20 best movies on Amazon Prime Video to watch: February 2022

We’ve all been there: Flipping through Amazon Prime Video’s movie offerings, but stuck wondering Uh, what’s good? The commercial giant’s streaming service has quietly collected a giant archive of films, and since 2006, has released a number of acclaimed films under the Amazon Studios banner, like Sound of Metal, Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Leos Carax’s Annette, The Vast of Night, and Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake.

But along with originals, there are tons of back catalogue picks just waiting to be discovered in the platform’s, let’s say, challenging UX. So we’ve looked through the service and cherry-picked some of our favorite films currently on the platform to try out. Without further ado, here are the top 20 best films to stream on Prime Video right now.

---

12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film 12 Angry Men is one of the most acclaimed courtroom dramas ever produced, and for good reason. Starring an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda (who also produced the film alongside Reginald Rose), Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, and more, the film is single room drama centered on a randomly selected jury tasked with deliberating the innocence or guilt of a young Puerto Rican boy accused of murdering his father. More than just a legal drama, 12 Angry Men is a microcosm of mid-century America society, coalescing a powder keg of disparate, volatile personalities into a situation that challenges them to do justice by one life, all while knowing that any one of them could be potentially find themselves in the same situation. —Toussaint Egan

---

Burning

Lee Chang-dong’s Burning easily ranks as one of the most engrossing psychological thrillers of the 2010s. Based on a 1992 short story by The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle author Haruki Murakami, the film focuses on the story of Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), an aspiring writer who reunites with his childhood friend Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) after years apart … or does he? Soon after Jong-su meets Ben (Steven Yeun), a “friend” of Hae-mi’s whose extravagant lifestyle, vague occupation, and seemingly iron-clad hold over Hae-mi conjures feelings of suspicion and jealousy within Jong-su. When Hae-mi suddenly disappears one day, Jong-su’s desperate search to find her unearths a web of implications that shake him to his core. Burning is a mystery-thriller that thrives on insinuations conveyed through a triumvirate of masterful performances between Yoo, Lee, and especially Yeun, whose portrayal as Ben sincerely ranks as one of the most unsettling on-screen antagonists in recent memory. —TE

---

Coherence

Writer-director James Ward Byrkit’s 2013 sci-fi thriller Coherence is a taut puzzle box of multidimensional weirdness and fraught existential terror. Holding it all together are strong performances led by Emily Baldoni, Homeland’s Maury Sterling, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon. If you’re hungry for an intriguing blend of mumblecore cinema and sci-fi horror, Coherence is it. —TE

---

Deja Vu

Long before John David Washington’s leading role in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, his father Denzel Washington starred in his own time-twisting sci-fi action film directed by the late Tony Scott. Washington stars as Doug Carlin, an ATF agent who joins a top-secret government program in the wake of a terrorist attack on a New Orleans ferry that claims the life of his wife. Using cutting-edge technology in the form of an experimental headset, Carlin must peer through the folds of space-time to investigate the events of the fateful day as they are happening in order to discern the identities of those responsible and bring them to justice. Washington’s second collaboration with Scott following 2004 ‘s Man on Fire is an exhilarating whodunnit packed with explosive action, shocking twists, and frenetic pulse-pounding cinematography that’s well worth a revisit. —TE

---

Dhoom 2

Dhoom 2, the follow-up to the 2004 smash hit Dhoom, is one of the most exciting cinematic experiences to which you could treat yourself. Breaking Bollywood box office records upon release, it is a motorcycle-centric heist movie with terrific action set pieces, jaw-dropping musical numbers, astonishing motorcycle stunts, and a little something for everybody.

A taste: the movie opens with a train heist, as Mr. A (Hrithik Roshan, impossibly attractive and charming as ever), disguises himself as Queen Elizabeth to rob the Queen’s crown in the middle of the Namib desert. Dhoom 2 then immediately moves to one of the most electric musical numbers of this century, with Roshan showing off why he is one of the great movie stars and dancers of his generation. —Pete Volk

---

Drug War

Though Johnnie To might go unrecognized by a majority of Western filmgoers, he’s one of the most prolific Hong Kong directors of his generation, renowned for his tense action crime thrillers and gangster dramas. Drug War, To’s first feature produced in mainland China, is as excellent an introduction to his work as any. It’s a tightly wound cat-and-mouse game focusing on Zhang Lei (Sun Honglei), a relentless police captain trying to topple an illicit drug cartel, and Timmy Choi (Louis Koo), a mid-level drug smuggler who agrees to cooperate with police in order to escape the death penalty for his offenses. If you’re looking for a taut, pulse-pounding crime film with blistering action and dark twists, Drug War is a must-see. —TE

