Here’s some good news: Right now, Netflix is host to a virtual library of heart-pounding action films from around the world! We want to help you make your next selection to stream at home, so we’ve selected the best.
Whether you’re looking to take a new home theater setup for a test drive, or if you’re just searching for an armrest-gripping good time, we recommend these action-packed favorites!
These are the 15 best, most exciting action movies you can watch on Netflix right now.
1. The Indiana Jones series
They’re all here, from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Created by George Lucas as an homage to 1930s serials and directed by Steven Spielberg, these movies have a way of bringing out the kid in anyone who watches them. The black sheep of this series, Temple of Doom, deserves more attention and praise than it gets. It’s arguably even more preposterously entertaining than Raiders, and it’s so terrifying it inspired the MPAA to create the PG-13 rating. It holds up as a rollercoaster blast.
In 2003, The American Film Institute named Harrison Ford‘s hilarious, sexy and valiant, fedora-sporting professor Jones the second-greatest film hero ever, behind only Gregory Peck‘s Atticus Finch.
Spielberg and Ford are both returning for the forthcoming, as-of-yet untitled fifth installment that’s rumored to start shooting in 2020.
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
A classic that fully deserves its reputation, Ang Lee‘s wuxia (that’s a genre of Chinese martial-arts fiction set in ancient China) drama has electrifying stunt work–and more importantly, it tells a heartfelt, romantic story about morality and courage.
Crouching Tiger was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture. It won four, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.
The Netflix-original sequel, also available to stream, is nowhere near as great, but it does boast a return from the mighty Michelle Yeoh.
Related: Parade.com’s Review of Shadow
3. The Legend of a Drunken Master (1994)
This sequel to 1978’s Drunken Master is widely considered, in no uncertain terms, to be one of the best action comedies in history. It’s essential Hong Kong cinema, and one of the brightest spots in the illustrious career of Jackie Chan, who here reprises the role of martial-arts expert Wong Fei-hung. The movie is filled with stunning, virtuoso physical feats, but the final 20-minute sequence will floor you. As an added bonus, this movie is laugh-out-loud funny, too.
Time Magazine named this one of the 100 best movies [from any genre] ever made.
4. Wanted (2008)
Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy star in this popcorn thriller about a lonely, anxiety-ridden office worker who discovers he’s the son of a notorious assassin. Roger Ebert said:
“Here’s an action picture that’s exhausting in its relentless violence and its ingenuity in inventing new ways to attack, defend, ambush and annihilate.”
Earning nearly $350 million worldwide, Wanted was a considerable box-office success, especially considering its R rating. A sequel was rumored for quite some time, but ultimately never came to fruition.
5. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
An inspired blend of Looney Tunes, Chinese wuxia films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and an R-rating, Stephen Chow‘s martial-arts opus is a triumph that transcends language barriers.
Kung Fu Hustle received critical acclaim upon release, and was a financial success. It was re-released in 3D in Asia and America on its tenth anniversary.
Related: The 15 Best, Funniest Comedies on Netflix
6. Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008)
Nothing less than two of the most influential movies of this century so far, the first two (and some would say, the best) installments of Christopher Nolan‘s landmark trilogy have no shortage of heart-stopping thrills. Eight years after bat-nipples and other lamentable shenanigans in Batman & Robin threatened to end this franchise forever, Batman Begins brought grit and character back to Gotham. There’s undeniably some of the DNA of Martin Scorsese‘s crime movies and Michael Mann‘s Heat in the mix. It’s as much a crime saga as a superhero picture, and the action, favoring real stunts over a CGI headache, is killer.
The Dark Knight is even better. It features Heath Ledger‘s immortal, Oscar-winning turn as The Joker, and that car chase (the one with truck-flip) will still make your jaw hit your shoes over a decade later.
7. Get Smart (2008)
Though it’s not the genuinely great comic thriller it could have been, this adaptation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry‘s James Bond-spoofing TV show has an admirably balanced laughs-to-action ratio, and it boasts billion-watt charismatic leads: Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell. The plot wobbles on occasion, but if you’re just looking for some agreeable, sometimes exciting and consistently amusing entertainment, Get Smart shouldn’t disappoint.
8. Incredibles 2 (2018)
Incredibles 2 arguably matches its predecessor’s wit and sunny irreverence, and in terms of sheer, giddy watchability. The wizard Brad Bird is in top form here. Incredibles 2 doesn’t quite have the patiently developed heart and emotional oomph that made the original one of Pixar’s crown jewels, but thanks to over a decade’s worth of advancements in technology, the action is arguably even more kinetic and thrilling.
