The best types of movies are the ones that draw you in from the first scene, keeping you on the edge of your seat until the end credits roll. Action movies can fall into several genres, but they have one thing in common: three-dimensional characters you won’t forget. If you have streaming services and need some new and exciting films to watch, try one of these eight best action movies on Netflix.
8. Atlas (2024)
Atlas ranks eighth on our best action movies on Netflix list. Jennifer Lopez plays Atlas Shepherd, who is an antisocial data analyst with a deep distrust for artificial intelligence. Set in the future, Atlas joins a mission to destroy a rogue AI who has disappeared off the planet after years of warfare. When plans go sideways, Atlas’s only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it.
–IMDb score: 5.6
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7. The Gray Man (2022)
If you ever want to see Chris Evans play a villain against Ryan Gosling, check out The Gray Man. Gosling plays Six, the CIA’s most skilled operative who accidentally discovers dark agency secrets while on a mission. On the run, Six must stay underground to avoid detection, and the bounty former agent Lloyd Hansen (Evans) places on him. The two go head-to-head throughout the film, bringing out ruthlessness from Six as Hansen will do anything to bring him down.
–IMDb score: 6.5
6. Extraction (2020)
Chris Hemsworth stars in Extraction, our sixth selection for best action movies on Netflix. Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) is a fearless black market mercenary and a broken man with nothing to lose. When the kidnapped son of two warring drug lords becomes a pawn in their schemes, Rake is hired to rescue him. The pair must navigate a dangerous underworld of weapons and traffickers while also dealing with Rake’s mental state to get out of a nearly impossible situation.
–IMDb score: 6.8
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5. Hit Man (2024)
If you enjoyed Glen Powell in his latest film Twisters, then you’ll want to hop on Netflix to watch Hit Man. Powell plays Gary Johnson, a professor moonlighting as a “hit man” for the police department in undercover stings. Each of his characters is played towards the client until he meets a desperate woman trying to flee an abusive husband. As Gary gets closer to the woman, he finds himself in a dangerous game between the cops and becoming a criminal.
–IMDb score: 6.9
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4. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
One of the biggest A24 movies on Netflix is Everything Everywhere All at Once, ranking fourth among our best action movies on Netflix. Middle-aged Evelyn Wang is struggling in her current life with her laundromat on the brink of failure, her marriage on the rocks, and her relationship with her daughter on thin ice. As Evelyn tries to get through her meeting with IRS auditor Deirdre, she is plunged into a world of parallel realities where she alone has to save the existence of other universes.
–IMDb score: 7.8
3. Back to the Future (1985)
Travel back in time for our third selection Back to the Future. Marty McFly is a typical 17-year-old high school student, except for his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown. When Doc accidentally sends McFly back to 1955 in the DeLorean time machine, he must make sure his parents fall in love as teenagers to get back to the present. Part of a series of films, there is a reason why Back to the Future is one of the best action movies on Netflix.
–IMDb score: 8.5
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2. Spiderman Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
Superhero films automatically rank high in terms of the best action movies on Netflix, so it makes sense that Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse ranks second on our list. Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Spider-Verse saga, this time catapulting into the multiverse to join forces with Gwen Stacy and a new group of Spider-People. There’s a powerful villain on the horizon, will Miles be able to prevail?
–IMDb score: 8.6
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1. The Matrix (1999)
Of course, our last selection for the best action movies on Netflix has to be The Matrix, one of the best films ever created. Thomas Anderson lives two lives. By day, he’s your average computer programmer but by night, he turns into a hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the shocking truth about his world throws him into the path of powerful agents determined to stop Neo and the human rebellion.
–IMDb score: 8.7