Shootings, chases, fist fights, laconic heroes: action is concreteness, tension, adrenaline, spectacle, and is capable of astonishing, thrilling and telling as much as any other form of expression. Having said that, an exhaustive explanation of the criteria with which I made this selection would be even longer than the ranking, but above all false and misleading: it is art, any attempt at order and method must necessarily be betrayed, or you have not said anything interesting.
To say, if you were based on pure quality you could take the entire filmography of Walter Hill and you would have already filled half the seats without danger of objection . It is more useful to leave room for other discussions as well. Or: why rely solely on innovations and leave out what I know, Lethal Weapon , which is the overwhelming apex of an already established formula?
What is meant by action movie
But I can explain the essential basic criterion to pass the first filter: it must be an action that is not ashamed of being an action . It has to be a film that tells with action, and that when the moment of action comes it focuses and contributes to its conventions with something meaningful. So you will not find stuff like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight , who has restored luster to superhero films by treating them with a seriousness that was previously forbidden to him, but which at the time of getting to the point was at best diligent, almost listless, all ‘anything but memorable.
You will not even find the Matrix , which has influenced above all the aesthetics, while in terms of action he invented a nice circus trick (bullet time) and for the rest it has done nothing but patina and dampen what people like John Woo already did. better for at least a decade. And you won’t find The Great Train Robbery of 1903 or the great classics of Hitchcock, Ford, Buster Keaton, etc … Feel free to retrieve them if you want to throw yourself into archeology and, especially in How I Won the War by Keaton, understand where it is. the gist of it and therefore why Jackie Chan should be more acclaimed than Ingmar Bergman.
But in the end, summing up, Schwarzenegger wins , because he was able both to present himself as a synthetically ideal body of the genre as we know it today, as well as a spectacular interpreter for the best lines that accompany him (“You’re nice, I’ll kill you last”), and in more opportunities to lend themselves as a muse and / or vehicle for someone else’s brilliant ideas.
The 50 best action movies to see
This list is basically to inspire and stimulate good discussions – have fun.
50. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, di Christopher McQuarrie)
It is the freshest, so it is in the last place in principle . But it is a real celebration of the genre: he tries his hand at all the fundamental specialties and from each one he strives to extract the most epic and breathtaking sequence possible, literally placing you next to an Ethan Hunt to whom Tom Cruise gives all of himself as if was his last film.
49. Shock Force (1991, by Craig R. Baxley)
Very concentrated , overwhelming , overflowing with charisma . That this unstoppable sample of very effective arrogance is considered representative for all those so-called “b-movies” with moderate budgets and no pretensions that simply did their dirty duty in the shadow of – and better than – many more expensive and noble films.
48. Mortal Combat (1995, The Paul WS Anderson)
Paul WS Anderson approaches the Mortal Kombat issue with an exemplary “let’s go do the job we got paid” spirit, and becomes the first to understand that a movie based on a video game must build on that video game’s strengths ( which in theory should apply to any type of adaptation, and instead). In this specific: little plot, many well choreographed blows in imaginative contexts, mind-boggling pace. He is also the first to realize that kung fu and techno go well together like beer and chips.
47. Death Warden 3 (1985, by Michael Winner)
The first is a classic which, together with the Inspector Callaghan saga, is perhaps the symbolic film of the action line of reactionary protest. But this is the real apotheosis of the genre, in which the 64-year-old Bronson, among the cheering of a group of peers, makes a clean sweep in a New York invaded by exaggerated and grotesque punk gangs as only the most delusional nightmares of the conservative bourgeois (oi Double Dragon video games ) they could imagine.
46. Skyfall (2012, The Sam Mendes)
The James Bond film saga is many things, including a showcase and a gym of creativity for action ideas that have always aimed to amaze. Sam Mendes is the first director with a strong authorial mold to get his hands on it and against all odds he perhaps finds the perfect balance, leaving the classic formula intact and remembering that his job is to give a touch of class to a spectacular film and not. the opposite.
45. Trap on the High Seas (1992, by Andrew Davis)
It was supposed to be a mundane sequel or clone to Die Hard , but to solid directing (Andrew Davis of The Fugitive ) and a duo of inspired villains (Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones) is added Steven Seagal – the one who managed to make spectacular a martial art in which you fight almost from a standstill, aikido – which gives its very personal brand of charisma and transforms it into something unique.
44. Black Hawk Down (2001, di Ridley Scott)
Many approach war films expecting, or demanding, a moral point of view. It is a strong and real scenario : those who face it tend to throw themselves into it to exorcise their feelings against or in favor. Not Ridley Scott: his proverbial coldness here produces two hours of pure continuous tension , minimal context and no judgment, no heroes, even no protagonists, just tactics, survival and shootings so intense that he comes to stoop.
