We all know that film can provide a powerful insight into the human psyche, and spy films are no different.
They are supposed to be fun and thrilling yet unpredictable. Sometimes they reflect their era’s social and political background, while others comment on espionage in general.
The role of a spy is, by definition, a dangerous one, making them the adventurous type. Spy films are all about suspense, drama, and action, giving rise to characters that are more complex than they seem at first glance.
This list contains the best spy movies on Prime Video and will offer a selection of films that aim to entertain and incite the audience.
From criminal intrigue to a political conspiracy, they are thrilling and thought-provoking.
Allied
Year: 2016
Running Time: 2h 4m
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars Cast: Marion Cotillard, Brad Pitt, Jared Harris
A female French Resistance fighter is encountered in North Africa in 1942 by a Canadian intelligence officer who is on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. The demands of war put their relationship to the test when they reunite in London.
After the war, a British intelligence officer arrives in occupied France to extract a former SS officer.
The man has good reason for wanting to avoid capture by the French. In London, he is tasked with helping find a missing scientist who knows much about weapons technology.
He is told that the scientist was working for the French Resistance, but he will soon find evidence that the man is a Nazi collaborator.
The two agents form an unlikely partnership to track down the scientist and take them to a concentration camp, where they discover that not all of his work has yet been found.
Eye of the Needle
Year: 1981
Running Time: 1h 52m
Director: Richard Marquand
Stars Cast: Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, Stephen MacKenna
This spy movie is set during the Second World War in England, with a special agent. Mac operates behind enemy lines and tries to stop Nazi spy cells from committing acts of sabotage. The Germans wanted to get their hands on a new radar technology that could detect ships even at night.
Mac flies to Scotland pretending to be a parachutist, where he meets an old friend and former lover who helps him set up his mission.
It ends when the woman finds the objects of desire but gets killed by the chief villain.
The leader of the Nazi spy cell is a German traitor. He is a former British Army officer who wants to get his hands on radar technology due to its importance against the Nazis. The head of the British spy agency is unable to prevent Mac from getting involved in her operations.
The Double
Year: 2011
Running Time: 1h 38m
Director: Michael Brandt
Stars Cast: Topher Grace, Richard Gere, Martin Sheen
A CIA agent with a spotless record goes rogue, seeking revenge for the death of his partner. The friends of the deceptively harmless-looking accountant by day are few, but they are trying to find him and tie down his former partner, who is unaware of his quest.
The old partner investigates but is already on the run and unsure how much information the CIA has on him.
He does not know if they know what he is planning or if he exists. The dead friend in Washington used to be an accountant before joining the agency and was very good at undercover work.
While he searches for evidence, the old partner is surprised to find out that his friend has a wife, a woman he has never mentioned even once.
The wife has likewise been living a double life, unaware of her husband’s work.
The Russia House
Year: 1990
Running Time: 2h 3m
Director: Fred Schepisi
Stars Cast: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider
This spy movie is based on the true story of a British intelligence officer who finds himself at a crossroads after the end of World War II.
He must choose between helping free Russians held prisoner by Stalin or betraying them to the Russians who made him an offer he can’t refuse.
The officer needs to steal secret blueprints for a new jet engine for Stalin’s planes if he wants to earn his freedom and resume his life in England.
He is joined in this endeavor by two attractive female agents, but they will not be able to escape from their pursuers.
Although the Soviet Union has officially disbanded, intelligence agencies within it still pursue their old objectives with ruthless efficiency and ruthless methods of operation. London has interests in the matter and involves far more than just the desire to help.
The Man on the Other Side
Year: 2019
Running Time: 1h 25m
Director: Marcus Lim
Stars Cast: Mari Bensel, James Carney, Nils Schulz
In this spy thriller cast, a young woman gets an assignment that will lead her to uncover a dangerous plot against the world.
Her mother is determined to get her out of the country until she learns it is not just her career at stake.
She enlists the help of an old enemy, and they infiltrate the security systems of a company in Switzerland known to be involved with several terrorist groups throughout Europe.
They must evade not only MI5 agents but also the powerful secret service within Switzerland.
A British intelligence officer is in charge of keeping tabs on wealthy foreigners who might be building nuclear weapons for their countries for use against other countries.
