Is there anything more American than watching things blow up?
Watch With Us doesn’t think so. That’s why were’s celebrating America’s 250th birthday by streaming three great action movies on Prime Video, Paramount+ and Disney+.
Top Gun is turning 40 this year, and the film that made Tom Cruise a star is still as enthralling to watch in 2026 as it was in 1986.
Harrison Ford is best known to Gen X moviegoers as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but his take-no-prisoners president in Air Force One is just as intimidating as those legendary characters.
And while Olympus Has Fallen is no classic, it’s a fun action flick that has Gerard Butler saving the White House – and America – from terrorists.
‘Top Gun’ (1986) – Paramount+ and Pluto TV
Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ Paramount / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is an Air Force pilot who lives up to his codename – he doesn’t play by anyone’s rules. The huge chip on his shoulder is soon knocked off by Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), a new instructor at Maverick’s Top Gun training school who isn’t impressed by his cockiness. They fall in love, of course, but Maverick still has something to prove to her and to himself – that he’s the best jet pilot Top Gun has ever seen.
A testosterone-filled action classic, Top Gun is almost as synonymous with America as apple pie and Don McLean. The film made Cruise a star, and he’s pitch-perfect as a rebel with a cause – and a crush on an older woman who is more intelligent and mature than he is. The aerial fight scenes still hold up, but what’s surprising about the film is how solid the love story is. Cruise and McGillis have good chemistry, and they sell their characters’ somewhat unbelievable relationship.
If you’re craving more Maverick action, Top Gun: Maverick is also available to stream on Paramount+.
‘Air Force One (1997) – Disney+
Harrison Ford in Air Force One. Everett
There are plenty of movies about presidents, but Air Force One is the only one with Harrison Ford as pissed-off prez with a mean left hook. President James Marshall (Ford) has every right to be angry – his presidential plane, Air Force One, has been hijacked by some Russian terrorists, and his family is in immediate danger. Marshall is used to fighting political foes in Congress, but it’s a whole different ball game when he’s all alone, 20,000 feet in the air and surrounded by people who want to kill him.
Do you really need to be convinced to watch a movie with Harrison Ford fighting Gary Oldman on a plane that’s out of control and about to crash? Air Force One is silly, stupid fun, and probably the only movie that makes politics exciting. Ford at his ‘90s action-hero best, while Glenn Close brings her usual class to the role of an anxious vice president who has to be ready to become the world’s most powerful leader at a moment’s notice.
‘Olympus Has Fallen’ (2013) – Prime Video
Watch With Us likes our presidents as action heroes, although the commander-in-chief in Olympus Has Fallen, President Ben Asher (Aaron Eckhart), needs some help. North Korean terrorists have taken over the White House, and they’ve already assassinated South Korea’s Prime Minister live on the air. The only cavalry that’s going to save him is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a Secret Service agent who Asher still blames for his wife’s death eighteen months ago. He’ll have to get over that grudge quickly if he has any hope of surviving a hostage situation that quickly turns hostile.
Air Force One looks like a political documentary next to Olympus Has Fallen. The 2013 action movie might as well be science fiction, as it takes place in a reality where bad guys can pretty much walk right into the White House and steal nuclear codes. But this reality also has Morgan Freeman as a calm and rational politician (what a concept!) and Gerard Butler as an ass-kicking, stab-loving federal cop who can take down a team of assassins without getting killed. Olympus Has Fallen is pure action fantasy, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Be sure to avoid its two inferior sequels, London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen.
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