It is 1999 and Sierra Leone is ravaged by major political unrest. Rebel factions such as the Revolutionary United Front frequently terrorize the countryside, intimidating Mende locals and enslaving many to harvest diamonds, which fund their increasingly successful war effort. One such unfortunate is fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) from Shenge, who has been assigned to a workforce overseen by Captain Poison (David Harewood), a ruthless warlord.
The film is based on the life of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, who conquered Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia and part of ancient India. Shown are some of the key moments of Alexander's youth, his invasion of the mighty Persian Empire and his death. It also outlines his early life, including his difficult relationship with his father Philip II of Macedonia, his strained feeling towards his mother Olympias, the unification of the Greek city-states and the two Kingdoms (Macedonia and Epirus) under the Hellenic League, and the conquest of the Persian Empire in 331 BC. It also details his plans to reform his empire and the attempts he made to reach the end of the then known world.
In 1957 Brooklyn, New York, Rudolf Abel retrieves a secret message from a park bench and reads it just before FBI agents burst into his rented room. He prevents discovery of the message, but other evidence in the room leads to his arrest and prosecution as a Soviet spy.
The film opens showing Louis "Louie" Zamperini flying as a bombardier of a United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber, during an April 1943 bombing mission against the Japanese-held island of Nauru. The plane is badly damaged in combat, with a number of the crew injured. The hydraulics of the plane are shot and damaged, but the pilot, Phil, manages to bring it to a stop at the end of the runway thanks to a flat tire.
The film begins with Ron Kovic's childhood during the summer of 1961 in Massapequa, Long Island, New York. He plays war in the woods, attends a Fourth of July parade, plays and wins at a local neighborhood baseball game, and watches President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, which later inspires him to enlist in the Marines.
Sick of the betrayals the United States government has perpetrated on the Native Americans, Colonel William Ludlow retires with his family to a remote part of Montana with One Stab, a Cree friend, where they build a ranch. Accompanying them are hired hand Decker, who's an outlaw; Decker's Cree wife, Pet; and their daughter, Isabel Two. Ludlow's wife Isabel, who does not adapt to the harsh winters, at first leaves for the winter to come back during the summer. One spring she doesn't return and moves to the East Coast. As much as her sons love her, it's Tristan that is most affected by her abandonment and he vows never to speak of her again.
In post-Soviet Russia, civil war erupts as a result of armed conflict in Chechnya. Military units, loyal to Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Radchenko, have taken control of a nuclear missile installation and are threatening nuclear war if either the American or Russian governments attempt to confront him.
In 1943 during World War II, the Allies are making good progress driving back the Axis powers in Italy. However, Frank Stokes (George Clooney) persuades the American President that victory will have little meaning if the artistic treasures of Western civilization are lost in the fighting. Stokes is directed to assemble an Army unit nicknamed the "Monuments Men", comprising seven museum directors, curators, and art historians to both guide Allied units and search for stolen art to return it to its rightful owners.
In 1970, during the Vietnam War, Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) has gone insane and now commands his own Montagnard troops inside neutral Cambodia as a demi-god. U.S. Army Captain and special operations veteran Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) is tasked with terminating the Colonel's command with extreme prejudice.
In Afghanistan, Taliban leader Ahmad Shah is responsible for killing over twenty United States Marines, as well as villagers and refugees who were aiding American forces. In response to these killings, a United States Navy SEALs unit is ordered to execute a counter-insurgent mission to capture Shah. As part of the mission, a four-man SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team is tasked with locating Shah. These four SEALs include team leader Michael P. "Murph" Murphy; snipers Marcus Luttrell and Matthew "Axe" Axelson; and communications specialist Danny Dietz.
After the Japanese surrender following World War II, the People's Liberation Army must retake areas overrun by bandits who have raided the Japanese arsenals. Shao Jianbo, known by his codename Captain 203 after his unit, commands a group of 30 men. They are out of food and low on ammunition. One of their problems is resolved when they defeat a group of bandits dressed as the PLA who are guarding stores of ammunition. Reinforcements arrive via train in the form of Yang Zirong and Bai Ru, a combat medic, who are warmly greeted when they bring food. Captain 203 leads his men to the village raided by the bandits. Along the way, they meet a young boy who lost his family to bandit attacks. Though he initially distrusts the PLA soldiers, he warms to them after they rescue him from a bandit spy in the village.
In 1967, Chris Taylor has dropped out of college, enlisted in the U.S. Army and volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam. Assigned to a Bravo Company in the 25th Infantry Division near the Cambodian border, he is quickly worn down by the exhausting conditions, and his enthusiasm for the war wanes. One night his unit is set upon by a group of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, who retreat after a brief confrontation. New recruit Gardner is killed while another soldier, Tex, is maimed by friendly fire. Taylor is reprimanded by the ruthless Staff Sergeant Barnes for falling asleep during watch, after being implicated by one of the veterans. Taylor eventually gains acceptance from a tight-knit group in his unit who socialize and use drugs in a bunker clubhouse at their base. He finds mentors in King and the honorable Sergeant Elias and becomes friends with other soldiers, including Lerner, Rhah, and Manny.
One night, an American special forces team invades Saddam Hussein's (Haleva) palace and a nearby prison camp to rescue captured soldiers from Operation Desert Storm and to eliminate Saddam, but they find the Iraqis prepared for them, and the entire rescue team is captured. This failed operation turns out to be the latest in a series of rescue attempts which were foiled by the Iraqis, and consequently the advisors of President Benson (Admiral Benson in the previous film, played by Bridges) suspect sabotage in their own ranks. Colonel Denton Walters (Crenna) suggests to gain the aid of war hero Topper Harley (Sheen) for the next mission, but Topper has retired from the Navy and become a Buddhist in a small Thai village. Walters and Michelle Huddleston (Bakke), CIA, arrive and try to persuade him to come out of retirement in order to rescue the imprisoned soldiers and the previous rescue parties.
In 2003, Maya, a young U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officer, has spent her entire brief career, since graduating from college and being recruited for the agency, focused solely on gathering intelligence related to Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, following the terrorist organization's attack on the United States in 2001. She is reassigned to the U.S. embassy in Pakistan to work with a fellow officer, Dan. During the first months of her assignment, Maya often accompanies Dan to a black site for his continuing interrogation of Ammar al-Baluchi, a detainee with suspected links to several of the hijackers in the September 11 attacks. Dan subjects the detainee to approved interrogation techniques, i.e., stress positions, hooding, subjection to deafening noise, sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and humiliation. After failing to get al-Baluchi to give up information on an attack in Saudi Arabia, he and Maya eventually trick Ammar into divulging that an old acquaintance, who is using the alias Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, is working as a personal courier for bin Laden. Other detainees corroborate this, with some claiming Abu Ahmed delivers messages between bin Laden and a man known as Abu Faraj al-Libbi. In 2005, Abu Faraj is apprehended by the CIA and local police in Pakistan. Maya is allowed to interrogate him, but he continues to deny knowing a courier with such a name. Maya interprets this as an attempt by Faraj to conceal the importance of Abu Ahmed.