Top 20 Special Forces Units From Movies

Top 20 Special Forces Units From Movies

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the screen’s most compelling special military teams. We’re keeping the terminology for special forces loose, including both real-life and fictional units.

#20: British Special Air Service [aka SAS]
“6 Days” (2017)

This thriller revolves around a real-life hostage situation that occurred at the Iranian Embassy from April 30 to May 5, 1980. Although a negotiator attempts to resolve the crisis as peacefully as possible, an SAS team led by Jamie Bell’s Rusty Firmin is waiting in the wings. As a couple of hostages are gradually released, this British Army unit prepares to storm the building once negotiations take a turn for the worse. Even with meticulous training, there are no guarantees when the SAS is finally given the order. They emerge with 24 of the 26 hostages alive and the terrorists thwarted. Although the SAS had been around since the 1940s, the Iranian Embassy siege brought them recognition like never before.

#19: The A-Team
“The A-Team” (2010)

“The A-Team” TV series was very much a product of the 80s, right down to the presence of Mr. T. A film version was in the works since the 90s, but it wouldn’t see the light of day until 2010. The material is thus altered to reflect more contemporary conflicts like the Iraq War. The film maintains the same basic premise, though, as a Special Forces team is sent on a mission that turns out to be a setup. To clear their names, our court-martialed heroes must go rogue. Each of these four men brings something unique to the table as they dodge the authorities while pursuing the truth. The action may be over-the-top, but we never doubt the comradery.

#18: Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595
“12 Strong” (2018)

The War in Afghanistan lasted nearly 20 years. Few imagined this would become the longest military conflict in U.S. history when the first troops arrived on October 7, 2001. “12 Strong” takes us back to the beginning. Mark Nutsch provided the basis for Mitch Nelson, a Green Beret Commander sent overseas with eleven other soldiers in the wake of the September 11th attacks. Significantly outnumbered, ODA 595 must work with the Northern Alliance to fight a common enemy. Adapting to the Middle Eastern terrain, the unit travels and battles on horseback, earning the nickname the Horse Soldiers. They risk capture, torture, and death on what would go down as a historic mission. Thankfully, all twelve return home after 23 unprecedented days.

#17: Delta Force
“Sicario” (2015)

Approached by the CIA, FBI Special Agent Kate Macer lends her skills to a Joint Task Force pursuing a Sonora Cartel lieutenant. Along with the CIA and United States Marshals, the team is comprised of Delta Force operators. Director Denis Villeneuve makes the audience feel as if they’re in combat alongside these characters. Little do many of them realize that one team member, a CIA assassin, has a personal vendetta against their target. Although the operation is a success on paper, Macer is among the few who know full the story, leaving her to question everything. While the film is primarily told from Macer’s perspective, Delta Force plays a pivotal role as the team enters one intense situation after another.

#16: U.S. Navy SEALs
“The Rock” (1996)

At Alcatraz, a U.S. general and his allies take civilians hostage with chemical weapons. In exchange for standing down, they demand the government deliver $100 million that will be dispersed among families of Marines who went unrecognized for their sacrifices. Although “The Rock” almost makes the audience sympathize with its villain, a line between right and wrong is drawn when the Navy SEALs arrive. Helmed by Commander Charles Anderson, the rescue team is eventually surrounded by the terrorists. Refusing to surrender, Anderson tries reminding the enemy what it means to wear a uniform. The team remains brave until the end when a shootout erupts. None survive, but hope still lies with an FBI chemical weapons expert and a former SAS captain.

#15: Task Force X
“The Suicide Squad” (2021)

This is easily our countdown’s most eccentric group with a humanoid shark, a woman who controls rats, and a guy covered in polka dots. To get a few years knocked off their sentences, these prisoners are sent on military missions with slim odds of survival. While even the most serious characters are pretty lighthearted, the stakes are real. The opening action set piece reveals why Task Force X is better known as the Suicide Squad. Echoing war movies from the '60s and '70s, when a team member dies, they stay dead… except for Peacemaker and Weasel. This band of misfits may seem wrong for the job… and they kind of are, but that strangely makes them the right ones to take down a starfish alien.

