The Best Military Movies and Shows Streaming Right Now on Paramount+

When it comes to war movies and television shows, Paramount+ may not have all our old favorites, but the streaming service has no shortage of good viewing options for the military enthusiast. 

On top of the list below, the Paramount+ also offers old-timey military movies like 1951's "Drums in the Deep South” and a wide range of Smithsonian Channel documentaries, such as "100 Missions: Surviving Vietnam" and "Arlington: Call to Honor." Subscribers also get access to Showtime movies and shows, opening even more titles and ensuring your butts are firmly glued to the couch.

Here are just a few of the best on Paramount+ right now.

A Gentleman in Moscow 

Ewan McGregor (“Trainspotting”) stars as the aristocratic Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov in this adaptation of Amor Towles’ 2016 novel of the same name. Rostov is a Russian noble during the early part of the 20th century, who finds himself in Paris during the Russian Revolution of 1917. When he returns, he’s arrested by the Bolsheviks in Moscow, tried and convicted as a “social parasite,” but is not executed. He is punished and forced to live a life in the new Soviet Union. 

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Ahsoka”) and Johnny Harris (“Jawbone”) co-star in this Paramount+ limited series.

Black Wings

The Smithsonian Channel's "Black Wings" follows the history of America's Black aviators from biplanes to combat operations. From "Prophet of Aviation" William Powell to the Tuskegee Airmen to Air Force legend Daniel "Chappie" James, "Black Wings" is a fascinating documentary about the timeline of how these aviators overcame racism and joined the ranks of America's best pilots.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

If this title sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a modern retelling of the 1954 World War II classic “The Caine Mutiny,” starring Humphrey Bogart. In this version, Keifer Sutherland (“24”) plays the Bogart role as Lt. Cmdr. Philip Queeg. 

Queeg is forced out of command after his executive officer, Lt. Steve Maryk (Jake Lacy, "The Office") sees him afraid and frozen as the ship sails through a typhoon. Once in command, Maryk takes the USS Caine back to San Francisco, where he’s put on trial for mutiny. 

Read: A World War II Classic Gets a Modern Update in 'The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'

Drunk History

"Drunk History" is a series of hilarious historical reenactments from a cast of regulars, along with a slew of celebrities and comedians, including Aubrey Plaza, Don Cheadle and Jack Black, just to name a few. 

As the name implies, a storyteller has a few drinks and tells a history story to host Derek Waters -- and some hold their booze better than others. The dialogue of the story isn't accurate, but the stories themselves are. 

First Blood

Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) spends his days as a drifter, but after trying to visit an old war buddy in the Pacific Northwest, he catches the attention of the local sheriff. Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy, “Tommy Boy”) ends up arresting Rambo for vagrancy. After harsh treatment at the hands of his deputies, Rambo has a Vietnam flashback and escapes. 

The law pursues Rambo into the woods where they discover he’s no ordinary Vietnam vet. Rambo is the best Special Forces operator the Army ever had, and he’s ready to go to war. Not only is “First Blood” a great action movie, it’s a stunning treatise on the treatment of Vietnam veterans in postwar America. Paramount+ also carries the less heartfelt, shoot-’em-up “Rambo” movies, which are equally awesome in their own way.

Flags of Our Fathers

Director Clint Eastwood's 2006 World War II movie dramatizes the lives of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman who were immortalized forever while raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. There were two flags raised on Mount Suribachi that day, but Joe Rosenthal’s photo is of the second raising, which included the six men Eastwood follows in the film. Only three of these men survived the war. 

"Flags of Our Fathers" depicts the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American perspective. In 2006, Eastwood also released a companion film, "Letters from Iwo Jima," about the battle from the Japanese perspective. 

Forrest Gump

When you rewatch "Forrest Gump," you might be surprised to realize how little of its 2½-hour running time is devoted to Gump's service in Vietnam and his friendship with Lt. Dan Taylor. 

Yet Gary Sinise's performance as Lt. Dan sticks with viewers three decades later, even though the actor didn't win the Oscar he deserved. Tom Hanks won Best Actor, and the film garnered Best Picture and four more awards.

