The action movies section on Prime Video is a strange place. Alongside the big-name blockbusters and the endless parade of straight-to-streaming movies, there are absolutely tons of genuinely great action movies almost nobody talks about. The only problem is that they’re buried so far down the menu you’d never find them just by scrolling.
The algorithm seemingly has no interest in showing them to you; it wants you watching the same handful of hits on a loop. Maybe that’s meant to boost stats, but it also means the more interesting stuff gets left to rot at the bottom of the catalog.
So I went digging for you to see what I could find. The result? Three great action flicks you’ve probably never seen before. And I’m also willing to bet you probably haven’t even heard their titles. If you’re ready to watch some great action movies on Prime Video that won’t surface on your home screen, keep reading. You may very well find a new favorite in one of these gems.
’13 Assassins’ (2010)
If you’ve never seen a Takashi Miike movie, this is a great one to start with. Set in the dying days of feudal Japan, “13 Assassins” follows a veteran samurai with an impossible mission: assassinate a sadistic young lord, the shogun’s own half-brother, before his cruelty ends up ruining the country. He recruits a dozen men for what everyone understands is a suicide run, and the film patiently builds toward one of the most impressive action sequences ever committed to film. It’s a nearly 45-minute battle where the 13 take on an army of more than 200 in a booby-trapped village.
If you love samurai movies, know that this one is every bit as good as the classics it’s descended from. If you love Kurosawa, you’ll enjoy “13 Assassins.” And if you’re unfamiliar, this is a good place to starting learning all about the samurai flicks that came before.
‘Child 44’ (2015)
Tom Hardy is Leo Demidov, a secret police officer in Stalin’s Soviet Union whose life falls apart when he refuses to denounce his own wife. He then stumbles onto a string of child murders the state refuses to acknowledge. Exiled from his home and far out of town, Leo hunts down the killer anyway alongside a wary general played by Gary Oldman.
Based on Tom Rob Smith’s bestselling novel and stacked with talent like Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman, this bleak thriller is a heavy but entertaining watch that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.
‘Mortal’ (2020)
Eric (Nat Wolff) is a young American drifting through rural Norway who accidentally kills a local teenager with a power he doesn’t understand and can’t control. As a result, he finds himself hunted by the authorities. As a psychologist (Iben Akerlie) tries to work out what he actually is, it becomes clear that Eric’s abilities are tied to something much older and stranger: Norse mythology and the gods that come with it.
From André Øvredal, the man behind the cult favorite “Trollhunter,” this slow-burn action thriller has tons of exciting moments that’ll have you begging for more when the credits roll.
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