Best German action movies
A curated collection of popular action movies from Germany.

Thunder at the Border (1966)
Thunder at the Border (1966)
Firehand and his Apache friend Winnetou are determined to get justice for the murder of four young braves. They set off to track down the gang responsible for the horrendous act.

Cross of Iron (1977)
Cross of Iron (1977)
It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.

Rommel (2012)
Rommel (2012)
The story of the final seven months in the life of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Hear the Silence (2016)
Hear the Silence (2016)
1941, Ukraine. A group of German soldiers occupy a small town populated exclusively by women and children of German descent, way behind enemy lines. There's tension from the beginning, that always threatens to erupt in violence from both sides.

Hooligans at War: North vs South (2015)
Hooligans at War: North vs South (2015)
After fighting for their country in the Army, friends Chris and Johnny return to South London only to find their home town has changed beyond recognition. With no jobs the two join local gangs, work their way to the top and become feared hooligan bosses. The only thing that can top war, and threaten friendships, is money and power, but who will stand their ground and come out on top in the violent and bloody battle between North and South?

Rasputin (1984)
Rasputin (1984)
The monk Rasputin is summoned by the Russian nobility to use his healing powers to heal the dying heir to the Russian Empire.

The Commander (1988)
The Commander (1988)
Lewis Collins is back to leading mercenaries on the move in Southeast Asia. This time the cast is unusually good including Lee Van Cleef, Brett Halsey (Cop Game), Romano Puppo (Robowar), Mike Monty (Raiders of Atlantis), Bobby Rhodes (The Great Alligator), etc. Anyway, Van Cleef has Collins go on some random mission to locate a disc with all sorts of valuable crazy intelligence data on it. It just happens that Donald Pleasence, a random government official, hires another mercenary-for-hire Manfred Lehman to tag along and make sure the data ends up in the right hands. Van Cleef isn't taking any chances, and since he is crooked and murders Collins's other bosses quickly, he places Romano Puppo in the group as well to make sure the operation runs smoothly. Collins may not be too expressive but at least he seems to figure out quickly who's out to get him, so the mission continues with lots of double-crosses, twists and turns, and of course lots of explosions!

The Bourne Identity (2002)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. However, Bourne realizes that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy—but who does he work for?

Run Lola Run (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run.

Blood Red Sky (2021)
Blood Red Sky (2021)
A woman with a mysterious illness is forced into action when a group of terrorists attempt to hijack a transatlantic overnight flight. In order to protect her son she will have to reveal a dark secret, and unleash the inner monster she has fought to hide.

Running Scared (2006)

The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
'Der Baader Meinhof Komplex' depicts the political turmoil in the period from 1967 to the bloody "Deutschen Herbst" in 1977. The movie approaches the events based on Stefan Aust's standard work on the Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF). The story centers on the leadership of the self named anti-fascist resistance to state violence: Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin.

Rampage (2009)
Rampage (2009)
The boredom of small town life is eating Bill Williamson alive. Feeling constrained and claustrophobic in the meaningless drudgery of everyday life and helpless against overwhelming global dissolution, Bill begins a descent into madness. His shockingly violent plan will shake the very foundations of society by painting the streets red with blood.

Sixty Minutes (2024)

No Good Deed (2002)
No Good Deed (2002)
While doing a friend a favour and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. The screenplay by Christopher Cannan and Steve Barancik is based on the short story "The House in Turk Street" by Dashiell Hammett.

The Last Kumite (2024)
The Last Kumite (2024)
When Karate champion Michael Rivers wins the last tournament of his career, shady businessman Ron Hall offers him the opportunity to fight in an illegal Kumite in Bulgaria against the world’s best martial artists. When Michael declines, Hall has his daughter kidnapped and, in order to rescue her, Rivers is left with no choice but to compete in the deadly tournament. Arriving in Bulgaria, he finds out that he is not the only fighter whose loved one was taken. Rivers enlists the help of trainers Master Loren, and Julie Jackson but will it be enough for him to win the tournament and save his daughter’s life?