Related: Craig T. Nelson Talks Recovery, Life Lessons and Random Acts of Kindness
9. Miami Vice (2006)
Extremely underrated upon release, Michael Mann‘s neon and blood-soaked update of the NBC crime drama is an arthouse movie at heart. Don’t worry: it’s a lot of fun, too. The shootouts are breathlessly staged, and Mann, who’s so good at filming this kind of thing he could probably do it in his sleep, artfully explores the boundaries and possibilities of digital video (still fairly new for Hollywood at the time).
Time Out magazine even named this one of the 100 greatest action movies ever made. Miami Vice deserves a modern reassessment.
Related: Parade.com’s 15 Best Movies of 2019 (So Far)
10. Train to Busan (2016)
A slam-dunk mash-up of genres from South Korea, Sang-ho Yeon’s Train to Busan is the freshest zombie film in at least a decade. Yoo Gong stars as a selfish workaholic who becomes trapped aboard a speeding train along with his estranged daughter and several strangers during an outbreak. No need to be wary of the subtitles, once Train to Busan gets warmed up, it never relents. Though the film is scary, gross, funny and sad–everything you want a zombie flick to be–it perhaps works best as an action film. Yeon stages set piece after thrilling set piece with kinetic energy and inventiveness that put several American summer blockbusters to shame. The biggest reason the movie clicks is the attention to character; this is a touching and well-acted father-daughter story, only with a lot of blood and guts as an added bonus.
Related: The 20 Best, Scariest Horror Movies on Netflix
11. Snowpiercer (2013)
Based on a French graphic novel, Korean director Bong Joon-ho‘s relentlessly paced action thriller is set aboard a speeding, globe-spanning train, carrying the last remnants of humanity after global warming has turned Earth into an iceberg. Snowpiercer received substantial critical acclaim, and stars Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton and Ed Harris. With a budget of $40 million, it remains the most expensive Korean production ever.
Related: The 15 Best, Most Suspenseful Thrillers on Netflix
12. V for Vendetta (2006)
Remember, remember… this critical and commercial success from 2006? This adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd‘s DC Comics series was a large-scale creative risk that mostly paid off. A dystopian UK-set thriller about a vigilante freedom fighter intent on overthrowing a fascist government, V for Vendetta was ahead of its time–especially for studio fare–for its affecting depiction of a sympathetic LGBTQ subplot. Hugo Weaving‘s performance as V has become fairly iconic, and the ever-reliable Natalie Portman won a Best Actress Saturn Award for her turn as working-class hero Evey.
Related: The 15 Greatest LGBTQ Romance Movies of All Time
13. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Though it isn’t as great on its own terms as Endgame, the Infinity Saga ended so well that it’s somehow made this penultimate Avengers movie even stronger than it was in 2018. The filmmakers were so organized and focused that the series arguably works better as a whole than as the sum of its parts. Infinity War has wonderful performances all across the board. The best are from Zoe Saldana and Josh Brolin, who give what is possibly the MCU’s richest plot thread a weight that at times feels downright Shakespearian. The battle of Wakanda near the end is pretty fun stuff, too.
Related: 5 Reasons Avengers: Endgame Became the Biggest Movie of All Time
14. Hellboy (2004)
Everything Guillermo del Toro touches becomes movie magic and that’s that. The young-at-heart imagination and skillful artistry of the Oscar winner is vibrant and intoxicating in this early success, which has a gleeful, delicious performance by Ron Perlman. Hellboy was followed by a superior sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Due to complicated behind-the-scenes stuff, what was intended to be a trilogy sadly never got its part three. A Hellboy reboot, without the Del Toro joy and wonder, came and went earlier this year. The less said about it, the better.
15. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Just as the battle between the Sith and the Jedi rages on, Episode VIII continues to face disparate fan response on the internet. Well, The Last Jedi is still as good as it was two years ago: the best Star Wars movie since Empire, a mammoth, captivating action/adventure sci-fi/fantasy film that’s rooted in character. The combat scenes–especially the blood-red, no-holds-barred throne-room sword fight–are downright heart-stopping. Will The Rise of Skywalker be able to match this for sheer thrills?
Action-packed honorable mentions on Netflix: Oscar winner Black Panther (2018), Vin Diesel in the lightweight but fairly entertaining XXX (2002).
Want an entire overview of what’s on the streaming service in August? Here’s a list of everything on Netflix right now.
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