The greatest legacy of "Forrest Gump" may be that the experience of making it introduced Sinise to veterans issues, and he's gone on to become one of the greatest advocates the military community has ever seen.

Full Metal Jacket

Anyone who served in the military has either seen “Full Metal Jacket” or had an unending stream of quotes shouted in their face by a fellow veteran at some point. Director Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War masterwork is everything you want in a war movie, even if it's meant to be anti-war. Somehow, the movie’s legendary depiction of Marine Corps basic training (with the immortal R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman) is topped only by the story that continues in Vietnam.

There, Sgt. “Joker” (Matthew Modine, “Oppenheimer”) and Pfc. “Rafterman” became a journalist and combat photographer, respectively. They also reunite with boot camp buddy Sgt. “Cowboy.” The story follows the old friends and their platoon as they fight through the Tet Offensive and onto the Battle of Hue. If you’re not a veteran and/or have somehow never seen this movie, now is the time. 

Gladiator

OK, so maybe “Gladiator” isn’t necessarily a military movie, but the story does center around Maximus (Russell Crowe), a Roman general who takes the blame for the murder of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris, “Unforgiven”). After escaping an execution set up by the real murderer, the emperor’s son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix, “Napoleon”), Maximus is captured as a slave and gladiator. He fights for one purpose: to return to Rome, exact his revenge on Commodus and restore Rome to the Republic that Marcus Aurelius once envisioned. 

Golda 

Israel’s “Iron Lady” led the country as its fourth prime minister between 1969 and 1974, which meant she had to contend with both the Munich Massacre and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Although Meir’s life is filled with stories that could be their own movies, the 2023 film “Golda” is set during the Yom Kippur War. The war’s outcome is never in question, either for the viewer or the characters. Instead, the focus is on body counts; how many Israeli troops are going to die to see Israel’s continued existence?

Halo 

You don’t have to be a video-game fan to enjoy this action series set in a future war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic legion of alien races out to kill all humans. Pablo Schreiber (“The Wire,” “13 Hours”) stars as Master Chief John 117, who’s going to do anything and everything he can to stop them. In fact, it might be better if you don’t know the video game, because one of the things fans complained about was how much the show deviated from the video-game source. Catch it while it lasts: Paramount recently canceled the show for good.

Hamburger Hill

In May 1969, the U.S. and the South Vietnamese armies launched an all-out frontal assault on a hill among the Dong Ap Bia mountains. The U.S. called it Hill 937, but the men who fought the battle would come to call it "Hamburger Hill." The hill had little strategic value, but it was heavily fortified and the attackers took heavy casualties taking it -- only to abandon it soon after.

This 1987 movie was the film debut for actor Dylan McDermott ("American Horror Story") and was an early role for Don Cheadle ("Avengers: Endgame"). Writer and co-producer James Carabatsos served in the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam in 1968-69 and spent years researching the battle before writing the script.

JAG

“JAG” was a “Top Gun” meets “ A Few Good Men” television show about U.S. Navy and Marine Corps lawyers that ran for one season on NBC and then nine more on CBS. It’s also the parent show from which the long-running “NCIS” universe is spun off. 

The series stars David James Elliott (“Trumbo”) and Catherine Bell (“The Good Witch”) as JAG (also known as Judge Advocate General for those who never needed a military lawyer) officers performing their duties in “ripped from the headlines” story plots. While that can make the show seem a little dated, “JAG” is still so highly regarded by fans, Elliott and Bell reprised their characters more than a decade later on “NCIS.” 

Lawmen: Bass Reeves 

Bass Reeves was a real man and a towering historical figure -- literally. At a time when the average American man was a slight five feet tall, the 6’2” Reeves stood out. He was born into slavery and forced to accompany his slaveholder during the Civil War before escaping to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. After the war, he was recruited by “Hanging” Judge Isaac Parker to help bring order to the lawless area.

David Oyelowo (“Selma”) portrays Reeves in this new limited series, produced by Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”). Also joining the cast are Dennis Quaid (“Midway”), Barry Pepper (“We Were Soldiers”) and Donald Sutherland (“Kelly’s Heroes”) as Judge Parker.

