Published May 1, 2026, 5:20 PM EDT
Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more.
Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics."
Prime Video is the perfect streaming service this weekend for those looking for intense thrillers or action-packed movies, and three films emerge as the best picks for a few reasons. On last weekend's Prime Video movie recommendations, I delved into Vengeance, The Conjuring: Last Rites, and Regretting You. Only the first, a Prime Video Original movie, belonged to the same class of films we have on the list this weekend.
After venturing into the action department last weekend with Vengeance, I thought about going all in on the genre for a high-stakes three-movie binge this weekend on Prime Video. It also shakes things up after the previous list featured movies of three completely different genres. This time around, some of the best movies on Prime Video are true action releases, with one being a heavy thriller.
The first movie on the list is a politically charged release that examines war through a modern lens. The second film is a fantasy/adventure project with a major star and plenty of monsters to fight. The final release is an R-rated action thriller that features a genre fan-favorite.
3 Civil War (2024)
First up is Civil War, which is a good movie to watch on Prime Video this weekend due to its timing. With Bugonia, which features Jesse Plemons, and Beef season 2, which stars Cailee Spaeny, trending on Netflix, the thriller movie on Prime Video emerges as the perfect companion piece. Civil War's talented ensemble also includes Academy Award Best Action nominee Wagner Moura, Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, and more.
Civil War takes tensions in the United States to a whole new level. Set during a civil war that is ravaging America, a group of journalists embarks on a dangerous trip to interview the President of the United States, who is hiding in the White House as rebel factions threaten to take him down. The horrors of war and a fractured America are on full display here.
2 The Great Wall (2016)
We can then turn the tension down a notch and the action up for Matt Damon's The Great Wall. The movie is currently the 7th most-watched film on Prime Video in the United States, with audiences gravitating towards Damon's solid turn as a mercenary caught in a conflict that is completely out of his depth. Pedro Pascal and Willem Dafoe also star.
The Great Wall offers plenty of excitement as Damon's William Garin and Pascal's Pero Tovar are forced to join the forces stationed at the Great Wall of China and discover that it keeps monsters that came from a meteorite and attack every 60 years at bay. The fantasy movie is a thrill ride with a fresh concept and solid performances.
1 In The Land Of Saints And Sinners (2023)
To end the weekend on Prime Video is a movie that stars one of the best action stars of all time, Liam Neeson. The actor has led several exciting action flicks over the years, but few are as impactful as In the Land of Saints and Sinners. The thriller boasts a strong 83% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners follows Neeson as Finbar Murphy, a retired hitman who becomes active again to stop an IRA bomber who he believes is hurting a little girl. From there on, the movie just keeps getting more and more intense, as the bomber is not alone. The action thriller also features Game of Thrones stars Jack Gleeson and Ciarán Hinds, and F1's Kerry Condon. In the Land of Saints and Sinners ends the weekend movie binge on Prime Video in an explosive way.
English (US) ·