (2005)
Plot Summary:
Yellowstone is a park, but it's also the deadliest volcano on Earth. Beneath it, a sleeping 'dragon' is stirring. When an earthquake opens a crack for magma to seep through, other warning signs of an eruption start popping up, but they are ignored or dismissed as 'minor'. But when they learn an eruption will happen, panic breaks out through people of the USA and the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, Italy, Germany, Japan, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, educational, disturbing, apocalyptic, mockbuster, disaster movie
Similar in 89%
The War Game (1966)
Plot Summary:
A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, controversial, mockumentary, disturbing, futuristic, non fiction, cult classic, semi documentary, thought provoking, bleak
Similar in 88%
Red Dawn (1984)
Plot Summary:
It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: intense, serious, exciting, rough, suspenseful, entertaining, apocalyptic, realistic, harsh, action adventure
Similar in 76%
Countdown to Looking Glass (1984)
Plot Summary:
A fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons from the perspective of an on-going news broadcast.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 694
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, tragic ending, mockumentary, disaster movie
Similar in 75%
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999)
Plot Summary:
New York, the city that never sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city. Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, and chaos runs rampant as the mayor and former Fire Chief race to enact a city-wide emergency plan. An incredible story of undying courage in the face of unimaginable human tragedy.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 170 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disaster movie
Similar in 87%
State of Affairs (2014)
Plot Summary:
Each day the President is faced with dozens of life and death decisions, and to prioritize the biggest international crises facing the country, one top CIA analyst - Charleston Tucker - assembles the President's Daily Briefing. This list of the most vital security issues facing the nation brings with it moral and political judgment calls for Charleston and her trusted group of brilliant analysts at the agency. Aside from the political minefields she has to walk, Charlie has a close personal relationship with the President because she was once engaged to her son before a tragic terrorist attack took his life. Charlie survived that attack and is now determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. Navigating a complex personal life and a pressure-cooker profession is, of course, a challenge, and Charlie sometimes engages in boundary-pushing behavior to avoid facing her grief. But when the clock strikes 2 a.m., she is all about her job - protecting her nation, serving her president and still trying to get to the bottom of her fiancé's murder that will reveal itself as a shocking mystery.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, political, compassionate, tv series pilot
Similar in 83%
The Situation (2006)
Plot Summary:
The first U.S.-made film drama set during the Iraq war, THE SITUATION chronicles the tragic death of an Iraqi teenager at the hands of U.S. soldiers. The incident sets off an "investigation," a cover-up, and complications involving Iraqi mayor Sheikh Tahsin (Saïd Amadis), who has a complex relationship with the Americans.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 885
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, rough, realistic, extraordinary
Similar in 83%
The Agency (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Agency is a CBS television drama that followed the inner-workings of the CIA. The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Michael Frost Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions and Radiant Productions in association with Universal Network Television and CBS Productions. It aired from September 27, 2001 until May 17, 2003, lasting two seasons. It featured unprecedented filming from the actual CIA headquarters. The show was controversial regarding its exploration of current international affairs and its treatment of the ethical conflicts inherent in intelligence work. Beckner's pilot script, written in March 2001, posited a re-invented CIA tasked with a "War on Terror" after Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization plots a lethal attack on the west. The pilot was to premiere at CIA Headquarters on September 18, 2001 and set to air on CBS September 21, 2001, however, the actual 9/11 attacks convinced the network to hold the pilot and instead air a later episode. That first episode was aired later as the third episode of the first season. The September 11, 2001 terrorist events changed the way Americans viewed topical entertainment and "The Agency", at the time, was one of the most topical offering on network television. The producers of the series quickly responded to this new American perspective on world affairs, but CBS chose to cancel the show shortly after the second season's final episode.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, cerebral, exciting, serious
Similar in 89%
The Fourth War (1990)
Plot Summary:
Cold War drama about two gung-ho border commanders (Roy Scheider, Jurgen Prochnow) who carry out their own private war against each other on the German - Czechoslovakia border.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: political, political thriller, grindhouse, independent film, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, exciting
Similar in 86%
Deterrence (1999)
Plot Summary:
The President of the United States must deal with an international military crisis while confined to a Colorado diner during a freak snowstorm.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, independent film, serious, realistic, disturbing, talky, political thriller, exciting, light
Similar in 83%
Behind Enemy Lines (1985)
Plot Summary:
Professor-turned-spy Col. Calvin Turner and his associate, workaholic Lt. Shelley Flynn, plan a daring rescue behind enemy lines in World War II German-occupied Norway of a brilliant scientist who may or may not be aiding the Germans.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 88%
