The 20 best action movies on Amazon Prime Video right now
From franchise favorites to Oscar winners, here are the most thrilling features on the streamer.
Scott Garfield/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett; Alan Markfield/TriStar/Sony; Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett
Channing Tatum in '21 Jump Street'; Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 'Looper'; Natalie Portman in 'V for Vendetta'If you're looking for an action-packed romp to keep you entertained at home, Amazon Prime Video has you covered. The streamer boasts an excellent selection of films featuring all the explosions, stunt sequences, and car chases one could dream of. Whether you're feeling a beloved Best Picture winner (Saving Private Ryan) or a box office favorite (Top Gun: Maverick), Amazon Prime Video delivers on demand.
21 Jump Street (2012)
Scott Garfield/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in '21 Jump Street'Revived from the hit ‘80s TV show starring Johnny Depp, the film version of 21 Jump Street has been reconfigured for the new millennium. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as Schmidt and Jenko, police partners with opposite personalities and a common goal: to infiltrate a local high school and stop the spread of HFS — a synthetic drug better known on the streets as "Holy Fucking S---.” Featuring Dave Franco as a student drug dealer, and Brie Larson as the girl Schmidt can’t stop thinking about, 21 Jump Street is particularly notable for giving Tatum the opportunity to put his impressive comedic abilities on display, instead of just his abs. —Ilana Gordon
Where to watch 21 Jump Street: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: A (read the review)
Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube
The Beekeeper (2024)
Amazon MGM Studios
Jason Statham in 'The Beekeeper'Jason Statham keeps bees, takes names, and kicks ass in the new action film, The Beekeeper. Armed with the best kind of nonsense premise — Statham plays Adam Clay, a member of the Beekeepers, a clandestine human intelligence group charged with protecting United States citizens — who decides to exact vengeance upon the scammers who ripped off his neighbor.
The film gives Clay any number of potential opps to battle, but most exciting is a well-connected executive named Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson, no longer a teenager trying to survive The Hunger Games). Thrilling, action-packed, and employing the highest number of bee actors since The Secret Life of Bees, The Beekeeper is the ideal film for Statham stans. —I.G.
Where to watch The Beekeeper: Amazon Prime Video
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Phylicia Rashad, Jeremy Irons
Related: Yes, Jason Statham learned how to be a beekeeper for The Beekeeper
Creed III (2023)
Michael B. Jordan makes his directorial debut in Creed III, the third installment in the Creed spinoff story and the ninth in the overall Rocky saga. Now a husband and father, the recently retired Adonis Creed finds his comfortable world shaken up after an old friend is released from prison and re-enters both his personal life and the boxing arena with a vengeance.
It's fair to say that Creed III doesn't reinvent the franchise or the genre, but the film’s linear predictability isn’t an argument against watching the movie. As EW’s critic points out, “Formula isn't just a selling point, it's what we came for: Give us long odds and underdogs, adversity and triumph; let the details sweat the rest.” —I.G.
Where to watch Creed III: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Wood Harris, Mila Davis-Kent, Florian Munteanu, Phylicia Rashad
Related: Tessa Thompson says Michael B. Jordan wouldn't let her dress like a goth in Creed III
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
This adaptation of the iconic tabletop game is more fun than it had any right to be. Even if you’re not a Dungeon master, you’ll get a kick out of this rollicking ensemble comedy, which gets a great deal of mileage from its pitch-perfect blockbuster structure.
As EW's writer notes, "The fantasy elements are played straight, and the central story is a relatable romp about how people who fail as individuals can still succeed together. A little cheesy, maybe, but why not roll the dice?" —Declan Gallagher
Where to watch Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Regé-Jean Page
Related: How Dungeons & Dragons pulled off the Wild Shape escape: 'It was a lofty endeavor'
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023)
Christopher Raphael/MGM/Courtesy of Everett
Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim in 'Guy Ritchie's The Covenant'The naming convention for Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant ensures that everyone knows exactly whose movie this is, but the plot and execution offer more restraint and nuance than the title. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as John Kinley, a U.S. Army Green Beret master sergeant serving in the War in Afghanistan, who forms a forever bond with his Afghan interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim) after Ahmed saves his life.
Set during the waning years of the United States’ involvement in the conflict, Ritchie was inspired by a documentary detailing the camaraderie between American soldiers and their Afghan translators, as well as the vacuum created for these interpreters after the U.S. pulled out of the country, leaving them and their families as vulnerable targets for the Taliban. Beautifully acted, with a morally and historically compelling epicenter, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is a modern war movie that raises modern war questions. —I.G.
