The 10 Best World War II Movies of the 2020s, Ranked

Published Oct 2, 2026, 6:15 AM EDT

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Pretty much everybody knows about World War II, right? It's only history's largest and most deadly conflict, after all. As many already know, the war broke out due to German dictator Adolf Hitler's rise to power, which was followed by his invasion of all of Europe, as a means of expanding Nazi Germany's fascist regime. When Germany invaded Poland, Poland's allies swooped in to help, beginning the six-year-long conflict.

True to its name, the war really did touch every corner of the globe, with every continent except Antarctica seeing active combat, so there's certainly no shortage of stories to tell. For decades now, Hollywood has been producing World War II flicks, and they're not likely to ever run out of content. Some of these stories are true, and some of them are pure fabrication; however, they all show the horrors of war. With the advancement of film technology, telling these stories has never been as easy as it is in the 2020s. These are the best World War II films of the 2020s.

10 'Lee' (2023)

Image via Sky Cinema

Lee is a biopic about British photojournalist and war correspondent Lee Miller, played by Kate Winslet. Miller began her career as a fashion model, but wanted to become a photographer. When the war breaks out, she gets a job with Vogue magazine, taking pictures of British civilians during the Battle of Britain. From there, she is sent overseas, becoming embedded with British soldiers on the front lines in France following the D-Day landings.

Miller went on to survive the war, passing away in 1977, but her work is seen as a revolutionary bit of journalism, if not some of the finest journalistic work of all time. While the movie does have its noticeable shortcomings and is far from perfect, Winslet does a fantastic job of depicting Miller's feelings about the conflict, her trauma, and her unrivalled work, which continues to inspire prospective journalists to this day.

9 'Greyhound' (2020)

Image via Apple TV+

Greyhound is a naval warfare film starring Tom Hanks as naval Commander Ernie Krause, in charge of the US destroyer USS Keeling, callsign "Greyhound." In February 1942, the Keeling is assigned to protect an Allied convoy en route to Liverpool, England. This was during the Battle of the Atlantic, meaning German U-boats prowled the frigid waters, hidden beneath the cold, blue surface, just waiting for their moment to strike.

Equipped with anti-submarine depth charges, the Keeling's job is to defend the convoy and hunt down the approaching U-boats before they can sink her. This might not be the best war movie ever made, but it does a pretty good job, all things considered. The action is less about open gunfire and chaos and more about tense chases and a deadly game of cat and mouse. It's thrilling, rewarding, and a thoroughly entertaining naval film.

8 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' (2024)

Image via Lionsgate

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare wasn't a huge hit with critics. It got above-average reviews, sure, but it received a much more positive reception from audiences. This action-comedy film is set in 1941, during the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe were clashing high in the skies above the British Isles every single day for months.

To counter the persistent bombing and air raids, the British government hires a ragtag band of highly skilled soldiers to form a covert black ops unit. Their goal is to strike behind German lines and orchestrate a series of sabotage missions, hopefully halting supply lines and crippling Nazi forces. The movie is played up to be a little more absurd, but it's mostly a true story, with its star-studded cast depicting the lives of real historic individuals. It's a great, if underrated movie that action movie fans will love.

7 'Operation Mincemeat' (2021)

Image Via Netflix

If you're looking for an action-packed war movie, sorry, but Operation Mincemeat is just not for you. The movie doesn't take place on the front; it doesn't feature a lot of gun battles, and there are no heroic, sacrificial death scenes. Instead, the movie is about military bureaucracy and counter-espionage, following a very real operation codenamed Operation Mincemeat. The goal wasn't to execute a high-stakes black ops mission, but to come up with a bunch of false leads to confuse German spies about Allied plans.

Specifically, the mission occurred before the Allied Invasion of Sicily in 1943, with the goal of disguising the Allies' true intentions in order to take Axis forces by surprise. As it turns out, this ridiculous plan actually worked, with the invasion proceeding swimmingly. If you're into military politics, higher command, or grand strategy, this is the perfect film to sink your teeth into, despite its minor flaws.

6 'Sisu' (2022)

Image via Lionsgate

Sisu is a Finnish movie set during the Lapland War, a very small part of World War II that occurred when Finland formally changed sides, switching from an Axis power to an Allied power. The war eventually broke out between the two former allies after Finland signed a deal with the USSR, which led to armed conflict in the Lapland region of Northern Finland.

