In many ways, the 1990s were akin to that irritating older brother when compared to the 2000s. The decade had better music, cooler fashion, and that birthed the technological revolution. Conversely, the 2000s were naff, with shocking fashion sense and auto-tune plaguing the music industry; it was the decade Britney shaved her head, and Michael Jackson dangled a newborn baby from a balcony.

That being said, while the 90s was a golden age for war films, the 2000s certainly set out to outdo its annoying sibling, with the decade’s selection of military flicks certainly rivaling that of the Saving Private Ryan’s of the previous ten years, likely because of 9/11 and the newfound global bloodlust for a ‘war on terror.’ The likes of Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, and Ridley Scott turned their hands to historic conflicts, making some truly brilliant films in the process. Here are some of the best war movies of the recent aughts.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

7 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

     Miramax Films

Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a movie that, despite some historical inaccuracies, is a harrowing tale of two boys, each very literally on different sides of the fence. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) a young boy taken to live in a countryside residence with his family, with his father (an excellent David Thewlis) being a high-ranking Nazi officer befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) a young Jewish boy, in a nearby Nazi concentration camp.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The pair bond from either side of the fence, with Bruno smuggling pieces of bread and cakes to his newfound friend. Unbeknownst to the pair, (who are under the allusion that Shmuel and his family are simply at a holiday camp) Shmuel and his family are essentially awaiting their death. The film is a moving depiction of the innocence of youth set against the backdrop of the perilous Nazi dictatorship and the Holocaust.

6 Black Hawk Down

     Sony Pictures

Ridley Scott returned just a year after his movie Gladiator triumphed at the box office, as well as stealing the show at the Academy Awards, with Black Hawk Down. Adapted from the Mark Bowden novel of the same name, the film concerns the true story of a US Army Rangers regiment who head to Mogadishu to pounce on wanted Somali war criminals.

5 Jarhead

     Universal Pictures

The dreamy duo of director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins combine once again to fashion this anti-war epic. 2005’s Jarhead, starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role, alongside Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Krasinski is a tale of braindead boredom, unrelenting frustration, and mind-numbing periods of idleness.

Jarhead acts as a sort of expose of the realities of modern warfare, it offers an opposing portrait of how war, (in Jarhead’s instance The Gulf War) was an often, pointless exercise, and unnecessary waste of life. Anthony Swofford (Gyllenhaal), a US sniper tells his story of “Operation Desert Storm” in Iraq, narrating his experiences on at times, mind-numbingly dull war, a real departure from the frequent glamorization of famous military conflict.

4 Downfall

     Constantin FilmNewmarket Films

Oliver Hirschbiegel’s portrayal of Hitler and Nazi Germany’s final days is an example of one of the best movies from an Axis perspective. With Stalin’s Red Army closing in on Berlin, and the allies making inroads through France, Hitler was virtually snookered. Trapped in his bunker, we are shown a glimpse of the level of desperation and delusion the evil leader and his cabinet were under.

3 Inglourious Basterds

     The Weinstein Company

In this indulgently playful action drama, which was arguably Quentin Tarantino’s best creation since 1997’s Jackie Brown, the audience is taken for a comic-strip-style spin on the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director’s Nazi-hating bonanza. Set in France during the second world war, Inglourious Basterds finds two conspirators plotting to dethrone Hitler and his fascist dictatorship.

Shosanna Dreyfus (a great Melanie Laurent), a Jewish orphan, and her trusty projectionist plan to blow up a Nazi film premiere that the Kaiser, himself will be attending. There are further exquisite performances from Brad Pitt (as Lieutenant Aldo Raine), Christoph Waltz (as the brutal Hans Landa), and Michael Fassbender (as the bilingually exceptional Lieutenant Archie Hicox).

2 The Hurt Locker

     Voltage Pictures

The Hurt Locker documents the story of Captain William James (Jeremy Renner), who is entrusted with the responsibility of training up a bomb disposal squad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Chastised by his counterparts and superiors for his treacherously incautious approach to regular life-and-death situations. This is a movie that builds suspense until our tenterhooks are broken by the explosion… or not.

Director Kathryn Bigelow famously went head-to-head at the Academy Awards with her ex-husband, James Cameron, and his record-breaking, Avatar, and he Hurt Locker would eventually go on to win… while one can only speculate, surely all is fair in love and war.

1 The Pianist

     Syrena Entertainment Group

Roman Polanski’s Academy Award-winning The Pianist took home three major prizes at the 2002 Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. During the Nazi occupation of Poland in WWII, celebrated pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) and his family are confined to the grim and brutal surroundings of the Warsaw Ghetto — the concentration camp waiting room.

Polanski pulls no punches when demonstrating the shocking actualities of war, and the horrors the Jewish populations were subjected to. After escaping the Ghetto, Szpilman goes into hiding and attempts to remain undetected by an area crawling with Nazi officers. The Pianist gifts us an invaluable insight into the real-life struggles of a man traumatized by the plight of his people, but whose remarkable resilience in the face of such abhorrent evil is an indication of the desperate lengths those placed under such extreme hardship would go to.