Where to watch Guy Ritchie's The Covenant: Amazon Prime Video
Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Antony Starr, Alexander Ludwig, Sean Sagar, Bobby Schofield, Emily Beecham, Jonny Lee Miller
Related: Why Guy Ritchie went to war for Jake Gyllenhaal-starring The Covenant
Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 (2003, 2004)
Miramax/courtesy Everett (2)
Uma Thurman in 'Kill Bill: Volume 1'; David Carradine in 'Kill Bill: Volume 2'Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts action opus and homage to grindhouse cinema, Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 are two of the director's most beloved projects. An assassin known as the Bride (Uma Thurman) has spent four years in a coma after nearly dying on her wedding day, and now that she's awake, she has a hit list to attend to.
Over the course of the two-part saga, the Bride seeks revenge from those on her kill list, finishing with a rendezvous with Bill (David Carradine), the father of her baby. Vengeance arrives in many forms during the franchise (some of them eyeball related), but as EW’s critic at the time writes about the second film, “it’s the journey taken by Uma Thurman’s Bride from indestructible heroine to open-hearted woman that matters.” —I.G.
Where to watch Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2: Amazon Prime Video through Sept. 29
EW grade: N/A (read the review for Volume 1)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks
Related: Why wasn't Michelle Yeoh in Kill Bill? She asked Quentin Tarantino the same question
Looper (2012)
Before Rian Johnson helmed his Knives Out franchise and Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi (much to some people's dismay, but not ours), he made his first big splash with this 2012 head-scratcher. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does his best Bruce Willis impression as "looper" Joe, a time traveler who comes face-to-face with his future self (Willis for real this time). Old Joe has come to the past to kill the mother of a young boy, who the present Joe has his own reasons for defending, pitting two different versions of the same self against each other.
If you're a fan of time travel movies, there are enough cross-linear "grandfather paradoxes" (shout-out to The Umbrella Academy season three) here to keep you up nights, but that doesn't take any of the fun out of Looper's one-of-a-kind timeline-skewing action. —Gwen Ihnat
Where to watch Looper: Amazon Prime Video through Sept. 29
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels
Related: Celebrate Bruce Willis' career with these 5 classic film performances
The Lost City of Z (2017)
Aidan Monaghan/Bleecker Street Media/Everett
Charlie Hunnam and Tom Holland in 'The Lost City of Z'James Gray’s film, adapted from Killers of the Flower Moon author David Grann’s nonfiction book, is a cracking old-fashioned adventure yarn. The Lost City of Z stars Charlie Hunnam as fabled explorer Percy Fawcett, who discovers a previously unknown civilization during a trek into the Amazon jungle — but when his interest in his work begins to border on obsession, Fawcett finds himself struggling to maintain his relationships with his wife and children.
The film was chosen to close the New York Film Festival in 2016, and while it was overlooked by audiences during its time in theaters, the film found favor with most critics. —D.G.
Where to watch The Lost City of Z: Amazon Prime Video
Director: James Gray
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Ian McDiarmid
Related: Charlie Hunnam went Method and ignored his girlfriend for The Lost City of Z
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Sometimes in life it’s best to hire professionals. This is true for plumbing installation, and also for late 19th-century farmers looking to protect themselves from a nefarious oil tycoon (Peter Sarsgaard). Such is the story in The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 action film by the same name (which in turn was a Westernized reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 epic, Seven Samurai).
In the 2016 version, the town hires a U.S. Marshal (Denzel Washington) to deal with the encroachers, and he goes to work, recruiting a team of six oddballs, each with a specific set of skills. The Magnificent Seven isn’t a perfect movie, but in many ways, the remake is an improvement over the original. Some of the characters skew one-dimensional, but EW’s critic writes that it is heartening to “see a wild bunch so genuinely diverse on screen — the days of the otherwise great Eli Wallach playing the 1960 film’s villain in blatant brownface are far behind us, thankfully.” —I.G.
Where to watch The Magnificent Seven: Amazon Prime Video (leaving Amazon on September 29)
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Peter Sarsgaard
Related: Chris Pratt goes fishing in Magnificent Seven deleted scene
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)
Somehow, the Mission: Impossible films just keep getting better, as improbable as that seems. There are many highlights of 2015's Rogue Nation, but since Tom Cruise doggedly insists on still doing his own stunts, our favorite moment is when he kicks off the movie by clinging to a plane mid-liftoff. (Note: not CGI!) As Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team go after an anti-IMF Syndicate, they're aided by an equally impressive undercover agent (Rebecca Ferguson), who has some amazing fight scenes of her own.