43. Billy Jack (1971, di Tom Laughlin)
The first western martial arts hero , released even before Bruce Lee ‘s films , is a Navajo played by a white man who preaches pacifism with hapkido, and who is keen to spread his message of support to minorities and the educational method Montessori as much as to break the bones of those who try to hinder it. In the US it was a revolutionary success : such an angry combination of kicks in the face and political protest, however, has never been seen again.
42. Undisputed 3 (2010, by Isaac Florentine)
If Van Damme was 2.0 cinema, Scott Adkins from Sutton Coldfield, UK, is 3.0 in a historical moment in which unfortunately Hollywood prefers digital effects to those who know how to perform astonishing athleticism for real. Watch Undisputed 2 to see Scott invent a memorable villain , watch 3 to see him transformed into (anti) hero against the best the western martial scene has ever offered. Quietly forget the first, which would also be by Walter Hill.
41. Kill Zone (2005, The Wilson Yip)
Donnie Yen ascends to the Olympus of the great action stars showing charisma and skill to sell in a detective story drowned in tragedy, as only in the East they have the courage to do. Also check out Flash Point to complete the essay on what martial arts are in today’s cinema. Today Donnie is 55 years old but he doesn’t look a single day more.
40. The Rock (1996, at Michael Bay)
Michael Bay is an underrated genius of image composition , perhaps because of how he arguably tends to handle everything else a bit. If the ending of Transformers 3 is still his museum work to this day, this remains the best compromise between his dynamic / visual talent and a narrative that manages to remain solid and engaging, with an inspired Cage / Connery couple and an Ed Harris who embodies a surprisingly more problematic villain than the average.
39. A 44 Magnum for Inspector Callaghan (1973, by Ted Post)
Inspector Callaghan becomes legendary already in the first film, in which he takes Steve McQueen ‘s concreteness to the extreme and encodes the tough and effective cop who puts his own sense of morality above the law. But the best is the second chapter, written by two giants like John Milius and Michael Cimino : it explores the negative side of his message and his methods are really questioned.
38. Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009, di John Hyams)
And suddenly a sequel destined for homevideo proved to be unsuspectedly ambitious and head and shoulders above its predecessors released in theaters. Gray, unsettling, nihilistic, the most intriguing update of the Frankenstein myth in decades. A collection of fights and action moments of devastating power. Rediscover both this and the even more ambitious next chapter.
37. The Mariachi (1992, by Robert Rodriguez)
Shot for $ 7,000 , he throws himself into action scenes that Hollywood wouldn’t touch even with a $ 20 million budget. The demonstration that with the right dose of creativity you solve everything , but also a showcase on a pure talent, who with so little already managed to prove that he was not only the first enthusiast who shoots a film in the garage with his Di lui friends .
36. Man on fire (2004, by Tony Scott)
Tony Scott, Ridley’s good brother, in a state of grace . This is where he demonstrates that of the two he was the one with the fire inside, the one who at 60 still wanted to touch emotional chords with a refinement that they never recognized, and experiment with expressive means knowing that he could rely on class and solidity. of a career that already boasted twenty years of classics. Good feelings are not an excuse to ennoble action , but they are the engine that exponentially amplifies its impact.
35. The violent arm of the law (1971, by William Friedkin)
Hard, dirty and anti-glamor in every aspect, an endless stalking punctuated by a couple of breathtaking chases. The only time we don’t talk about the investigation is to see Popeye Doyle asleep , handcuffed to his ankles, with a half-naked student sneaking out of the apartment. Yet, in a more unique than rare moment of divine enlightenment, he took home all the heaviest Oscars.
34. No holds barred (1988, by Newt Arnold)
Based on a series of pseudo-autobiographical tales told by a mythomaniac, this story of an American champion who wins an underground martial arts tournament in Hong Kong becomes responsible for the birth of a star (Jean-Claude Van Damme), of an entire subgenre (the boom of 90s kickboxing movies) and even a real sport (UFC first, then MMA).
33. Drunken Master (1978, The Yuen Woo Ping)
The heir to the throne of Bruce Lee turns out to be a very agile and reckless ex-stuntman who likes more to take them than to give them, a volcano of choreographic ideas that mixes kung fu with the lessons of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Here was born Jackie Chan, the greatest of all.
32. Bullitt (1968, in Peter Yates)
In which Steve McQueen gets a bespoke project built and explains to the world what an action movie consists of by creating the stencil of the tough and super cool hero and becoming the protagonist of a masterclass in car chases.