#14: SWAT
“The Raid: Redemption” (2011)

20 men, 15 floors of sheer chaos. From the moment this SWAT team arrives at a drug lord’s apartment block, “The Raid” never stops to take a breath. Neither do our characters as they fight through hallways of criminals and gunfire in pursuit of one seemingly untouchable man. We experience much of this mayhem through the eyes of Rama, a newcomer to the squad. That doesn’t mean he’s inexperienced. Whether packing a weapon or relying on his fists, Rama is relentless in the face of death. With a traitor in their midst, Rama finds himself surrounded by fewer team members as he ascends each floor. Rama has something the others don’t: a pregnant wife he’s determined to return home to.

#13: U.S. Navy SEALs
“American Sniper” (2014)

Serving four Iraq War tours, the late Chris Kyle had 160 confirmed kills during his military career. While “American Sniper” is his story, no Navy SEAL fights alone. In addition to the titular sniper, Clint Eastwood’s film honors Kyle’s brothers in arms. Kevin Lacz, a real-life Navy SEAL veteran and Kyle’s close friend, even served as a consultant on the film before being cast as himself. Although his fellow soldiers look up to him, Kyle doesn’t view himself as their superior. Even with his numerous honors, Kyle is fighting the same war as everyone else, both externally and internally. The film highlights what made Kyle special, but he also serves as an everyman who any veteran can identify with.

#12: U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal
“The Hurt Locker” (2008)

This Best Picture winner’s opening establishes how even the most routine days can suddenly turn disastrous for an Iraq War bomb disposal team. When the team leader dies, Staff Sergeant William James takes his place. Since an advanced bomb suit didn’t do his predecessor any favors, James sees no need to wear one in a situation that can go two ways. This is just one of the incidents that creates tension between James and Sergeant J.T. Sanborn, although both eventually learn to work as a unit. Where James has a son overseas, Sanborn has yet to lay down roots. By the end of their tour, though, Sanborn wants nothing more than to start a family while James can’t escape the only world he knows.

#11: Global Response Staff
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” (2016)

Set in 2012 Benghazi, this true story centers on a GRS team that comes from a varied military background, including Navy SEALs, Marines, and Army Rangers. The GRS team is tasked with protecting the CIA outpost Annex. Not far away is a U.S. diplomatic compound, which comes under attack on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Throughout the night, the team attempts to defend both locations, fending off waves of attackers. Although the film isn’t 13 hours long, it makes the audience feel the passage of time as the team attempts to survive the night. Between long stretches of nail-biting tension and combat, “13 Hours” finds room for quiet moments of humanity as the characters think about those waiting at home.

#10: U.S. Navy SEALs
“Tears of the Sun” (2003)

One of the United States’ most famous special forces units, the Navy SEALs are frequently tasked with high risk operations, like the search and rescue mission Bruce Willis leads in Tears of the Sun. Navigating difficult jungle terrain and needing to stay beneath enemy radar, the SEAL team is capable of both completing the rescue as well as remaining calm and rational when exchanging gunfire with rebel forces. The ability to make quick decisions based on the situation at hand, regardless of the original plan, is one of the qualities that makes the Navy SEALs such an effective fighting force here.

#9: SWAT
“S.W.A.T.” (2003)

A section of law enforcement that borders on the military, the Special Weapons And Tactics team in “S.W.A.T.” specializes in crimes that go beyond your standard hit and runs. Faced with a drug lord and violent confrontations with thugs, the SWAT team handles intense firefights and hostile situations that the regular LAPD is less equipped to deal with. Working long and demanding hours and unwilling to quit until the mission is completed, the LA SWAT team is built solidly enough to withstand extreme pressure from both the thugs trying to pick them off, and the betrayal that comes from within their own ranks.

#8: U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Sniper Team [aka FORECON]
“Shooter” (2007)

Typically sent behind enemy lines to perform covert special operations, the Force Recon Sniper Team contains some of the best snipers on the planet. In Shooter, Gunnery Sergeant Bob Lee Swagger, played by Mark Wahlberg, uses the finely honed skills he gained from his time within the FORECON Team to calculate his shots with laser accuracy, going so far as to even take into consideration the rotation of the earth. Able to act either as part of a team or alone if needed, the snipers within FORECON are lethal and effective, using careful calculations and advanced field knowledge to complete their mission, or in Swagger’s case, to clear their name.

