Netflix's ever-expanding catalog of original movies has given the streaming service a bold selection to try and entice future subscribers. It gained prestige through its collaborations with auteurs such as Martin Scorsese and David Fincher and created a corner of mass-appeal comedies by signing a long-term deal with Adam Sandler. The streamer also helped make some significant contributions to the action genre.

By bankrolling projects from genre masters like Jeremy Saulnier and Timo Tjahjanto, as well as the directorial debuts of several career stunt performers, Netflix has quietly curated a collection of some of the best action films of the past several years. While the Christmas thriller Carry-On continues to fly toward a Netflix milestone, it's a perfect time to revisit the streamer's best original action films. These are the best Netflix original action movies, which are guaranteed to get pulses racing, bullets flying, and blood pumping.

10 'Gunpowder Milkshake' (2021)

Directed by Navot Papushado

Karen Gillan plays the daughter of a notorious assassin, grown up to be an accomplished killer in her own right, who takes on the task of protecting a young girl whose father she killed. That's the basic setup to Gunpowder Milkshake, a neon noir shoot em' up that gets by mostly on its visuals and the talents of its kick-ass female cast, which includes Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino, Angela Bassett, and Lena Headey as Gillan's mother. Paul Giamatti also shows up to provide slimy support in a villainous role.

Director Navat Papushado, who co-directed the underrated darkly comic revenge thriller Big Bad Wolves, gives the film a color-coded visual palette that helps set it apart from its more monochromatic contemporaries. Gillan is a solid lead, showing why she's quietly become a franchise powerhouse. The plot is a blend of familiar genre elements, and the assassin-centric world-building can feel like John Wick-lite, but there's more to like than dislike here. The action scenes are solidly staged, with one notable slow-motion standout near the end, and the cast cannot be beaten. It all makes for a colorful, sweet and familiar confection that goes down smoothly without asking too much of its audience.

9 'Day Shift' (2022)

Directed by J.J. Perry

Since Marvel can't seem to get any momentum on their long-delayed Blade movie, Netflix decided to step in to provide its take on vampire-killing action in the urban fantasy Day Shift. Jamie Foxx stars as an independent vampire hunter drawn back into a guild of hunters who specialize in taking out the fanged foes. The plot is immaterial and often leans too hard into comedy for its own good, but the movie truly excels in its bloodsucking action.

Director J.J. Perry brings experience from his stunt background to craft some suitably gory fight scenes. Using gymnasts and contortionists to play the undead adversaries gives them an unsettling flexibility that also lends itself to some brutal and bone-crunching kills. No abstract thought is required to make it through this horror-action-comedy hybrid. Day Shift is here to do one thing: kill vampires, and it does it with ferocious glee.

8 'The Old Guard' (2020)

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

Charlize Theron has become one of the most reliable female action stars thanks to tough, gritty performances in movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde. Add to that list The Old Guard, a comic book-based bloody action movie that stars Theron as the leader of a group of semi-immortal mercenaries. After being double-crossed on a job, the group sets a course for revenge that's punctuated by some admirably brutal action sequences.

Setting itself apart from similar comic book adventures thanks to its diverse cast and adherence to violent action, The Old Guard is one of the best superhero movies of the last decade. It doesn't break from franchise conventions too radically, and its exposition-heavy world-building can cause the pacing to drag. Still, when the action kicks into gear, Theron and her crew kick ass and take names with style. A sequel is currently in production, promising even more ageless bloodshed.

7 'The Harder They Fall' (2021)

Directed by Jeymes Samuel

The Harder They Fall is a big, bold Black revisionist Western that may be short on substance but has miles in style. The all-star cast includes Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield, and Idris Elba as the big bad. His ruthless outlaw has a criminal record soaked in red, and that includes the parents of real-life cowboy Nat Love, played by Jonathan Majors. That sets the stage for a cycle of violence fueled by vengeance that culminates in a big third-act shootout.