31. Nikita (1990, by Luc Besson)
This is where the prolific and subtly perverse subgenre of innocent girls hardly trained to become deadly murderers arises. A sub-genre that, with variants that include moving the protagonist’s age under the legal one, still resists today, but which is based on a substantial misunderstanding: Besson’s Nikita – which with the subsequent and even more solid Leon will point to much more allusions perverse – he does not need to learn how to kill, but rather to rediscover his human side. Explosive action and dramatic intent have rarely coexisted so organically.
30. Driver the Untouchable (1978, by Walter Hill)
At the time it was a calling card for Walter Hill , a director whose entire filmography could be an alternative version of this more than credible ranking. From Refn’s Drive to Wright ‘s Baby Driver , it has suddenly become the most honored / looted action of the last decade.
29. The Mission (1999, di Johnnie To)
How nice it would be to be able to spend a day with Johnnie To , see him design his shootings with the model, every placement, every millimeter shift, every single camera movement. This is the film of his turning point.
28. The Bourne Supremacy (2004, di Paul Greengrass)
Paul Greengrass is credited as the inventor of the “shaky-cam” , a style of action shooting that through chaotic movements made with a hand-held camera aims to convey the frenzy, the adrenaline of the moment, making the viewer feel as if it were literally in the middle of the situation. It has done so much damage to the world of cinema, because many have tried to imitate it – often as an excuse to dampen the violence of a scene or hide the athletic limits of the protagonist – but none with even watchable results. But he knew perfectly well what he was doing and there have been no such pursuits since the days of the best Friedkin.
27. Relentlessly (1993, by John Woo)
John Woo lands in the USA and immediately gives choreography lessons. In editing Senza trgua he is carefree, he is to his other films as a single is to an album, but as such it is a pure distillation of his mastery that does not waste a single frame. Face / Off is more celebrated, but this is his masterclass on how to take minor material and make it 200% render.
26. Robocop (1987, by Paul Verhoeven)
The new superhero in town is the idea of a career manager made on the skin of a martyr in a city in disarray. Paul Verhoeven, Dutch, on the first try hits his special recipe for him, made of exhilarating action seasoned with sarcastic satire and provocative violence.
25. The Protector – La legge dei Muay Thai (2005, di Prachya Pinkaew)
Thai Tony Jaa is the closest thing to Bruce Lee the world has been able to find in minor cinematography. Purity of mind, agility and power in doses that you have never seen before , and a grueling 4-minute sequence shot that will tear your charts of technical virtuosity apart.
24. Fast & Furious 5 (2011, di Justin Lin)
Sometimes you relight an unlit cigar, change a few ingredients and it tastes better than before. Out of the clandestine races and the most colorful tamarrate, in Dwayne Johnson against Vin Diesel and spectacular real stunts , and here is that the saga comes out of the niche of car tuning maniacs and becomes a hyper-steroid robbery film that does not miss a scene.
23. Point Break (1991, by Kathryn Bigelow)
She dances with an impassive face on the border between the exaltation of the clichés of a genre and a lifestyle, and the parody of the same; in the end it is a sensational love story seasoned with high-adrenaline scenes and the best foot chase ever.
22. 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978, by Liu Chia-Liang)
The montage of the hero who trains is a stereotype of the action that never tires. This film understood it most of all: it’s all training. And it is an irresistible triumph of excitement and creativity .
21. Crank (2006, di Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor)
It’s literally Speed with Jason Statham instead of the bus . But it is an exponentially crazier and more furious version of it, with an unbridled script and two directors with a very personal style who managed to repeat themselves with the sequel but who, unfortunately, beyond this proved incapable of managing stories that forced them to also include dead times.
20. 1997: Escape from New York (1981, by John Carpenter)
When John Carpenter is in a bad mood he invents a dystopian future in which he turns New York into a prison, throws the President into it and sends Snake (in Italian “Jena”) Plissken, the anti-hero by definition, to save him.
19. Lethal Weapon (1987, by Richard Donner)
A father of a family close to retirement is paired with a traumatized man with suicidal manias: he is the ultimate buddy cop. The sequels will inflate the show, but lose the sense of unpredictability and danger that only this crazy first chapter had.
18. Predator (1987 by John McTiernan)
A military team made up of the highest concentration of muscle and macho-arrogance around, and the taste of seeing an opponent from another galaxy that puts them back in their place by drying them one by one like schoolgirls in a slasher. Schwarzenegger confirms himself as the most aware hero of his time . Of him, McTiernan directs a film of guerrilla and survival in an alien sauce and enters directly into the Olympus of the best.
17. The Wild Bunch (1969, by Sam Peckinpah)
Shootings are a staple of action movies, and when it comes to shootings you still turn to confront Peckinpah’s orchestrated dance for the finale of this immortal , twilight classic.
