25 Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now (August 2024)

August 8, 202410 Mins Read

Seeking explosive and thrilling entertainment from the comfort of home? 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 best, most exciting action movies you can watch on Netflix right now. We’ve even included some honorable mentions.

This list is regularly updated as films come and go from Netflix’s library.

Related: Every Marvel Movie, Ranked

Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now

Army of the Dead

Netflix

1. Army of the Dead (2021)

Hot on the heels of a long-in-gestation triumph with Zack Snyder‘s Justice League this spring, the fan-favorite director returns (without studio meddling) with a successor to his first (and arguably best) feature, 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead. Dave Bautista stars in the action/zombie/heist hybrid that’s already a ratings hit for the streamer.

Chris Hemsworth in “Extraction”

Netflix

2 & 3. Extraction (2020) & Extraction 2 (2023)

One of the most popular Netflix movies ever stars Chris Hemsworth as a notorious mercenary tasked with rescuing the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. Extraction has received mostly positive reviews, and debuted on Netflix to massive viewership. It’s sequel is bigger and badder with even more over-the-top action set pieces.

The Sleepover

Netflix

4. The Sleepover (2020)

Malin Akerman and Joe Manganiello star in this family-friendly Netflix original, about tween siblings who discover their seemingly normal mom is actually a badass in the witness protection program. The action comedy was directed by Trish She, with a screenplay by Sarah Rothschild. The Sleepover was a bona fide hit for Netflix, one of the top programs on the service since its release.

Project Power

Netflix

5. Project Power (2020)

Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in a Netflix original supernatural action thriller about a drug that gives its users temporary superpowers. Project Power garnered marginally positive reviews from critics, and it was Netflix’s top-streamed film in its debut weekend.

Triple Frontier

Netflix

6. Triple Frontier (2019)

A rather stunning A-list cast including Charlie Hunnam, Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal, Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund. All is Lost and A Most Violent Year helmer J.C. Chandor‘s thriller (story by Mark Boal) sees U.S. Army colleagues reunite for a heist of a South American crime lord.

The Old Guard

Netflix

7. The Old Guard (2020)

Greg Rucka adapted his own comic book for the screen, and Gina Prince-Bythewood directed this well-reviewed shoot-em-up. The ever-impressive and screen-commanding Charlize Theron stars alongside KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts and Chiwetel Ejiofor as an immortal mercenary out for vengeance.

Related: Best Family Movies on Netflix

Red Notice

Netflix

8. Red Notice (2021)

Netflix’s biggest movie ever received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, but continues to direct massive traffic for the streamer. Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot star in the comic actioner about an Interpol agent pursuing the world’s most wanted art thief.

Netflix

9. The Killer (2023)

In David Fincher‘s assassin drama, Michael Fassbender plays a hired killer who completes his work with methodical precision. When a job goes wrong, however, and the people who hired him are now trying to take him out, “the killer” must track down and murder the very people keeping him employed in order to save his own life. Several great action sequences and a few brilliant scenes with Tilda Swinton take the film to a whole new level.

The Apostle

XYZ/Netflix

10. The Apostle (2018)

The Raid director Gareth Evans‘ horror/action freakout rewards a deliberate buildup with some stomach-turning violence and gore in the final act. The turn-of-the-20th-century period piece stars Dan Stevens as an Englishman who infiltrates a remote cult to rescue his sister.

The Ice Road

Netflix

11. The Ice Road (2021)

Released late in the boom of Liam Neeson‘s formidable, leggy career comeback post-Taken, thoroughly implausible but fun The Ice Road stars the action favorite as an ice driver spearheading a rescue mission over frozen water. This Netflix hit is a modernized take on The Wages of Fear (famously adapted as Sorcerer in 1977).

IMAGO / ZUMA Wire

12. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Long before their was the Maya Erskine and Donald Glover TV series, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starred in this sexy, action-thriller about a pair of married assassins who only to realize the other’s secret when they’re each assigned to kill their spouse. Their white underwear looks are iconic, the fight scenes expertly choreographed and this is of course where “Brangelina” was formed.

