Every streaming service has at least a few great action movies. All services aren’t created equal in this regard, though, and whether you realize it or not, Peacock has a surprising number of solid action movie titles.
Narrowing this list down to just five entries was difficult, but these five action movies represent a wide cross-section of the action films available on Peacock, and will hopefully inspire you to dig even deeper into the movies available on the service.
The Northman (2022)
Robert Eggers may be best known for the horrors of The Witch, but The Northman gives this idiosyncratic director a chance to show off what he can do with a slightly bigger budget. Adapted from the same story that Hamlet was eventually adapted from, the movie follows a Viking whose father is betrayed. He spends his entire life planning to take revenge on the man who killed his father and stole his mother.
When the moment for that revenge eventually comes, things get more complicated than he ever could have imagined. The Northman features astonishing moments of action, as well as a great central performance from Alexander Skarsgård.
Ambulance (2022)
Michael Bay can be a bit extreme for some tastes (he is, after all, the inventor of “Bayhem“), but Ambulance plays to all of the director’s strengths. Following the crew of a heist as it goes wrong and they are forced to drive an ambulance all over the city, Ambulance goes at 100 miles an hour from its very first scene.
In spite of its relatively modest scale, though, the movie never feels anything less than totally thrilling, and it’s also got plenty of comedy. Jake Gyllenhaal is absolutely insane as one of the two brothers at the movie’s center, and he’s perfectly matched by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who just wants to get home to his family.
Furious 7 (2015)
In retrospect, it seems like the Fast & Furious series probably should have ended with Furious 7. This movie is the exact right balance of deeply sincere and utterly absurd, and it was also the series’ farewell to Paul Walker, who died in the middle of the film’s production.
Ultimately, though, what makes Furious 7 work is that it gives each of its characters something interesting to do, and climaxes with Vin Diesel stomping his enemies to death. The movie is not exactly the epitome of realistic action, but that’s always been the appeal of this series.
21 Jump Street (2012)
The epitome of an action comedy, 21 Jump Street follows two cops who are forced to go undercover in a high school together. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill turn out to be a surprisingly excellent comedic duo, and there are enough shootouts here to satisfy anyone who came for the action.
The movie’s core joke, which is that Jonah Hill’s dweeby cop would be the cool one, and Tatum’s jock cop would be more of an outcast, works like a charm, but both Hill and Tatum get plenty of opportunities to prove that they’re two of our funniest actors.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
No one does an action movie quite like Edgar Wright. An adaptation from a graphic novel of the same name, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World tells the story of Scott, a bassist in a Toronto rock band who finds himself battling a barrage of superpowered ex-boyfriends after he meets Ramona Flowers.
Barbie‘s Michael Cera is perfectly cast in the central role, but what really makes Scott Pilgrim sing is Wright’s devotion to the video game aesthetics of the comic the movie is based on. This movie has incredible amounts of style, and it’s that style that carries the viewer from set piece to set piece.
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