The 16 best action movies on Amazon Prime Video right now

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Spike Lee finally won his overdue Oscar for adapting this stranger-than-fiction story of Ron Stallworth, the real-life Black detective who infiltrated his local chapter of the KKK in 1970s Colorado. Using fellow detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go undercover with the racist organization, Ron (John David Washington) carefully tries to expose them without detection. While the film is fraught with tension, it also has riotously funny moments, particularly when Ron convincingly impersonates a white man on the phone with KKK Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace). "Lee isn’t trying to observe niceties or be coy," observes EW's critic. "He wants to rub our noses in the ugliness of the now. These days, the stakes are too high for subtlety." —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch BlacKkKlansman: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Spike Lee

Cast: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace

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The Blues Brothers (1980)

An ode to stunt driving, blues music, and the city of Chicago, The Blues Brothers remains one of Saturday Night Live’s most successful cinematic exports. Jake and Elwood Blues — characters developed on the show by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd respectively — are brothers who decide to reunite their old band in the hopes of raising enough money to save a local orphanage. The only musical comedy to feature Nazis and Aretha Franklin in prominent roles, The Blues Brothers was one of the most expensive comedies ever made at the time of its release, but the production value paid off in spades, with critics raving about the film’s musical numbers and city-wide car chases. Released less than two years before Belushi’s death, The Blues Brothers marked the pinnacle of the actor’s movie career, and remains a cult favorite among comedy and musical lovers. —Ilana Gordon

Where to watch The Blues Brothers: Amazon Prime Video through June 30

Director: John Landis

Cast: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, Henry Gibson

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The Courier (2021)

It’s hard to produce a compelling action movie about the Cold War — a period primarily recognized for its sustained periods of inaction — but The Courier pulls it off. A film based on the true story of a British businessman who was recruited by the CIA to act as an intermediary between the States and a Russian informant, The Courier stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Merab Ninidze as two men from very different worlds, brought together by a desire to help stave off nuclear war. EW’s critic notes that the story is “at its best when it colors outside the black and white (or Communist red, as it were) lines of war and hones in on the real, fallible men and women who fight it, one quiet inglorious step at a time.” —I.G. 

Where to watch The Courier: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Dominic Cooke

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Jessie Buckley, Angus Wright

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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

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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

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The Great Escape (1963)

An epic World War II classic highlighting the resiliency of the human spirit, The Great Escape is a 1963 adventure film directed by John Sturges and starring an ensemble cast led by Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, and James Garner. Loosely based on the true story of a mass escape of British soldiers from a German POW camp — and crafted with many narrative concessions intended to appease American viewing audiences — the action unfolds like a heist movie as a group of soldiers plots to free 250 men from detention at great risk to their lives. The film was mostly overlooked on the awards circuit, only winning one Oscar for Best Film Editing, but it was a hit at the box office and with critics and remains one of the most enduring WWII films to this day. —I.G.

Where to watch The Great Escape: Amazon Prime Video

Director: John Sturges

Cast: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn

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Interstellar (2014)

In the year 2067, the question of "what are we going to eat tonight" becomes slightly more pressing as a famine sweeps the globe. Determined to cast a wider net in humanity's search for sustenance, a group of NASA scientists travel to space to investigate three planets that could potentially prove hospitable for humans. A film by Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a sci-fi drama that doubles as a love story between a father (Matthew McConaughey) and his daughter (played at different points by Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, and Ellen Burstyn). In the grand Nolan tradition, Interstellar fools around with time and space, but it's the film's visuals that prove most revelatory. "Christopher Nolan would be derelict if he didn't take gargantuan risks," EW's reviewer writes. "It's good for us that he does." —I.G.

Where to watch Interstellar: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Mackenzie Foy, Michael Caine

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The Lost City of Z (2017)

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

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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

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No Country for Old Men (2007)

Crime thriller No Country for Old Men boasts an impressive cast list, but the true star of the film is the silence that pervades the viewing experience. A film by the Coen brothers, No Country doesn’t offer much in the way of dialogue, but the things that are said are potent enough to make your hair stand on end. A former EW critic writes that the film “is the Coens’ first movie in ages that doesn’t rely on snark as a backup source of energy, the first Coen script that respects its own characters wholeheartedly, without a wink.” Those characters include Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hunter who discovers the remains of a drug bust gone wrong, and makes off with the cash left behind. Pursued by the law, a bounty hunter, and a psychopathic hitman with a pageboy haircut, Llewelyn’s choice to take the cash puts everything he’s ever loved at risk. Adapted from the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men is well worth your time, but beware: You’ll never look at a coin toss the same way again. —I.G.

Where to watch No Country for Old Men: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Directors: The Coen brothers

Cast: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Javier Bardem

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The Patriot (2000)

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

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Polite Society (2023)

Ria (Priya Kansara) is a British-Pakistani teenager living in London with dreams of becoming a stuntwoman. But Ria’s fantasies are suddenly put on hold when her sister Lena falls for a geneticist whose family is harboring suspicious intentions. A genre-bending fight movie reminiscent of Richard Curtis comedies and David Cronenberg body horror, Polite Society is a delightful melding of Bollywood and British sensibilities, with tremendous fight sequences thrown in for good measure. If you like your action movies beautifully shot and infused with infectious spirit, you’ll love Polite Society. —I.G.    

Where to watch Polite Society: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Nida Manzoor

Cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya

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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

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Thelma & Louise (1991)

Coming out of the ‘80s, a decade littered with buddy cop films (whether they be human or canine) audiences were refreshed when they entered theaters in 1991 for a different take on the genre. Thelma & Louise was a subversion of everything that had come before: a female-centered film about two best friends (Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) leaving for a fishing getaway only to have their plans altered after a murderous run in with a would-be rapist. As they flee the law, they confront a series of unsavory men — including one played by a young actor named Brad Pitt, who used his breakout role and his intimate scene with Davis’ character to establish himself as a ‘90s sex symbol. In their review, an EW critic writes, “At once extravagant and shallow, hilarious and glib, mythical and weirdly synthetic, this flamboyant saga of outlaw heroines on the run exerts a cracked fascination.” If you’re looking for a cinematic classic that combines comedy, character development, and increasing forays into violence and criminality with female bonding and mutually assured self-destruction, then Thelma & Louise is a can’t-miss. —I.G.

Where to watch Thelma & Louise: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Brad Pitt

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Titanic (1997)

The recent and tragic implosion of the Titan submersible proves, yet again, that the allure of the Titanic cannot be denied. The same can be said for James Cameron’s cinematic adaptation of the event, a more than three-hour epic that layers a fictional love story on top of a historical catastrophe, tracing the ship’s trajectory from world class vessel to its final resting place at the bottom of the North Atlantic. Enriched by real-life characters and true accounts, Cameron’s Titanic made Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet household names, revolutionized modern filmmaking, and featured a banger of a Celine Dion ballad. A tale of love and loss, classism and delusion, Titanic is more than worthy of the 11 Academy Awards it took home. The “Ship of Dreams” may never have made it to shore, but the film commemorating its doomed voyage deserves to be watched by any self-respecting action or romance fan. —I.G.       

Where to watch Titanic: Amazon Prime Video 

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: James Cameron 

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner, Bill Paxton

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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

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris

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