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- After reviewing our guide and verifying our links are working, we're still confident these action-packed movies are the best you'll find on HBO Max.
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With access to the Warner Media library, HBO Max features some of the biggest action movies around, from classics to recent blockbusters. Here are 10 good action movies to stream on HBO Max.
UPDATE: 3/27/23
After reviewing our guide and verifying our links are working, we're still confident these action-packed movies are the best you'll find on HBO Max.
The Bourne Identity
Director Doug Liman and star Matt Damon launched a lucrative franchise with The Bourne Identity, based on the novels by Robert Ludlum. Damon plays Jason Bourne, a covert agent attempting to piece together his identity after he's been shot and left for dead. As he recovers his memories, Bourne is pursued by the secret government agency he used to work for. Damon brings a more vulnerable, human element to the spy genre, and Liman stages thrilling action sequences whose gritty, intimate style influenced a whole generation of subsequent action movies.
Casino Royale
It can be hard to believe that anyone ever objected to Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond, given how effectively he inhabited the character. That begins with Casino Royale, Craig's first outing as the veteran British superspy. Casino Royale returns to the character's roots, with an origin story for a younger Bond first receiving his famous license to kill.
Bond faces off against villainous black-market broker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) and begins his tragic romance with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), while participating in thrilling action set pieces courtesy of veteran Bond director Martin Campbell.
Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise plays with his action-hero image in the inventive sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow. As humanity battles alien invaders, a cowardly military liaison (Cruise) is thrust onto the front lines, where he's promptly killed. But a chance connection with the aliens traps him in a time loop, allowing him to meet and train with an elite battlefield leader (Emily Blunt).
Director Doug Lyman delivers fun, kinetic action along with clever plotting and sly humor. Cruise gets to be both self-deprecating and triumphant as his character builds his combat skills, with Blunt as his weary but formidable mentor.
First Blood
Before becoming more and more cartoonish in various sequels---and an actual cartoon series---Sylvester Stallone's Vietnam veteran John Rambo was a traumatized, misunderstood man just wanting to be left alone in First Blood. Rambo comes to a small Washington town hoping to see an old friend, but all he encounters is harassment from the sadistic local sheriff (Brian Dennehy).
Rambo eventually takes down the whole local police force using his battlefield skills, but most of the movie is a melancholy character study about the mistreatment of soldiers after they return home.
Godzilla
The so-called MonsterVerse of Warner Bros. monster movies has had a mixed track record, but it kicked off strongly with the 2014 reboot of Godzilla. The giant lizard's second shot at an American franchise worked out much better than the first. Director Gareth Edwards brings a sense of grandeur and scale to the movie. The human characters (played by actors such as Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen) are just interesting enough to keep the plot going, and Godzilla's reign of destruction carries a real sense of devastation and danger.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Peter Jackson's entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on the classic fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, is brilliant, but the most action-packed installment is the second film, The Two Towers. The main characters are split into various groups as they continue their quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the evil Lord Sauron.
Jackson stages impressive action with all the different configurations of characters. The Battle of Helm's Deep, a massive clash between armies, is awe-inspiring in its scope and one of the greatest action sequences ever created.
The Matrix
The Wachowskis revolutionized filmmaking with their surprise 1999 pop-culture sensation The Matrix, which launched some mediocre sequels and a ton of forgettable imitators. But the original movie is still a blast, a heady sci-fi story about a seemingly average guy (Keanu Reeves) who discovers that the entirety of existence is a lie and that he may be humanity's chosen savior. It's also a fast-paced, fun action movie, utilizing groundbreaking technology in the service of the coolest fight scenes that the filmmakers can envision.
Nobody
Bob Odenkirk, action hero? It may seem unlikely, but the comedian and Better Call Saul star takes the lead in one of the best action movies on HBO Max. In Nobody, he plays seemingly unassuming suburban husband and father Hutch Mansell, who reveals a secret past as a government assassin after a break-in at his house. Odenkirk holds his own in the dynamic action sequences, and he brings a sense of humor to the role of a hardened veteran underestimated by everyone around him.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Sure, The Terminator is great, but James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day is one of the best sequels of all time. It enriches and expands on the world from the original movie, bringing back Arnold Schwarzenegger as the killer cyborg from the future---only this time, he's sent back to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son John (Edward Furlong), rather than eliminate them.
That mission falls to the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a terrifying upgraded Terminator with shape-shifting abilities. Cameron blends large-scale action and sci-fi world-building with rich character details.
Wonder Woman
HBO Max is full of DC superhero movies (thanks to shared parent company Warner Media), and Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is the best of them, a fantastic big-screen introduction to the character played by Gal Gadot. Set during World War I, Wonder Woman features rousing action, including a spectacular sequence of the title character striding across the "no man's land" area between opposing armies. It's the high point of DC's recent superhero feature films.