On the silver screen, Irish actor Cillian Murphy has played five soldiers in total, as well as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Even on television, he portrayed gangster and war hero Thomas Shelby in the hit series Peaky Blinders (2013–2022). No matter the medium, the greatest characters of Cillian's career (barring one or two) are of the soldier archetype. Mostly, he's put tremendous work into war movies.

Some of these were made by Cillian's greatest collaborator — English filmmaker Christopher Nolan — and a couple of other entries are among his greatest movies, as well. Though you're likely to recognize most of the titles on the list, some of these films could appear unfamiliar. Two were produced in Ireland, but they still hold name value for a certain corner of film fans. And still, they hold up well today. This is every war movie that features Cillian Murphy, ranked.

6 The Trench (1999)

The first war movie of Cillian's career came at the turn of the twenty-first century by way of The Trench (1999), directed by William Boyd from his own, original script. Though he didn't craft the deepest of plots that you'll read about today, Boyd nonetheless succeeded at creating a memorable atmosphere. Set during the last two days before the Battle of the Somme, the whole film takes place in the eponymous shelter, with brilliant sound design and careful camerawork highlighting The Trench until the fireworks of its finale.

A Committed Cast

However, perhaps most prominently worth noting would be the monumental efforts of its star-studded cast. Sure, Cillian's role as Pte. Rag Rookwood is supporting, not too important in the grand scheme of The Trench. But he did bring about the film's midpoint — spoilers: his soldiers often die in brutal and memorable fashion — and put forth a hilarious performance beforehand.

Along with co-stars Paul Nicholls, Daniel Craig, James D'Arcy, and Ben Whishaw, the actor at hand spent a night living in a replica trench to accurately paint the brutal pictures of war. Clearly, their efforts paid off. This is perhaps the most underrated war film of Cillian's acclaimed oeuvre, evident by its paucity of name value and mediocre response from critics. In hindsight, however, The Trench holds up just wonderfully. Stream on Prime Video.

5 Anthropoid (2016)

Directed by Sean Ellis with Anthony Frewin as his co-writer, Anthropoid (2016) features Cillian as a Czechoslovakian soldier by the name of Jozef Gabcik. Something of a forgotten hero of the Second World War, he and Jan Kubis orchestrated the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, one of the leading minds behind the Holocaust.

An Underrated Performance From Cillian

After his groundbreaking Tagalog film Metro Manilla (2013) received widespread praise from critics and film fans alike, a certain corner of audiences had their eyes on Sean Ellis. And with the greatest war actor of all time portraying his lead character therein, you'd think the hype would've lived up to those mighty expectations. But in spite of eliciting some of Cillian's best work, Ellis came up a bit short with his biographical war picture.

Upon release, Anthropoid deserved far more respect — it bombed at the box office, and was hardly favored by critics. It wasn't panned, or anything. But a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't quite do justice to the well-paced script by Ferwin, nor the keen direction from Ellis. They shone brilliant light on two key figures of WWII, and across the board, everyone among the cast and crew of Anthropoid should be lauded for their work. That includes Cillian Murphy. Stream on Max.

4 Cold Mountain (2003)

Here in Cold Mountain (2003) — written and directed by Anthony Minghella — the actor of the hour plays a Confederate soldier, named Bardolph. And although he appears for just a single scene throughout the lengthy runtime of Cold Mountain, he nonetheless performs with great emotion and a clear passion for the work.

A Forgotten War Epic

Although Cold Mountain has been thrown a bit too close to the wayside of contemporary relevance, Minghella without a doubt deserves credit for both adapting the script and directing the cast. Based on the 1997 novel of the same name, penned by Charles Frazier, its plot homes in on a man named Inman. He's played by Jude Law, and he kicks off the plot by fleeing his Confederate regiment during the American Civil War and setting out to return to his loved one.

Nicole Kidman shows up as the protagonist's love interest, named Ada, while other names include Natalie Portman and Brendan Gleeson. It's a stacked cast, and as impressive as their efforts may have been, the true star of Cold Mountain was perhaps Anthony Minghella. He'd previously made great waves in the war genre, like in the decade prior with The English Patient (1996). And although Cold Mountain with Cillian pales slightly in comparison to Minghella's first wartime endeavor, it still holds up wonderfully, more than 20 years later. Stream on FuboTV.

3 Oppenheimer (2023)

For his sixth performance under Christopher Nolan's direction — the lead in Oppenheimer (2023), a theoretical physicist — Cillian Murphy became the first Irish-born winner of Best Actor in Academy Award history. And justifiably so. He pulled out all the stops as the creator of the first atomic bomb, firing on all cylinders in an epic biographical picture alongside some all-time greats of Hollywood.

Leading an All-Star Cast

On top of Cillian's win at the Oscars, there was another winner among the cast: Robert Downey Jr., who walked away with a golden statuette for Best Supporting Actor. He performs brilliantly as Lewis Strauss, while Emily Blunt also steals a couple of scenes as Kitty, the wife of the protagonist. Like Cillian and Robert, that famous British actress was also nominated at the Oscars (for her, it was Best Supporting Actress), albeit to no avail.

Other members of the cast include Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Josh Hartnett, and until the explosive finale of Oppenheimer, each of those well-known thespians performs with the utmost respect for the history they brought to life. It's clear that everyone put in their research, including the auteur, Nolan. He crafted an intelligent script for Oppenheimer, and directed the overall product with each of the filmmaking techniques that put him on the map in the first place. As its numbers of success may suggest, this is an essential war film that stars Cillian Murphy. Rent on Apple TV.

Related: Einstein and the Bomb Fills in the Blanks Oppenheimer Left Out

2 Dunkirk (2017)