Movies like Purgatory (1998)
The best movies like Purgatory (1998) are The Best in Hell (2022), Escape from Sobibor (1987) and Missing in Action (1984). If Purgatory hooked you with its war and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)8.0/10 from 811 votes
- NewestLand of Bad (2024)Released 2024
The Best in Hell (2022)
Movie about units of the "whites" (PMC "Wagner") who perform an assault operation to capture buildings. They are opposed by the "yellow" units, which have dug in these buildings and are also ready to fight to the end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEscape from Sobibor (1987)
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMissing in Action (1984)
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn August of 1944 (2001)
The movie is set in Belarus, where a team of counter-intelligence officers is given only three days to find a German radio operator posing as a Soviet soldier, behind soviet lines, on the eve of a major offensive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamburger Hill (1987)
The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDarfur (2009)
American journalists in Sudan are confronted with the dilemma of whether to return home to report on the atrocities they have seen, or to stay behind and help some of the victims they have encountered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisHell Hath No Fury (2021)
Branded a traitor by her countrymen, French national Marie DuJardin is rescued by American soldiers on one condition: to survive, she must lead them to a cache of gold - before the Nazis return to claim it for themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRambo III (1988)
Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for his help on a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines but must reconsider when Trautman is captured.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMissing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisIke: Countdown to D-Day (2004)
The story of the senior-level preparations for the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 from the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower's appointment as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, to the establishment of the beachhead in Normandy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatal Contact: Bird Flu in America (2006)
An outbreak of avian flu mutates into a virus that becomes transmittable from human to human.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like thisLand of Bad (2024)
When a Delta Force special ops mission goes terribly wrong, Air Force drone pilot Reaper has 48 hours to remedy what has devolved into a wild rescue operation. With no weapons and no communication other than the drone above, the ground mission suddenly becomes a full-scale battle when the team is discovered by the enemy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRambo (2008)
In Thailand, ex-Green Beret John James Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn neighboring Myanmar to rescue a group of Christian aid workers who have been kidnapped by a ruthless local infantry unit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGranit (2021)
Mozambique requests from Russia is being helped in the fight against militants of the "Islamic State" and a special group led by a commander with the call sign Granit is coming to the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWarhorse One (2023)
A gunned down Navy SEAL Master Chief must guide a child to safety through a gauntlet of hostile Taliban insurgents and survive the brutal Afghanistan wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSoldiers of the Damned (2015)
WWII German soldiers take an occult scientist into a haunted forest in Romania, only to be confronted by their own ghosts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Angel (2018)
True story of Ashraf Marwan, who was President Nasser's son-in-law and special adviser and confidant to his successor Anwar Sadat - while simultaneously Israeli Intelligence's most precious asset of the 20th century. Based on NYT bestselling book 'The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel' by Uri Bar-Joseph.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWindtalkers (2002)
Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTouching the Void (2003)
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Ninth Day (2004)
During WWII, head priest Henri Kremer is mysteriously freed from Dachau. He learns that he can return home to Luxembourg, for only nine days, during which he'll have to face a persuasive Gestapo chief who will put his faith to the test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
The Soldier's Star (2006)
A Russian guitarist was enlisted in 1984 in the Afghan war. Imprisoned, he will meet an Afghan musician and a French journalist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Redacted (2007)
A fictional documentary discusses the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers and local people through interviews with members of an American military unit, the media, and local Iraqis.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
SnoozefestMovies like thisWar and Peace (1956)
The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoyeux Noel (2005)
France, 1914, during World War I. On Christmas Eve, an extraordinary event takes place in the bloody no man's land that the French and the Scots dispute with the Germans…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnforgivable (1996)
Paul Hegstrom is a so-called family man who puts his wife through domestic violence and his children through emotional torture. After leaving his family and almost killing his new girlfriend in one of his rages, Paul is ordered to either seek professional help through an innovative therapy program or go to jail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Devotion (2022)
The harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy's most celebrated wingmen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOutlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs (2014)
Cult leader Warren Jeffs rises to power in the polygamist Mormon sect once headed by his late father, but some of his wives fight back to bring him to justice. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Zone of Interest (2023)
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Purgatory?
The closest matches to Purgatory are The Best in Hell (2022), Escape from Sobibor (1987) and Missing in Action (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Purgatory?
Start with The Best in Hell (2022), the closest match to Purgatory.
What is the highest-rated movie like Purgatory?
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), rated 8.0/10 by 811 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Purgatory?
Land of Bad (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Purgatory chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Purgatory, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.