The 10 Most Unrealistic Modern War Movies

Just like the battles of ancient history and the two World Wars, modern geopolitical conflicts have also inspired a wide variety of movies. Despite some of them drawing critical acclaim, these productions are riddled with geographical errors, factual inaccuracies, or just plain deviation from the real story.

War-themed biopics like Jarhead and American Sniper similarly seem to change the perception of the central figure altogether. At the same time, even fictional war movies like John Rambo bear similar issues that defy all notions of realism.

10 American Sniper

American Sniper is filled with goofs that make viewers question its depiction of SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. After all, this is a contemporary war movie where a fake baby doll doubles as Kyle’s child!

It is normal for a dramatized biography to have factual errors but the movie does seem to sanitize Kyle’s character a bit too much. The Iraq War veteran is shown to be regretful of his actions behind the rifle, especially after killing women and children. However, as Kyle wrote in his memoir, he did not actually feel this regret. Despite the mental strain that he faced later, he had no regrets for the violence he and his peers engaged in.

9 The Hurt Locker (2008)

For a movie about bomb disposal teams in Iraq, the Oscar Best Picture Winner The Hurt Locker does take a few creative liberties. Most of these pertain to inaccuracies around the science of bombs and bomb detonation.

For starters, the movie includes a scene where a cellphone triggers a bomb. In reality, anti-bomb teams use jammer devices to stop all cellular transmissions in the vicinity of the device to prevent such accidents. The US Army Explosive Ordinance Department (EOD) suits also seem to be tailored according to the film. The real EOD trousers are made of Kevlar, which is usually quite thick. Instead, characters are seen wearing just canvas trousers with shinpads (not protecting the portions between the groin and the knees).

8 Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Following the success of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow directed the highly polarizing movie Zero Dark Thirty. The third act includes the killing of Osama Bin Laden, an incident that the movie claims to recreate faithfully.

Unsurprisingly, there are a few details that contrast with the real situation. The lights in Bin Laden’s neighboring houses seem to be switched on while the SEALs had actually cut the electricity. German Shepherds are shown in the capture even though the dogs’ breed was Belgian Malinois. Even the handling of evidence during the raid (especially the hard drives) seemed to be too rough and unorganized for a SEAL team.

7 Black Hawk Down (2001)

Black Hawk Down is the dramatic story of 160 American soldiers who are tasked with taking down a Somali warlord. Despite its setting in Somalia, the Ridley Scott-directed movie was shot in Morocco. This, is of course, not the first time when a war movie has been shot in a different location. Even though Morocco and Somalia have similar climates and environments, the Moroccan connection becomes very evident in a few scenes.

One of the seemingly American C-130 Hercules planes actually belongs to the Moroccan Air Force. Even the signs and graffiti on the streets mostly carry Arabic words (as is the norm in Morocco) instead of Somali. Such mistakes do lessen the credibility of the movie’s real-world setting.

6 12 Strong  (2018)

An American Special Forces team and an Afghan warlord join forces to take down the Taliban in a post 9/11 world. Inspired by a true story, the movie’s ensemble is seen riding horses with some referring to them as “horse soldiers”.

There are a few unrealistic elements in 12 Strong, most of which pertain to the handling of weapons. The soldiers use PSV13 night vision devices that appear to emit a green glow from the front. Despite popular depictions of night vision glasses, these particular ones don’t glow when viewed from the front. Then, in another scene, the protagonists ask bombers to engage a target that is “danger close”. The enemy is just 100 m away in this scene while “danger close” often signifies a distance of 600 m in military lingo.

5 John Rambo (2008)

With every new installment, the action movies of the Rambo franchise seem to get more and more unrealistic. In Rambo, the titular protagonist turns into a one-man-army as he wields a perpetual arsenal of bows, arrows, and machine-gun bullets.

The famous ending scene with the said machine-gun finds Rambo firing off several rounds until the gun starts making several clicking sounds indicating that it has run out of bullets. However, in such a situation, the gun only makes one click rather than multiple sounds. But then again, the over-the-top violence and inaccurate weaponry have become a staple in several Rambo movies.

4 Lone Survivor (2013)

Lone Survivor is based on the military operation known as Red Wings which involved Marcus Luttrell and other Navy SEALs hunting down a local Taliban leader. The battle scenes are realistic enough but the depiction of civilians towards the third act seems to be dramatized.

The final firefight finds the villagers of Kandish warding off the Taliban offensive while assisting the SEALs. While these people might have been against the terrorist organization, the Taliban couldn’t afford to lose civilian support. As Luttrell wrote in his autobiography Lone Survivor, ‘They wanted me, but they would never kill another hundred Afghan people, including women and children, in order to get me.’

3 The Rock (1996)

As a rogue Brigadier General threatens to blow up San Francisco with government missiles, a chemist and ex-convict seem like the best option to stop him. The Rock is directed by blockbuster maestro Michael Bay so it wouldn’t be surprising to find a slew of factual and logical inaccuracies.

The VX nerve agent plays a major role in the story but even a film with a chemist protagonist couldn’t get its nature right. Instead of green, the substance is amber in color. The film shows VX liquid to act immediately on human skin and melt it in seconds. In reality, VX can take hours to show symptoms most of which include seizures in the body.

2 Three Kings (1999)

With the end of the Persian Gulf War, three soldiers embark on a personal mission as they get information on a stash of hidden gold in the desert.

The satirical war film is set in the Gulf but shot in North America as is evident from the presence of saguaro cacti in several scenes. These plants are only found in the Sonoran Desert (that includes regions of Mexico and Southwestern America). When it comes to the characters, a major inaccuracy is that protagonist Archie Gates is openly described as a former Delta Force-operative to a journalist. This is highly unlikely to happen as America neither acknowledges nor denies the presence of this top-secret commando unit.

1 13 Hours (2016)

As terrorists attack an American diplomatic establishment in Libya’s Benghazi, six “secret soldiers” come to the rescue until America sends backup. With Michael Bay serving as director, 13 Hours offers a dose of over-the-top action and muddled-up facts.

Like many Hollywood films set in Muslim-dominated nations, there are inaccurate details regarding religion and society. People are shown praying during sunrise when in fact, the morning prayer for Muslims should be finished before this part of the day. One of the characters also refers to Libya as a part of the Middle East when it is clearly an African nation.

About The Author

Shaurya Thapa
(727 Articles Published)

Shaurya Thapa is an Indian freelance journalist who mostly dabbles in writings on cinema, music, and human interest features. When it comes to Screen Rant, he writes lists on a wide array of subjects ranging from international films to mainstream Netflix series and comic book trivia. He also hosts a podcast called ‘BhindiWire’, an Indian parody of IndieWire.

More From Shaurya Thapa