#7: British Special Air Service [aka SAS]
“Bravo Two Zero” (1999)

Americans might have the flashiest names, but they're not the only player in the Special Forces game; the UK’s Special Air Service holds its own when it comes to covert ops behind enemy lines just as well. Charged with unconventional missions, like the locating of Iraqi Scud missiles in Bravo Two Zero, members of the SAS are trained to blend into challenging desert surroundings while eliminating insurgent forces as quickly and efficiently as possible. When faced with hostile situations such as firefights and even capture, the team led by Andy McNab calls upon the intense training the SAS is prepared with in order to keep the upper hand.

#6: U.S. Navy SEALs
“Act of Valor” (2012)

Demonstrating their adaptive ability to engage in combat regardless of location or situation, the SEAL team in Act of Valor moves from Costa Rica to Somalia to the U.S. Mexican border, to a myriad of American cities tracking their target. As the “SEAL” itself stands for Sea, Air, and Land, the team led by Lieutenant Rorke navigates intensive marine, aerial, and land-based combat situations with the same steely organization we’ve come to expect from some of America’s finest. The tight-knit brotherhood within the Bandito Platoon lets Rorke and the rest of the SEALs keep their mission and each other as top priority, regardless of the sacrifices it demands.

#5: Dutch’s Team
“Predator” (1987)

They’re the ones you call when even the Green Berets don’t come back. Responsible for undertaking high-risk missions like the rescue of hostages from guerrilla territory, Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer’s team utilizes camouflage, extensive weapons knowledge, and steely strength of will to navigate hostile territory even while being hunted. Using resourcefulness and problem-solving, this private military team constructs a variety of traps for the creature stalking them. Though they’re facing a sci-fi adversary in the film, it’s clear that this team’s skill in battle is a threat to more than just humans.

#4: Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais [aka BOPE]
“Elite Squad” (2007)

Similar to the American S.W.A.T teams, the BOPE units in Brazil are specialists in urban warfare and restricted combat zones, with access to more militaristic weaponry than the regular police force. Spending most of their time dealing with drug-related crimes in the slums of the inner city, Captain Roberto Nascimento’s team is hardened and stoic, forced through intensive physical and mental training to prove themselves and earn a place on the BOPE team. Faced with the corruption and temptation that riddle the police forces of Brazil, members of the BOPE squad are tried and tested, pushed to their limits to ensure that they are the one special forces unit the public can count on.

#3: Navy SEALs [aka SEAL Team 10]
“Lone Survivor” (2013)

Specializing in Middle Eastern Operations, SEAL Team 10 was tasked with assassinating Taliban leader Ahmad Shah during Operation Red Wings. Showing the same SEAL ability to retain humanity without compromising the focus of their mission as seen in a previous entry, the team in this war thriller decides to allow unarmed civilians to go free, though they realize the risk of alerting Taliban forces to their position. Forced to trek through rocky and difficult terrain while exchanging gunfire with insurgents, SEAL Team 10 not only relies on their formidable physical stamina, but also on the mental perseverance the doomed mission demands from them - showing once again that it takes more than facing the impossible to phase the SEALs.

#2: 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta [aka Delta Force]
“Black Hawk Down” (2002)

It’s often in the face of the greatest adversary that the bravest shine brightest. During the Battle of Mogadishu and following the crash of Black Hawk Super-Six One, an assembly of America’s elite Army Rangers works desperately to rescue the wounded crewmembers of the helicopter. Delta Force, specializing in counterterrorism and - in this film - sniper support, fights the clock and the odds against them, while waiting for reinforcements and a chance to initiate a rescue. In this movie, it’s the tenacity and discipline of Delta Force in the face of tragedy that set them apart, along with their determination to put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.

#1: United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group [aka SEAL Team Six and DEVGRU]
“Zero Dark Thirty” (2012)

Responsible for carrying out arguably the most famous Special Forces operation of all time, SEAL Team Six claims the successful assassination of Osama bin Laden. After an almost ten-year manhunt for the Al-Qaeda leader, DEVGRU teams assisted by the CIA SAD Division were sent in to raid a compound suspected to be housing bin Laden. As the U.S Navy’s primary counter-terrorism response unit and operating under the highest level of secrecy, with the White House or Department of Defense often declining to comment on the unit’s activities, the DEVGRU operatives were able to both breach the Al-Qaeda compound and complete the mission with relative smoothness, ending a tiny chapter in the global book of terrorism.

Which special forces team do you admire the most? Let us know in the comments.