10 Must-Watch Action Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now (May 2025)

Among the Daniel Craig James Bond movies, Spectre is an anomaly. It’s not quite as beloved as Casino Royale or Skyfall, but it’s not nearly as divisive as Quantum of Solace or No Time to Die. Instead, it’s just very good — a Bond movie that’s fun and a bit funny, with Craig channeling Roger Moore instead of Jason Bourne.

After getting kicked out of MI6 for not following orders, Bond goes on a mission to infiltrate a secret terrorist organization known only as Spectre. But the secrets that Bond uncovers may be too big for even him, and he’ll need the help of his old spy pals Q (Ben Whishaw), Monneypenny (Naomie Harris) and a new M (Ralph Fiennes, taking over from Judi Dench) to stop Spectre and its mysterious leader, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), from taking over the world.

The Mission: Impossible franchise is almost 30 years old, and each subsequent entry still can’t match the original’s irresistible combination of paranoid thriller and action spectacle. The Brian De Palma-directed movie remains the series’ best due to a stacked international cast, still-impressive special effects and a fun story that doesn’t make a lick of sense.

After most of his team is killed during a botched mission and all the blame is pinned on him, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) goes into hiding and recruits other disreputable spies to help him clear his tarnished name. That’s easier said than done, as whoever engineered the plot to frame Ethan also wants him dead. Can Ethan’s rogue IMF team find the culprit and restore his reputation?

Detective Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson) is sober and eager to stay out of trouble. But when a fellow AA member, Peter Kristo (Boyd Holbrook), asks him to find his brother’s missing wife, Matt can’t resist the urge to help. He soon regrets his altruistic nature,  as he is pulled into a conspiracy involving drug trafficking, blackmail and murder that could harm Matt and everyone he loves. Will Matt walk among the tombstones, or end up lying in one himself?

At first glance, A Walk Among the Tombstones looks like your typical Liam Neeson action movie, but the film is more somber and reflective than Taken or Non-Stop. That’s due to the writer/director, Scott Frank, who gives the movie the same intelligence and complexity he brought to his earlier works, like The Lookout and Out of Sight with George Clooney. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a terrific action movie with real gravitas — people get killed, and you feel the full weight of their bloody deaths.

Any reputable action movie list has to have a Liam Neeson film, and fortunately, In the Land of Saints and Sinners is one of the actor’s best. Neeson stars as Finbar Murphy, a veteran contract killer who is looking to quit. His retirement is on hold when he discovers that a young girl in his Irish village is being sexually abused by her uncle. He kills him, but that man belonged to the IRA and one of its leaders, Doireanne (Kerry Condon), doesn’t like it when someone kills one of her boys.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners could’ve been a cheesy Assassins knockoff, but because it’s set during the Troubles, the film has a more serious tone than its action movie brethren. Finbar loathes what he’s done for a living, and Neeson expertly conveys the man’s disgust with himself and others like him. 

After seeing his village burned down and his mother killed by corrupt police chief Rana (Sikandar Kher), Kid (Jatin Malik as Young Kid, Dev Patel as the older version) vows revenge. Years later, Kid works as an underground fighter to get closer to Rana, but after his failed assassination attempt, he’ll have to ally himself with the criminal underworld to avenge his mother and stop Rana for good.

Although Monkey Man’s plot is your stock revenge tale, the film’s visual style and on-location shooting in Indonesia sets it apart from the others. The movie embraces vibrant color and loud, thumping beats, and Patel, who also cowrote and directed the film, is an unexpectedly effective action hero. 

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a forensic accountant for criminals who uncovers suspected theft by examining their financial records. When he’s hired by Lamar and Rita Blackburn (John Lithgow and Jean Smart) to investigate potential fraud in their robotics company, he soon encounters various hitmen trying to prevent him from finding the culprit. Fortunately for Christian, and to the detriment of everyone else, this accountant also knows his way around a gun and will find the truth no matter what.

Released in 2016, The Accountant was a big enough hit to warrant a long-delayed sequel in 2025. Affleck is good as the autistic Christian, who doesn’t want to use violence unless it’s absolutely necessary. Anna Kendrick shows up as a peppy fellow accountant unaware of Christian’s extracurricular activities, and Lithgow is appropriately shady as the CEO who knows more than he’s letting on.

Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a meteorologist who used to chase tornadoes before a traumatic incident forced her to quit. Five years later, she’s persuaded by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) to do what she does best: cover dangerous storm systems and potentially save lives. But this time, she’ll have to team up with charismatic YouTuber Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) to overcome her past trauma and somehow make it out alive.

Twisters is a quasi-sequel to 1996’s Twister (none of the original actors make an appearance), but it has the same qualities that made that movie so appealing: two charismatic lead actors, a straightforward narrative and realistic special effects. The movie is good old-fashioned summer blockbuster fun, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a veteran Hollywood stuntman desperate for work. When his ex-girlfriend, film director Gail Meyer (Emily Blunt), hires him for her new action movie, Colt thinks his fortunes have improved. But when the film’s lead star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), mysteriously disappears, it’s up to Colt to find out what happened to him to save Gail’s movie — and maybe rekindle their romance. 

Based on a 1980s TV series few people remember, The Fall Guy is a breezy, lightweight action-comedy that is like Romancing the Stone but with a little more violence. Gosling and Blunt have indelible chemistry together, and the stunts are legitimately impressive. It’s the rare movie that will please both rom-com fans and action movie bros alike.

Before there was Alan Ritchson in Reacher, there was Tom Cruise in the two Jack Reacher movies. Those films were modest hits, but because the 5 ‘7 Cruise wasn’t as tall or big as the book version of the character, they were dismissed by some as not worthy. But Cruise excels at action, and he’s really good in the Jack Reacher sequel, Never Go Back. 

When Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) is charged with the murder of two Army soldiers, Reacher believes she’s innocent and the victim of a cover-up. When Reacher is himself framed for the murder of Turner’s lawyer, he teams up with her to escape prison and find whoever is behind the conspiracy.

Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a truck driver who stumbles into a kidnapping plot involving his best buddy Wang Chi’s (Dennis Dun) fiancee Miao Yin (Suzee Pai). Both men must save her from Lo Pan (James Hong), an ancient Chinese sorcerer who must sacrifice a green-eyed girl — Miao — to break an ancient curse. Jack isn’t going to let that happen, but how can a regular guy like him stand up to an eternal mystic with supernatural powers?

One of the best action-comedies around, Big Trouble in Little China is tremendous fun and a testament to Russell as an Everyman movie star. Directed by John Carpenter, the cult movie is filled with fights, car crashes and people blasting energy beams from their hands. It’s also very funny, and its overall silliness is irresistibly endearing.