I included Lone Survivor, the 2013 action war drama about a small Navy SEAL team’s everything-goes-completely-wrong mission in Afghanistan, in Pop Thruster’s 50 most rewatchable movies of the 21st Century.
It’s one of the most riveting and anxiety-inducing movies I’ve ever seen. After watching Warfare, a 2025 movie that recounts another it-all-goes-to-hell SEAL team story – this time during one of the roughest stretches of the Iraq War – I realized why Lone Survivor is so entertaining.
Its main characters are under constant duress and act heroically throughout. While most of the team doesn’t make it back, each is shown taking out a huge volume of enemy combatants. The action is crisp, ruthless, and nearly mesmerizing.
Warfare couldn’t be more different.
Before I explain why, I want to note that Warfare is based on a true story, and from everything we can see, the soldiers involved are all highly professional, disciplined, and brave as hell.
When things go wrong for the SEALs of Lone Survivor, they’re completely isolated behind enemy lines in the mountains of Afghanistan. It’s entirely on them to do what it takes to fight their way to safety.
For the SEALs of Warfare, the circumstances are no less dangerous but otherwise different: almost the entire movie takes place in and around a single building in Ramadi, where American soldiers are surrounded by some uneasy mix of civilians and Iraqi insurgents.
The Alpha One platoon is in constant contact with command, and indeed they have a steady stream of intelligence being provided via remote teams monitoring aerial feeds.
For a good chunk of Warfare, the bravery we witness comes in the form of being patient and vigilant. The platoon waits for exfiltration, stays calm when it gets delayed, remains stoic as the situation around them steadily deteriorates while the odds tick up that they’re going to be overwhelmed by enemy forces.
The stakes ratchet up yet another notch when a massive IED (Improvised Explosive Device) takes out their initial rescue attempt, resulting in a number of casualties. They include several severely wounded with others – including Lieutenant Erik (the always outstanding Will Poulter) – suffering debilitating concussions.
What happens next is both the messiest and most realistic – even relatable – section of the movie. In the now dust and smoke-filled house, bleeding bodies strewn around the floor, finding medical equipment from the right pack quickly could mean life or death. And when Alpha Two platoon arrives – also in need of exfiltration – it’s agonizing to watch SEALs who have just arrived at the house accidentally kick a near-death soldier on the floor within the cramped space.
As the SEALs fight off what feels like an endless assault from local insurgents, I realized a stark difference with Lone Survivor is that for the depot’s worth of ammo that the SEALs pump out, we rarely if ever see any of the enemy combatants actually get shot. This is a clear subversion of our expectations – not just with Lone Survivor or its ilk, but with the countless war and crime dramas most of us have taken in over a lifetime.
Survival in Warfare is biding time, not panicking, finding an extra gauze pad in your buddy’s pack to extend your squad mate’s life for another few minutes. Hoping and relying on the Bradley tanks to pull up at the front door when they’re supposed.
And eventually making it back to base for a brief rest before doing it all over again.