The 15 best Netflix movies you need to watch in February 2026
An underrated 2025 thriller is among this month's best Netflix films
Netflix is about to refresh its streaming library for February 2026, so if you’re looking to add some films to your watch list, we’ve rounded up its best movies this month.
Everybody watched the end of Stranger Things, and His and Hers topped the streaming platform chart around the world. That’s before we get to the likes of Seven Dials, the Take That documentary, or its answer to Heated Rivalry. These are some of the best Netflix series – but what about its movie library?
Whether you’re on the hunt for a new film, a classic, or maybe you don’t even know what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered.
Best Netflix movies (February 2026)
Anniversary
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Year: 2025
- Cast: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Zoey Deutch, Phoebe Dynevor
- Director: Stephen Chbosky
- Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
What it’s about: A close-knit family’s lives are upended by ‘The Change’, a bold political movement spearheaded by Liz, a new girlfriend and former student at their university.
Why to watch: Anniversary can be unbearably – and deliciously – fraught; a movie that barely walks the tightrope between passive-aggression and all-out menace. There is one scene at the dinner table that’s worth the entire runtime (but it’s not too long, anyway).
Its lack of political specificity, similarly to Civil War, isn’t a flaw: if anything, it highlights how extremity is the problem above all else. If you’re in the right mood, you’ll be hooked.
The Darjeeling Limited
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2007
- Cast: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman
- Director: Wes Anderson
- Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
What it’s about: A year after their father’s death, three brothers reunite and embark on a train journey across India to find their reclusive mother.
Why to watch: Wes Anderson can be a bit marmitey; you’re either charmed by his whimsically symmetrical, pastel-hued style, or it’ll get under your skin.
If you’re a fan or someone hoping to be convinced otherwise, The Darjeeling Limited is one of the director’s most undersung films. It’s a simple story with three tremendous leads, and you’ll almost definitely giggle along the way.
IF
- Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
- Year: 2024
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Steve Carell
- Director: John Krasinski
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
What it’s about: Bea, a 12-year-old girl who lost her mother, mysteriously gains the ability to see everyone else’s imaginary friends. She meets Cal, who asks for her help to pair forgotten ‘IFs’ with new children.
Why to watch: IF came and went rather quietly in 2024. That’s a shame, because it’s a lovely, entirely harmless family movie that looks amazing (that’s what happens when Steven Spielberg’s DP shoots your film).
There’s a hint of Roald Dahl in there… and, yes, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. It’ll keep kids entertained… and you may find your eyes drifting to the TV more than you’d expect.
Abigail
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Year: 2024
- Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir
- Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
- Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
What it’s about: A group of criminals kidnap the daughter of an underworld boss, and they’re given one instruction: guard her for 24 hours, and they’ll get $7 million each. However, the young girl has a terrifying secret.
Why to watch: This is a vintage late-night Friday movie: gory, hilarious, with a pitch-perfect cast and two filmmakers (who made Scream 5 and Ready or Not) cutting loose with barbaric, chaotic glee.
It’s an old-school monster romp with modern sensibilities and practical ickiness; what’s not to love?
Heat
- Genre: Crime, Thriller
- Year: 1995
- Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
- Director: Michael Mann
- Runtime: 2 hours 50 minutes
What it’s about: Neil McCauley, the leader of a group of bank robbers who’ve never been caught, plans one last job that will allow him to retire. There’s just one problem: LAPD detective Vincent Hanna is determined to stop him.
Why to watch: Heat is the definitive cops-and-robbers epic: a slick, brutal, and soulful action movie that set a gold standard for cinematic gunplay.
But there’s something deeper beneath the bullets: two men bound by obsession, chasing purpose in a world that only makes sense when they’re on opposite sides.
Kill Bill (Vol 1 and 2)
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Year: 2003–2004
- Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Runtime: 4 hours 7 minutes (1 hour 51 minutes and 2 hours 18 minutes)
What it’s about: Years after a pregnant assassin – code-named The Bride – is slain by her troupe of contract killers, she emerges from a coma hellbent on revenge.
Why to watch: Kill Bill isn’t Quentin Tarantino’s greatest masterpiece (that honour goes to Inglorious Basterds). It is the movie he was born to make; a high-art, bloodily effervescent pastiche with some of the most unforgettable lines and images in the director’s canon. And, yes, we’re grouping them as one film – if you can, watch The Whole Bloody Affair.
Accepted
- Genre: Comedy
- Year: 2006
- Cast: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively
- Director: Steve Pink
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
What it’s about: After being rejected by every college he applied to, a charismatic slacker enrols in a fake university of his own making. However, his lie spirals out of control when hundreds of students turn up.
Why to watch: Cinema was a brighter and happier place when Justin Long popped up in movies. Accepted looks like a run-of-the-mill, American Pie-era teen comedy, but it’s elevated not only by Long’s one-of-a-kind charm, but by how much they stretch its ridiculous premise.
Godzilla Minus One
- Genre: Sci-fi, Action, Drama
- Year: 2023
- Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki
- Director: Takashi Yamazaki
- Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes
What it’s about: Years after the US military’s nuclear tests in the Pacific, a gargantuan creature emerges from the depths to inflict its wrath on the people of post-war Japan.
