Entertainment

The Best Action Movies & TV Shows New To Streaming In February

Columbia Pictures

Sometimes, at the end of the day, you just need to kick back on your couch with a plate of takeout and indulge in some high-octane entertainment. If this is a scenario that sounds familiar to you, here's a list of 21 action movies & TV shows new to streaming in February 2020 to help you decide what to watch. Because after a long day of making hard choices, the last thing you need is the endless "Browse Selections" menu mocking you with one more impossible choice to make. (Decision fatigue is real, you guys.)

Streaming comes with a plethora of advantages, but we all know the worst part of streaming is actually choosing what to watch. If you want to watch Keanu Reeves punching some dudes, do you opt for the modern delights of a John Wick or the classic thrills of a Speed? Are you in the mood for classic carnage or monster mayhem or sci-fi spectacle or kung fu kicks?

To help make the decision easier — and help you get to the ass-kicking and name-taking faster — we've narrowed down your options with this handy list of the best, most action-packed new offerings available to stream this month.

by Jefferson Grubbs
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

1. '28 Days Later' (Hulu)

AMC should thank director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) for their 10 seasons and counting of The Walking Dead, since this movie — and its game-changing "fast" zombies — pretty much single-handedly revitalized the zombie genre after it had laid dormant for decades.

2. '300' (Hulu)

Although he's most known these days for shepherding the DC Extended Universe to the big screen, Zack Snyder made a name for himself back in the aughts with this stylish adaptation of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel.

3. 'Alita: Battle Angel' (HBO Now)

Although it received mixed reviews from critics and made a respectable but far from record-breaking haul at the box office, this eye-popping visual effects extravaganza has gained a fiercely loyal following online since its release.

4. 'Altered Carbon' Season 2 (Netflix)

Season 2 of the Netflix sci-fi series replaces Season 1 lead Joel Kinnaman with Marvel star Anthony Mackie, still as the character Takeshi Kovacs, but retains the same central premise: in the far future, the human mind can be recorded onto a "stack" that can be placed in any interchangeable, disposable "sleeve."

5. 'Casino Royale' (HBO Now)

With Daniel Craig's fifth and final James Bond adventure No Time To Die coming out next month, now is the perfect time to revisit his first outing as 007. Its sequel, Quantum Of Solace, and the original 1967 version of Casino Royale (starring David Niven as the iconic spy), are also available to stream on HBO Now.

6. 'The Dirty Dozen' (Netflix)

Suicide Squad may have been a mess, but it copied a tried-and-true formula most famously used in this classic actioner: a bunch of hardened prisoners are recruited for an impossible suicide mission (in this case, a mission to assassinate a number of high-ranking Nazi officers during WWII) with the promise of a pardon if they pull it off… and live.

7. 'Dirty Harry' (Netflix)

Clint Eastwood would go on to play Inspector Harry Callahan — perhaps his most iconic role — throughout five films. But this 1971 original is the one that started it all, and is the origin of one of the most oft-misquoted movie lines of all time: "Do you feel lucky, punk?" (Stream it to find out what the real line actually is.)

8. 'District 9' (Showtime Anytime)

This low-budget film — part pulse-pounding actioner and part searing metaphor for apartheid — was so acclaimed upon its release in 2009 that it nabbed a rare Best Picture nomination for a sci-fi movie.

9. 'The Fugitive' (Hulu)

Adapted from a popular 1960s TV series of the same name, this movie stars Harrison Ford as a man wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife, hot on the trail of the mysterious one-armed man who actually did the deed — and Tommy Lee Jones in an Oscar-winning role as the marshal pursuing him.

10. 'Hancock' (Netflix)

This Will Smith movie probably came out a bit ahead of its time, serving as a deconstruction of the superhero mythos the same year superhero movies were just starting to break into the mainstream thanks to Iron Man. Though it's been forgotten now, it might have seemed less off-putting and more subversive if it had come out 10 years later.

11. 'Hunters' Season 1 (Prime Video)

This new Amazon series stars Al Pacino as the leader of a gang of Nazi hunters tasked with assassinating Third Reich fugitives in 1970s New York; the rest of the stacked ensemble cast includes Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Jerrika Hinton (Grey's Anatomy), Carol Kane (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Lena Olin (Alias), and more.

12. 'The Island' (HBO Now)

Fresh off her double Oscar nominations for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit is the perfect time to revisit this 2005 Scarlett Johansson vehicle in which she co-stars alongside Ewan McGregor as two beautiful people struggling to escape a dystopian community in which everything is not what it seems.

13. 'Last Action Hero' (Showtime Anytime)

This cult classic parody of action flicks stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the protagonist of a popular movie franchise who teams up with a fan who gets sucked into his fictional world via a magical ticket stub. Fun fact: the film stars Game of Thrones baddie Charles Dance (aka Tywin Lannister) as the villain.

14. 'The Other Guys' (Netflix)

Five years before he broke into "respectable" Oscar-worthy movies with his financial crisis comedy The Big Short, Adam McKay re-teamed with frequent collaborator Will Ferrell for this action-comedy about two less-than-stellar cops who become the unexpected stars of the story when the precinct's two hot shots (played in cameos by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) die hilarious, tragic deaths.

15. 'Pitch Black' (Showtime Anytime)

When a damaged spaceship transporting highly dangerous prisoners is forced to crash land on a desert planet and the crew and passengers are attacked by bloodthirsty aliens, their only hope may be hardened criminal Riddick, played by Vin Diesel.

16. 'The Punisher' (Showtime Anytime)

Thirteen years before the character got his own TV show on Netflix, this Marvel antihero was brought to the big screen in a version starring Thomas Jane as the skull-clad vigilante. The film also features John Travolta giving a bizarro performance as a villainous mafia boss.

17. 'Starship Troopers' (Netflix)

Director Paul Verhoeven has made some truly eclectic films throughout his career, from the derided Showgirls to the notorious Basic Instinct to the Oscar-nominated Elle. This 1997 satire, misunderstood upon its release, has gained the acclaim and respect it deserves in the two decades since.

18. 'Super 8' (Hulu & Prime Video)

Before he jumped into hyperspace to go to a galaxy far, far away, J.J. Abrams made this 2011 monster movie, an homage to Spielbergian family-friendly creature features of yore. Featuring a likable cast of youngsters and a misunderstood monster, you can think of this movie as Stranger Things before Stranger Things was cool.

19. 'The Terminator' (Showtime Anytime)

Forget Salvation, Genysis, and Dark Fate; action movies don't get any more iconic than this classic 1984 original featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most legendary role. The equally acclaimed sequel, Judgment Day, is also available to stream on Showtime.

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