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The Hurt Locker poster

Movies that feel likeThe Hurt Locker (2008)

During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.

If you loved The Hurt Locker, the closest films we have are Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Jarhead (2005) and Punishment Park (1971). All three share The Hurt Locker's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

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

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Kathryn Bigelowcontemplativetensebleak
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

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If The Hurt Locker hit the spot, these will too

Zero Dark Thirty poster
Zero Dark Thirty
2012 · dir. Kathryn Bigelow
🍅 91%★ 7.4thriller · dramaNetflixApple TV+

Kathryn Bigelow working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the bleakness than The Hurt Locker

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May, 2011.

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

The same two preoccupations: sniper, and soldier

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

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.

Punishment Park poster
Punishment Park
1971 · dir. Peter Watkins
🍅 92%★ 7.7drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: soldier

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

In this fictional documentary, U.S. prisons are at capacity, and President Nixon declares a state of emergency. All new prisoners, most of whom are connected to the antiwar movement, are now given the choice of jail time or spending three days in Punishment Park, where they will be hunted for sport by federal authorities. The prisoners invariably choose the latter option, but learn that, between the desert heat and the brutal police officers, their chances of survival are slim.

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

Both land stillness and bleakness at once

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

Fail Safe poster
Fail Safe
1964 · dir. Sidney Lumet
🍅 93%★ 8thriller · drama · war

Drama built on tension, twice over

Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

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

War with a pulse of stillness, 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).

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

Both lean on bleakness more than on thriller

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

Valkyrie poster
Valkyrie
2008 · dir. Bryan Singer
🍅 62%★ 7.1drama · thriller · warPrime Video

Tense drama in both cases

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.

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

Contemplative war, and it commits to that

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.

Brothers poster
Brothers
2009 · dir. Jim Sheridan
🍅 63%★ 7.1drama · thriller · warPrime Video

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.

Persian Lessons poster
Persian Lessons
2020 · dir. Vadim Perelman
🍅 80%★ 7.4war · drama

Bleak drama in both cases

Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of "Farsi" every day and teaching them to Koch.

Beanpole poster
Beanpole
2019 · dir. Kantemir Balagov
🍅 93%★ 7.2drama · warRent or buy

Cut from the same war cloth

1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

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