Movies like How to Stop a Nuclear War
The best movies like How to Stop a Nuclear War are HyperNormalisation (2016), The War Game (1966) and Unthinkable (2010). If How to Stop a Nuclear War hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
How to Stop a Nuclear War
Quick picks
- Highest rated20 Days in Mariupol (2023)8.1/10 from 328 votes
- NewestWatchmen: Chapter II (2024)Released 2024
HyperNormalisation (2016)
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe War Game (1966)
A hypothetical Chinese invasion of South Vietnam triggers a new world war between East and West. In Rochester, Kent, the anticipation of a nuclear attack leads to mass evacuations. When a stray missile explodes, the ensuing firestorm blinds all those who see it. It's not long before the fabric of society is ripped apart from radiation poisoning, a lack of infrastructure and rioting for food and other necessities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnthinkable (2010)
The government gets wind of a plot to destroy America involving a trio of nuclear weapons for which the whereabouts are unknown. It's up to a seasoned interrogator and an FBI agent to find out exactly where the nukes are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pentagon Papers (2003)
This compelling political drama is based on the true story of high-ranking Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who, during the Nixon era, strove to preserve American democracy by leaking top-secret documents to the New York Times and Washington Post. The documents in question would eventually become famous as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the true reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisTestament (1983)
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEinstein and the Bomb (2024)
What happened after Einstein fled Nazi Germany? Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama dives into the mind of a tortured genius.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanic in Year Zero! (1962)
While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFail Safe (2000)
Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeaspiracy (2021)
Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTwilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam War between Dell and the then President's most trusted advisors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Atomic Cafe (1982)
A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fifth Estate (2013)
A look at the relationship between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his early supporter and eventual colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg, and how the website's growth and influence led to an irreparable rift between the two friends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRoom 237 (2012)
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012)
Takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film explores early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater, then moves to Anonymous' raucous beginnings on the website 4chan. Through interviews with current members, people recently returned from prison or facing trial, writers, academics, activists and major players in various "raids," the documentary traces Anonymous’ evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach, the most transformative civil disobedience of our time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Peacemaker (1997)
When a train carrying atomic warheads mysteriously crashes in the former Soviet Union, a nuclear specialist discovers the accident is really part of a plot to cover up the theft of the weapons. Assigned to help her recover the missing bombs is a crack Special Forces Colonel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Inconvenient Truth (2006)
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatchmen: Chapter II (2024)
Suspicious of the events ensnaring their former colleagues, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are spurred out of retirement to investigate. As they grapple with personal ethics, inner demons and a society turned against them, they race the clock to uncover a deepening plot that might trigger global nuclear war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Days to Noon (1950)
When Professor Willingdon becomes wary of the nuclear weapons he is helping build, he steals a warhead and threatens to detonate it in London in seven days unless the government begins nuclear disarmament. As Willingdon goes into hiding, Detective Folland of Scotland Yard sets out to find him. Willingdon's daughter Ann also joins the cause, hoping she can talk sense into her father before he causes a catastrophe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like How to Stop a Nuclear War?
The closest matches to How to Stop a Nuclear War are HyperNormalisation (2016), The War Game (1966) and Unthinkable (2010). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after How to Stop a Nuclear War?
Start with HyperNormalisation (2016), the closest match to How to Stop a Nuclear War.
What is the highest-rated movie like How to Stop a Nuclear War?
20 Days in Mariupol (2023), rated 8.1/10 by 328 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like How to Stop a Nuclear War?
Watchmen: Chapter II (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like How to Stop a Nuclear War?
Yes: HyperNormalisation (2016), The War Game (1966) and Unthinkable (2010).
How are movies similar to How to Stop a Nuclear War chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside How to Stop a Nuclear War, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.