16 Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now (September 2026): ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and More

It’s been 30 years since Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) was a hot-shot student at the Top Gun training academy, but he’s still as defiant as ever. He’s been assigned to teach some recruits at the school’s campus in San Diego, with one pupil, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), resentful that he’s even there. He has a good reason to dislike Maverick — Bradley still blames him for the death of his father, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), who perished while on a mission with Maverick. Can Rooster forgive Maverick long enough to pass Top Gun? And better yet, can Maverick forgive himself?

If you believe the 2022 hype, Top Gun: Maverick saved cinema itself. That’s a bit hyperbolic, but its blend of nostalgia-bait and slick action lured lots of people back into theaters after years of COVID-19 restrictions. Four years later, the film still holds up, with Cruise proving he’s the best star Hollywood has right now. The rest of the cast is good, too, with Jennifer Connelly standing out as Maverick’s love interest and Glen Powell swaggering around as Rooster’s rival, Hangman. The story is still opaque, with the enemy sketched in the vaguest of terms so as to not to offend anyone in the entire world, but Top Gun: Maverick flies high enough for you to overlook it. 

The action movie genre can be safely divided into two periods: before Aliens and after Aliens. James Cameron’s seminal follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror classic stars Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the lone survivor of an alien attack who warns a rescue team sent to save stranded space colonists that those nasty aliens are still out there — and they’re hungry for human blood. No one believes her save for Newt (Carrie Henn), an orphaned colonist who has learned to survive against impossible odds. When the aliens inevitably strike, it’s up to Ripley to save who’s left and eradicate the Xenomorph threat once and for all.

From James Horner’s intense score to Weaver’s fierce, Oscar-nominated performance, Aliens serves up balls-to-the-wall action in a way only the director of The Terminator can. The film manages to convey just enough depth to make you care about its talented ensemble cast while also managing a relentless pace that will make you feel you’re the one out of breath. When Weaver utters the immortal words, “Get away from her, you bitch!,” you’ll realize you’re watching a pop classic.

Why is mile 22 so important in Mile 22? It’s the exact distance from the American embassy in the fictional country of Indocarr to an airplane that’s waiting to take Li Noor (Iko Uwais) away. Noor is important because he knows where a dangerous chemical substance named caesium is stored. CIA officer James Silva (Mark Wahlberg) and his team have to escort him to the plane, but that’s easier said than done, as a lot of bad people want to know where the caesium is stored. Can Silva’s crew survive long enough to escort Noor to safety? And even if they can, will Noor honor his word and lead them to the caesium that, in the wrong hands, could destroy thousands of lives?

Directed by Peter Berg, Mile 22 is a tense action-thriller that has a pretty simple concept and executes it flawlessly. Wahlberg excels at playing stoic, hardened heroes, and his Silva is so tough, he could lie on a bed of nails and not even wince. The film takes some unexpected turns in the third act, with an ending that will leave your jaw on the floor. Some heroes don’t win in the end, and Mile 22 shows that even though he does everything right, Silva ends up with the wrong result.

U.S. Navy SEAL Alec Waters’ (Bruce Willis) mission is simple — lead his team into war-torn Nigeria and extract Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) before she is captured or killed. While Alec’s mission is a success, he encounters an unexpected curveball — the good doctor doesn’t want to leave her patients to certain death. When Alec discovers one of them is the last remaining survivor of Nigeria’s ruling family, he has to make a choice: leave with Lena against her will or stay and help the remaining refugees. 

Tears of the Sun isn’t based on a true story, but it feels like the events depicted in the film actually happened. Credit director Antoine Fuqua for making what could’ve been an absurd action film into a fairly realistic military action thriller that is just as impactful as Black Hawk Down, which actually was based on a true story. The action sequences, particularly a tense helicopter escape, are terrific, and Willis is never better as a career lieutenant who must disobey his orders to do what’s right.

In the real world, it takes a small miracle to catch a bus in Los Angeles, but in Speed, you can be on one that goes pretty quickly — especially if there’s a bomb attached to it. That’s a big problem for Los Angeles cop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), who hops on that bus and tries to save it from being exploded by mad bomber Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper). If it dips below 50 miles per hour, the bus will blow up, so Jack and temporary driver Annie (Sandra Bullock) have to keep the vehicle moving at a fast speed while also trying to keep everyone aboard from panicking. 

