Hulu did not skimp on the action in July. And that’s great news for action movie lovers. While Hulu maintains an active film library that goes back decades, it’s always fun to see some new and classic movies rejoin the collection after spending time on other streamers.
All of our picks for the three action movies on Hulu that you need to watch in July are sci-fi flicks that returned to the streamer at the beginning of the month. Collectively, they’re more than enough to heat up your summer without going outside.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Alita: Battle Angel is the movie that James Cameron wishes he could have made. That’s not a slam against Cameron, who probably would have done a great job with it. The director held the rights to the original manga for years before passing off the baton to Robert Rodriguez, although Cameron retained a screenplay credit and produced the film.
Over 500 years in the future, Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) recovers the wreckage of a female cyborg he calls Alita (Rosa Salazar). Since Alita no longer remembers her past life after being rebuilt, she embraces life in Iron City as the surrogate daughter of Ido. But when Alita witnesses the injustices of Iron City firsthand, she rediscovers her fighting skills and stands up to the bullies and thieves. That makes Alita some very deadly enemies among the ruling class, but this Battle Angel doesn’t back down from a fight.
Watch Alita: Battle Angel on Hulu.
Aliens (1986)
Ridley Scott’s Alien may be a better horror flick, but James Cameron’s Aliens is unsurpassed as an action movie in this franchise. And with a new movie, Alien: Romulus, hitting theaters next month, this is the ideal time to look back at the film that turned this franchise into a true blockbuster.
After spending decades in hibernation following the events of the first film, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is traumatized and emotionally adrift. Ripley missed her daughter’s entire life, but she finds a surrogate daughter in Rebecca “Newt” Jorden (Carrie Henn), the lone survivor of a human colony overrun by the Xenomorphs.
Ripley accompanied the Colonial Marines on the mission suspecting that the aliens would be there, but the situation is even worse than she imagined. Marines are dropping like flies, and Ripley’s going to have to face the Xenomorph queen herself in order to survive.
Watch Aliens on Hulu.
The Predator (2018)
The Predator holds the distinction of being the last movie in the franchise to take place in the present until the studio decides otherwise. A solider named Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) and a scientist, Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn), are both drawn into the orbit of a Predator captured on Earth. McKenna spirited away some of the Predator’s tech, while Brackett was recruited by Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) to study the creature.
When the Predator inevitably escapes, Quinn and Casey find unexpected allies among a group of soldiers with severe PTSD and other mental health issues. But soon enough, another Predator arrives, and the humans realize that they’re in way over their heads this time.
Watch The Predator on Hulu.