I’m so excited for Carry-On. Recently, I reacted to the trailer where I described the Christmas action movie as being like Phone Booth if it was set in a busy airport and I’m ready for more thrills this festive season. After watching Red One, I argued that Christmas movies should be more action-packed and silly, and while there’s room for Hallmark romance I’m always up for fight scenes, tension, and everything else that makes the genre so wonderful.
If, like me, you can’t wait to watch Carry-On when it arrives on Netflix, I’ve got three great movies you can watch right now across the best streaming services and best free streaming services to satisfy the action cravings.
Snowpiercer
- RT score: 94%
- Length: 126 minutes
- Cast: Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer
- Director: Bong Joon-ho
- Where to stream it: MGM Plus, Tubi, The Roku Channel (US); Netflix, Prime Video (UK)
Bong Joon-ho is one of my favorite directors, known for his work on the Oscar-winning Parasite and Netflix movie Okja. But Snowpiercer is one I really recommend, it’s so good it even got a TV adaptation and it’s had audiences talking ever since its release in 2014.
Set during a post-apocalyptic ice age, only a few survivors of the human race are left on board a train travelling the globe. This train is divided by class, with the wealthy living in the extravagant front cars and the poor crammed into squalid tail compartments overseen by armed guards at the back of the train. Soon enough, a group of people rise up and want to seize control of the engine and their future, having had enough of the inequality in society.
Hit Man
- RT score: 95%
- Length: 115 minutes
- Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta
- Director: Richard Linklater
- Where to stream it: Netflix (US, UK & AU)
Glen Powell is killing it right now. From being a tornado wrangler in the action-packed sequel Twisters to playing a college professor and tech guy turned undercover mole in Netflix’s surprise hit, Hit Man, there’s nothing he can’t do. We also recommended five more highly-rated action comedies on Netflix off the back of Hit Man‘s success, so there’s plenty to enjoy!
Here, an undercover police contractor poses as a reliable hitman as he tries to save a woman in need, and it’s genuinely hilarious and deserves all the praise it gets. I can’t recommend it enough ahead of Carry-On‘s release, I just hope that one is equally as good and worthy of going onto the best Netflix movies round-up.
Die Hard (Prime Video)
- RT score: 94%
- Length: 132 minutes
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia
- Director: John McTiernan
- Where to stream: Prime Video, Hulu, Tubi (US); Disney Plus (UK & AU)
Oh come on, I had to! If we’re recommending action movies around the festive season, I had to talk about the very much a Christmas movie that is Die Hard. It’s iconic, it’s one I watch every year, and it’s the perfect thing to watch before Carry-On drops. I definitely will be.
Bruce Willis faces off against Alan Rickman in this action hit, when Detective McClane lands in LA to spend Christmas with his wife and learns about a hostage situation in an office building where his wife is one of the hostages. Never gets old, honestly.
