Movies that feel likeWe Were Soldiers (2002)

Name: We Were Soldiers
Director: Randall Wallace
Genre: action, history, war
Released: 2002

The year is 1965 and America is at war with North Vietnam. Commanding the air cavalry is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his troops. His target: the Ia Drang Valley, called "The Valley of Death." As Moore prepares for one of the most violent battles in U.S. history, he delivers a stirring promise to his soldiers and their families: "I will leave no man behind...dead or alive. We will all come home together."

If you loved We Were Soldiers, the closest films we have are Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007), Red Cliff (2008) and Eastern Condors (1987). All three share We Were Soldiers' kinetic and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004).

🍅 63% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Randall Wallacekinetic epic bleak

7 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Hulu · Apple TV

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If We Were Soldiers hit the spot, these will too

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

2007 · dir. Sergei Bodrov

🍅 86%★ 7.2history · war · action

The same mix in both: momentum, then scale

The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.

Red Cliff

2008 · dir. John Woo

🍅 89%★ 7.3history · war · actionPrime Video

Bleak action in both cases

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

In 208 A.D., in the final days of the Han Dynasty, shrewd Prime Minster Cao convinced the fickle Emperor Han the only way to unite all of China was to declare war on the kingdoms of Xu in the west and East Wu in the south. Thus began a military campaign of unprecedented scale. Left with no other hope for survival, the kingdoms of Xu and East Wu formed an unlikely alliance.

Eastern Condors

1987 · dir. Sammo Hung

★ 7.1action · adventure · war

Both are built on the same subject: soldier

The difference: Sits closer to adventure than We Were Soldiers does

A motley group of Chinese prisoners held in the US is sent on a covert mission with the promise of a pardon: to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missiles that the US left behind during the pull-out.

Black Hawk Down

2001 · dir. Ridley Scott

🍅 77%★ 7.7action · war · historyApple TV+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.

Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

2004 · dir. Kang Je-kyu

🍅 79%★ 8action · adventure · drama

Both lean on momentum more than on history

When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.

300

2007 · dir. Zack Snyder

🍅 61%★ 7.6action · adventure · warParamount+

Common ground: army

A story very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians.

12 Strong

2018 · dir. Nicolai Fuglsig

🍅 50%★ 6.6war · action · history

One thread runs through both: a true story

A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.

Kingdom of Heaven

2005 · dir. Ridley Scott

🍅 39%★ 7.3drama · action · adventure

The same preoccupation in both: battlefield

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

King Arthur

2004 · dir. Antoine Fuqua

🍅 30%★ 6.3adventure · war · historyPrime Video

War built on scale, twice over

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.

The Woman King

2022 · dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

🍅 94%★ 6.9action · drama · historyHulu

Bleak action, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen, and General Nanisca as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life.