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5 great free action movies you should stream right now

Nick Cage signals fighter jets in The Rock.
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Who doesn’t love free movies? Besides the major streamers, of course. There just aren’t any free options anymore on Netflix and Hulu. However, a number of free action movies can be found on sites like YouTube and Tubi. YouTube, in particular, doesn’t advertise its free movies every month, so you’ll have to know where to look to find them.

Surprisingly, two of our picks from last month’s free action movies are still available to watch in March, So we’ve added three more free action movies for your viewing enjoyment. And all three of our picks are legitimately great action movies in their own right.

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If you’re curious about what’s available in action on other streaming services, we also have guides for the best action movies on Netflix, the best action movies on Hulu, as well as the best action movies on Amazon Prime Video. For more options, check out guides for the best new movies to stream and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.

The Rock (1996)

Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in The Rock.
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

The Rock may not be the greatest action movie of the 1990s, but it’s definitely the most ’90s action movie. It’s a Michael Bay film — need I say more? Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris) has gone rogue with some of his most loyal men by stealing deadly gas, obtaining missiles, and seizing control of Alcatraz with hostages to force the federal government to give them what they want.

Two men are specifically selected to go on a mission to take out the missiles and the gas: Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and James Bond-adjacent former secret agent John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), who has languished in a US prison for decades. Because Mason is the only living man who ever escaped from Alcatraz, he can get Goodspeed and the soldiers inside. But can Mason trust the FBI to follow through on his pardon? On the flip side, the FBI trust Mason not to run off and leave them high and dry before the missiles are launched?

Watch The Rock on YouTube.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Colin Firth and Taron Egerton in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
20th Century Studios

You should probably ignore Matthew Vaughn’s most recent films like Argylle, which was just a pale imitation of his earlier work. On the other hand, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a really fun riff on James Bond, with Colin Firth as Harry Hart, a veteran agent of the secretive Kingsman organization that’s dedicated to protecting the world. Harry takes Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) under his wing to keep his life from going off track and to train Eggsy to become an agent himself.

During Eggsy’s training, a rich madman named Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) emerges with a plan to cull most of humanity in the name of saving the planet. Valentine even has allies in Kingsman itself, which puts both Eggsy and Harry in his crosshairs.

Watch Kingsman: The Secret Service on YouTube.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon
Warner Bros. Pictures

The legendary Bruce Lee died prematurely at only 32 years old and a few months before his final finished movie, Enter the Dragon, hit theaters. This film cemented Lee’s legacy and is widely considered to be one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made.

Lee, who plays a character with the same name, is recruited by British intelligence to help them investigate a crime lord named Han (Shih Kien). Several martial arts tropes are key parts of the film, including the tournament on a remote island between some of the best martial artists in the world. Lee has the fighting skills to survive, but he’s also vastly outnumbered on the island while Han and his henchmen are looking for any signs that their “guests” will turn against them.

Watch Enter the Dragon on Tubi.

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator.
Orion Pictures

Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t quite have a full grasp on delivering dialogue in English when he starred in The Terminator. But that only made his evil android even scarier. In the far future, a T-800 Terminator was about as close to a human as a machine could get. This flesh-covered cyborg was sent back to 1984 to murder Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a waitress who has no idea that she’s destined to give birth to humanity’s savior in the war against the machines.

Sarah’s son, John Connor, sent a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to the past to protect his mother. Reese is a warrior and a survivor, but even he’s overwhelmed by the Terminator’s relentless pursuit. It can’t be stopped by brute force alone, and no amount of pleading will ever keep this Terminator from eliminating its target.

Watch The Terminator on YouTube.

Highlander (1986)

Christopher Lambert in Highlander.
20th Century Studios

Highlander hit theaters in 1986, and it wasn’t exactly a hit. But the legend of this movie grew over time through home video and cable to the point where it’s now a cult classic. It certainly helps that Highlander has original songs by Queen that have become synonymous with the franchise.

Christopher Lambert led the movie as Connor MacLeod, a man born in the 16th century in the Highlands of Scotland before he discovered that he was one of the few immortals who walked the Earth. MacLeod’s mentor, Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez (Sean Connery), teaches him how to survive and what’s at stake in the battle of the immortals. However, their mutual enemy, The Kurgan (Clancy Brown), hunts MacLeod through the centuries until they face each other one more time in present-day New York. “In the end, there can be only one.”

Watch Highlander on Tubi.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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