He discovers an attempt by Moscow to send agents to steal the blueprints for these weapons, but he can get them out of the country before any significant damage is done.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Year: 2014
Running Time: 1h 45m
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Stars Cast: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley
In this action thriller set in 1996, Jack Ryan is about to join the CIA as an analyst. With his first assignment, he will uncover a plot by a terrorist organization to steal Russian nuclear weapons and start a financial crisis in the United States.
A man has been killed while trying to access his bank’s security system. The man attempted to enter its computer system but was found dead outside.
His death is followed by reports of several failed attempts at shutting down the entire New York Stock Exchange.
Jack Ryan learns that the man is not dead but was kidnapped because of his knowledge of a plot against U.S. financial institutions and its nuclear weapons program.
An organization has been trying to get the necessary codes from a Russian nuclear scientist who had tried to defect to the United States.
All the Old Knives
Year:
Running Time: 1h 41m
Director: Janus Metz
Stars Cast: Goksin Erdemli, Kasia Madera, Chris Pine
A washed-up spy comes out of retirement, hoping to find a big score. He discovers that an old friend has returned to his former spy agency.
An operative is wrangling with him as he tries to get his hands on a top-secret list of highly trained agents who are ready for whatever the agency is facing.
The man, who is still very powerful in his field and quite knowledgeable about its operations, knows the potential value of this force. He wants it for himself, but others in the agency want to keep it from him, wanting it for themselves.
The spy has become a grey man, not in the sense of being gray-haired but in the sense that he is no longer daring or even dangerous.
He has spent his time drinking and gambling away his skills, not realizing how valuable he still is. He was once known as the best spy but has since been surpassed by several younger operatives.
My Spy
Year: 2020
Running Time: 1h 39m
Director: Peter Segal
Stars Cast: Chloe Coleman, Dave Bautista, Parisa Fitz-Henley
In this spy thriller, the CIA hires a Russian agent to steal an important weapon. Everyone knows that spies run espionage, but no one knows firsthand how dangerous it is.
A man who goes undercover at a hotel to pick up information refuses to go out on the mission until he kills a man who has tried to kill him in Europe.
The man is visiting the United States to identify his former employers who are planning an attack. He is a precious asset to the intelligence service but will not leave without proof that his wife and child are not in danger.
The mission has been compromised when his identity is discovered, and he must now try to complete the assignment on his own, which turns out to be very difficult since he has so much trouble smuggling himself into the country undetected.
Meanwhile, he knows the enemy has placed a price on his head and is in a big problem.
Altered Minds
Year: 2013
Running Time: 1h 46m
Director: Michael Z. Wechsler
Stars Cast: Judd Hirsch, Ryan O’Nan, C.S. Lee
A mind control device has fallen into the hands of an international terrorist. A compelling organization is using it to carry out its plans.
A CIA operative must contact the organization and learn more about the device to keep it out of enemy hands.
A doctor working with the CIA has developed a device that can effectively control the minds of anyone subjected to it.
The technology is so effective that those who use it become oblivious to anything else, including their safety.
The agency needs someone fluent in Russian to infiltrate the organization and recover this technology before its users fully implement it.
This would create a powerful new weapon that the intelligence service could not afford to be without.
Despite the Falling Snow
Year: 2016
Running Time: 1h 33m
Director: Shamim Sarif
Stars Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Sam Reid, Charles Dance
The KGB set up a Russian agent looking to defect, hoping to get him back to Russia, where he would be tortured for information.
He murders his handler and gets out of the country, intending to make his way to a safe house in London.
A CIA agent learns he has escaped and starts following him but loses the trail in Denmark. Meanwhile, the Russians have located their agent and know where he is going.
They have placed a man inside his escape plan, bullying him until he can find out where he is headed next. He knows someone is after him but does not know who it is or why they want him dead.
His handler has been killed, leaving the agent stranded in a foreign country and in desperate need of help. The agents following him know that he is desperate and weakened from being out of contact with his handler for so long.
The agent has received information that he needs to get to an apartment where a safe house will be waiting for him.
He knows this will be dangerous but does not know who placed the man inside his escape plan or why they are doing it.
Conspiracy
Year: 2008
Running Time: 1h 30m
Director: Adam Marcus
Stars Cast: Gary Cole, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Esposito
An unlicensed weapons dealer has been working to sell nuclear material to a terrorist organization.
The CIA agent is in charge of watching the deal and works with another agency responsible for gathering information about this criminal and his dealings.
The man also wants to smuggle some uranium into the United States and plans on using his former colleague, who is now working at the agency, to get it done.
