This post originally appeared on the DVD Netflix blog “Inside the Envelope.” That company folded in 2023, and the blog was shut down. I’ve provided info on where to watch these films in 2026.
Prior to September 11, 2001, terrorism was something most Americans saw in movies or on the news. They had been shaken by the 1993 truck bombing below the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Six people died and more than a thousand were injured, but the terrorists were caught and convicted, and Americans fell back into an ignorant sense of security. The world’s terrorist activities were someone else’s problem, with attacks carried out far away from United States soil. Car bombings, embassy bombings, and suicide bombings made the news, but they barely touched U.S. citizens’ conversations.
The War on Terror, or the Global War on Terrorism, began soon after the towers fell, and it wages still, nearly 20 years later. In the 2000s, movies about terrorism were popular, but the audiences were now keenly aware that they were not immune from attacks. Here are five films involving terrorism, made in the 2000s, worth seeing.
Black Hawk Down – 2001 (Prime)
Based on the true story of a 1993 mission to war-torn Somalia, U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team are sent to destabilize the government and aid the victims of famine. When their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, they must fight back against hundreds of Somali gunmen and find their way to safety. Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor star.
Twin Towers– 2003 (Amazon)
This Oscar-winning, short-subject documentary chronicles the way the Harlem police dealt with the chaos after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center towers. It focuses on two brothers, one a policeman and the other a firefighter, and their heroic actions that day.
Munich– 2005 (Prime)
Steven Spielberg directed this 164-minute film about the kidnap and murder of eleven Israeli athletes by terrorists during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Following the tragedy, the Israeli government recruits a team of special agents to track down the culprits responsible for the athletes’ murders.
World Trade Center – 2006 (Prime)
In this tense docu-drama, two Port Authority police officers are trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center, and rescue teams try desperately to save them. John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Michael Peña) had been working to evacuate the towers when the South Tower collapses on to them. The two men fight to stay alive until help arrives.
Body of Lies– 2008 (Prime)
Based on a David Ignatius novel, this nail biter follows two CIA agents (Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe) as they try to take down an underground terrorist network in Jordan. The terrorists have gone old school, throwing away their computers and communicating face-to-face with each other. Now, the agents must use their wit to outsmart the terrorists.
