Whether they’re intricately plotted with characters you really care about, or totally dumb with all the senseless explosions and shoot-outs you crave, one thing’s for sure: action movies rule. Here’s Rory Doherty’s list of the absolute best action hits available to stream on NOW right, well, now.
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Assassin Club (2023)
Watch on NOWHenry Golding plays a reclusive but still appropriately charming hired killer in this low-budget conspiracy action film, where a ruthless assassin discovers he and other best-in-the-business killers have all been tasked with offing one another. It’s assassin vs assassin, spurred on by a smirking Sam Neill, and what Assassin Club lacks in polish it makes up for with regularly scheduled violence and a delightfully hammy action plot played completely straight. Golding for Bond, anyone?
Bad Boys (1995)
Watch on NOWMichael Bay graduated from music videos to… well, extended music videos with the first Bad Boys film, pairing Martin Lawrence and Will Smith to form a buddy cop duo with unmatched levels of chemistry. They’re sleazy, foul-mouthed, and not fans of the drudgery of police bureaucracy—and so very, very 90s. They fight in nightclubs, airhangers, and on Miami’s highways, usually with a deluge of yelling and gunfire. They also call themselves bad boys, because why wouldn’t they?
Bad Boys II (2003)
Watch on NOWThis sequel is where, as Lawrence himself states, shit got real. Everything is bigger, more outrageous, more obnoxious—and somehow completely superior to the first. The action scenes are dialled up to an incredible level, but in the 8 years since the first film, Bay has learned how to focus the camera so it never gets overwhelming. Lawrence and Smith are again on top form, together with a surprise badass turn from Gabrielle Union.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Watch on NOWSanding away Jason Statham’s desire to be seen as a realistic tough bloke and instead casting him as a sociopathic war machine, David Ayer’s comeback after ten years of critical flops delivers bone-crunching, knife-gouging fights and takes itself exactly the right amount of seriously. Statham is a secret agent who comes out of retirement to wage a self-elected mission of vengeance on society’s corrupt, and not even a bleach blond Josh Hutcherson can stand in his way.
Big Game (2014)
Watch on NOWThis Finnish film makes the most unlikely buddy-hero pairing: Samuel L. Jackson (as the President) with a teenage Finnish boy. After the president crash lands in Lapland, he has to team up with a young but resourceful hunter to stop all sorts of 90s-era baddies hunting him down. The action is knowingly ridiculous and our heroes are winning enough to make this low-budget romp more than a cheap throwback—despite the frozen setting, it packs some heat.
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Watch on NOWA war film less interested in meditating on the nature of conflict and more in dropping you into the warzone without a chance of escape, Ridley Scott brought to life a disastrous US Marine raid in the heart of the Somali Civil War. The ensemble cast is full to the brim with young 2000s contemporary and future stars, but the film is most notable for not letting up the explosive combat once it kicks off. A constant fight for survival.
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Watch on NOWOver two decades ago, we were asked to believe in a new action hero… Matt Damon. A new amnesiac American antihero is dropped overseas with only an impulse to survive left intact. Robert Ludlum novels had been adapted before, but never as successfully as this trilogy, kicked off with stellar thriller filmmaking from Doug Liman. The chases and fights are always gripping, from a silent clamber down an embassy building or a violent fistfight armed with only a pen.
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Watch on NOWBourne is back, with a different director. Paul Greengrass took over the reins to inject the trilogy with his trademark disorienting shaky-cam, as tragedy coaxes Bourne out of a life of tranquillity and back into the action. It’s a great action movie premise—never poke a sleeping lion. Faced up against an agent played by Karl Urban, Supremacy has some of the series’ most thrilling fights mixed in with its most intense phone calls (they’re equally as exciting).
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Watch on NOWJust because you pushed Jason Bourne back out into the open, doesn’t mean he’s any easier to catch. Surveillance plays a big part in this trilogy closer, with lots of agents watching Bourne’s lethalness unfold on rows of TV screens. Greengrass’ shaky-cam style is better suited to the close-quarters thriller sequences in train stations and apartment buildings—it’s undoubtedly the most confident Bourne film to date, delivering on the audience’s unanswered questions as well as their desire for espionage action.
Bullet Train (2022)
Watch on NowIt wouldn’t be a David Leitch film without ironic gags, dynamic whip-pans, and full-throttle close-combat action sequences—Bullet Train tops it all off with indulgent but welcome cameos and many, many improvised weapons as a high-speed Japanese train full of eclectic and deranged killers hurtle towards a bloody destiny. With Leitch, Brad Pitt reunites with his Fight Club stunt double and Deadpool 2 cameo director, proving he’s still an able and committed action star in a post-John Wick world.
Gods of Egypt (2016)
Watch on NOWAlex Proyas, the man behind Dark City and The Crow, is definitely not happy making films we feel like we’ve seen before. His expansive, crazy-brained war-of-the-gods in ancient Egypt may initially elicit laughter for its outlandish CG, characters of all different sizes, and hammy performances—but these are just the icing on the cake for a relentlessly imaginative and bombastic action fantasy. In terms of big-swinging spectacle, this makes Clash of the Titans look like a playground scuffle.
