Prime Video has (finally) confirmed its slate for May 2026, and as per usual, the Amazon-owned streaming service is dropping a couple of dozen movies on the first of the month. This includes a trio of thrillers, which is good news for fans of the popular genre.
There’s always a demand for thrillers across the most popular platforms, and Prime Video is delivering this week. The May 1 drop is especially strong for fans of Denzel Washington, with the first two installments in his fan-favorite “The Equalizer” series arriving, alongside a movie that pairs him with Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds. Plus, if you want something more old-school, there’s a 1980s techno-thriller that popularized the idea of computer hacking.
If you’re eager to add a few thrillers to your Prime Video watchlist, I’ve combed through the new arrivals this week and picked out three for you to stream in the coming days.
‘The Equalizer’ (2014)
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the same filmmaker behind the current box office-topping Michael Jackson biopic, “The Equalizer” is an action-thriller franchise built entirely around Denzel Washington. There are three installments in the can as of writing, and Prime Video is adding the first two this month. Both are essential viewing for any subscriber who wants to see Washington give John Wick a run for his money in the butt-kicking action hero department.
Washington plays Robert McCall, a former Marine and ex-DIA officer, who now works in a home improvement store. He’s left his violent past behind, but returns to old habits when he befriends a teenage trafficking victim and feels a duty to protect her from the Russian mafia. The setup might be a little generic for the thriller genre, but Washington makes for a fantastic action-thriller star, and “The Equalizer” is a great showcase of that fact.
Watch "The Equalizer" on Prime Video starting May 1
‘Safe House’ (2012)
Not only does “Safe House” star Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, but it also includes Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson. There’s plenty of acting talent in the mix, so it’s a shame that the final movie has more than a few flaws. Nevertheless, it was a commercial success, with viewers ultimately being a little kinder to the 2012 movie than critics. If you’re looking for a gritty movie with plenty of star power, it’s worth considering, despite its issues.
Set in Cape Town, South Africa, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a junior CIA officer in charge of a safe house. Frustrated at his lack of field experience, he’s thrown right into the thick of the action when Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), a former agent turned international criminal, is brought in for interrogation. When mercenaries attack the safe house, Weston flees with Frost, and the two form an uneasy alliance to survive.
Watch "Safe House" on Prime Video starting May 1
‘Wargames’ (1983)
When viewed through a 21st-century lens, “Wargames” seems almost quaint, but it was quite the pioneer upon release in 1983. It’s credited with popularizing concepts like cybersecurity in American society, and was even nominated for a few Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay. Sure, it feels a little dated now, but that doesn’t mean that its thrilling Cold War-influenced story has lost its intrigue, and it marks one of the first feature film roles for Matthew Broderick, who would go on to play the iconic Ferris Bueller three years later.
David Lightman is a sharp but unmotivated high school slacker in Seattle, with an aptitude for computer hacking. After using these abilities for the usual teenage hijinks, like altering his school grade, he gets in over his head when he unknowingly accesses a military central computer with the ability to simulate and even execute a nuclear attack against the Soviet Union. He thinks he’s just playing a computer game, but it might have just started World War III.
Watch "Wargames" on Prime Video starting May 1
