The Best Action Movies to Watch on Netflix Right Now

Stream these super-entertaining films guaranteed to boost your adrenaline (and popcorn consumption)

Chris Nashawaty,

AARP

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Published January 21, 2026

N T Rama Rao Junior and Ram Charan in a scene from R R R

N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan in "RRR."

Raftar Creations/Courtesy Everett Collection

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a great action movie, but you don’t need to check the multiplex for the latest release. Netflix has an expansive library of films full of thrills, explosions, car chases and lots of popcorn-chomping fun. Here are the best of the bunch streaming now, so buckle up and get ready for some rock ’em, sock ’em cinematic fireworks.

RRR (2022)

An out-of-nowhere sensation when it debuted on Netflix, this action import from India is pure eye candy. Set in the 1920s, when the country was chafing under British colonial rule, RRR tells the epic tale of two men (N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan) who join forces to fight back against the crown. Yes, it’s three hours long, but the running time zips by thanks to the film’s soap-opera plot twists, showstopping volleys of gravity-defying stunts and rousing musical numbers. Action-movie escapism doesn’t come more over the top than this. You won’t believe your eyes.

Extraction 2 (2023)

Honestly, this punishing popcorn roller coaster ride is way better than it needs to be. In this sequel to the 2020 original, Chris Hemsworth returns as the perfectly named Tyler Rake — a black ops mercenary who mows down an army of imposing Soviet-bloc goons while attempting to bust a Georgian mobster’s wife and son out of prison. If you’re a fan of ornately choreographed hand-to-hand punch-ups and muddy jail-yard brawls, or if you’ve just always wondered who would win in a battle between a train and a helicopter, this is the ticket for you.

The Mother (2023)

Two decades after she established her action-movie bona fides with 2002’s Enough, Jennifer Lopez returned to the genre at age 54, looking pretty much exactly like she did back then. In this Netflix revenge flick, the ripped and ruthless Lopez plays an assassin whose deadly line of work once forced her to give up her daughter. But now her enemies have kidnapped her child and, well, you don’t want to cross Mama Bear, especially when she can crank out one-armed pull-ups with the same ease she uses to squeeze the trigger on her sniper’s rifle.

The Terminator (1984)

There’s no bigger name in the Hollywood action-movie genre than Arnold Schwarzenegger, 78. But back in the early ’80s, the box-office titan was regarded as a bit of a punchline — a hulking Austrian with a thick accent and limited range. Director James Cameron’s The Terminator changed all that. A low-budget affair, this mind-bender about a robotic killing machine (guess who) traveling back in time to alter humanity’s future is a master class in suspense that’s smarter than it has any right to be. This is the precise moment one the biggest superstars on the planet was born. When it’s done, cue up Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which is also on Netflix.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

The marriage of Brad Pitt, 62, and Angelina Jolie, 50, may not have lasted, but their A-list partnership did produce something timeless: this deliriously clever action duet about a bored, upper-middle-class husband and wife who are each keeping a pretty huge secret. Unbeknownst to the other, they’re both lethal assassins for rival agencies. Their latest assignment: Knock off the other. OK, you should probably check logic at the door. But if you do, you’ll be rewarded with one of the fizziest, dizziest cat-and-mouse shoot-’em-ups of the 2000s. Pitt and Jolie are at the top of their game here, and their chemistry as a supremely sexy couple with hidden agendas sizzles.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Kathryn Bigelow, 74, won best director and best picture Oscars for this unrelenting workout about a bomb disposal unit during the Iraq War. In his breakout role, Jeremy Renner, 55, plays Sgt. 1st Class William James, a daredevil who dismantles deadly bombs and IEDs on the outskirts of Baghdad. Harrowing but loaded with humanity, The Hurt Locker is a nerve-shredding military thriller packed with tense, live-wire moments. You may want to keep a paper bag handy, in case you need to breathe into it.

The Old Guard (2020)

Charlize Theron, 50, has played her fair share of fearsome action heroines. Just check out black-and-blue demolition derbies like Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, and several later sequels of The Fast and the Furious. One title that tends to go under the radar, however, is this Netflix sleeper that wound up being one of the streamer’s biggest hits during the quarantine stage of the pandemic. Theron plays Andy, the ferocious punk leader of a group of supernatural mercenaries who are impossible to kill — or are they?

Timecop (1994)

Don’t laugh: We know we’re recommending a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, and we’re OK with that. This isn’t just any ordinary action flick starring the Muscles from Brussels; this is his masterpiece — a surprisingly clever time-travel revenge movie about a Time Enforcement Commission police officer (Van Damme, 65) who jumps back and forth between eras of American history in pursuit of a deliciously corrupt villain (the late, great Ron Silver) looking to exploit the past in order to grease his way into the White House in the future. Van Damme displays his most gymnastic feats, and Silver chews the scenery like it’s made out of saltwater taffy. Give it a shot in the present, then you can thank us in the future.

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Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.