20 Best War Movies Released Since 2000

One of this list's more controversial films (it was released in the wake of 9/11, and criticised, perhaps rightly, for glamourising modern warfare and America's forceful military tactics), Black Hawk Down is nonetheless a thrilling piece of filmmaking. 

The real-life story of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, during which a black hawk helicopter was shot down leaving its occupants stranded in enemy territory, Ridley Scott's brutal actioner is a relentless portrait of soldiers cornered, beaten, and tirelessly fighting for survival. 

As an exercise in movie craftmanship, Black Hawk Down shines; the gunfire makes you flinch, the characters' shellshock is visceral. It helps that it also stars such a packed ensemble, lead by Ewan McGregor as a soldier separated from his unit, and Josh Hartnett as a younger soldier blinded by the violence around him. 

It may lean into the action a bit too much for a real-life ode to fallen soldiers, but Black Hawk Down soars high regardless as a bulky examination of how quickly battlefields can change.