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Pearl Harbor poster

Movies that feel likePearl Harbor (2001)

The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

If you loved Pearl Harbor, the closest films we have are Unbroken (2014), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) and A War (2015). All three share Pearl Harbor's contemplative and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

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

🍅 24% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Michael Baycontemplativebleakromantic
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

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If Pearl Harbor hit the spot, these will too

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

Two things both keep coming back to: world war ii and pacific war

The difference: Reviewed even better

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

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi poster
🍅 52%★ 7.3war · history · drama

Bay filming real-war chaos with the same overwhelming firepower

The difference: No love story — grim modern combat without the Hollywood sheen

An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.

A War poster
A War
2015 · dir. Tobias Lindholm
🍅 90%★ 7drama · war

One thread runs through both: army

The difference: Trades the romance of Pearl Harbor for an angle of its own

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

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

Both are built on the same subject: 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.

Battle for Sevastopol poster
Battle for Sevastopol
2015 · dir. Sergey Mokritsky
★ 7war · drama · romancePrime Video

A real WWII life where love keeps interrupting the shooting war

The difference: Sober Soviet-front grimness — no Hollywood gloss to soften it

The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful female sniper in history.

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

The same mix in both: stillness, then bleakness

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.

Dear John poster
Dear John
2010 · dir. Lasse Hallström
🍅 28%★ 6.3drama · romance · warParamount+

Love and military duty pulling one couple apart across the years

The difference: No combat spectacle — the weepy romance minus the war epic

While Sergeant John Tyree is home on two weeks leave from Germany, he meets Savannah after he dives into the ocean to retrieve Savannah's purse that had fallen off a pier. John eventually falls in love with Savannah, who promises to write to him until he returns from overseas.

Warsaw 44 poster
Warsaw 44
2014 · dir. Jan Komasa
★ 6.6drama · history · war

Drama built on romance, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to history than Pearl Harbor does

City of Warsaw, Poland, August 1st, 1944. Citizens have experienced inhuman acts of terror and violence during five long years of Nazi occupation. As the Soviet Army relentlessly approaches, the youngest and bravest among them rise up as one and face tyranny fighting street by street, but the price to pay will be high and hard the way to freedom…

Sobibor poster
Sobibor
2018 · dir. Konstantin Khabenskiy
🍅 73%★ 6.4war · dramaPrime Video

Contemplative war, and it commits to that

The film is based on a real story that happened in 1943 in the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. The main character of the movie is the Soviet-Jewish soldier Alexander Pechersky, who at that time was serving in the Red Army as a lieutenant. In October 1943, he was captured by the Nazis and deported to the Sobibor concentration camp, where Jews were being exterminated in gas chambers. But, in just 3 weeks, Alexander was able to plan an international uprising of prisoners from Poland and Western Europe. This uprising resulted in being the only successful one throughout the war, which led to the largest escape of prisoners from a Nazi concentration camp.

Ashes of Time poster
Ashes of Time
1994 · dir. Wong Kar-Wai
🍅 79%★ 7drama · action

Drama with a pulse of bleakness, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into action than Pearl Harbor does

Ouyang Feng is a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. Throughout five seasons in exile, Ouyang spins tales of his clients' unrequited loves and unusual acts of bravery.

The Pianist poster
The Pianist
2002 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 95%★ 8.5drama · war

Both lean on stillness more than on war

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

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

Bleak drama in both cases

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).

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The best-reviewed films that share Pearl Harbor’s defining feeling.