The movie is about a Finnish gold prospector who, quite frankly, couldn't care less about this whole war thing. He's only interested in getting his riches, and not much else. To his credit, he's pretty successful, returning with a massive haul and embarking on a trip back to civilization. However, he is soon accosted and robbed by German soldiers, turning his journey home into a quest for revenge. This is one of those ridiculous, over-the-top action movies, but that's what makes it so endearing. It's silly and far from historically accurate, but it remains a stellar action flick that has earned something of a cult following.

5 'Blitz' (2024)

Image via Apple TV+

Blitz is a drama film about the Blitz, a prolonged and horrific bombing campaign taking place during the Battle of Britain. During this campaign, the German Luftwaffe constantly bombarded the city of London with air strikes, forcing civilians into bunkers on a regular basis. Of course, those who suffered the most were the poor civilians of London, who consistently lived under a canopy of terror.

Hidden beneath the cacophony of air raid sirens are the stories of ordinary people who are just trying to live their lives without getting blown to smithereens. This drama film stars Saoirse Ronan and is less about the battles in the sky and more about what's going on on the ground, showing how the Blitz tore families apart and turned friends against each other to survive. It's a story rarely told, which is why the film is so important.

4 'Narvik' (2022)

Image via Netflix

Netflix's Narvik is a Norwegian film about the desperate and doomed defensive of a small Norwegian seaside town. Despite Norway having proclaimed neutrality, Germany invaded in 1940, specifically focusing on Narvik due to its crucial shipping routes and rail lines. What occurred thereafter was a prolonged struggle between the Norwegians, the Poles, the French, and the British on one side, and the Third Reich on the other.

This film takes place over a prolonged period of time, showcasing the Battles of Narvik on a bit of a smaller scale. It's not just about the battle itself; it's about civilian families having to do unspeakable things just to survive through the cold winter and the turmoil. It remains a harrowing yet highly underrated tale of familial divide and victory against insurmountable odds.

3 'The Forgotten Battle' (2020)

Image via Netflix

The Forgotten Battle is another Netflix movie, which, true to its name, never really took off. The movie is about the Battle of the Scheldt, an overlooked, yet pivotal piece of the war's Western Front. The operation occurred during the Autumn of 1944 and was fought between Nazi Germany and an Allied coalition, including troops from Canada, the UK, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, the US, France, and Norway. The battleground was the Scheldt River, on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, which served as a crucial shipping route.

The movie portrays the battle from all sides, examining the lives of Belgian and Dutch civilians as well as Canadian, German, British, and American forces. It depicts the month-long struggle for the region, eventually resulting in an Allied victory, albeit with heavy casualties. It does a phenomenal job of showing all facets of one battle, so that the audience can see how it really looked from multiple points of view, something that many war movies fail to include.

2 'Oppenheimer' (2023)

Image via Universal Pictures

Oppenheimer is the massive 2023 blockbuster directed by the one and only Christopher Nolan. His films are generally known for garnering excellent reviews, and this one is no exception. The movie is about J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American scientist who was commissioned to develop a weapon so devastating that it would force the Japanese Empire to surrender. This occurred towards the end of World War II, after Nazi Germany had already thrown in the towel.

This was known as the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the development of the atomic bomb, two of which were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thereby ending the war. In this flick, Oppenheimer is expertly portrayed by Cillian Murphy, who ensures that Oppenheimer's guilty conscience and conflicted feelings about the project are on full display. It might not be an action-packed movie, but it's about a very important part of the war that influenced the modern world.

1 'The Zone of Interest' (2023)

Image via A24

The Zone of Interest is by far the most depressing film on this list. Rather than being exclusively about the war effort, it sets its sights on a closely tied, yet equally historic event. The Holocaust, as many know, was the systematic murder of millions of Jewish people (as well as other groups deemed "undesirable") orchestrated by Nazi Germany and its allies. It was the best-documented genocide in history. The story is set at Auschwitz, a name synonymous with terror, a death camp where over one million people met their fates.

The movie follows the life of Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of the Auschwitz camp, as he builds an idyllic estate right next door to a horrific death factory. He and his family are given the belongings of the executed inmates as gifts, showing how brutally apathetic the Nazis were towards Jewish people and the dehumanization of the victims, as a man strives to raise a happy family right next door to a place that produces misery. It's a contrasting, eye-opening film about the banality of evil, one that shows the most ugly parts of history.

The Zone of Interest

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