12 Years Later, This Criminally Ignored Masterpiece is the Best War Movie Nobody's Seen (& It's Streaming Free)

Published Sep 12, 2026, 10:40 AM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

War movies have a high bar to aim for, with the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk, and 1917 standing as modern masterpieces and countless classics across the past 100 or so years. It feels inevitable that the war movies with the biggest scale and most impressive battle sequences grab the most attention, but that often means smaller-scale but no less compelling releases slip through the cracks.

But when filmmakers strip away the explosive action sequences and sweeping battlefields to focus on more intimate stories of survival or rebellion, the results can be incredible. Recent highlights like Warfare prove that zooming in on personal stories where the audience feels like they’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the frontline combatants can perfectly capture the specific, claustrophobic dread of war. And there are lots of examples where those excellent stories simply don’t get the attention they deserve.

With war movie fans constantly on the lookout for such hidden gems on streaming, one of the best examples has landed on free streaming, as Yann Demange’s ‘71 - starring the exceptional talent of Jack O’Connell - is now available for free on Tubi and Plex. It’s a stunning movie that somehow slipped past most people, and now that it’s widely available without a subscription cost, there’s no excuse not to watch it.

'71 Is One Of the Best War Movies In Recent Years

The 2014 survival thriller focuses on a conflict often overlooked by war movie fans, the Troubles - the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland that traded open battlefields for street fights and irregular battles - and tells the story of Private Gary Hook, a young, green British soldier deployed to Belfast. The pre-Hollywood O’Connell plays Hook, who is accidentally left behind enemy lines by his retreating patrol when a riot breaks out.

Like the far bigger-in-scale 1917, and Guy Ritchie’s equally underrated The Covenant, the movie draws on the drama of intense isolation and high-tension as Hook navigates a hostile, unfamiliar city and warring factions who appear to be on the same side, but are politically miles apart. While the idea of Hook being desperately alone and in danger from all sides is great on its own, he’s joined in the cast by a huge array of British and Irish talent, including Barry Keoghan, James Bond hopeful Jack Lowden, Game of Thrones’ Richard Dormer, Peaky Blinders’ Paul Anderson, and the always excellent Sean Harris.

That talent combines to create a white-knuckle night of terror for Hook, where there’s essentially no safety and nobody to trust. The story takes place against a highly-charged political backdrop, but the action takes precedent over any sort of lesson, and Demange captures a feeling of pure suspense that isn’t unlike O’Connell’s other early career thriller Eden Lake, where he’s on the other side of the moral divide. The threat of violence positively drips off every scene, and even without open warfare, it’s a stunning achievement in atmosphere.

Unsurprisingly for anyone who saw any of his early work and his subsequent rise as a genuine Hollywood talent, O'Connell delivers a masterful, visceral lead performance. Even without speaking a lot, he’s captivating, and it’s this kind of performance that makes his more recent success far more understandable.

Why '71 Was So Underrated

Despite its exceptional quality, ‘71 slipped by almost entirely unnoticed by mainstream audiences when it was released. Initially released in UK cinemas in October 2014, it then came out on a limited run in February 2015 in the US, a notoriously difficult window for release, and made just $1.2 million, with a worldwide total of a little under $4.4 million.

The underperformance, which saw it make just over half of its production budget back, was wildly at odds with its critical reception. It was, rightly, showered with praise, not least for its refusal to follow formulaic convention, and movie fans have continued to sing its praised widely for the past decade. But at the time of its release, barely anyone bought a ticket. It ranked 36th overall in March, having released on February 27 and never picked up anything like the traction it was due.

Quite why it never connected is a bit of a mystery, but not entirely illogical: it was marketed as a niche indie release, and was shown in only 121 theaters (after initially opening in just 4). Critical reviews might have been good, but word of mouth was dead on arrival, and anyone compelled to see it was met with severely limited options to actually get to. And The Troubles is more of a difficult sale for war movies than something like a modern conflict or World War II, so it was starting from a rough position. But now it’s on free streaming, everyone who missed it first time can now enjoy its ferocious brand of intensity.

‘71 is available to stream free on Tubi and Plex.

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