Last Updated: April 25th

War films have long-captivated audiences, showcasing tales of both humanity’s cruelty and its nobility. There is no shortage of good military films on Netflix, ranging from Hollywood classics to modern, genre-bending pictures. Here are some of the best war movies on Netflix right now to stream.

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The Longest Day (1962)

This episodic, black-and-white epic features another incredible ensemble cast, including John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and Sean Connery, while telling the story of the D-Day invasion of Normandy Beach on June 6th, 1944, considered to be the turning point of WWII. Like Tora! Tora! Tora!, this film spans its perspective across the battle line, this time featuring U.S., British, and German productions, with all the respective actors speaking their native language on film — a rarity in film even today. It’s still considered one of the all-time great war movies, thanks to its grand vision and attention to detail.

Defiance (2008)

Set during the Nazi occupation of Belarus, Defiance stars Daniel Craig and Liev Schrieber as brothers Tuvia and Zus Bielski, who form a community, and later makeshift militia, with a group of Jews who are living out in the woods to avoid capture. Based on real events chronicled in Nechama Tec’s 1993 novel Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, the film was met with mixed reviews upon release, but it would eventually be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score.

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Inglourious Basterds (2009)

A revisionist take on the WWII movie by writer/director Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds alternately follows a revenge-minded young woman named Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), who fled from the Nazis as a child, and an all-Jewish group of specialized Nazi hunters led by the charismatic Lt. Ado Raine (Brad Pitt). Both slow-moving and exceedingly violent, it was Tarantino’s first foray into non-contemporary film, and it helped fill in some of the historical backstory to his own cinematic timeline.

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The Way Back (2010)

A harrowing survival drama set during the Soviet invasion of Poland during WWII, it tells the story of a Polish soldier accused of being a spy and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor in a Siberian Gulag. After forming an escape plan with his fellow inmates, breaking out proves to be the easy part, as the group is forced to walk across 4,000 miles of savage wilderness in order to win their freedom. Peter Weir co-wrote and directed the movie, based on the memoirs of real-life Polish prisoner of war Slawomir Rawicz.

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The Hurt Locker (2009)

Director Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar for her unflinching look at how members of an EOD team reacts to the stress of combat in a war zone. It also earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for writer Mark Boal, who drew on his experience embedded in Iraq back in 2004. For the sake of authenticity, Bigelow filmed in Jordan, just miles from the active war zone. This, combined with the 120+ degree temperatures, helped inform the story’s tension and unease. It paid off, as the film was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, and ultimately won six, including Best Picture.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Ben Stiller co-wrote, produced, directed, and stars in this satirical war comedy about a group of actors deep in the jungle filming a movie about Vietnam, who inadvertently get pulled into a real-life conflict. The film’s marketing was so extensive it created real websites for Stiller’s fictional character, Tugg Speedman, as well as those for the characters Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr., playing a white actor wearing blackface) and Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), as well as their characters’ fictional films and energy drink, Booty Sweat. While the film’s chock full of memorable lines — and a noteworthy controversy — it’s perhaps best remembered for Tom Cruise’s nearly-unrecognizable performance as heartless studio executive Les Grossman. The character proved so popular that he was brought back for the MTV Movie Awards in 2010, as well as his own spin-off movie, which has been in development for several years.