One Life

The world knows Sir Nicholas Winton as “Britain’s Schindler,” a man whose efforts before the Second World War led to 669 Jewish children escaping certain doom at the hands of the Nazis. You may not know how Winton managed to find homes for those children in Britain, but you may have seen his viral video. On a 1988 episode of the BBC’s “That’s Life,” he finally met those children and his good deed was broadcast to the world for the first time. “One Life” is the story of Sir Nicholas Winton’s incredible effort to save those kids from the Holocaust.  

Ready for War

It might come as a shock to learn the United States has deported an estimated 94,000 U.S. military veterans, some highly decorated, since 1996. That was the year Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, despite never deporting a single veteran before the act was passed. While the Biden administration has since implemented processes to allow those veterans to come home, the 2019 documentary “Ready for War” looks at the lives of those who served as they patiently wait across the border to return to the country for which they fought. 

Saving Private Ryan

Does anyone really need an introduction to "Saving Private Ryan?” This is the film that not only set the bar for World War II movies, it set everything else for them, too. The opening scene so accurately represented the fighting on D-Day that actual WWII veterans had to leave the theater until it was over. 

This movie is very loosely based on Edward, Preston, Robert and Frederick Niland, four brothers who served in World War II. Two of the brothers died in combat while another was captured by the Japanese in Burma and was presumed dead until his POW camp was liberated. The fourth brother was given a one-way ticket home. It's not a true-to-life story, but director Steven Spielberg ensured the World War II combat depicted in the movie was.

SEAL Team

This seventh season of “SEAL Team” will be the series’ last. Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes (David Boreanaz) will lead his elite unit of Navy SEALs as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high-stakes missions our country can ask of them. Fans of the show are die-hards who probably saved it from cancellation after the fourth season, where it was moved exclusively to Paramount+. While that might not sound like a big deal, a show about Navy SEALs on a streaming platform can be a lot more lifelike than on broadcast television. Check out the six previous seasons before the new one begins Aug. 11, 2024. 

Shooter

Mark Wahlberg ("Ted") plays Marine Corps scout sniper veteran Gunnery Sgt. Bobby Lee Swagger in this Antoine Fuqua thriller based on the 1993 book, "Point of Impact." After a mission gone wrong in Ethiopia kills his spotter, Gunny Swagger retires from the Corps. A few years later, he's approached by a paramilitary firm to stop an assassination attempt on the president of the United States. 

Instead of preventing the attempt, Swagger is framed for it and has to prove his innocence before the private military company can hunt him down. Rounding out the cast of "Shooter" are Michael Peña ("Narcos: Mexico"), Danny Glover ("Lethal Weapon"), Kate Mara ("House of Cards") and Ned Beatty ("Superman").

Spy Wars with Damian Lewis

"Spy Wars" is the perfect show for anyone who loves the history of daring intelligence operations. Host Damian Lewis ("Band of Brothers," "Homeland") guides viewers through this docuseries that tells the stories behind some of the most incredible covert missions ever. The series covers Soviet "illegals," the "Argo" mission to exfiltrate Americans from Tehran, and the capture of Robert Hanssen, the most damaging traitor in U.S. history.

Special Ops: Lioness

“Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan’s newest show is a take on the Army and Marine Corps’ female “Lioness” program, designed to use Female Engagement Teams to perform culturally sensitive tasks that men could not during the war in Afghanistan.

The new show imagines what would happen if those engagement teams not only expanded into culturally sensitive areas, but into teams of spies, infiltrators and assassins for the CIA. The spy thriller stars Zoe Saldaña ("Guardians of the Galaxy”), Laysla De Oliveira (“Locke & Key”), Nicole Kidman (“Cold Mountain”) and Morgan Freeman.

Star Trek. All of It.

You can now settle the age-old internet question of "Kirk versus Picard" by watching everything from the "Star Trek'' franchise on Paramount+. If the original "Star Trek" series or movies didn't thrill you, and you were underwhelmed by "The Next Generation" and its movies, you can also catch the other spinoffs here, from "Deep Space Nine" to "Enterprise."

On top of all the Starfleet exploits from days gone by, Paramount is rebooting the franchise with new shows, including the throwback "Picard," and new shows "Discovery" and "Strange New Worlds."  