Speed is an action classic for a reason. Director Jan de Bont keeps things moving at a fast pace, so much so you don’t think twice about some of the story’s plot holes. (Can a bus really go that fast for hours on end?) Reeves and costar Sandra Bullock are terrific as an unlikely action duo who can’t help fall in love while trying to stay alive. Maybe that’s the most unbelievable thing about Speed — that you can find true love on a Los Angeles public bus.

Are you ready to go back to a world filled with dinosaurs and humans too stupid to leave them the hell alone? In Jurassic World Rebirth, genetically modified dinosaurs still roam the Earth, but they’ve been quarantined to remote regions where they can’t harm humans. That doesn’t stop scrappy covert operative Zora (Scarlett Johansson) and nerdy scientist Henry (Jonathan Bailey) from trespassing in one of those areas and risking their lives in the process. They have a good reason, though — they need to extract important genetic material from various dinos to cure cardiovascular disease. Good intentions sometimes have bad outcomes, though, and sZora and Henry soon find out the consequences of upsetting dinosaurs in their native habitat.

After the dismal sequels Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion, Rebirth is a fresh reminder of what made the original so appealing to begin with. The dinosaurs in the film are truly awe-inspiring, yet intimidating enough to make you a little scared of them. (As you should be – they’re dinosaurs!) Johansson and Bailey have a great comic-action rapport – they’re like Mulder and Scully, but with the gender roles reversed. Here’s hoping they pop up in more sequels.

Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) wants to make a lot of money, and he wants to do it quickly. He thinks the best way to do that is to join the Panther mafia, a gang of European diamond thieves planning to rob the World Diamond Center in Nice, France. There’s no honor among thieves, though, and Donnie soon finds himself in over his head. The only person who can help is, ironically, his worst enemy — “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler), a determined lawman who wants to put Donnie behind bars. Can the two men forge an unlikely alliance and take the stolen loot for themselves?

Pantera is an entertaining follow-up to the 2018 Den of Thieves, which first introduced the world to Donnie, Big Nick and the concept of 50 Cent as an action star. The sequel changes it up by putting its two lead characters in an entirely new location and setup, but keeps the odd-couple dynamic that made the first one work so well. Butler is best when playing damaged masculine men with a permanent five o’clock shadow, while Jackson Jr. is great as the smooth-as-silk Wilson.

The battle of the year isn’t between two comic book heroes; instead, it’s between a demented hunter with a taste for human flesh and a survivalist who is still grieving the loss of her husband. In Apex, Charlize Theron stars as Sasha, an American adventurer who wants to forget her past trauma by trekking through the Australian wilderness by herself. When she runs into Ben (Taron Egerton), she thinks he’s a nice guy who wants to help her. Wrong. He’s actually a human hunter who wants Sasha as his next trophy. Now Sasha doesn’t have much time to feel sad when she’s fighting for her life with few resources and no one else to help her.

A stealth adaptation of the classic story The Most Dangerous Game, Apex is a lean and mean action-thriller that relies solely on its two lead performers, plus a visually dazzling natural setting, to entertain its audience. It succeeds, with Theron and Egerton committing fully to their very physical roles. 

Action aficionados may have already seen the original Sisu, a Finnish World War II action flick that starred Jorma Tommila as former soldier Aatami Korpi. That cult favorite led to a sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, which picks up a short time after the original.

In the aftermath of World War II, Aatami slips into territory held by the Soviet Union so he can retrieve his family’s home and rebuild it somewhere new. However, the Red Army still wants payback on Aatami for killing the troops who attacked him in the first film. That’s why the Soviets unleash Yeagor Draganov (Stephen Lang), the man who killed Aatami’s family, to finish the job.

Sisu: Road to Revenge is streaming on Netflix.

Mad Men and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Kiernan Shipka hasn’t really taken many action-oriented roles before now, but Stone Cold Fox may open some doors for her. Shipka plays Fox, a young woman who ran away from home, which meant leaving her younger sister, Spooky (Bluesy Burke), behind.

Years later, Fox sees that Spooky has run away as well, only to be kidnapped in front of her sister. Fox is so determined to get Spooky back that she’s willing to betray her drug-dealing lover, Goldie (Krysten Ritter), and kill anyone in her way. Kiefer Sutherland costars as Sergeant Billy Breaker, a corrupt cop under Goldie’s thumb. To finish her quest, Fox may have to get past Billy as well.

Stone Cold Fox is streaming on Netflix.

