Best Original Movies on Amazon Prime to watch in 2022

Amazon Prime Video provides everything you could want, from Hollywood blockbusters to informative documentaries to hilarious comedies to original musicals. Amazon has spent a lot of money over the past three years on Prime Video-exclusive movies, both original productions and purchases from other studios. The current iteration of the collection may not be as strong as some of the alternatives, but that doesn’t mean it’s weak. So, you have a few options, but you don’t have much time to look into them all with Amazon’s cumbersome search tool.

Even though Netflix always has more subscribers, Amazon Prime has been so popular that several hit shows and movies have been made just for it. Popular shows including The Boys, Invincible, Jack Ryan, and Reacher are just a few of the Amazon Prime Originals that have been made available on the site in recent years. Also, many more original Prime shows are likely to start airing in the second half of 2022 and all through 2023.

If you’re looking for something to watch, we’ve compiled a list of the top Amazon Prime Instant Video original movies.

One Night in Miami (2020)

This 2020 film marked Regina King’s directorial debut as a filmmaker; she had already won an Oscar for her acting. One Night In Miami… is a dramatized portrayal of a night in 1964 when Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke met to celebrate Ali’s huge win, based on the play of the same name by Kemp Powers, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. Throughout the evening, the four legends debate their divergent perspectives on the Civil Rights movement and Black liberation.

Boxing, women, and rowdiness are all discussed, but so are more serious issues, such as the relationship between Black American and American identities and the culture of each country. Nonetheless, Regina King’s calm assurance as a director and the electric performances from a cast full of great young performers (Eli Goree, Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge, Kingsley Ben-Adir) ensure that One Night in Miami remains a treat.

Genre: Drama
Director: Regina King
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
Stars: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge

Emergency (2020)

Donald Elise Watkins’s Kunle and RJ Cyler’s Sean are getting ready to embark on a wild night of spring break revelry. While Kunle gets a little sidetracked wrapping up an experiment in his lab, Sean is set on taking a “legendary tour” of parties. After a night out, they return home to find a woman who appears to be intoxicated and has fallen unconscious inside their flat.

Kunle wants to contact the police, but Sean warns that they may cause more trouble than they’re worth if they find two inebriated black males and their Latino roommate with an almost passed-out white woman.

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Thriller
Director: Carey Williams
IMDB Rating: 6.1/10
Stars: Donald Watkins, RJ Cyler, Sebastian Chacon

Borat Subsequent Movie film (2020)

Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional Kazakh journalist, Borat, returns to the United States in the sequel Borat (2012) to propose to vice president Mike Pence, played by Maria Bakalova. A follow-up to the original mockumentary, Borat: Subsequent Movie film was lauded for its performances from Baron Cohen and Bakalova and its fairly harsh criticism on American culture. One of the most popular original comedies on Amazon Prime Video is the former’s return to one of his most famous characters, and for good reason.

Genre: Comedy
Director: Jason Woliner
IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Tom Hanks

One Child Nation (2019)

China’s population crisis reached its height in the 1980s, and the government responded by enacting a strict one-child policy. The compelling documentary One Child Nation explores themes of governmental corruption, patriotism against humanism, and the lengths to which an individual would go to either comply with or resist an ethical dilemma. This video has interviews with the people who started child trafficking to save the kids involved, the doctors who were told to “remove” the kids, and all three of them talking about how national propaganda affected them.

Genre: Documentary
Director: Nanfu Wang, Zhang Jialing
IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
Stars: Nanfu Wang, Jiaoming Pang, Brian Stuy

Chi-Raq (2015)

Chi-Raq is an ambitious work full of dedication, beginning with the fact that the entire speech is presented in a rhyme scheme. It’s a daring move that’s representative of the huge risks Lee takes throughout the movie, which are infused with his anger over the persistent problems that plague the lives of black people in the United States.

Spike Lee’s new movie is based on the classic story of Lysistrata, which gives it a strong foundation. Teyonah Parris gives a performance that will make her a celebrity, filling the screen with charisma. Chi-Raq, flaws and all (such an odd supporting turn by John Cusack), is representative of the boldness of spirit that makes Spike Lee such an intriguing director.

Genre: Musical, Comedy, Drama
Director: Spike Lee
IMDb Rating: 5.9/10
Stars: Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Teyonah Parris, Jennifer Hudson

Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza is Paul Thomas Anderson’s second ode to 1970s L.A., Still grieving from the Vietnam War and the Manson Family killings. Alana Kane (Alana Haim), who is 25, won’t follow any of these leads. This is in contrast to Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) in Inherent Vice, who really gets involved with his surroundings and leads paranoia about vampires to drug smuggling and FBI plots.

Alana, a photographer’s assistant, ignores easy story points that could help us comprehend her. Who knows what she wants? Over dinner at Tail o’ the Cock, she tells 15-year-old actor Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) she doesn’t know. What interests her most? Speculations only. When Gary approaches Alana on picture day, it’s hard to believe Licorice Pizza won’t be a breezy SoCal love story. We fell in love with Alana just as quickly as Gary did because she is so weird and gorgeous. Anderson quickly dispels any notion that Licorice Pizza is a traditional love story.

Anderson and Michael Bauman use long takes, slow dollies, and meditative pans to combat the haze. What does Alana gain by hanging out with a teenager? Despite Alana’s best attempts, Gary continues coming back. It’s the kind of crazy that can only be experienced firsthand, like rollerblading through a burning Los Angeles.

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
Stars: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn

I Want You Back (2022)

I Want You Back boasts a cast that is stacked with some of the best comedy actors working today. The plot of the movie centers on Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate), who are both involved in failed relationships with their respective exes and are now trying to destroy those relationships. I Want You Back, which has received a lot of praise for the acting of its cast members, mixes a healthy helping of comedy into its love premise, which results in an experience that is both distinctive and engaging.

Genre: Romance, Comedy
Director: Jason Orley
IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
Stars: Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Scott Eastwood

Master (2022)

The horror film Master is about the systemic forces of hate that continue to exist in academic institutions. It was one of the most elusive yet compelling films to emerge from the most recent Sundance film festival. It revolves on Regina Hall’s fascinating performance as Gail Bishop, a professor at a prestigious Northeastern University.

Bishop begins to see that there are dark forces that threaten to engulf both herself and a new student named Jasmine (Zoe Renee). Mariama Diallo, the film’s writer and director, crafts an unusual and ever-changing narrative experience that defies categorization over the entirety of the film. You are never told what is significant or what will happen to the characters that you have grown to care about from one scene to the next, so you are always left guessing.

Although it is a difficult and depressing movie that at times may be pretty uncomfortable, it is expertly directed because it builds up to a poetic conclusion that speaks to your spirit.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Director: Mariama Diallo
IMDb Rating: 5.2/10
Stars: Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Amber Gray, Molly Bernard

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

This film is a beautifully real representation of sorrow and what it can do to the human spirit, and it features career-defining performances from Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Lucas Hedges. The film is titled Manchester by the Sea. When Lee (Casey Affleck) discovers that his brother has passed away and appointed him the guardian of his teenage nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges), he is compelled to quit his job and move back to his hometown, where he is confronted with all of the traumatic experiences that caused him to flee the area in the first place.