John Wick (2014)
Watch on NOWIt’s the little movie that could, the pulsating thriller that exceeded everyone’s expectations. This franchise-starter from former stuntmen Chad Stahelski and David Leitch revitalised gun-fu, action choreography, and Keanu Reeves in the mainstream, and is bar none the most influential action film of the past ten years. On top of that, it’s still an incredible ride, propelling former assassin Wick onwards towards a satisfying vengeance that, as the sequels unpack, has disastrous consequences.
John Wick – Chapter Two (2017)
Watch on NOWThis is where things get taken up a notch. Chapter Two in the saga of Mr Wick’s spiralling, bloody chaotic life set a new benchmark for scale, style, and smackdowns, and it’s been the blueprint that the sequels have been following since. The formula for a nail-biting John Wick series seems to be “reduce the amount that John is in control in the first movie” until he is basically helpless for 2+ hours – a recipe for great fun.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Watch on NOWBehold! You’d think it would be difficult to imagine how Jurassic Park awed its 1993 audience, but watching it now still inspires the same jaw-dropping wonder in today’s audiences. As a director, Spielberg is all about staging: he knows how to build dread and anticipation, when to drop your big monster money shot, and how to up the stakes to intolerable levels. Jurassic Park is a survival movie of the most fantastical variety, and relentlessly good fun.
The Matrix (1999)
Watch on NOWThere’s a fair few action movie game-changers on this list, but none were more influential than this techno-spectacle vision of a hellish future that still affects the ways audiences view the world around them. Besides all the keenly observed social and political theories banded around the film, the action from Lana and Lilly Wachowski is pulse-pounding, impeccable entertainment, gathering international influences and talented stunt-performers for some next-level badassery. The gunfights are terrific, but nothing beats the martial arts duelling.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023)
Watch on NOWThe follow-up to Fallout had a lot to live up to, and it chose to emulate where the franchise began to meet those lofty goals. Expect Brian De Palma’s trademark canted angles, elongated suspense sequences, and Henry Czerny as top agent Eugene Kittridge. This also means the plot is needlessly convoluted, but Cruise and McQ know exactly how to ramp up energy across several moving parts and not slow down til the very end.
Oldboy (2003)
Watch on NowA mastery of ultraviolence, Park Chan-wook’s international breakout hit recently celebrated its 20 year anniversary and still feels a cut ahead of most revenge films. The story of an average man imprisoned without knowing why and being set forth to seek his own grisly type of vengeance packs unspeakable twists, live octopus digestion, and a legendary hallway hammer fight into its tight two hour runtime. It’s a darkly comic and cutting-edge thrill ride.
Polite Society (2023)
Watch on NowWe Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor further combined coming-of-age drama with action thrills in her feature directorial debut, which injects martial arts action and supervillain plots into a story of British-Pakistani sisters feeling conflicted about the elder sibling marrying a rich young bachelor. With a main character being kung-fu movie obsessed and a stuntwoman in training, Polite Society features everyday characters breaking out into fights whenever words won’t quite do. It’s a culturally-specific and heartfelt romp.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992)
Watch on NOWOne of the slickest, tightest, and downright awesomest action films of all-time, Judgment Day saw Arnold be back in all his monotonous lethality, but here on the side of justice against a cold-liquid-metal-blooded police officer sent to annihilate the past. If the 30-plus years since this movie’s release have proved anything, it’s that James Cameron doesn’t see a bigger budget as a reason to get back, but a challenge to deliver something audiences haven’t seen yet. T2 is no exception.
Top Gun (1986)
Watch on NOWThe “legacy” sequel dominated box office and awards conversations in 2022, leading a lot of people back to the glimmering slice of 80s cheese that is the original. A shameless slice of Navy propaganda, Top Gun pushed the boat out with its air combat spectacle sequences, which still retain a lot of their original juice thanks to director Tony Scott’s incredibly proficient technical team. If you haven’t caught up with it yet, see if it takes your breath away.
Warcraft: The Beginning (2016)
Watch on NOWThe first live-action adaptation of the mega-successive MMORPG World of Warcraft had the unenviable task of capturing the scope of Azaroth in all its… massively multiplayer-ness. The fact that it worked as well as this is a pleasant surprise! The brewing tensions between orcs and humans are undeniably ropey at points, but when you see the big-swinging fantasy battles—combined with some really impressive effects work—it’s hard not to be sucked in.
The Woman King (2022)
Watch on NowAfter spinning Netflix gold with the slickly directed The Old Guard, Gina Prince-Bythewood saw sterling success with this historical blockbuster about an all-female African warrior guard during the era of European imperial conquest. Complicated questions concerning slavery and exploitation arise as the Viola Davis-led militia must protect their kingdom, with standout performances in the charismatic and compelling ensemble from Davis, Lashana Lynch and John Boyega. Most importantly, the action is shot and performed tremendously on the historical battlefield.
Titles are added and removed from his page to reflect changes to the Now catalogue. Reviews no longer available on this page can be found here.