Team America: World Police

People may not consider “Team America” a war movie. They might even be offended by a lot of it. But for so many who served in the military in the years immediately following 9/11, this movie was probably quoted more than any other war movie -- for better or for worse. 

Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (“South Park”), this puppet-based satire is a send-up of nearly everything that defined American culture and politics in the early 2000s. It makes fun of Islamic terrorists, Hollywood liberals, neoconservatives, action movies in general and Kim Jong Il (just to name a few). In the true Parker-Stone style, it includes everything from musical numbers to a puppet sex scene. It is truly a masterpiece and probably due for a sequel. 

Top Gun

Hot take: The original 1986 classic may be one of the most iconic military movies ever made, but now it plays like a prequel to the even better 2022 movie "Top Gun: Maverick." "Top Gun" is still one of the most rewatchable Hollywood movies ever made, a film that has aged far better than almost all of its counterparts from the Reagan era.

"Top Gun" sent Tom Cruise's career into the stratosphere, inspired a generation of aspiring Navy aviators and convinced the Pentagon that cooperating with Hollywood could be an amazing recruiting tool. It also made the military cool again for a generation too young to remember Vietnam.

Top Gun: Maverick

America's favorite naval aviator returned to the big screen in 2022, with Tom Cruise reprising his role as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. This time, he's training the Top Gun graduates -- including the son of his former radar intercept officer (RIO), Nick "Goose" Bradshaw.

As Maverick prepares the pilots for the most decisive mission of their careers, he has to literally confront his past while fighting to stay in the Navy.

Top Secret!

“Top Secret!” is an absurd comedy on the level of “Airplane!” (it was even written and directed by the same trio: Jim Abrahams, and David and Jerry Zucker). It’s meant to be a general spoof of spy and war movies along with Elvis Presley’s films. Although it can feel dated at times (referencing films such as 1980’s “The Blue Lagoon”), the wacky humor still holds up, even nearly 40 years later.

Val Kilmer (“Top Gun”) stars as Nick Rivers, an Elvis-like performer who visits Nazi Germany on a goodwill tour. There, he falls in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist, only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island, who then turned out 15 years later to be the leader of the French underground.

Tropic Thunder

“Tropic Thunder” was the war movie we didn’t know we needed. It’s not only a parody of big-budget war movies, but it also lampoons the way Hollywood makes them and the actors who star in them. At the same time, it includes some of the most controversial and potentially offensive content in movies until that time, including a depiction of the mentally handicapped and a character in blackface. This means that veterans only love it more and are still quoting it 15 years later. 

Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black play three Hollywood stereotypes, pretentious actors cast in a prestigious Vietnam War movie based on a “true” story. To get the cast under control, the director drops them in the jungle, where he’s set up a fake war with pyrotechnics. What he doesn’t know is that he’s accidentally dropped these guys in an actual conflict zone armed with blanks. Hilarity ensues.

Uncommon Courage: Breakout at Chosin

When United States Marines were sent to Korea in 1945, there was only one Asian-American regular officer in the Corps, ​​Kurt Chew-Een Lee. Lee led Marines from the Inchon Landing through the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. "Uncommon Courage" documents his effort to lead 500 Marines into the jaws of death to save 8,000 more.

Uncommon Valor

"Uncommon Valor" was one in a series of movies released a decade after the end of the Vietnam War that dealt with the widespread belief that the U.S. left prisoners of war behind in the jungles of Vietnam. It has an interesting mix of cast members, including Gene Hackman ("Bat*21"), Robert Stack ("Airplane!") and Patrick Swayze ("Road House").

Convinced his son, who is missing in action, is still alive, a Marine Corps colonel brings together a crew of fellow Vietnam veterans to go into Laos and find him. They have to fight their way into the country, but they eventually find Americans still being held and manage to bring them back home alive.

Waco: The Aftermath

Showtime released this limited series coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the federal government's siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. No matter what you think about the siege and the controversy surrounding it, "Waco: The Aftermath" is a gripping retelling of events that took place both inside and outside the compound. 

"Waco: the Aftermath" is a continuation of the 2018 Showtime limited series "Waco." Michael Shannon ("12 Strong") reprises his role as real-life FBI negotiator Gary Noesner. This series also explores the connection between Waco, the militia movement and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

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