The Northman is based on the tale of Amleth that inspired William Shakespeare‘s Hamlet. However, if you’re expecting Alexander Skarsgård to deliver a dramatic monologue in this film, then you’ve got the wrong movie. Director Robert Eggers‘ version of the story is a blood-soaked revenge epic set during the Viking Age. It’s wild and visceral, just the way we like it.

When Amleth was young, his uncle, Fjölnir (Claes Bang), murdered Amleth’s father, King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke), and took his brother’s wife, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), as his own. Young Amleth was helpless to stop that, but adult Amleth is a ferocious warrior who can finally make his uncle answer for his crimes. Amleth will just have to fight his way through a lot of men before he can avenge his father.

The Northman is streaming on Netflix.

Where would we be if Gerard Butler stopped falling in the Has Fallen franchise? The third film, Angel Has Fallen, suggests that Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Butler) is nearing his physical limit as he attempts to become the new director of the CIA. Before he can get that cherished promotion, Banning and President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) narrowly survive a drone attack.

Banning awakens from his injuries to discover that he’s been framed for the attempt on Trumbull’s life. Now, the only way to clear his name and prevent a war is for Banning to escape and go rogue. He’ll have to move fast because FBI Agent Helen Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith) is leading the manhunt to recapture him.

Angel Has Fallen is streaming on Netflix.

This critically acclaimed take on the legendary Japanese kaiju monster is set in a post-war Japan, exploring the catastrophic impact of Godzilla’s emergence in an already devastated nation. The storyline is set in the tense and uncertain period following World War II, where Godzilla’s arrival threatens the fragile reconstruction of a country recovering from the horrors of war. 

Godzilla Minus One delves into themes of trauma, hope, guilt and redemption. It’s told mostly from the perspective of Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a PTSD-riddled kamikaze pilot who survived World War II only to face down an even bigger threat in the form of the giant lizard. Many fans have compared the film to Oppenheimer for its depiction of the unimaginable devastation of the atomic bomb. The movie won the Academy Award for Visual Effects, despite having a relatively low production budget. The film is a visual marvel, with action sequences that will thrill and terrify you as well as emotional sequences that will bring you to tears.

Godzilla Minus One is streaming on Netflix.

The Old Guard is a superhero story meets covert ops and military, but without any capes or costumes. The superpowered beings at the heart of the film are a mysterious group of immortal beings, led by Andromache or “Andy” (Charlize Theron), who have secretly protected humanity for millennia. As they struggle to maintain their anonymity, they must also contend with the emergence of a new immortal, Nile (KiKi Layne). Together, the team faces both modern threats and age-old enemies in their quest to preserve secrecy about their identities and ensure security for the future.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who previously created much quieter movies like The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights, The Old Guard has an emotional depth that you might not expect from a superhero action film. The themes of sacrifice and guilt are grounded by Theron’s stellar performance, as well as those of Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli and Chiwetel Ejiofor. With its blend of thought-provoking elements and adrenaline-pumping action, The Old Guard offers a refreshing take on the genre, providing both entertainment and substance for viewers. A sequel is now streaming, so now is the perfect time to watch the original.

The Old Guard is streaming on Netflix.

After taking a very long break between films, The Raid director Gareth Evans returns with Havoc, an action-packed crime thriller. Tom Hardy stars as Patrick Walker, a disgraced cop who is also on the payroll for Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker), an extremely wealthy man who is running for mayor.

Beaumont has a particularly dangerous mission for Walker. Beaumont’s son, Charlie (Justin Cornwell), and Charlie’s girlfriend, Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), have been framed for murdering the leader of the Triad gang, and there’s a price on their heads. Beaumont wants his son to be protected at all costs, but even his money can’t prevent the Triads from coming after him as well.

Havoc is streaming on Netflix.

Upgrade serves as a reminder of why it’s a bad idea to trust a billionaire to put a computer chip in your brain. Artist Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) felt he didn’t have a choice when Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson) offered to install STEM in his mind to restore his mobility. Grey was paralyzed during an attack that left his wife dead, and now his heart calls out for revenge.

STEM (Simon Maiden) has a voice and a mind of its own. It heard Grey’s cries, and it can give him the vengeance he so desperately needs, as seen in some incredibly brutal action sequences. But STEM is only helping Grey as long as the artist gives in to its will. And if Grey isn’t careful, he’ll be permanently sidelined in his own body.

Upgrade is streaming on Netflix.