Memorial Day is more than just an excuse to get out the grill. It’s also a day designed to honor those we’ve lost in combat, an important hallmark of the wars America has fought over its history.
In that context, we’ve pulled together three action movies that all focus on what it means to be a soldier in one way or another. Some of these movies are more serious than others, but each one should resonate on this particular long weekend.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
One of the best war movies of the past 25 years, Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down follows a platoon of U.S. forces attacked by local rebels in Somalia during the early 1990s. As the soldiers on the ground face relentless fire and are forced to fight to survive, we also come to appreciate the folly of U.S. forces assuming that they can bring peace to the world.
Black Hawk Down is filled with young actors who would eventually become stars, but what really makes the movie work is the fact that none of those actors are more important than the relentless pace of the story being told.
You can watch Black Hawk Down on Netflix.
A brilliant examination of the Vietnam War and its aftermath, Da 5 Bloods tells the story of a group of Black veterans of that war who reunite in the country decades later to find the treasure they buried there during the conflict.
As they argue about the state of modern America and discuss how they were abused by the country they call home, the men also find themselves forced to fight for their right to leave with the gold. Anchored by a remarkable central performance from Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods is one of Spike Lee’s more impressive and exciting efforts of the past decade.
You can watch Da 5 Bloods on Netflix.
The Great Escape is an action movie that strikes an impressive tonal balance between comedy and drama. Set in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, it follows a group of imprisoned soldiers who see it as their obligation to attempt to escape from the camp. As they slowly dig a tunnel to escape, a rogue amongst them keeps trying to break out in more reckless ways.
Although it might minimize some of the horror of living in a Nazi prison camp, The Great Escape is an effective, action-oriented depiction of how much soldiers can fight even after they’ve already been captured.
You can watch The Great Escape on Amazon Prime Video.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.