He plans to put the uranium into a microwave oven and ship it to one of his buyers in Nevada.
The FBI takes over the case when they learn that the CIA agent was involved in more than just an arms deal. They understand that the agreement only involved nuclear material, not a weapon and that their employee has made many trips to the Middle East to purchase this material.
The FBI is no longer interested in the arms dealer, who has become a wanted man. They continue to oversee him and learn that he plans on killing many people by detonating a nuclear device on the market in Nevada.
The FBI seeks out the man and sets up an ambush outside his safe house to prevent him from carrying out what he has planned.
Year: 2022
Running Time: 1h 45m
Director: Graham Moore
Stars Cast: Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, John Gumley-Mason
Maggie, a university student, learns of an illegal arms trade and establishes contact with a CIA spy to be able to help bring him down.
She is a young activist who has heard of the deal and tells her father, an agent with the CIA.
The man plans on using weapons to kill many people during a significant event in Washington, DC.
He hopes this will be successful enough to attract more buyers and wants everyone to have a share of the money he is making in his enterprise.
Maggie uses her mother’s connections at the bank where she works as an intern to get information about the man’s accounts and financial dealings.
The bank is one of the places that the arms dealer uses to hide his money from the government.
The man has become interested in Maggie and has nothing to do with her political views. He wants to marry Maggie and take her away from her father so that he can use her to keep tabs on him. The man also wants to gain access to the information that Maggie has found.
The Suspect
Year: 2013
Running Time: 2h 17m
Director: Shin-Yeon Won
Stars Cast: SGong Yoo, Hee-soon Park, Song Boo-gun
A South Korean professor studying North Korean defectors has gone missing. The professor was working with the CIA and had been told to go to North Korea to infiltrate a secretive portion of the government.
Her father, who is also a professor, is part of a powerful political party in South Korea, and he wants her body returned so that their people can give her an honorable burial. He does not want the government to investigate his daughter’s death.
The CIA agent that was sent on this mission has been captured by the North Koreans and is being held prisoner there and tortured to get information from him about this mission and what it entailed.
No Time to Die
Year: 2021
Running Time: 2h 43m
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Stars Cast: Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, Rami Malek
A former CIA agent is given a mission to finish the task that his old boss started in the 1980s. He is ordered to locate and ensure that an undercover agent makes it out of the country alive.
The CIA agent works for a Silicon Valley company and has just learned that the CEO plans to sell military technology to the government of an oppressive dictator.
This tech would allow the dictator to track anyone who uses a VPN, internet, or cell phone. The agent soon learns that this technology is being used by terrorists in Yemen and is sold by his boss without his knowledge or consent.
The man has been told by his current boss that he has until 1 AM on a particular day in October to find him, or he will face severe consequences.
If he fails to complete this task, he and his family are at risk of harm.
He meets up with the undercover agent inside a criminal organization in Germany who has been looking for help getting out of the country because she knows what will happen if she does not make it out alive.
The Assignment
Year: 2016
Running Time: 1h 35m
Director: Walter Hill
Stars Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia
An agent with the CIA has been hiding and working secretly in a country in the Middle East, but she is now being targeted by the government there.
The government wants to kill her because she knows about an assignment they have been planning and hopes to bring them down before it can be done.
The woman was working on an assignment for the CIA when she was told to go undercover with a man working for a terrorist organization.
She pretended to work for him, but instead, she learned about the terrorist attack that he had planned for later that year. She sent this information back to her agency, but they told her not to do anything about it and that they would handle it.
The woman was given a request by the man she was with: he wanted her to become a terrorist or die.
She could not work for the CIA and the terrorist organization and had to choose one or the other. She decided to kill the man she was with, hoping she would be safe now that he was no longer around.
Patriot Games
Year: 1992
Running Time: 1h 57m
Director: Phillip Noyce
Stars Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer
A CIA agent goes undercover to infiltrate the IRA and bring to justice people who have been involved with a bombing that has killed hundreds of people.
The agency believes that it is not safe for this agent to be there until they can learn more about the nature of the situation.
The person who planted the bomb is a man named Sean Miller, and he claims that he did it because his brother-in-law was killed in a bomb attack and wants to bring justice to him by killing anyone else involved with this crime.
He takes part in many crimes, such as bank robberies and other violent acts, trying to show up at places where the IRA members were.
The agency handling this case has no idea who to trust and does not know who Sean Miller is. When they finally learn who he is, they are shocked to discover that he is also an agent of the CIA.