Top 10 War Movies

Saving Private Ryan: Steven Spielberg teams up with Tom Hanks to make one of the most realistic, epic, and moving portrayals of the lives and missions of WWII soldiers. This is the must see movie of the war genre. Keep an eye out for a lot of cameos very some great actors.

Black Hawk Down: This recreation of a true situation and true story is personally, my favorite action war movie. The cast went through weeks of training and discussion with in many cases, the people they were portraying and this level of realism comes to the screen perfectly with Ridley Scott direction and Mark Bowden having written a book of the events. While Josh Hartnett is the star of this movie, you'll notice a lot of great actors around him, doing their craft and the people they play honor. On a side note and slight spoiler, Orlando Bloom is in this movie and to my great joy doesn't make it very far.

A Few Good Men: With Tom Cruise at his best, Jack Nicholson dominating the screen in a supporting role and the screenplay penned by Aaron Sorkin, it is no surprise this is a moving more drama oriented movie about the military. Along with a few of the greatest lines of all time, it is a very interesting movie into military law.

The Patriot: This leads off the unintentional Mel Gibson section of the war movies and it is amazing. While I'm not totally sure of the accuracy, the costumes are right on, the story is loosely true, and the action is Mel Gibson at his best. Keep an eye out for a lesser known Heath Ledger doing a good job in his supporting role as Mel Gibson's son.

We Were Soldiers: Based during the Vietnam war, this movie follows a platoon of soldiers from training to combat and those who survive, back. It is mainly one sided, but provides a very human and what I would assume realistic face to the enemy they were fighting, and why we may have had so much trouble with the outcome of that war. It is a very moving story, and well worth a watch, and comes in my top 5 war movies.

Braveheart: This movie is what action movies are all about, hand to hand combat, explosions, violence, political betrayal, and unfeigning resolve to one's cause. It is very well made, has a little bit of a love story to keep the characters motivation going, and we all love standing up to big bad England of old. This is a classic and a must own, and everyone has seen this movie, and if you have not, well you better get on your netflix and get going before someone finds out!

The Great Escape: One of the all time great war time movies. This classic is light on the war action for a war movie, but the story is very interesting, the actors great, and makes for a very good movie. I'm not a massive fan of the older movies, I see why people like them, but sometimes, you just need some things to blow up.

Jarhead: This is a hard nosed, stickin it to ya kind of movie, where nothing is glamorized, and you get access to the actual head of a marine, and is more relevant than ever with the current events in the middle east. You will be disappointed if you go in thinking your going to get some hard core Gulf War action like that of Three Kings, but if you can get around that, you'll leave this one interested and a little concerned.

Gladiator: Russel Crowe won an Oscar as Maximus, the guy who has a long long list of reasons to be really really pissed off. This is a guys movie, there is lots of tough man action, hand to hand combat, a few cool weapons, a good story, some good cinematography all adds up for an awesome night of action. Of course this is Ridley Scott's second showing on this list, and rightfully so, he has mastered the action with a good story and great actors formula and as long as he tackles different situations, he could be going for a third soon!

The Hunt for the Red October: At least its not Harrison Ford trying to do a Russian accent. Because that was no fun for anyone. Sean Connery plays a Russian submarine captain who has made the decision to flip to the American side and take his submarine with him. Alec Baldwin is on the American side and makes a few appearences which seemed a little short to me for someone of his fame. But its a good movie, and well worth a watch.

A few movies I like but didn't mention are Letters from Iwo Jima, Fly Boys, G.I. Jane, and Enemy at the Gates. There are many other action movies, but these are my top 10 for now. We could use another good one!