The selection of action movies on Amazon Prime Video is so massive that it can seem endless. Action is one of the genres that thrive in low-budget indie productions, but there’s so much junk available that the best movies can easily go unnoticed. That applies to major studio releases, too, and Prime Video has plenty of action movies across the entire spectrum of budget and scale.
The best action movies of any type offer rousing, well-crafted set pieces, featuring characters worth caring about. Whether those characters are fleeing massive explosions or fighting off a single assailant 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 that the genre has to offer.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’
It was reasonable for audiences to be skeptical about a sequel to the beloved military action movie “Top Gun” released nearly 40 years later, but director Joseph Kosinski’s film matches and even frequently surpasses the original. Tom Cruise reprises his role as Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, now a sort of relic of a past era who refuses to change his ways. He returns to the Top Gun flight school to train a group of elite young pilots for a dangerous covert mission.
The sequel is full of tributes and callbacks, but it also acknowledges the passage of time, and it’s most affecting when it gives Maverick a chance to take stock of his life. The intense aerial action, shot with the actors inside real jets, is astounding, and there’s just enough emotional resonance to give it extra meaning.
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‘Skyfall’
The best James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig may just be the best Bond movie overall, a thrilling globe-trotting adventure that also explores Bond’s connection with his boss and mentor M (Judi Dench). Javier Bardem plays one of the most menacing villains in Bond history, a former MI6 agent who is out for revenge against the colleagues he accuses of betraying him — especially M.
Director Sam Mendes stages breathtaking action sequences in various locations around the world, aided by gorgeous cinematography from the Oscar-nominated Roger Deakins. By the time the movie reaches the final showdown at the title location, Bond’s abandoned childhood home, Mendes has deepened the core relationships so that there are genuine personal stakes to the typical gunplay and explosions.
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‘The Bouncer’
Jean-Claude Van Damme is known more for kicking and punching than for acting, but he digs deep into the pain and regret of the title character in this gritty thriller from French action auteur Julien Leclercq. It helps that Van Damme gets to speak in his native language, as a Belgian military veteran who takes a job in a shady club that serves as a front for organized crime.
Blackmailed into spying for the police, Van Damme’s Lukas reluctantly reports on his boss’ illegal activities, but all he really wants is to provide for his young daughter. Rather than the flashy action of vintage Van Damme movies, “The Bodyguard” focuses on brutal, messy close-quarters combat, emphasizing the toll that 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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‘Jolt’
Kate Beckinsale plays a character who somehow combines her snooty Lady Susan from the Jane Austen adaptation “Love & Friendship” and Jason Statham’s Chev Chelios from the “Crank” movies. Beckinsale’s Lindy Lewis has one of those rare conditions that only exist in movies: She’s sort of like the Hulk, becoming unnaturally strong and unhinged whenever she gets angry, which is nearly all the time. She wears a custom-fitted device that can deliver a calming electric shock if her emotions threaten to overtake her.
When her boyfriend gets killed by members of a big-time criminal organization, Lindy goes on a rampage, while a pair of cops try to rein her in. “Jolt” is over-the-top and absurd, with kinetic, fun action and an endearingly nonsensical plot. Beckinsale holds it together with a cheeky sense of humor and just the right amount of pathos.
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‘The Magnificent Seven’
Director Antoine Fuqua pays tribute to classic Western “The Magnificent Seven” while effectively updating it with bigger, bolder action. It’s still the story of a group of bounty hunters teaming up to save a small town from an evil robber baron (Peter Sarsgaard) who’s terrorizing the local residents. Frequent Fuqua collaborator Denzel Washington leads the cast as a U.S. Marshal who gathers the disparate drifters and outlaws to defend the town.
Fuqua plays to the strengths of his talented cast, including Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio as other members of the crew, letting Sarsgaard cut loose as the borderline-cartoonish villain. The movie builds to a massive action climax that makes use of every corner, roof and hiding place in the town, in a bombastic blockbuster version of the original movie’s tense showdown.
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