Best War Movies of the 21st Century?

Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s “Warfare” hits theaters tomorrow. “Warfare” can be categorized as “small-scale” in terms of production. The film is primarily set in a single setting, a house, and features a 20-something person ensemble of soldiers.

“Warfare” is not character-driven, and much more about the experience of war, rather than having character arcs, similar to “Black Hawk Down.” In turn that works for and against the film. You get great action set-pieces, but not much character development.

The film takes place in “real time” but it’s not like a ticking clock movie. It’s a true story about a troop of American soldiers, in an undisclosed mission, during the Iraq War, who find themselves trapped in a firefight without support. The result is relentless, provocative, and visceral.

The last century ended with two all-timers of the war genre: Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” and Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line.” They both set the bar high for the next 25 years. Don’t get me wrong, there have been plenty of worthy war films since then, but not many as seminally important as those two, especially the Spielberg.

Whatever flaws you might have with “Saving Private Ryan,” and there are some still irked by the second half of the film, there’s no denying that its look, particularly Janusz Kaminski’s grainy photography, has been copied to death by other filmmakers since then.

With that said, IndieWire has decided to tackle the war movie, a genre that’s been ingrained in cinema’s DNA for well over 100 years. What have been the best war movies of the 21st century? The publication has listed their top 27 titles, topped at #1 by Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty.”

I’ve narrowed down my own list to twelve, and in no particular order:

Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “Downfall,” Laszlo Nemes’ “Son of Saul,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Black Book,” Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down,” Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk,” Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir, David Ayer’s “Fury,” Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Enemy at the Gates,” Peter Berg’s “Lone Survivor,” Edward Berger’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Now it’s your turn. What’s have been the best war movies of the last 25 years? It’s a genre that sadly remains relevant to this day which is why, unlike, say, the western, it’s still being dissected every year by filmmakers.