This week’s streaming lineup is heavy on artificial-intelligence thrillers. Tron: Ares arrives on video-on-demand, extending the franchise about programmers pulled into the Grid with a plot centered on an AI combatant gone rogue. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the concluding chapter of the long-running franchise, sends Tom Cruise on a globe-trotting mission to stop a sentient AI that seizes control of the world’s nuclear arsenal.
For viewers craving more traditional monsters, Netflix serves up giant-troll mayhem in Troll 2. On VOD, Aaron Eckhart returns with canine backup in Muzzle: City of Wolves, a hard-edged K-9 thriller about an officer and his dog taking on organized crime.
Below is a curated guide to the most notable new arrivals on streaming platforms and rental services — the standout, buzzy, and worthwhile titles you can watch from home right now.
New on Netflix
Troll 2
Norway’s take on kaiju cinema returns as a massive troll rises to raze the countryside. The survivors from the 2022 entry must reunite and lean on an unlikely, benevolent troll to face the fresh menace. It’s a playful, B-movie-spirited spectacle from the same creative team behind the franchise’s breakout original — the non-English title that climbed Netflix’s global charts.
New on MGM Plus
She Rides Shotgun
Fresh out of prison, Nate (Taron Egerton) finds himself hunted by both a relentless gang and corrupt law enforcement. Forced to flee with his estranged 11-year-old daughter, the two must reconnect while navigating betrayals and trying to discover who — if anyone — can be trusted as they fight to survive.
New on Paramount Plus
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
The epic conclusion to the decades-spanning saga threads together characters and plotlines from earlier films as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his allies race to stop a rogue artificial intelligence called The Entity from unleashing global catastrophe. The movie puts spectacle and daring stunts front and center, even when the narrative gets labyrinthine.
From our review:
The Final Reckoning delivers jaw-dropping action and franchise callbacks, but it’s weighed down by slow stretches of melodrama and an overreliance on flashbacks. Even so, the film’s set pieces remind you why audiences keep coming back for Mission: Impossible — it’s the stunts, ingenuity, and sheer audacity that define the series’ appeal.
New on Shudder
Reflection in a Dead Diamond
A stylish, grindhouse-inflected homage to 1960s spy cinema, the film follows 70-year-old ex-agent John Diman (Fabio Testi) as a neighbor’s disappearance drags him back into memories of a dangerous, glamorous past spent on the Riviera. As recollections and reality blur, Diman struggles to keep control of the life he’s built.
New to rent
Frontier Crucible
In 1874 Arizona, a wagon carrying crucial medical supplies is seized by an Apache war party during a fever epidemic. Merrick Beckford (Myles Clohessy) assembles a ragtag crew of outlaws to retrieve the cargo and drive it south — but after the group accidentally kills an Apache scout, their mission spirals into a desperate fight for survival.
Hunting Season
When twelve-year-old Tag (Sofia Hublitz) discovers a gravely wounded woman near the river by the cabin she shares with her vigilant, survivalist father Bowdrie (Mel Gibson), the family learns a violent drug operation is active nearby. Bowdrie must marshal every skill he has to shield his daughter from a ruthless cartel.
Man Finds Tape
Lucas Page (William Magnuson) runs a popular YouTube channel called “Man Finds Tape,” sharing unsettling footage with his audience. After discovering surveillance that appears to show a murder in his hometown, Lucas and his sister Lynn (Kelsey Pribilski) begin unraveling a supernatural mystery that hits disturbingly close to home.
Muzzle: City of Wolves
Following the events of 2023’s Muzzle, Jake Rosser (Aaron Eckhart) is trying to live a quiet life with his family and a new canine partner. When cartel violence targets them, Jake and his dog are forced back into a brutal conflict against traffickers and compromised officials.
Play Dirty
Mark Wahlberg stars as Parker, a master thief from Richard Stark’s novels, who recruits a crew to pull off a daring heist: stealing a reclaimed sunken treasure worth a billion dollars. Expect elaborate planning, shootouts, and double-crosses as loyalties are tested and the stakes rise.
Tron: Ares
Tech titans Eve Kim (Greta Lee) and Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) race to anchor digital creations in the physical world. When Julian unleashes his AI soldier Ares (Jared Leto) to steal critical code, that creation spirals out of control. As with any Tron entry, anticipate light-cycle chases, dense CGI, and an appearance by Jeff Bridges.
From our review:
Though its characters and plot occasionally feel thin, Tron: Ares dazzles in its action design. The film’s ticking-clock mechanic for physicalizing digital constructs keeps sequences taut and inventive, forcing both characters and AIs to race the clock for clever outcomes.
Source: Polygon
