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Letters from Iwo Jima poster

Movies that feel likeLetters from Iwo Jima (2006)

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

If you loved Letters from Iwo Jima, the closest films we have are American Sniper (2014), Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) and Greyhound (2020). All three share Letters from Iwo Jima's kinetic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Shadow (2018).

🍅 91% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Clint Eastwoodkineticcontemplativebleak
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If Letters from Iwo Jima hit the spot, these will too

American Sniper poster
American Sniper
2014 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 71%★ 7.3war · actionNetflix

Clint Eastwood working the same nerve twice

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Letters from Iwo Jima does

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.

Uri: The Surgical Strike poster
Uri: The Surgical Strike
2019 · dir. Aditya Dhar
🍅 57%★ 8.2action · drama · war

Common ground: a true story

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Following the roguish terrorist attacks at Uri Army Base camp in Kashmir, India takes the fight to the enemy, in its most successful covert operation till date with one and only one objective of avenging their fallen heroes.

Greyhound poster
Greyhound
2020 · dir. Aaron Schneider
🍅 77%★ 7war · action · dramaApple TV+

Both are built on the same subject: world war ii

A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.

Lone Survivor poster
Lone Survivor
2013 · dir. Peter Berg
🍅 75%★ 7.5war · action · dramaPrime VideoStarz

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban 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.

The Counterfeiters poster
The Counterfeiters
2007 · dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky
🍅 93%★ 7.5drama · war

Both keep coming back to the same thing: world war ii

The story of Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch, who was coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

Unbroken poster
Unbroken
2014 · dir. Angelina Jolie
🍅 52%★ 7.2drama · war

One thread runs through both: pacific war

A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
2013 · dir. Fyodor Bondarchuk
🍅 51%★ 5.7war · action · drama

Both land momentum and stillness at once

A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to a Russian woman who has been living there.

Midway poster
Midway
2019 · dir. Roland Emmerich
🍅 42%★ 6.7war · history · drama

Common ground: pacific theater

The difference: Sits closer to history than Letters from Iwo Jima does

The story of the Battle of Midway, and the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome massive odds.

Tears of the Sun poster
Tears of the Sun
2003 · dir. Antoine Fuqua
🍅 34%★ 6.6war · action · dramaNetflix

Action with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

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.

Balkan Line poster
Balkan Line
2019 · dir. Andrey Volgin
★ 6.6drama · action · warPrime Video

Kinetic drama, and it commits to that

After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Yugoslav army pulls out of Kosovo region, leaving Serbian people at the mercy of the Albanian UCK. A small band of soldiers must take over the Slatina airport, and hold it until the Russian peacekeepers arrive.

Shadow poster
Shadow
2018 · dir. Zhang Yimou
🍅 94%★ 7action · warPrime Video

War built on bleakness, twice over

In a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, the military commander has a secret weapon: a shadow, a look-alike who can fool both his enemies and the King himself. Now he must use this weapon in an intricate plan that will lead his people to victory in a war that the King does not want.

Jarhead poster
Jarhead
2005 · dir. Sam Mendes
🍅 60%★ 7drama · warNetflixStarz

The same preoccupation in both: anti war

Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swofford 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.

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The best-reviewed films that share Letters from Iwo Jima’s defining feeling.