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Tears of the Sun poster

Movies that feel likeTears of the Sun (2003)

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.

If you loved Tears of the Sun, the closest films we have are Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Civil War (2024) and Greyhound (2020). All three share Tears of the Sun's bleak and kinetic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is In Darkness (2011).

🍅 34% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Antoine Fuquableakkineticcontemplative
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If Tears of the Sun hit the spot, these will too

Letters from Iwo Jima poster
Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 · dir. Clint Eastwood
🍅 91%★ 7.8action · drama · war

Both land bleakness and momentum at once

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

Civil War poster
Civil War
2024 · dir. Alex Garland
🍅 80%★ 7war · action · dramaRent or buy

Two things both keep coming back to: civil war and war crimes

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 2020s show

In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.

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

War built on stillness, twice over

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.

In Darkness poster
In Darkness
2011 · dir. Agnieszka Holland
🍅 88%★ 7.3drama · war

The same preoccupation in both: refugee

The difference: Trades the momentum of Tears of the Sun for an angle of its own

A dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the Nazi-occupied city of Lviv. In Darkness tells the true story of Leopold Soha who risks his own life to save a dozen people from certain death. Initially only interested in his own good, the thief and burglar hides Jewish refugees for 14 months in the sewers of the Nazi-occupied town of Lviv (formerly Poland).

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

Bleak action in both cases

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.

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

Drama with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

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.

King Arthur poster
King Arthur
2004 · dir. Antoine Fuqua
🍅 30%★ 6.3adventure · war · historyPrime Video

The same hand behind both of them: Antoine Fuqua

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than Tears of the Sun does

The story of the Arthurian legend, based on the 'Sarmatian hypothesis' which contends that the legend has a historical nucleus in the Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops stationed in Britain, and that the Roman-British military commander, Lucius Artorius Castus is the historical person behind the legend.

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

Both are built on the same subject: rescue mission

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.

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

Contemplative war, and it commits to that

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.

300: Rise of an Empire poster
300: Rise of an Empire
2014 · dir. Noam Murro
🍅 45%★ 6.2action · drama · warParamount+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: massacre

Greek general Themistocles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war. Themistocles faces the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god, Xerxes and Artemesia, the vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

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

Both lean on bleakness more than on action

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

Drama built on stillness, twice over

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 Tears of the Sun’s defining feeling.