The 17 Best Action Movies of 2025 (So Far)
Nothing beats a good action movie. Fistfights, explosions, Tom Cruise running in a straight line—what else can you ask for after grabbing a $20 bucket of popcorn at the theater? 2024 was one hell of a year for the genre, but 2025 is shaping up to be even bigger, and dare we say, better.
While superheroes have found some solid ground again with movies like Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and James Gunn's Superman, action movies are still defined by everyman heroes who don't have CGI superpowers. Films like Nobody 2, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, and Ballerina: From the World of John Wick come locked and loaded with an old-school mindset, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
This year, we've seen sequels and spin-offs as much as we've seen a few new originals daring to carve a new legacy of their own. Will movies like Cleaner and Novocaine launch new franchises? Does Red Sonja have a chance at rebooting a legend like Superman? Time will tell. For now, here are the best action movies of 2025 so far.
Better Call Saul? No, better call the hospital. Bob Odenkirk returns as his everyman ass-kicker Hutch from 2021's Nobody in this high-octane sequel. Directed by Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes For Us, also a must-watch for action junkies), Nobody 2 reunites audiences with Hutch, who tries to treat his family to a vacation until he runs afoul of a corrupt town. If National Lampoon's Vacation was made by the John Wick guys, it might look something like Nobody 2. We're just glad to see Odenkirk tear it up again.
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a rebooted Superman! In July 2025, the DC Universe was born anew with James Gunn's Superman, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel. Superman sees its title hero, still in the early years of his superhero career, question his purpose after he reveals the dark truth behind his alien heritage. I have issues with the story, but as an action movie, I can't deny how much Superman often looked and felt like flipping through the pages of a DC comic book.
One of Hollywood's all-time greatest heroes of the screen bid farewell and rode off into the sunset—while hanging onto a biplane, with no wires attached. In Tom Cruise's final outing as Ethan Hunt, the action picks up from 2023's Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning to see Ethan and his team race to save the world from the Entity, a powerful artificial intelligence. Being so on-the-nose about artists' existential fight against A.I. is part of the charm with Cruise and the Mission: Impossible movies. With Cruise's madness on full display, Mission: Impossible boldly mocks anyone for considering auto-generated "content" as being comparable to the real deal.
Hail to the Chiefs, baby. John Cena and Idris Elba, who played frenemies in The Suicide Squad, now form up as a dynamic duo in Amazon's Heads of State, directed by Ilya Naishuller. Cena stars as an action movie star turned President of the United States who survives an assassination attempt, and must root out the one behind the coup d'état with the Prime Minister of the UK (Elba). A strange mix of Midnight Run with Air Force One, Heads of State wins by a landslide.
Between the Ballerina or the Boogeyman, who you got your money on? Spinning off from the John Wick series (with a story set adjacent to John Wick: Chapter 3), Ana de Armas stars in Ballerina as a graduate of the Ruska Roma school of assassins who embarks on a forbidden road to revenge against the one who killed her father. Ballerina: From the World of John Wick might not be totally en pointe with its story, but it simply kicks so much butt, with cranked-up set-pieces—including a truly ingenious use of flamethrowers—that dare to give Mr. Wick a run for his money.
Marvel released not one, not two, but three movies in 2025. But of them all, it's Thunderbolts* that comes out on top as one of the best action movies of the year. With an ensemble cast led by Florence Pugh, who reprises her Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Black Widow's younger sister Yelena, Thunderbolts* sees a team-up of various benchwarmers from across the MCU who come together to take down the shadowy shot-caller, Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). A new addition to Marvel's sub-division of spy-flavored action movies, Thunderbolts* booms with greatness we used to expect from a formerly invincible studio.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud is more of a psychological crime thriller than it is a classic action movie. But the suspense is no less intense in Kurosawa's latest, about a con man who cheats buyers on the e-commerce black market only to get his due when his victims come at him, guns pointed and pitchforks drawn. Cloud is a nail-biter full of commentary about how much we've lost in our rush for gold in the social media economy.
We can almost hear you say, "Wait, they made another Red Sonja movie?" Yes, they did, and no, it's not the next big fantasy epic the prophecies foretold. But with the right mindset, Red Sonja feels like a welcome throwback to the era that gave us Xena: Warrior Princess. Based on the character created by Robert E. Howard and modeled after the 2013 comics by Gail Simone, Red Sonja chronicles the rise of the red-haired, bikini-clad revolutionary, Sonja (Matilda Lutz), from the land of Hyrkania. Red Sonja's low-budget production may be a hindrance to most people, but to some, it might be the draw. It all depends on one's mileage for movies that should have been a TV pilot. Either way, there's little to complain when you've got a main character who looks great taking big swings.
After kicking up a ruckus last year with The Beekeeper, Jason Statham and director David Ayer reunited for a new outing cowritten by Sylvester Stallone. In this hard-edged action feast, Statham plays a former Royal Marine who applies his skills to rescue his boss's daughter from human traffickers. The story is based on a 2014 novel by Chuck Dixon (who wrote the Batman comic in which Bane breaks the superhero's back). A Working Man might come across like a carbon copy of Liam Neeson's generational classic Taken, but Statham is hard to resist as he swings sledgehammers with a Viking's vengeance.
