Finding a great action movie is occasionally a challenge on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. There are so many average or forgettable action flicks that the clutter outnumbers everything else.
This was true even before streaming took hold, because theatrically released action films have also been overshadowed by other movies.
The Watch With Us team has selected three underrated action movies you should watch in May, and the first two choices didn’t get much traction in theaters. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a second chance.
Our third selection is a classic Nicolas Cage action flick that just doesn’t get enough love. It’s so ridiculously over-the-top that it’s very enjoyable to watch.
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‘Overlord’ (2018)
Overlord may be the closest thing to a Wolfenstein movie, and it’s one of the wildest World War II flicks in recent memory. In the closing days of the war, Private First Class Edward Boyce (Jovan Adepo), Corporal Lewis Ford (Wyatt Russell), Private First Class Lyle Tibbet (John Magaro) and Private Morton Chase (Iain De Caestecker) are the only survivors of an attempt to sabotage a German radio-jamming tower in occupied France.
What the soldiers find is far more terrifying than they expected. The Germans are conducting experiments on the villagers and captured soldiers that can turn them into superhuman monstrosities. Although the troops do get help from a civilian, Chloe Laurent (Mathilde Ollivier), their situation is so desperate that they may have no other choice but to take the mutating serum themselves.
Overlord is streaming on Shudder.
‘This Means War’ (2012)
Franklin “FDR” Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck Hansen (Tom Hardy) are CIA agents and best friends in This Means War. Yet their friendship falls by the wayside the instant they fall for the same woman, Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon). Despite privately agreeing to let Lauren choose between them, Tuck and Franklin use their covert ops skills to sabotage each other’s efforts to win her heart.
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Lauren’s not entirely blameless in this situation, as she goes on multiple dates with both men and doesn’t disclose this to either guy. But she also didn’t expect her love life to become a battleground for two spies. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, a terrorist named Karl Heinrich (Til Schweiger) is out for revenge on Franklin and Tuck. And there’s no better way to get back at them than by going after the woman they love.
This Means War is streaming on Max.
‘Con Air’ (1997)
The only way Con Air could have been more of a prototypical ’90s action movie is if it was directed by Michael Bay. Simon West was the director, but it sure feels like a Bay film as Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) gets put into an unenviable situation. Poe spent eight years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after killing a man who threatened his family. Upon his scheduled release, Poe finds himself on a plane filled with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, including Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom (John Malkovich), Garland “The Marietta Mangler” Greene (Steve Buscemi) and Nathan “Diamond Dog” Jones (Ving Rhames).
Cyrus and the other inmates hijack the plane, and Poe is only spared because the prisoners think he’s one of them. All Poe wants to do is get back to his wife and child, but he can’t let these dangerous killers get away. Poe’s only ally on the ground is Vince Larkin (John Cusack), a U.S. Marshal who receives Poe’s unique distress message. But Poe’s only hope of ever seeing his family alive again is to maintain his cover among the criminals as long as he can.
Con Air is streaming on Hulu.