Why to watch: Godzilla is cinema’s most iconic monster (sorry, King Kong), and Minus One is the greatest movie the franchise has ever produced. This is a devastating, awe-inspiring film, painstakingly directed and envisioned by Takashi Yamazaki.
Hollywood and its goofy MonsterVerse should be embarrassed; this is the Kaiju’s finest hour.
Lakeview Terrace
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2008
- Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington
- Director: Neil LaBute
- Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
What it’s about: Chris and Lisa, two newlyweds, find themselves terrifyingly at odds with their new next-door neighbour: Abel, a police officer who has a problem with their interracial marriage.
Why to watch: Lakeview Terrace has an absolutely bonkers ‘reverse racism’ premise. You’re probably already curious enough to press play, but keep three things in mind: it’s a taut, lean, and very mean thriller, the performances are superb, and it’s inspired by a real-life story. Yes, really!
A Prayer Before Dawn
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Joe Cole, Pornchanok Mabklang, Panya Yimmumphai
- Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire
- Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
What it’s about: Billy Moore, a young British boxer, ends up in a Thai prison, where he experiences the horrors of life behind bars.
Why to watch: Less Shawshank Redemption, more Midnight Express, A Prayer Before Dawn is a harrowingly visceral and merciless drama that puts Joe Cole’s movie star charisma to the test – and he passes with flying colours (and kicks).
Prisoners
- Genre: Thriller
- Year: 2013
- Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Paul Dano
- Director: Denis Villeneuve
- Runtime: 2 hours 33 minutes
What it’s about: When Keller’s daughter goes missing, he grows frustrated with the police’s inability to find her and their reluctance to arrest a suspect. So, despite Detective Loki’s warnings and continued efforts to find her, he takes matters into his own hands.
Why to watch: What would you do if your child vanished? Is there a limit to what you would do to find them?
Prisoners, Denis Villeneuve’s hard-boiled, grim whodunnit, takes distressing turns to show just how depraved a desperate person can be. You have never seen a Hugh Jackman performance like this.
Uncut Gems
- Genre: Thriller, Crime
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield
- Director: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
- Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes
What it’s about: Howard Ratner, a jeweller and compulsive gambler, risks everything on a bet that could pull him from the depths of his debts. But his addiction pushes him closer to ruin and graver consequences than anything he’s ever faced.
Why to watch: Uncut Gems isn’t just one of the best movies on Netflix. It’s one of the most viscerally affecting films of the past 10 years; a feature-length panic attack that could be weaponised as a stress agent.
That may not sound like a reason to watch it, but it is. Plus, it boasts a legendary performance from Sandler that should have won him an Oscar. Whether it’s now or in 30 years, it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the greatest movies of all time.
Its co-director, Josh Safdie, also directed Marty Supreme, one of the best movies of 2025.
Rebel Ridge
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Year: 2024
- Cast: Aaron Pierre, AnnaSophia Robb, Don Johnson, Emory Cohen
- Director: Jeremy Saulnier
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes
What it’s about: Terry arrives in Shelby Springs with one goal: posting bail for his cousin and leaving before he gets into more trouble. However, when the crooked police force illegally seizes his money, he’s forced to take matters into his own hands.
Why to watch: Rebel Ridge might be Netflix’s best thriller yet — a lean, clinical blend of Reacher’s Dad-coded charms and Jeremy Saulnier’s precise direction.
It feels like a modern heir to First Blood: grounded, fuelled by righteous and controlled anger, with a star-is-born, hulking performance from Aaron Pierre and Don Johnson as his smarmy, loathsome foe.
Wake Up Dead Man
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Comedy
- Year: 2025
- Director: Rian Johnson
- Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin
- Runtime: 2 hours 24 minutes
What it’s about: In Benoit Blanc’s darkest and most dangerous case yet, he finds himself in a small, religious town after a murder rocks the local congregation. Jud, a young priest, is the main suspect – but there’s more to this mystery than meets the eye.
Why to watch: Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc has already entered the pantheon of all-time great fictional detectives, and Wake Up Dead Man is an extraordinary testament to not only him, but the Knives Out series. This is the best story in the trilogy; emotionally wise, sharp, and unpredictable. It looks incredible, too.
If you’ve already watched it, read our breakdown of Wake Up Dead Man’s ending.
Warrior
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2011
- Cast: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison
- Director: Gavin O’Connor
- Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes
What it’s about: Tommy, an ex-Marine, returns home under mysterious circumstances to train for the world’s biggest martial arts tournament. Elsewhere, his estranged brother is at risk of losing his home, so he decides to get back in the cage to make ends meet.
Why to watch: Warrior is the best sports movie ever made. Yes, better than Rocky.
It is a foolproof movie. Unabashedly macho, yet shamelessly sentimental, with some of the most bruising and emotional combat sports scenes put to film. It doesn’t matter if you have a heart of stone: you will cry, and then you’ll recommend it to everyone, and so the Warrior cycle continues.
Read more: The best TV shows on Netflix right now
