Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall.
Tri-Star Pictures

It’s been a long and cold winter, but spring is finally here. And if you’re looking for some excitement in the new season, then Paramount+ has you covered. The new movies on Paramount+ in April have some great options, especially if you love action movies. And we’ve got some picks for you to watch that are available on all tiers, and not just Paramount+ with Showtime.

Our selections for the three action movies you need to watch on Paramount+ in April are all classics in the genre. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone when they were in their prime. But our first pick has the unique distinction of letting Nicolas Cage and John Travolta appear as both the hero and the villain in the same movie.

Face/Off (1997)

Sean and Castor having a conversation through a wall in Face/Off.
Paramount

Face/Off wasn’t the first American film directed by Hong Kong cinema legend John Woo, but it may be his best. It has an absolutely audacious premise that features John Travolta as FBI Agent Sean Archer and Nicolas Cage as a terrorist named Castor Troy. Archer has a vendetta against Troy over the latter accidentally murdering Sean’s son while trying to kill him. But when Troy is left comatose, and his explosive devices remain hidden, Archer reluctantly agrees to allow Troy’s face to be grafted on his body so he can go undercover and figure out where the bombs are hidden.

This plan goes to hell when the real Troy awakens without his face and takes Archer’s face and his identity as his own. Now, the only people who knew that Archer was undercover as Troy are dead, and the real Troy is pretending to be Archer while hunting him down alongside the FBI.

Watch Face/Off on Paramount+.

First Blood (1982)

Sylvester Stallone in First Blood.
Orion Pictures

“They drew first blood, not me.” Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo made his first appearance in First Blood, and he wasn’t the nearly invulnerable action hero that he became in the sequels. In this film, Rambo is a man who is suffering from emotional trauma and PTSD from his service in the Vietnam War. Sheriff William “Will” Teasle (Brian Dennehy) doesn’t want Rambo hanging around in his small town, and he practically invites his deputies to abuse Rambo when he’s in custody.

However, they pushed the wrong guy. When Rambo pushes back, he’s a one-man army with nothing to lose. If Teasle keeps pushing his luck, the body count will just go up.

Watch First Blood on Paramount+.

Total Recall (1990)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone in Total Recall.
Tri-Star Pictures

There are two versions of Total Recall, and this is the one you should watch because Arnold Schwarzenegger was in peak action hero mode in this pre-Terminator 2 flick. Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who doesn’t understand why he keeps dreaming about having another life on Mars. To get the red planet out of his system, Quaid goes to a virtual vacation company that promises to implant the memories of a fun Martian adventure in his mind.

Unfortunately for Quaid, somebody’s already been poking around in his brain. His dreams about another life may not be dreams at all, especially when even his wife, Lori (Sharon Stone), is willing to kill Quaid before he can get to Mars and finally figure out who he’s supposed to be.

Watch Total Recall on Paramount+.

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