Terrorists, hostages and brutal warriors: 10 incredibly cool films about special forces

1. S.W.A.T.: City of Angels SWAT

S.W.A.T.

• USA, 2003.
• Action, thriller, crime, adventure.
• Duration: 117 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.1.

Young special forces officer Jim Street is kicked out of a prestigious capture group for an imaginary offense. But after a while, Sergeant Dan Hondo Harrelson, who was given the task of assembling a strong team of fighters, invites the guy to join the squad.

The group he created must escort to prison an international criminal who, on live television to the whole world, announced that he would pay $ 100 million to anyone who could release him. Thus, its transportation from a normal procedure turns into a dangerous test.

This uncomplicated action movie is based on the 1970s Los Angeles Special Forces TV series of the same name. Moreover, in 2017, based on the film, in turn, they filmed a modern show with exactly the same name. True, unlike the 2003 tape, where they played

Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson, no stars were brought into the new series.

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2. Special forces team

Forces speciales

• France, 2011
• Action, drama, war.
• Duration: 104 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.4.

Frenchwoman Elsa Casanova, while in Afghanistan, actively fights for the rights women. For this, she is kidnapped by the Taliban authority Zayef. To rescue the journalist, the government sends a group of elite special forces - six superbly trained military men led by the brave Captain Kovacs.

French director and screenwriter Stephane Ribojad managed to turn a typical action movie into a voluminous and deep story. It is especially interesting to follow the internal transformation of the main character played by Diane Kruger: from a completely ordinary girl, she evolves into a selfless and strong woman.

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3. The Expendables

The Expendables

• USA, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, 2010.
• Action, adventure, thriller.
• Duration: 103 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.5.

A team of elite mercenaries - military pensioner Barney Ross nicknamed Shiz and his friends - are sent to overthrow the political regime on an island located near South America. But the heroes soon realize that the customer decided to use them too, after which the five of them remain against a small army.

The idea of ​​the director's project Sylvester Stallone is simple: take Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis with Arnold Schwarzenegger - and shoot an action film according to the precepts of the old schools. Stallone himself played a major role in this.

The result is a movie that all connoisseurs of classic action movies must watch. Moreover, the creators used computer graphics to a minimum, so that the picture really resembled tapes from 80–90s.

4. Tears of the sun

Tears of the Sun

• USA, 2003.
• Action, thriller, drama, military.
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.6.

Lieutenant Waters, along with a small detachment of Navy SEALs, is sent to Nigeria, where a civil war is just going on. Their task is to take out the American Lena Kendricks, a Red Cross doctor, from the territory occupied by the rebels. But not everything is so simple: the doctor declares that he will leave the jungle only if the special forces take 70 more refugees with her.

This film was directed by the Oscar-winning "Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua, and the star of "Die Hard" played in it. Bruce Willis and the beautiful Monica Bellucci. By the way, initially the script was considered as the basis for the next part of the Nut franchise. But even at the production stage, the producers changed their minds, and Tears of the Sun became an independent picture.

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5. Tyler Rake: Operation Rescue

Extraction

• USA, Canada, Thailand, 2020.
• Action, crime.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.7.

An Australian commando named Tyler Rake is given a dangerous mission to track down and rescue the son of an Indian drug lord. With armed guards, he copes easily. That's just to take the child out of the slums will be a much more difficult task.

The plot of the film is not innovative. But on the other hand, the directing of stuntman Sam Hargrave, who made a name for himself by staging stunts in Marvel films, will definitely appeal to fans of vivid spectacles.

Excellent fight choreography, dynamic editing, the illusion of shooting in one shot, a charming image lone warriors played by Chris Hemsworth - all this makes "Tyler Rake" something more than just another action movie from Netflix.

6. Goal number one

Zero Dark Thirty

• USA, UAE, 2012.
• Thriller, drama, history, military.
• Duration: 157 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.4.

2003 On assignment from Washington, a young CIA employee named Maya ends up in Pakistan. To her goal - to catch the main terrorist in the world - she goes with such persistence that she deserves the respect of all the men around her.

After the Oscar triumphStormlord» Katherine Bigelow took up the story of a multi-year operation by the CIA, during which Osama bin Laden was eliminated. The authors spent months communicating with participants in real events. But this is what eventually became the reason for the scandal: it turned out that the creators were told more than it was possible by law.

After this incident, communication between the secret services and Hollywood was reduced to a minimum, and the CIA changed its leadership altogether.

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7. Survivor

Lone Survivor

• USA, UK, 2013.
• Military, Action, Drama.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.5.

Afghanistan, 2005 A group of SEALs are tasked with taking out Taliban combat commander Ahmad Shah. But everything goes wrong from the very beginning: the Marines find the target, but lose contact with the command. Then the detachment is discovered by local shepherds, and as a result, the comrades have to engage in battle with superior enemy forces.

A tough driving action movie starring Mark Wahlberg is unlikely to be on a par with masterpieces like Brothers in Arms. But still, it will please fans of the genre. Director Peter Berg turned the real story of the failure of Operation Red Wings into an incredibly exciting spectacle, and the film was consulted by Wahlberg's prototype hero, Marcus Luttrell.

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8. Raid

Serbian maut

• Indonesia, France, USA, 2011.
• Action, crime, thriller.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.6.

A squad of special forces is sent to the slums of Jakarta to storm a high-rise building owned by a large drug dealer. The task is complicated by the fact that the house is full of gangs. Faced with superior enemy forces, the fighters die one by one. But the worst thing is that the right hand of the mafia boss is the brother of the commander.

This film can be safely recommended even to those who cannot stand action films: all the scenes of battles and skirmishes are staged here with such imagination and skill. By the way, the main roles were played not by ordinary actors, but by real champions. martial arts.

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9. Predator

Predator

• USA, Mexico, 1987.
• Horror, fantasy, action, adventure.
• Duration: 104 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.8.

A group of American special forces under the command of Alan Dutch Schaeffer takes on another mission. They have to find and rescue soldiers from captivity somewhere in the wilds of the South American jungle. But everything goes awry when the men are confronted by a bloodthirsty extraterrestrial creature who has opened a hunt for them.

The cult action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the world the Predator - one of the most famous fantastic monsters. The tape spawned an entire franchise and several spin-offs - Alien vs. Predator. In them, as you might guess, the main character met in a deadly fight with another interplanetary killer - xenomorph.

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10. Elite Squad

Tropa de Elite

• Brazil, Argentina, USA, Netherlands, 2007.
• Action, thriller, drama, crime.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 8.0.

1997 On the eve of the visit of the Pope to Rio de Janeiro, the authorities decide to restore order in the lush areas. This is done by an elite squad of special forces, where two young policemen, Netu Gouveia and Andre Matias, dream of getting into. To take the place of a commander who wants to retire and is therefore looking for a replacement, they will have to go through hell.

This very tough and uncompromising film was directed by José Padilla, one of the creators of the Narcos series. The tape was highly appreciated by critics: it even received the Golden Bear, the main prize of the Berlin Film Festival.

However, when The Elite Squad was released, it sparked a heated controversy. The cops themselves were against the film because they were portrayed as a bunch of corrupt sadists. But the inhabitants of the favelas are also shown as merciless thugs who are alien to any manifestations of humanism and who seem to have deserved inhuman treatment. Because of this, the tape was accused of senseless savoring cruelty.