The Guardians (2012)
The Guardians (2012)
15-year-old Nina witnesses a terrible crime that puts her life in danger. Being an orphan, she has nobody she can trust. When corrupt businessman Thomas Backer sends five killers after Nina, witness protection officer, Max, a former special-forces soldier, is responsible for her safety. They soon overcome their initial distance to find common ground. While on the run from the ruthless Backer, Rudi, one of Max’s former comrades, comes to their rescue – and continues to help the two out of some precarious situations. Even Max’s ex-girlfriend Sara is not just there to help him as a federal prosecutor. Nevertheless, Nina and Max face ever-increasing danger, and soon the teenager is not the only one in need of a guardian angel – Max could use one too.

Trunk - Locked In (2023)
Trunk - Locked In (2023)
28-year-old medicine student Malina wakes up disoriented in a locked trunk and realizes, to her horror, that she is missing more than just her memory of what happened. With her phone as the only link to the outside world, the intelligent young woman wages a desperate fight for survival while the vehicle races relentlessly toward a terrible secret.

Zombies (2017)
Zombies (2017)
When the world is in shambles, plagued by a zombie outbreak, only the strong will survive, but just how much determination will it take? Will Luke and his crew have enough ambition and ammunition to stay alive long enough to save the human race?

Skybound (2017)
Skybound (2017)
Five friends on a small airplane mysteriously lose their radio connection on a trip from New York to LA. As they continue their flight, they're forced to assume that a major disaster happened on the ground. They discover a stowaway, Erik, who urges them not to land at any cost. Before they run out of fuel, they must find out the truth.

Luna's Revenge (2018)
Luna's Revenge (2018)
When Luna’s family is killed in cold blood on a mountain vacation, she barely escapes, and has to discover she’s been living a lie: her dad was a Russian secret agent, and her family was just a front. Luna has the opportunity to flee the country. But first she wants revenge.

Snowflake (2017)
Snowflake (2017)
Hunting down the murderer of their families in an anarchic Berlin of the near future, the outlaws Tan and Javid find themselves trapped in the wicked fairytale of a mysterious screenplay that entangles them in a vicious circle of revenge – apparently all written by a clueless dentist.

Nick: Off Duty (2016)
Nick: Off Duty (2016)
Day in, day out, Niklas ‘Nick’ Tschiller and his partner Yalcin Gümer investigate crimes that are happening in Hamburg. But at some point even the policeman needs a break to spend time with his daughter Lenny. Then it says: Tschiller a.D. - out of service - goodbye to Hamburg. However, simply relaxing is easier said than done, because crime never sleeps and a new, very personal case throws a spanner in the works for Nick's plans for a well-deserved break. Even on vacation, the criminal investigator is not sure about his job and so a wild journey soon takes him across Europe, including to Istanbul and Moscow.

What to Do in Case of Fire? (2001)
What to Do in Case of Fire? (2001)
What To Do In Case of Fire? tells the humorous and touching story of six former creative anarchists who lived as house squatters in Berlin during its heyday in the 80s when Berlin was still an island in the middle of the former eastern Germany. At the end of the 80s they went their separate ways with the exception of Tim and Hotte, who have remained true to their ideals and continue to fight the issues they did as a group. In 2000, with Berlin as Germany's new capital, an event happens forcing the group out of existential reason to reunite and, ultimately, come to grips with the reason they separated 12 years ago.

Boy 7 (2015)
Boy 7 (2015)
A teenager wakes up in a subway car with no memory of how he got there or who he is.

The Polar Bear (1998)
The Polar Bear (1998)
Four characters become involved in one dramatic story: Nico has a mission to drive a car containing a live bomb to a specified destination, park the car and escape as quickly as she can. Leo has become his client's target, having carried out a "contract" that unfortunately had already been cancelled. Fabian and Reza want to enjoy themselves without any money, bringing themselves into contact sooner or later with the police. Sooner or later all four will meet up in dramatic circumstances....

The Million Game (1970)
The Million Game (1970)
A candidate in a game show is hunted by three men. He will get a Million DMark, if he survives for a week; the hunters will get the money, if they can kill the candidate. The audience of the show is watching the transmissions of twenty camera teams filming the hunt. The showmaster appeals to the TV-viewers to help either the candidate or the hunters, whomever they want.