"...Like all Mission: Impossible films (of which there's yet to be a dud), it's not so much about the outcome as it is the breathlessly thrilling journey Cruise takes us on to get there," writes EW's critic. —Gwen Ihnat
Where to watch Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin
Related: Every Tom Cruise film performance, ranked
The Patriot (2000)
Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Mel Gibson in 'The Patriot'The screenwriter behind Saving Private Ryan and the director behind Independence Day team up for The Patriot, an epic action film set during the Revolutionary War. Mel Gibson stars as a former war hero forced back onto the battlefield and into Taken mode after one of his sons (played by Heath Ledger) is captured by the British.
A singularly turn-of-the-century blockbuster, the film is ultranationalistic and eschews historical realities in favor of extended battle sequences and heavy production value, but EW’s critic at the time writes that the movie’s “second hour, in which father and son come to know each other as men through word and deed, carries far more weight than any way cool shot of a cannonball carrying off a soldier’s head.” —I.G.
Where to watch The Patriot: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs
Related: I Am Heath Ledger: 15 things we learned from the Spike TV documentary
Platoon (1986)
Orion/Courtesy of Everett
Charlie Sheen in 'Platoon'Platoon is the first film in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam trilogy and it is the first film to be directed by a veteran of the Vietnam War. Released 11 years after the conflict ended, Platoon was acclaimed by critics and veterans for its portrayal of the violence, and can be commonly found on lists aggregating the best films of the 1980s.
A dramatic success thanks to load-bearing performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen, Platoon cleaned up at the Oscars, winning awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Film Editing and Sound, but it’s the story’s harrowing plot and visuals that stick with people. EW’s critic notes that Stone is “the only director to continually rush into the haunted house of our national nightmare, Vietnam, and shine a flashlight.” —I.G.
Where to watch Platoon: Amazon Prime Video (leaving Amazon on September 29)
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen
Related: Pedro Pascal 'cried so hard' watching Platoon as a kid that his dad sent him out of the theater
Quantum of Solace (2008)
When 2006’s Casino Royale ended, James Bond (Daniel Craig) was left in Siena, Italy, processing the death of his lover Vesper Lynd, and preparing to seek vengeance. He finds the latter in Quantum of Solace, which takes Bond all over the world as he searches for the truth about QUANTUM, an elite and dangerous organization with agents seemingly everywhere. As he travels from London and Haiti to Bolivia and Russia, Bond manages to piss off more than a few people — including his boss, M (Judi Dench) — who has grown weary of his short temper and violent outbursts.
The second of Craig’s five films as the infamous British Secret Service agent, Quantum of Solace showcases a Bond with an attitude problem, and while it generally scores near the bottom of Craig’s Bond movie rankings, Quantum is still a well-choreographed action thriller, complete with all the frills and spectacle audiences have come to expect from the franchise. —I.G.
Where to watch Quantum of Solace: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, Judi Dench
Related: Daniel Craig's James Bond movies, ranked
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Miramax Films/Courtesy Everett
(From left to right) Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth, and Steve Buscemi in 'Reservoir Dogs'Eight gangsters walk into a Los Angeles diner and argue over appropriate tipping etiquette. So begins Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature film, Reservoir Dogs, one of the all-time great independent movies and a film student favorite. The thriller follows a colorful coterie of crooks who pull a diamond heist, only for the job to go sideways. With some members of the crew missing, and some presumed dead, the remaining thieves must determine whether or not they were set up — and which of their number betrayed them.
Even with Tarantino’s career still in its infancy, his gifts as a writer and director are on full display here. Also visible in their inchoate form are Tarantino’s dexterity with dialogue and subversive delight in folding comedic nuggets into even the most violent of scenes. While the settings and production value give a slight nod to the film’s low budget, the high concept premise and impressive execution make it a must-see, even for the Tarantino averse. —I.G.
Where to watch Reservoir Dogs: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Edward Bunker, Quentin Tarantino
Related: Quentin Tarantino used residual earnings from Golden Girls appearance to make Reservoir Dogs
Rocky (1976)
It was in this movie that the world first met Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), a blue-collar Philly boy and amateur boxer with the heart of a champion and a dream of proving himself. When heavyweight title holder Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) selects Rocky to face him in a big time fight, it’s up to Rocky to show the world that you can never count out the underdog.
Also starring Talia Shire as Rocky’s girlfriend (Adrian of “Yo, Adrian” fame), Rocky is nostalgic, heartwarming, and endlessly quotable. Watching someone else do cardio never felt so empowering. —I.G.