The Force is strong in Daisy Ridley, but she's also got a mean reload. The Mask of Zorro and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell helmed this throwback action flick, which cast the Star Wars veteran as a trained soldier and blue-collar skyscraper window cleaner in London. When terrorists crash a swanky party inside the building, Ridley trades her lightsaber for a Glock 26 and works to save everyone, including her brother. Cleaner is basically a British remake of Die Hard without the Christmas cheer, but Ridley carries the movie on her shoulders. Her Jedi training has clearly served her well.
Decorated Japanese auteur Takashi Miike spills more blood than a hospital ER. Look no further than the gory pictures under his belt, such as Ichi the Killer, Audition, 13 Assassins (and its memorable 40-minute climactic battle), Blade of the Immortal, and the gonzo Dead or Alive trilogy. Blazing Fists sees the filmmaker restrain his signature bloodletting, but it still hits harder than a right hook. The story follows two juvenile delinquents who enter a martial-arts tournament after attending a lecture by real-life MMA legend Mikuru Asakura. (The movie itself is loosely inspired by Asakura's upbringing.) Blazing Fists—which plays like Warrior meets Bloodsport with a dash of The Outsiders—lives up to its title with a flurry of knuckle sandwiches.
Gerard Butler reasserts his position as the reigning king of dad-core action cinema in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. The sequel is a follow-up to Den of Thieves from 2018. Inspired by the 2003 Antwerp diamond heist, the film sees Butler's return as Big Nick, alongside O'Shea Jackson Jr. as professional thief Donnie. The two reconvene in Europe over a scheme to steal from a diamond vault in France. Once upon a time, it seemed as if Gerard Butler was Scotland's answer to Hugh Jackman: a hunky leading man who can belt out show tunes. But after Butler kicked a dude to his death in 300, he's scowled on practically every movie poster since.
Who knew Hughie had it in him? Jack Quaid (The Boys) takes the spotlight in Novocaine, a riotous action comedy with the right bone structure to support a new franchise. Quaid stars as a bank employee, Nathan Caine, whose normal life includes one not-so-normal thing: He can't feel pain. Caine's sickness suddenly becomes his advantage after his coworker and love interest (Amber Midthunder, who rocked the screen in 2022's Prey) is kidnapped by bank robbers. Sharing the same spirit as popcorn flicks like Wanted, Deadpool, and Nobody, Novocaine is anything but numbing.
Years after his delectable Parasite swept the Oscars, visionary director Bong Joon-ho returns to the screen with the help of an eccentric Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17. Set in the year 2054, mankind has made it to space alongside a number of "Expendables"—clones who take on dangerous tasks, only to be replaced the next day. Pattinson is the 17th iteration of Mickey, whose repeat deaths can't stop him from falling in love with a beautiful security agent (Naomi Ackie). While primarily a sci-fi black comedy with plenty of Bong Joon-ho's favorite themes—ranging from authoritarianism to resource greed and economic disparity—Mickey 17 explodes in its final act to provide audiences quite the fireworks display. It's not Starship Troopers, but Mickey 17 is no clone of anything.
When Gavin O'Connor first unleashed The Accountant with Ben Affleck in 2016, its leading man was all caught up as DC's Batman. Now that Affleck is free from his obligation to save Gotham, he's back for an even stronger follow-up in The Accountant 2. Affleck is once again his nameless autistic savant and black-market accountant who comes to the aid of a treasury agent (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, reprising her role from the first film) who is out to solve a murder. Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons are also along for the ride. With a stronger emphasis on brotherly love and cranked-up swagger, The Accountant 2 wowed all at its South by Southwest premiere—proving the film doesn't have to cook the books to launch the next big franchise. A third movie is already on the way.
The rancid smell of hot lead and burnt metal. The agonizing screams of traumatized soldiers. The looming specter of death. Not since Black Hawk Down has a movie immersed audiences in the total terror of modern war as much as Warfare, the latest from Civil War director Alex Garland. Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and more step into the combat boots of real soldiers who survived an actual mission in November 2006 during the Battle of Ramadi. Sacrificing character arcs and artistic embellishment for full-throated realism, Warfare—which plays out almost entirely in real time—notably sources itself from the memories of the soldiers who lived through an episode of impossible survival. (The film is codirected by Iraq-war veteran Ray Mendoza.) You will never forget it.
No shade to Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, or Doug Liman. But Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag raises the question "What if Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a better movie?" Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender costar in this sexy, simmering spy thriller as two married intelligence agents. The couple's marriage is thrown in jeopardy when George (Fassbender) is forced to question his wife Kathryn (Blanchett) after she's suspected as a traitor to her nation. Not only is Black Bag the best-dressed movie of 2025—with Blanchett and Fassbender rocking a wardrobe to die for—it's also one of the year's best overall.
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