The Rat Patrol (1966)
Plot Summary:
The exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one Englishman — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, fast, vintage
Similar in 79%
Fail Safe (2000)
Plot Summary:
Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, suspenseful, political, psychological, apocalyptic, realistic, political thriller, disaster movie
Similar in 87%
Madam Secretary (2014)
Plot Summary:
Former CIA agent Elizabeth Faulkner McCord is suddenly thrust into the position of US Secretary of State where she must quickly learn to drive international diplomacy, wrangle office politics and balance a complex family life.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, political, intelligent, political drama
Similar in 89%
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 75%
The Unit (2006)
Plot Summary:
A covert team of special forces operatives risk their lives on undercover missions around the globe, while their wives maintain the homefront, protecting their husbands' secrets.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, scenic, thrilling, heroic, fast
Similar in 81%
The Iron Triangle (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the diary of an unknown Viet Cong soldier, this film provides a sympathetic look at a Viet Cong soldier who protected a captured American soldier whom he believed did not kill him when the American had the opportunity. Written by John Sacksteder.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 532
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, independent film, bleak, captivating, cult film
Similar in 79%
War and Remembrance (1988)
Plot Summary:
War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 1620 min
Plot tags: historical drama, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, saga, epic, vintage
Similar in 80%
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 79%
Rumors of Wars (2014)
Plot Summary:
A suspenseful, genre-bending film with two converging storylines. An aspiring college journalist records events in a diary about the turmoil of a society due to the insertion of a RFID chip mandated by the government. ? Years later in the rubble of a post apocalyptic society filled with decay and violence, the diary finds its way into to the hands of an officer in the New World Army who uncovers the truth about the past and discovers everything he stood for was a lie. But what will he do now?.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 564
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, christian film, exciting, bleak, suspenseful, futuristic
Similar in 78%
By Dawn's Early Light (1990)
Plot Summary:
When a nuclear missile is launched by presumably Soviet forces toward Turkey, the beginning of the ultimate war to end all wars WW 3 is started. Powers Boothe, his girlfriend and copilot Rebecca DeMornay and their flight crew take off in a B 52 on what they believe is just another drill only to find out that this is the real deal.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, suspenseful, surprise ending, suspense, independent film, corny, disaster movie
Similar in 82%
Designated Survivor (2016)
Plot Summary:
Tom Kirkman, a low-level cabinet member is suddenly appointed President of the United States after a catastrophic attack during the State of the Union kills everyone above him in the Presidential line of succession.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 102000
Genere: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: exciting, political, tense, captivating, suspenseful, apocalyptic, political thriller, interesting, political drama
Similar in 85%
Fail-Safe (1964)
Plot Summary:
Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring. Director Sidney Lumet gives an atmospheric vision of the future with a Cold War backdrop.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: tense, political thriller, political, realistic, bleak, black and white, emotional, suspense, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Crimson Tide (1995)
Plot Summary:
On a US nuclear missile sub, a young first officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 121000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: suspense, suspenseful, realistic, intense, rough, serious, exciting, political, tense, action thriller
Similar in 81%
The Missiles of October (1974)
Plot Summary:
Based in part on Robert F. Kennedy's book, "Thirteen Days," this film profiles the Kennedy Administration's actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: political, tense, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 81%
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
Plot Summary:
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 123000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, suspense, exciting, political, tense, intense, political thriller, serious, rough, realistic
Similar in 78%
Ike: The War Years (1979)
Plot Summary:
Ike is a 1979 television miniseries about the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The screenplay by Melville Shavelson was based on Kay Summersby's 1948 memoir Eisenhower Was My Boss and her 1975 autobiography, Past Forgetting: My Love Affair. Directed by Boris Sagal and Melville Shavelson, the production starred Robert Duvall as Eisenhower and Lee Remick as Kay Summersby. Film editors John Woodcock and Bill Lenny won an Eddie Award for their work and the series garnered five Emmy Award nominations.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 456
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 291 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere, serious, realistic, saga
Similar in 89%
Revolution (2012)
Plot Summary:
Revolution focuses on the struggle to survive 15 years after a global blackout.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, apocalyptic, suspenseful, cliffhanger, atmospheric, stylized, epic, mind bending, interesting
Similar in 88%
The Last Ship (2014)
Plot Summary:
Their mission is simple: Find a cure. Stop the virus. Save the world. When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 63000
Genere: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, captivating, suspenseful, apocalyptic, tense, exciting, thought provoking, nautical, disaster movie