Where to watch Rocky: Amazon Prime Video (leaving Amazon on September 29)
Director: John G. Avildsen
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Related: Sylvester Stallone returns to Philadelphia to commemorate inaugural Rocky Day: 'Keep punching'
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Everett
Tom Sizemore and Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan'Steven Spielberg’s triumph in battle cinematography hooks viewers from the jump with a 24-minute sequence set on Omaha beach in Normandy. But it’s the rest of the film — a sweeping epic about the indignities of war and the strength of the human spirit — that won it praise from critics, viewers, and veterans. Still considered a career triumph for Spielberg and star Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan lost the Oscar for Best Picture to Shakespeare in Love, but the film won in redefining how filmmakers depict and discuss World War II.
As EW’s critic writes, the film is “staggering virtuosity and raw lyric power, a masterpiece of terror, chaos, blood, and courage. More than Coppola, Stone, or Kubrick, all of whom apotheosized the druggy morass of Vietnam, Spielberg has captured the hair-trigger instability of modern combat.” —I.G.
Where to watch Saving Private Ryan: Amazon Prime Video (leaving Amazon on September 29)
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Matt Damon
Related: The 22 best World War II movies of all time
Skyfall (2012)
Agent 007 (Daniel Craig) returns from the dead in Skyfall, the 23rd Bond movie, and Craig’s third outing in the role. After London’s MI6 building is bombed, James Bond resurfaces to help M (Judi Dench) out and is tasked with killing a mercenary with access to top secret MI6 information, and tracking down his cyberterrorist employer (the film’s villain, played by Javier Bardem).
Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris reprise their roles of Gareth Mallory and Eve Moneypenny, and the film includes one of the most tear-inducing deaths in all of the 007 canon. (In their review, an EW critic calls the film “an elegy and a mission statement.”) Directed by Sam Mendes and featuring an original Adele song written specifically for the opening credits, you’ll finish Skyfall feeling titillated, shaken, and stirred. —I.G.
Where to watch Skyfall: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Judi Dench
Related: Skyfall producer says studio wanted to cut homoerotic line from Bond movie
The Tomorrow War (2021)
As if today’s geopolitical conflicts weren’t complicated enough, in The Tomorrow War, the world must unite and travel to the future to defeat the aliens creating an existential threat to humanity. The stakes are high, and there are the usual interpersonal fights to sort out amongst all the battles with intergalactic creatures. Chris Pratt stars as a biology teacher and Iraq War veteran whose military experience and personal ties help him survive his time fighting aliens.
As far as the tonal spectrum is concerned, the film leans more comedy than thriller, thanks in large part to its supporting cast of comedic actors and eccentric characters. EW’s critic writes that “Director Chris McKay (Robot Chicken, The LEGO Batman Movie) has forged his career in absurdist comedy, and the movie is best when it lets its weirdo flag fly.” —I.G.
Where to watch The Tomorrow War: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B– (read the review)
Director: Chris McKay
Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge
Related: How The Tomorrow War produced a terrifying alien invader 'that was dangerous in any form'
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Being an action movie fan is all about compartmentalizing their dubious politics. Such is the case in Joseph Kosinski’s rocket-powered Top Gun sequel. It finds Maverick (Tom Cruise) returning to the flight school where he made his name to train a new band of recruits and battle against an unspecified enemy.
Released 36 years after the original film, EW's critic writes that Top Gun: Maverick "both elides and celebrates in a movie whose bright stripes and broad strokes feel somehow bombastic and tenderheartedly nostalgic at the same time." —D.G.
Where to watch Top Gun: Maverick: Amazon Prime Video (leaving Amazon on September 22)
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris
Related: Glen Powell confirms he's got a Top Gun 3 start date
V for Vendetta (2006)
Remember, remember, the 5th of November. Anarchy faces off against fascism in V for Vendetta, a sci-fi action thriller set in a dystopian version of the U.K. When the Norsefire political party, known for jailing and executing anyone in the population considered "undesirable," find themselves unable to contain V (Hugo Weaving), an anarchist terrorist on a personal mission to disrupt their policies, the police are instructed to stop him by any means necessary. V's revolutionary antics — meant to provide hope for the populace and stir them into rebellion — find a more intimate audience in Evey (Natalie Portman), a fearful young woman whose parents were killed after they opposed the government in the early days of the Norsefire regime.
After Evey repeatedly finds herself enmeshed in V's activities, she discovers a strength within — but will her evolution and V's elaborate plans be enough to spring the U.K. from Norsefire's stranglehold? A cross between 1984 and The Matrix (courtesy of the Wachowskis, who wrote the screenplay), V for Vendetta is an action movie with a fine-tuned political message. —I.G.
Where to watch V for Vendetta: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: James McTeigue
Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt
Related: The 20 best psychological horror movies of all time, ranked
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
