Valiant One

When a US helicopter goes down near the Demilitarized Zone, a small band of survivors wakes up on the North Korean side with no reliable way to call for help. Captain Edward Brockman tries to keep his squad focused while they scramble to secure a civilian tech specialist who knows sensitive information that could inflame tensions if exposed. With no immediate support from their command, the group has to move quietly, make hard decisions about trust and sacrifice, and use whatever local knowledge and improvised tactics they can to cross hostile terrain and evade both military patrols and political fallout.

Valiant One was released in 2025, directed by Steve Barnett, and developed from an original concept by Daniel Myrick and Eric Tipton. The film leans on practical staging and on-location atmospherics to sell its high-stakes premise.

The movie saw a modest theatrical rollout and engaged genre audiences more than mainstream box office charts, no wide worldwide gross has been widely reported at the time of writing.

Critics gave mixed to positive marks, reflected in a 6.7/10 vote average from 97 users, praising tense set pieces and the chemistry among the leads while noting some familiar thriller beats. The film focuses on themes of loyalty, the fog of war, and the moral weight of split-second choices, keeping the pace lean and the moral questions present without overstating them.

Valiant One stirred discussion about portrayals of modern Korean tensions and how military thrillers handle geopolitics and civilian expertise in conflict zones. Viewers and commentators compared its tactical realism and character-driven moments to recent genre entries, and performances by Chase Stokes and Lana Condor were singled out for bringing warmth and grit to an otherwise stark, procedural story.