Expanding on themes he played with in his short film They Die By Dawn, director Jeymes Samuel revitalizes the Western genre with a fresh perspective, a slick soundtrack, and a generous helping of gun-toting action. The cast is having a ball playing over-the-top characters based on real Black outlaws, cowboys, and lawmen, with Stanfield a particular standout. The Harder They Fall is not historically accurate, but it hits all the right genre notes to provide a brilliant and entertaining Western.

6 'Triple Frontier' (2019)

Directed by J.C. Chandor

When a group of former Delta Force operators finds civilian life has provided nothing but compromise and disappointment, they decide to use their certain set of skills to rob a South American drug lord. That's the setup for Triple Frontier, a muscular heist film that received a muted response from critics who argued it failed to interrogate its characters or situations with any moral complexity. While that criticism isn't totally unfounded, it ignores the solid work by the cast, who color their characters in varying shades of gray as their perfectly planned heist starts to unravel and bodies begin to pile up.

Ben Affleck brings the world-weariness that has dominated the second half of his career, while Pedro Pascal and Oscar Isaac prove they're leading men material. Director J.C. Chandor handles the gritty action well, proving he is far more capable than the collateral damage that was Kraven the Hunter. Triple Frontier is one of the most underrated Netflix originals, combining percussive thrills with a plot that isn't afraid to get its characters a little morally dirty.

5 'The Killer' (2023)

Directed by David Fincher

David Fincher has directed plenty of thrillers, but The Killer is his first film with out-and-out action sequences, and the notoriously meticulous director does not disappoint. Following Michael Fassbender's gig economy hitman as he cleans up loose ends following a job gone wrong, the plot is essentially a framework for a series of vignettes focused on individual kills. That might sound overly simplistic, but in the hands of Fincher, it's a wickedly entertaining popcorn thriller with his trademark dark humor and stylish visuals on full display.

The action centerpiece is an extended fight sequence against a muscular brute in his Florida home, which goes up in spectacular flames. The sequence is executed with precision between the stunts, cinematography, and visual effects that prove Fincher is a singular talent who can elevate any genre. The Killer sets itself apart from other droll assassin thrillers thanks to the director's clear connection to his methodical protagonist, strangely making the film feel like one of his most autobiographical.

4 'The Shadow Strays' (2024)

Directed by Timo Tjahjanto

Timo Tjahjanto has steadily become one of the most reliable genre directors of the past decade. The Indonesian director has shown an ability to jump between horror and action with stylish aplomb, often bringing elements of one genre into the other. His most recent effort, The Shadow Strays, was one of the best action efforts of 2024 and features plenty of the director's signature ultra-violent action.

The plot, which concerns a female teenage assassin who goes rogue from her shadowy organization to save a young boy, trades in common genre tropes and even pulls from Tjahjanto's previous work. Regardless, the director continues to stage some of the most creatively brutal action set pieces that put most American action cinema to shame. Tjahjanto's work generally requires viewers to have a strong stomach as bones are snapped and blood spurts across the screen. Those who can handle it are in for a killer good time and should check out the director's latest before he helps Bob Odenkirk smash more skulls in Nobody 2.

3 'Rebel Ridge' (2024)

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier

Jeremy Saulnier has built a career out of violent cinema that combines arthouse sensibilities with grindhouse thrills. Blue Ruin and Green Room both brought an elevated style and perspective to the revenge and siege subgenres, respectively. The director's newest film, Rebel Ridge, does the same with the one-man army trope. Pulling inspiration from action heroes like Rambo and Reacher, the film follows Aaron Pierre as a former Marine martial arts instructor who finds himself at the mercy of corrupt Southern cops who seize the money meant for his cousin's bail and unwittingly set off a chain of escalating events.

Saulnier, who also wrote the script, subverts the expectations of viewers who might have been expecting more carnage given the setup and the director's previous work. Instead, he uses Rebel Ridge as an exercise in tension and restraint that proves action films don't need a high body count to induce thrills. Pierre owns the screen in the lead role and proves beyond any doubt that he was the perfect casting choice to play John Stewart in the new HBO Green Lantern series.