While summer blockbusters like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts are currently clogging theaters everywhere, Netflix has a few blockbusters of its own to share. Extraction 2 is only the beginning of the big-budget and high-profile films on their way to Netflix during the hottest months of the year. And even some of the smaller Netflix original movie titles are proving to be gripping experiences like the documentary Take Care of Maya.
Because there are so many Netflix original flicks, it’s sometimes difficult to separate the truly worthy projects from the low-budget garbage that doesn’t belong there. Fortunately for you, we’ve taken the time to narrow down the selection to only the best Netflix original movies. If you stick with us, then your summer movie nights are going to be epic.
If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, try our other lists of the best Netflix original series, the best Hulu original series, the best Amazon Prime original movies, and the best Amazon Prime original series.
Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Chris Hemsworth has rediscovered his calling as an action star in Netflix’s Extraction franchise, and he reprises his role as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2. After narrowly surviving the events of the first film, Tyler and his team take on a righteous mission to rescue his ex-sister-in-law, Ketevan (Tinatin Dalakishvili), and her children from her abusive husband, Davit (Tornike Bziava).
Since Davit is a drug lord who is holding his own family hostage, Tyler and his team don’t hold back. Unfortunately for them, Davit’s older brother, Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani), is now eager to get his revenge on Tyler, and he’ll go to great lengths to do so.
Mila Kunis’ Tiffani “Ani” Fanelli is the titular Luckiest Girl Alive, but only because no one knows the secrets that she’s been carrying for years. When she went to high school, Ani was one of the survivors of a deadly shooting. And one of the reasons why Ani is so haunted is that she knew the shooters, and she also knew why they made their plans.
In the present, Ani goes out of her way to avoid one of the other survivors, Dean Barton (Alex Barone), while preparing for her wedding with Luke Harrison (Finn Wittrock). However, Ani can’t run from her past forever. And her secrets will be revealed.
Who is Lou? In the movie that shares her name, Lou Adell (Allison Janney) is simply the landlady for a young mother, Hannah Dawson (Jurnee Smollett), and her daughter, Vee (Ridley Asha Bateman). At least that’s what Lou wants everyone to believe. It’s a deception that she has learned to live with.
But when Vee is kidnapped by her biological father, Philip (Logan Marshall-Green), Lou springs into action and displays fighting skills that go far beyond the ordinary. Lou also has a personal connection to this drama, and she won’t stop until Vee is back home where she belongs.
There’s a new documentary climbing the movie charts on Netflix called Take Care of Maya. But fair warning: This film may make you very angry when you learn what Maya Kowalski and her family went through when she suffered from rare and baffling medical symptoms. When Maya’s parents, Beata and Jack, pushed for better care and more transparency from Maya’s doctors, they found themselves accused of abusing their daughter.
That pits Beata and Jack against the medical establishment, and even against each other before a tragic turn of events changes everything. The story’s final chapter hasn’t been written yet, but Take Care of Maya is a cautionary tale that parents should watch no matter how painful it gets.
What if the Terminator was a woman? That’s not quite the premise of The Mother, but Jennifer Lopez’s titular assassin is just about as unstoppable as a killer machine from the future. The only thing that could give this woman pause is her teenage daughter, Zoe (Lucy Paez), whom she gave up years before in the hope that she could grow up safely.
The Mother’s plans are upended when her enemies discover Zoe’s identity and kidnap her. That’s why the mother pulls out all of the stops to save Zoe, and then starts training Zoe so she can protect herself as well.
Director Jonás Cuarón’s Chupa has a lot in common with Stephen Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Both films are about a young boy who befriends a creature of unknown origin. In this case, it’s a chupacabra cub that is found by Alex (Evan Whitten), a 13-year-old who is visiting his family in Mexico after the death of his father.
Finding Chupa gives Alex a new sense of purpose as he attempts to care for the cub. But an unscrupulous scientist, Richard Quinn (Christian Slater), will do anything to capture Chupa and prove his theories about the mythical chupacabras. So it falls on Alex to keep Chupa safe.
Brush up on your French or turn on the subtitles for AKA, an old-school action flick that may remind you of Man on Fire. Alban Lenoir co-wrote the film and stars as Adam Franco, an undercover French operative who infiltrates the crime organization of Victor Pastore (Eric Cantona).
Adam’s fighting prowess earns him a place as the bodyguard for Victor’s stepson, Jonathan (Noe Chabbat). Against his better judgment, Adam actually grows to care about Jonathan and bonds with him. And when Jonathan’s life is in danger, Adam puts his own life on the line to protect him, no matter what the cost.
Guillermo del Toro is no stranger to the world of the fantastical, which made the director a more-than-natural fit for a reimagining of Pinocchio. With Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the director goes all-in with stop motion animation for a story takes place in Italy during World War II. In a fit of despair, Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) cuts down a tree grown in memory of his son who died in World War I, and uses the lumber to create a puppet he calls Pinocchio (Gregory Mann).
Soon after, the Wood Sprite brings Pinocchio to life and tasks Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor) with being his guiding conscience. What follows is a story about discovering who you really are in a world full of near-infinite possibilities, both big and small.
Directed by John Lee Hancock, The Highwaymen stars Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson as Frank Hamer and Maney Gault, a 1930s detective duo hell-bent on taking down two of America’s most notorious outlaws: Bonnie (Emily Brobst) and Clyde (Edward Bossert). When the criminals bust a band of cohorts out of a Texas prison, the governor calls upon a retired Hamer to bring down the malcontents once and for all. Initially hesitant to get involved, he changes his mind after a horrifying Missouri shootout involving the fugitives.
After recruiting his old partner, Gault, the two men go to work delivering justice where justice is needed most. A rich character study that gets into the heads of the Texas lawmen who wanted nothing more than to put two terrible people behind bars, The Highwaymen is a thrill from start to finish.
Directed by the king of CGI motion-capture, Andy Serkis, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle does its best to stray from Disney’s interpretations of the classic Rudyard Kipling text. While a handful of the core story elements remain untouched, Serkis does opt for a more down-to-earth approach to Mowgli’s (Rohan Chand) coming-of-age tale.
Reared by wolves, Mowgli forges his way through the hierarchical animal kingdom of India, learning crucial lessons from his bear friend, Baloo (voiced and performed by Serkis), and a panther named Bagheera (Christian Bale). While Serkis’ vision tends to ebb and flow, it’s a rooted and ragged reimagining of the Kipling prose that mostly sticks the landing.
Roma is writer-director Alfonso Cuarón’s homage to his childhood, heritage, and the many places and things that would inspire and invigorate one of the most renowned international auteurs of our time. Part autobiography, part narrative-fiction, the film follows the life and times of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a nanny and servant to an upper-middle-class Mexican family.
When the patriarch Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) runs off with his mistress, Cleo is invited by Sofia (Marina de Tavira), the mother of the household, to take a vacation with her and her four children. But after discovering she’s pregnant, civil strife in 1970s Mexico City threatens everything for Cleo and those she cares for most. A brilliant piece of cinema that was nominated for 10 Oscars, Roma is not one to be missed.
Based on a real story, The Good Nurse follows Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), a working single mother whose career as a nurse could be jeopardized if her employers knew that she suffers from cardiomyopathy. Her new colleague, Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), helps Amy hide her secret, and they become good friends. That’s why Amy doesn’t initially believe detectives Danny Baldwin (Nnamdi Asomugha) and Tim Braun (Noah Emmerich) when they tell her that Charles may be connected to several suspicious deaths. Unfortunately for Amy, the more she looks into it, the more she suspects that her friend is a serial killer.
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