Related: Every James Gunn Movie, Ranked

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Sony

13. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

By 2012, Spider-Man’s public image was in need of a makeover. Spider-Man 3 was unloved by fans and critics, and the 2011 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was repeatedly making international headlines, and not for the right reasons. The most expensive production in Broadway history, the show became a pop culture touchstone because of technical difficulties and serious injuries during its unprecedented 7-month, 182 performance preview period. After years of back-and-forth regarding a potential Spider-Man4, Sony ultimately made the decision to reboot the franchise a mere 10 years after the first film.

The film succeeds largely due to Garfield and Stone, who have the kind of chemistry you can’t put a price tag on. The Amazing Spider-Man was touted as a darker, grittier, more down-to-earth incarnation of Spidey.

RRR

Netflix

14. RRR (2022)

The Rs stand for rise, roar, revolt—and international audiences have certainly risen and roared in response to this crossover hit of South Indian cinema, now streaming on Netflix. An epic buddy action musical that’s sort of about real-life Indian revolutionaries and their struggle with the Raj, RRR is funny, bloody and kinetic, with a touching bromance between stars N.T. Rama Roa Jr. and Ram Charan. The VFX are outlandish but remarkably detailed and eye-popping. The film is genuinely spectacular for 187 minutes.

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Across the Spider-Verse

Sony/Marvel

15. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse burst into theaters back in 2018 and instantly staked its claim as one of the best animated films of the 2000s. Now, five years later, its sequel somehow has critics raving that its even better than the Oscar-winning original. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is back in the Spidey costume and this time he’s joined by hundreds of other Spider-beings as they try to fix deadly malfunctions within the multiverse. The animation here is more inventive than anything I’ve seen, the script is tight and the voice acting is pitch perfect. I would not want to be a film running in the Best Animated Feature category this year. Spider-Man is about to web-snatch another trophy.

The Woman King

Sony Pictures Entertainment

16. The Woman King (2022)

Viola Davis stars in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical action epic about the all-female warrior unit Agojie in 19th-century West Africa. The Woman King was criticized for taking liberties with history, but just as many critics marveled at the crackling, muscular filmmaking; the movie opened atop the domestic box office. Davis received S.A.G., BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations but was completely robbed of any Oscar nods.

Enola Holmes

Netflix

17. & 18. Enola Holmes (2020) & Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

Not all action films have to be for adults. Here’s a fun romp for the whole family. Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown leads these critically acclaimed Netflix exclusives based on the popular YA series by Nancy Springer. Brown plays the younger sister of Britain’s most famous detective; Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter appear in supporting roles. Originally planned as a Warner Bros. theatrical release, Enola Holmes was bought and redistributed for streaming in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and after its success a sequel was greenlit.

The Harder They Fall

Netflix

19. The Harder They Fall (2021)

The western, unfortunately, is a film genre that has long been dominated by white actors. Director Jeymes Samuel, however, is hoping to change that, and did so by creating an action-packed western starring nothing by talented Black actors. Oscar winner Regina King is joined by Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Deadwyler in this classic-style film in which the good guys ride into town and face off in a shoot-em-up with the baddies.

Da 5 Bloods

Netflix

20. Da 5 Bloods (2020)

The most recent film from visionary Oscar-winning director Spike Lee is set in two separate time periods in Vietnam—one in which a group of soldiers during the war find and stash a large supply of gold as young men; the other in which their older selves return to dig it up. While the film is a poignant meditation on aging and race, it also includes plenty of action sequences in both timelines as our heroes are beset by Vietnam soldiers in the past and mercenary bounty hunters in the present.

Cold Pursuit

Lionsgate

21. Cold Pursuit (2019)

This is the snowplow entry into Liam Neeson‘s set of vehicular, geriatric action films. Neeson plays a snowplow operator whose son dies of a heroine overdose, and as Neeson’s characters often do, he opts to get some vigilante justice by taking down the entire Denver drug cartel (often weaponizing his plow). The snowy action thriller sees Neeson driving around and severing bodies. For all its B-movie energy, it is a lot of fun and Laura Dern is randomly there as Neeson’s distraught wife. IDK why she signed on to this project, but it’s always good to see her.

Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future

FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Image

22.-24. Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future Part II (1989) & Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd star in Robert Zemeckis‘ special effects-heavy but character-focused sci-fi comedy smash that spawned a franchise. Marty McFly’s time-traveling adventure to meet his parents and ensure his existence was most recently adapted for the stage. The two sequels aren’t quite as good, but are still solid.