Clint Eastwood’s Radical "Brawny" War Epic Is Streaming for Free

4 days ago 12

Published Feb 7, 2026, 9:40 AM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Director Clint Eastwood hides a delicate heart beneath his stoic exterior. The films he directed in the last phase of his career prove it. While Eastwood delivered the biggest hit as a director during this period, like American Sniper, he also made some of his most experimental movies. The 15:17 to Paris, which was based on a real-life incident and featured the actual people involved as themselves, pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved in scripted filmmaking. Around a decade earlier, Eastwood conducted what remains the most ambitious experiment of his career. In 2006, he released two war epics centered around the same historical incident, but presented from different points of view. The movies focused on the human cost of war, and dared to humanize the people who've historically been portrayed as the enemy in American films.

The two films — Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima — were released within months of each other, but had nothing in common besides the crew working on them and their shared thematic concerns. Letters from Iwo Jima was set entirely in Japan, and featured a cast of Japanese actors. It grossed about $70 million worldwide on a reported $19 million budget. Flags of Our Fathers grossed nearly $70 million but had a much higher reported budget of $90 million. The movie is now streaming for free in the United States, which gives fans of war movies a great opportunity to check it out. It holds a "Certified Fresh" 76% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "Flags of Our Fathers is both a fascinating look at heroism, both earned and manufactured, and a well-filmed salute to the men who fought at the battle of Iwo Jima."

Here's Where You Can Watch 'Flags of Our Fathers'

A review published in The Palm Beach Post described the movie as "brawny" and praised Eastwood for highlighting aspects of war that go unnoticed, such as the public relations machinery behind it and the necessity of civilian support. Its Japanese counterpart, on the other hand, holds a superior 91% Rotten Tomatoes score and was nominated for four Oscars. Starring Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford, Flags of Our Fathers is streaming on Pluto TV this month.

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