---

Fargo

The Coen brothers’ black comedy crime film Fargo stars Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police chief investigating the murder of a state trooper and inadvertently set on the trail of an attempted kidnapping orchestrated by a hapless insurance salesman (William H. Macy). Deftly weaving between hilarious tragicomic awkwardness and grisly true crime-adjacent thrills, Fargo is an essential work in the Coens’ long and illustrious oeuvre that’s as entertaining now as it was back in 1996. —TE

---

The Handmaiden

Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook’s elegant and elaborate erotic thriller set in 1930s Korea was released to near-unanimous acclaim back in 2016, leaving audiences and critics clamoring for Park’s next turn at the director’s chair. Based on Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel Fingersmith, the film follows Nam Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri), a woman hired to work as a maid to a Japanese heiress (Kim Min-hee) in a sinister plot to despoil her inheritance. Things quickly take several dozen turns however, escalating into an intricate web of seduction and deception as Sook-hee and the heiress are brought ever closer together. Whether you’ve seen it before or not, now’s as perfect time as any to see what all the fuss is about while Park begins filming his upcoming his romantic murder mystery Decision to Leave this year. —TE

---

Karnan

Karnan (Dhanush) is a young, temperamental man from a village in southern Tamil Nadu who wants to set the world right, all on his own. His village is prevented from getting their own bus stop, causing great strife for people of all generations — their lack of mobility to the city prevents children from going to good schools, adults from getting good jobs, and simply makes life difficult for the villagers. Karnan fights and fights and fights to make things right, taking on opponents as varied as police officers, people from another local village, friends and family who simply want to help, and his own demons.

This Tamil-language drama from director Mari Selvaraj is influenced by a real-life incident where hundreds of police attacked a village in Tamil Nadu. One of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2021, it is the follow-up to the award-winning Pariyerum Perumal for director Mari Selvaraj.

Karnan is a beautiful film, with powerful visuals, a terrific soundtrack filled with folk genre songs from local Tamil Nadu musicians, strong leading performances, and a palpable righteous anger at unjustness in the world. —PV

---

Love & Friendship

After the death of her husband, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) is looking for new husbands, plural — one for herself, and one for her only daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). Lady Susan is an audacious flirt and a calculating schemer, and Beckinsale absolutely excels in the layered role, delivering a bold and unforgettable lead performance in an uproarious film. While writer-director Whit Stillman is known for modern day comedies of manners like Metropolitan and Barcelona, his 2016 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Lady Susan is still firmly in his creative wheelhouse and stands as one of the funniest comedies in recent memory.—PV

---

Melancholia

Lars von Trier’s Melancholia stars Kirsten Dunst (Maria Antoinette) as Justine, a young bride who experiences a depressive episode on the eve of her wedding. When a rogue planet known as Melancholia appears hurtling towards Earth on a crash-collision course, Justine’s sister Claire struggles to maintain composure in the face of imminent disaster, while Justine navigates a strange euphoric resignation that washes over her in the planet’s last days. Melancholia is an achingly beautiful, somber, and harrowing journey through depression and ennui and one of von Trier’s finest films to date. —TE

---

The Night of the Hunter

The sole film produced by actor-director Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter is hailed by many to be one of the most masterful films ever committed to screen. At the heart of the movie’s enduring legacy is Robert Mitchum’s iconic performance as Harry Powell, a misogynistic serial killer with a flair for silver-tongued theatricality. Centering initially on Powell’s plot to romance a gullible widow to uncover the whereabouts of a stolen cache of $10,000, the film later unfolds into an odyssey across a rich expanse of stark silhouetted environments as the widow’s children desperately attempt to allude the mad preacher’s murderous intent. If you’re looking for a classic thriller with beautiful imagery, a moving score, and memorable performances, The Night of the Hunter boasts all those in ample amount. —TE

---

The Prestige

Nolan’s 2006 The Prestige, much like a magic trick, is (roughly) composed of three parts, or acts. The first part is exposition, where we’re introduced to the film’s protagonists in the form of two rival illusionists played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale vie to become the greatest living magician of their time. The second part is the premise, where things sour in the wake of a devastating on-stage accident, pitting the two men on a life-long collision course that transforms their professional rivalry into a perilous blood feud. The third part is the climax, where the film takes everything we thought we knew about these characters and turns those assumptions on their head to pull off the single greatest cinematic twist of Christopher Nolan’s career. Oh, and David Bowie is here dressed up like Nikola Tesla. Are you watching closely? —TE

---

Robocop

Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop is not only one of the most quotable action movies of its era but a powerful satire of Reagan-era social policies that explicates the dehumanizing force of rote bureaucracy and policing on the individual. Peter Weller is Alex Murphy, a Detroit city police officer murdered in the line of duty who is resurrected by an unscrupulous mega-corporation with hopes of privatizing law enforcement. Murphy’s personal journey from an unfeeling implement of state-sponsored violence into a conscious being who rediscovers his humanity and exacts justice on the apparatus of crime and exploitation that created him is one of the best sci-fi movies of the late 20th century. Plus, it’s got a scene of a guy getting shot in the dick, and another of a man being transformed into a goopy mutant before being mowed over by a van. I’d buy that for a dollar! —TE

