The selection of action movies on Amazon Prime Video is so vast that it can seem endless. Action is one of the genres that thrives in low-budget indie productions, but there’s so much junk out there that the best films can easily go unnoticed. This is true of major studio releases too, and Prime Video has plenty of action movies across the spectrum of budget and scale.
The best action movies of any kind offer thrilling, well-crafted scenes with characters you care about. Whether those characters are fleeing massive explosions or battling a lone attacker in a dark room, a good action movie makes sure the audience knows what’s at stake. Here are five action movies on Prime Video that represent the best the genre has to offer.
“Top Gun: Maverick”
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It was reasonable that audiences would be skeptical about a sequel to the popular military action film Top Gun, which was released nearly 40 years later. But director Joseph Kosinski’s film is every bit as good as the original and often even surpasses it. Tom Cruise reprises the role of Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who has become a relic of a bygone era and refuses to change his ways. He returns to the Top Gun flight school to train a group of young elite pilots for a dangerous secret mission.
The sequel is full of homages and flashbacks, but it also acknowledges the passage of time, and it’s especially poignant when it gives Maverick a chance to take stock of his life. The intense aerial scenery, shot with the actors in real jets, is astonishing and has just enough emotional resonance to give it extra meaning.
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“Skyfall” – The return of evil
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The best James Bond film starring Daniel Craig is perhaps the best Bond film ever, a thrilling adventure around the globe that also explores Bond’s connection to his boss and mentor M (Judi Dench). Javier Bardem plays one of the most menacing villains in Bond history, a former MI6 agent bent on revenge against the colleagues he accuses of betrayal – especially M.
Director Sam Mendes stages breathtaking action sequences in various locations around the world, supported by the great cinematography of Oscar nominee Roger Deakins. By the time the film reaches its final showdown at the titular location, Bond’s abandoned childhood home, Mendes has deepened the core relationships so that there are real personal risks alongside the typical shootouts and explosions.
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‘The Bouncer’
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Jean-Claude Van Damme is better known for kicking and punching than for acting, but he digs deep into the title character’s pain and regret in this gritty thriller from French action auteur Julien Leclercq. It helps that Van Damme can speak in his native tongue, as a Belgian military veteran who takes a job at a seedy club that serves as a front for organized crime.
Van Damme’s Lukas is blackmailed into spying for the police. He reluctantly reports on his boss’s illegal activities, but all he really wants is to provide for his young daughter. Instead of the flashy action of classic Van Damme films, “Bodyguard” focuses on brutal, chaotic hand-to-hand combat, emphasizing the toll the violence takes on Lukas’ body and soul. It’s a late-career highlight for one of cinema’s greatest action heroes.
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‘jerk’
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Kate Beckinsale plays a character who somehow combines the snooty Lady Susan from the Jane Austen adaptation “Love & Friendship” with Jason Statham’s Chev Chelios from the “Crank” films. Beckinsale’s Lindy Lewis suffers from one of those rare diseases that only exist in the movies: she is something like the Hulk, becoming unnaturally strong and crazy when she gets angry, which is almost always. She wears a specially adapted device that can deliver a calming electric shock when her emotions threaten to overwhelm her.
When her boyfriend is killed by members of a major criminal organization, Lindy goes on a rampage while two cops try to keep her in check. Jolt is over-the-top and absurd, with kinetic, entertaining action and an endearingly nonsensical plot. Beckinsale holds it all together with a cheeky sense of humor and just the right amount of pathos.
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“The Magnificent Seven”
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Director Antoine Fuqua pays tribute to the classic western “The Magnificent Seven,” but effectively modernizes it with bigger, bolder action. It’s still the story of a group of bounty hunters who band together to save a small town from an evil robber baron (Peter Sarsgaard) who is terrorizing the residents. Denzel Washington, a frequent collaborator with Fuqua, leads the cast as a U.S. Marshal who rounds up the assorted drifters and outlaws to defend the town.
Fuqua plays to the strengths of his talented cast, which also includes Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio as crew members, and lets Sarsgaard loose as a borderline cartoonish villain. The film builds to a massive action climax that uses every corner, rooftop and hiding place in the city – a bombastic blockbuster version of the original film’s thrilling showdown.
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