Action fans have plenty of options to choose from on Amazon’s Prime Video. Among the thousands of selections available on Prime Video are tons of great action movies — along with plenty of terrible ones, which makes it important to choose wisely when picking a movie to watch.
As a genre, action covers everything from big-budget blockbusters to scrappy independent productions. It encompasses effects-heavy spectacles with explosions and car crashes as well as gritty, close-quarters combat, and that leaves room to tell all kinds of stories.
Much of that range is reflected in the best action movies to watch right now on Prime Video. Here are three excellent selections that will get your pulse racing and maybe even have you jumping off your couch in excitement. For more recommendations, check out all the best new movies to stream right now.
'Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation'
The fifth “Mission: Impossible” movie is the first directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who became a key collaborator with star Tom Cruise and has directed every subsequent franchise installment. He demonstrates his understanding of the format right away, combining a labyrinthine espionage plot with the kind of astounding large-scale action set pieces that make audiences wonder how Cruise could possibly have survived performing his own stunts.
Those set pieces include Cruise’s IMF agent Ethan Hunt hanging off the side of a flying plane and infiltrating an underwater vault. McQuarrie incorporates the elaborate, risky stunts into a twisty spy story, bringing back characters played by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Jeremy Renner from the previous “Mission: Impossible” movies while introducing Rebecca Ferguson as franchise mainstay Ilsa Faust. It’s a thrilling introduction to a whole new “Mission: Impossible” era.
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'Gladiator'
“Are you not entertained?” disgraced Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) famously bellows at the crowd in this Oscar-winning epic, and it’s basically impossible not to be entertained by Maximus’ rise and fall and rise again, as he takes down the snivelingly evil Emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Even with very little basis in actual history, Ridley Scott’s film immerses the audience in ancient Rome, pitting the noble Maximus against the conniving usurper who killed his own father so he could take the crown.
Scott crafts a rousing combination of early ’00s Hollywood action blockbuster and old-school sword-and-sandal saga, with visceral fight scenes and a sweeping scope. Crowe commands the screen as he delivers memorably quotable lines, taking on all comers in the gladiatorial arena as Maximus pursues his quest for vengeance.
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'The Beekeeper'
This silly but entertaining revenge thriller is a prime example of what Jason Statham does particularly well, taking out a steady stream of bad guys with ruthless efficiency and a wry sense of humor. He plays a retired member of a secret elite organization known as the Beekeepers, who are so powerful and so dangerous that even the former head of the CIA (Jeremy Irons) is terrified of them.
Statham’s Adam Clay is attempting to live quietly off the grid as a literal beekeeper when his sweet elderly landlady (Phylicia Rashad) commits suicide after falling victim to an online scam. Adam takes out everyone involved in the fraudulent operation, all the way up to the smug rich bro (Josh Hutcherson) at the top, in a ridiculous but highly satisfying barrage of beatdowns and bee puns.
Watch on Prime Video
