5 War Movies Like Black Hawk Down To Stream On Netflix

12 Strong, which is also known as 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers, is based on Doug Stanton’s non-fiction book Horse Soldiers. It tells the story of the very first U.S. Army Special Forces unit sent to Afghanistan immediately after the attacks on 9/11.

Like Black Hawk Down, 12 Strong follows the true story of the 12 Green Berets Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 unit which was deployed to Afghanistan. They, along with Northern Alliance leader Abdul Rashid Dostum and his men aim to take back the Taliban stronghold city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth as Captain Mitch Nelson, a soldier who volunteered to lead his group of men into the dangerous terrain. Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, Trevante Rhodes, William Fichtner, Ben O’Toole, and Navid Negahban also star in a heroic tale where the 12 Strong fought for 23 continuous days in Afghanistan.

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Sand Castle, like Black Hawk Down, has ties to real-life action in the Iraq War. The film is directed by Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner, who based it on his machine gunner experience while stationed in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.

The story follows Private Matt Ocre, a young soldier with the Army Reserve, who joined the military to get money for college. He never had any intention of seeing live action, as evidenced by him slamming his hand in the door of a Humvee in hopes of getting sent home. It didn’t work.

Pvt. Ocre is then sent to Baghdad and the volatile village of Baqubah, where his unit has been tasked with repairing the broken water system. Standing in their way are the many insurgents who have no desire to see that water system fixed and will do everything and anything to see the job does not succeed.

Nicholas Hoult stars as the disillusioned Pvt. Ocre who, over time, understands what it means to be a soldier in the U.S. Army. Joining him on the battlefield are Logan Marshall-Green (Devil, Prometheus), Henry Cavill, Glen Powell, Neil Brown Jr., and Beau Knapp.

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Tears of the Sun is the only film on this list not to based on the Iraq War, though if you like Black Hawk Down, then this may also be an enjoyable watch. The film stars Bruce Willis as Lieutenant A. K. Waters a US Navy Team Commander. He is leading his SEAL team into a fictitious civil war in Nigeria.

Waters’ team is sent to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Belluci), a U.S. citizen who runs a jungle hospital. Their mission is to get her out before the rebels reach the hospital. Willis and Belluci are joined by Tom Skerritt (Alien), Cole Hauser, Johnny Messner, Eamonn Walker, and Fionnula Flanagan.

Willis’s Waters runs his unit and mission with military precision until mass casualties force him not to. Then he pulls out all the stops to ensure the escape of as many civilians as possible along with the return of the soldiers under his command.

Antoine Fuqua directed this war flick from a script written by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo.

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Mosul is another film set in the Iraq War that is based on the actual 2016 Battle of Mosul. What makes this film different than other war films such as Black Hawk Down is that the film is spoken in Arabic with English subtitles.

The story follows a young Mosuli Kurdish policeman, Kawa (Adam Bessa) who, after losing his uncle to ISIS soldiers, joins a Nineveh SWAT team on a mission to remove ISIS from Mosul. The film offers a bleak, boots-on-the-ground look at the horrors of the Iraq War and the innocent lives it took.

The movie was inspired by The New Yorker article, “The Desperate Battle to Destroy ISIS”, written by Luke Mogelson. Matthew Michael Carnahan, brother to writer/director Joe Carnahan, wrote and directed the film. It was produced by Anthony and Joe Russo, the team behind four Marvel films, two of which are the most successful Marvel films in MCU history, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

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The Yellow Birds is based on the novel of the same name written by Kevin Powers, who wrote about his experiences as an Iraq War veteran. The film, presented in alternating flashbacks, tells the story of two young soldiers who are brought together and try to navigate the extreme horrors of the Iraq War.

Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan star as the two young soldiers, John Bartle and Daniel “Murph” Murphy, who first meet up during basic training. The story picks up as Bartle is returning home to Richmond, Virginia alone, leaving the fate of his friend Murph unknown.

The story then follows the two soldiers as they enter the war and fight not only the enemy but also the emotions of dealing with the mass loss of life. The film expertly moves back and forth from past to present as we try to determine why we are only seeing Bartle in the present time.

Along with Ehrenreich and Sheridan, the film also stars Toni Collette as Bartle’s mother and Jennifer Aniston as Murph’s mom, to whom Bartle made a promise. Jason Patric and Jack Huston also co-star. Alexandre Moors directed the war drama from a script written by David Lowery and R.F.I Porto.

Watch The Yellow Birds now.