16. Interceptor – The Road Warrior (1981, by George Miller)
In English known as Mad Max 2 , this is still the reference post-apocalyptic. A world in collapse where raw materials are scarce, populated by destroyed men trying to survive. A dystopian derivative of the westerns that remakes the assaults on the stagecoach with imaginative motorized vehicles and is filmed and interpreted by madmen who defy death with crazy stunts.
15. Night Warriors (1979, by Walter Hill)
The scheme of Xenophon’s Anabasis transported to a modern and surreal New York , between colorful gangs, impassive leaders and the rhythm marked by a compilation on the radio. Walter Hill creates a unique world, both tough and super stylish, launching legions of imitators who have never achieved his impressive balance.
14. Chen’s scream also terrifies the West (1972, by Bruce Lee)
Bruce Lee writes, directs, interprets, leads, he is finally free to express his philosophy. His inimitable charisma is less overwhelming than in From China with Fury , but the final fight with Chuck Norris is an entire 8-minute film apart , demonstrating what one can tell with the cinema even just by kicking it in the face.
13. Rambo (1982, in Ted Kotcheff)
In the original book, Rambo was a cold-blooded psychopath by now irrecoverable . Stallone transforms him into a misunderstood and unstoppable hero, and models the stencil with which they will churn out about 60% of the 80s action.
12. Police Story (1985, di Jackie Chan)
Jackie Chan finally shoots a film set in modern times and shoves into reckless action and stunt scenes that still leave his jaw on the ground – including a couple that Sylvester Stallone and Michael Bay copied from him on equal terms.
11. Aliens – Final Showdown (1986, by James Cameron)
Ripley, in the Ridley Scott original , wasn’t much more than a final girl in panties. This is where she really takes matters into her own hands, overcomes a trauma, leads a platoon of soldiers on a suicide mission, takes charge of an orphan and becomes a true heroine who has nothing to envy to the Stallone and Schwarzenegger of the time.
10. A Fistful of Dollars (1964, by Sergio Leone)
Kurosawa has put in a classic template that can be adapted to all seasons, Leone has put in style to sell and shots that over 50 years later still copy him evenly. It should be enough?
9. Terminator 2 – Judgment Day (1991, by James Cameron)
There was no point in giving Terminator a sequel , but if you’re able to wow with groundbreaking special effects, colossal action scenes, and even a mother-son-cyborg relationship that takes to heart, you’re forgiving everything.
8. Speed (1994, Jean de Bont)
Three high-tension action scenes, no pauses, all the context you need is told during, mostly of reactions. In the 90s, to go to film school, you passed this way.
7. The Last Boy Scout (1991, by Tony Scott)
Shane Black in this screenplay (or “shaneggiatura”) pays homage to hard boiled and churns out an as yet undefeated collection of memorable scenes and lines . Bruce Willis wears it all like a bespoke tailoring suit. Tony Scott collects, puts together with his unsurpassed craft and takes off.
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, by Steven Spielberg)
It begins as so many films would dream of ending, and succeeds in the enterprise of paying homage to old adventure films in a way that is so right that it itself becomes the object of homage, copying, attempts still vain today to capture even a reflection of its light.
5. Commando (1985, by Mark L. Lester)
Written to measure for Schwarzenegger’s extreme physicality , it takes the stereotypes most in vogue of the period, inflates them to consciously surreal levels and churns out 85 minutes of non-stop action packed with memorable moments. To study in schools.
4. The Raid – Redemption (2011, by Gareth H. Evans)
A young Indonesian SWAT recruit finds herself locked up in a criminal mansion where everyone has an incentive to kill him. The martial arts mastery used not for circus, but for sheer dramatic survival, in an unstoppable action, tense like a horror, that has taught everyone the trade again.
3. Hard Boiled (1992, di John Woo)
John Woo partially abandons melodrama, focuses on filming the most spectacular shootings ever seen in the cinema before , he manages it with ease, greets everyone and goes to Hollywood.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, di George Miller)
Story of a pulverized world, of a cruel dictator, of an oppressed people, of a traumatized man in search of a meaning to survive , of a woman who is tired of suffering and creates a way out. It could be told in a thousand words: George Miller does it with facts, with only one round-trip chase. Pure cinema is this.
1. Die Hard – Crystal Trap (1988, by John McTiernan)
If we want to give position number 1 to a film that is all in all light , not particularly theoretical even if still highly imitated, not excessively ambitious except in presenting a hero who defied the most popular stereotypes of his time , vulnerable, human, talkative , self-pitying and even a little asshole before hard, it’s up to him. McTiernan directs a masterfully balanced and practically perfect film as if it were easy.