---

Ronin

Ronin isn’t your typical heist movie. Directed by John Frankenheimer, the 1998 American action thriller stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as members of an elite team of mercenaries assembled by a mysterious handler to intercept and retrieve a suitcase before it is sold to the Russians. While it certainly doesn’t lack in terms of bristling gunfights and nail-biting chase sequences, the strength of Ronin lies in the meticulous and deliberate set up leading up to its fateful third act. Frankenheimer’s film is as austere as it gratifying; an action film with an emphasis on richly-crafted characters with byzantine alliances and a plainspoken sense of style. —TE

---

The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme’s 1991 psychological horror thriller adapted from Thoms Harris’ novel of the same name, is regularly cited as one of the greatest films of all time. And for good reason – it quite simply is. Anthony Hopkins’ performance as verbosely cruel and calculating Dr. Hannibal Lecter has indelibly stamped itself on the face of popular culture, while Jodie Foster’s turn as the intrepid FBI agent Clarice Starling ranks as one of her best. Both roles earned the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Actress at the 64th Academy Awards in addition to the coveted award for Best Picture, a hat trick that firmly secured the film’s place in the canon of American Cinema. The Silence of the Lambs is one of Demme’s most masterful accomplishments; a dark and cerebral horror movie made resonant via its moving performances. —TE

---

SPL II: A Time for Consequences

A hard-hitting martial arts film that doubles as a crime thriller with hints of medical drama, SPL II: A Time for Consequences is one of the high marks of recent Hong Kong action films. The unbelievably talented cast features action superstars Tony Jaa, Wu Jing, and Max Zhang, all delivering top-notch physical and emotional performances.

Kit (Wu) is a cop who has gone undercover to infiltrate a crime syndicate that is running a sinister kidnapping-for-organ-harvesting scheme. When Kit’s cover is blown, he is sent to a prison in Thailand, whose warden (Zhang) is in league with the syndicate. The prison portion of the movie includes multiple jaw-dropping fights Kit, the warden, and prison guard Chatchai (Jaa).

Barely a sequel to the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang, you can safely watch SPL II without seeing the first one. —PV

---

The Thomas Crown Affair

They don’t make heist movies hotter than this. John McTiernan’s remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway classic is a steamy romp, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo at their sexiest. Brosnan plays Thomas Crown, an arrogant playboy billionaire who is also the world’s greatest art thief in his spare time (in many ways, this is Brosnan’s Batman movie). Russo is Catherine Banning, an insurance investigator tasked with solving and recovering Crown’s most recent daring theft. The two fall for each other over the course of a delicious cat-and-mouse game, culminating in an unforgettable, intricately choreographed sequence set to Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.” —PV

---

Time

Compiled from hundreds of hours of video tape recorded over nearly 20 years, Garrett Bradley’s documentary Time is a profound examination of the American penal system that concentrates on the souls affected by it from start to finish. Bradley’s subject, Sibil Richardson, is a mother, wife, entrepreneur, educator, and fighter. But when life left her and her husband Robert hopeless, and in charge of a roost of small children, the married couple resorted to armed robbery, which ultimately ended in Robert being locked up with a 60-year prison sentence. After serving three years before being granted clemency, Sibil exits prison and immediately begins the juggling act of caring for her children, keeping the family afloat, and taking every measure to reunite with her husband, who she believes deserves a second chance at life.

Throughout her journey, Sibil keeps a camera rolling, and it’s a gift — she is bursting with joy, even in the gravest moments of reality. Bradley stitches together the found footage with a clockmaker’s touch, relying on the 60-year-old jazz tunes of Ethiopian nun Emahoy Tsegu Maryam Gubrou to create a temporal ebb and flow. Whatever your politics, whatever your taste for nonfiction film, Time is a genuine masterpiece that Amazon wisely picked up for its growing Originals catalogue. —Matt Patches

---

Train to Busan

Imagine if, instead of eating cockroaches and warding off ax-wielding thugs on their way to the one-percenter front carriage, the passengers aboard the Snowpiercer train warded off zombies. OK, OK, stop imagining: Train to Busan is better than anything you’ll come up with. Propulsive, bloody and glimmering with that dark whimsy particular to Korean cinema, animator-turned-live-action-director Yeon Sang-ho’s take on the zombie apocalypse wears its heart on its sleeve … until the flesh-eating undead tear the heart to shreds. It’s a father-daughter story. It’s a husband-wife story. It’s a who-deserves-to-live-and-die survivor narrative. It’s a people story trapped in a high-speed rail train, where the only hope of escape is a well-timed leap into the baggage shelf. It’s a hell of a movie. —MP