Another Top 10 Action Films of All Time
These films almost made it to the original top ten of the best action films of all time but due to space limitations were excluded. Nevertheless, they are both exceptional and well made with incredible sequences so it seems fair and appropriate to create a new list and celebrate another top ten of the best action films of all time.
Explosions:
💣💣💣💣
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀💀
Style:
👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: The infamous plane crash on a busy strip in Las Vegas is pure pop corn entertainment and a triumph of practical effects.
10. Con Air (1997)
Director: Simon West
Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney
Genre: Action thriller
Country: USA
“Con Air” knows it is ridiculous and knows that you know it is ridiculous and for that reason alone, it is simply a blast to watch from start to finish. Director Simon West ties together a variety of OTT ingredients to craft one of the most memorable (and best) action flicks of the 90s, complemented by a rapid fire score and exquisite sound design that bring to life fist fights, car chases, explosions and crashes. At its center is Nicolas Cage playing it straight as Cameron Poe reacting gloriously to the mayhem around him that is caused by a several archetypical crooks and killers. It might not win any major awards for intelligence but if action has its own accolades, “Con Air” would have swept most of them and rightfully so.
Explosions:
💣
Shoot outs:
🔫
Car chases:
-
Fights:
👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: Leto’s escape from Taha’s goons across rooftops and narrow corridors is breathtaking and exhilarating.
9. Banlieu 13 (2004)
Director: Pierre Morel
Starring: David Belle, Cyril Raffaelli, Tony D’Amassio
Genre: Action
Country: France
The early noughties saw action films cheaply imitating the “Matrix” adding more CGI routines and unbelievable action sequences damaging in the process the genre band. With the audience already tired with the bullet time gimmicks and the in-your-face wire fu choreography, Luc Besson produced a film that changed the landscape for better (or worse). “Banlieu 13” featured no wires or hidden effects placing front and center David Belle, the founder of parkour who does extraordinary stunts and demonstrates how effective his method can be during foot chases. Despite some occasionally heavy handed social commentary between the rich and poor in Paris, “Banlieu 13” is not devoid from any humor and the banter between Belle and Cyril Raffaelli as a one note cop is well done. Let’s be honest though, the main star are the rather sophisticated stunts that will leave your jaw at the floor.
Explosions:
-
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀
Style:
👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: There is a great Buster Keaton-esque car chase early in the film but the final showdown in a shopping mall remains to this day one of the most visceral fights in film history.
8. Police Story (1985)
Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan, Bridgitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Charlie Cho
Genre: Action crime comedy
Country: Hong Kong
A not-so-well-known action gem in the Western world but a landmark in action filmmaking, Jackie Chan’s “Police Story” comes right after his massive success with “Project A” (1983) bearing a more serious approach and a visceral style of fighting that made Jackie Chan a household brand. A peak of Hong Kong’s 80s action cinema, its incredibly dangerous stunts sent half of Chan’s team straight to the hospital and our hearts racing. Yet there is still some lighthearted comedy in the proceedings with Chan sharing great chemistry with both the legendary Brigitte Lin and a young Maggie Cheung. By the time we reach the climatic and show-stopping mall fight, you will think that anything Hollywood has produced even to this day is pre-school material in comparison.
Explosions:
💣💣💣
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔🚔🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: Torn between the Chateau fight and the freeway chase, it is the latter with its logistical complexity that remains THE movie moment of “Reloaded”.
7. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Director: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Genre: Science fiction action
Country: USA
While “The Matrix Reloaded” lacks the visceral punch and emotional connection that its (superior) predecessor has, it remains an all time high for action cinema mainly because the Wachowskis attempted to create set pieces that we have not seen before and avoided repeated the original’s established formula. With a clear ambition in their mind, they mostly delivered and after a few decades of dissecting and analyzing what “The Matrix Reloaded” was, there is plenty to admire here. Yuen Woo-ping - the film’s MVP - crafted some truly astonishing fights including one inside a car, a chateau melee with flawless wire work and a when-it-is-not-CGI, pretty cool clash between Neo and Smiths. The cast is having a blast with the material pushing the boundaries of martial arts film training showcasing exquisite commitment for the celluloid but the 17 minute freeway chase that sees explosions, wire work and fights on several vehicles is the obvious highlight of a long film earning a place in movie history.
Explosions:
-
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: Acquiring an idol has many consequences including a rolling boulder; an icon is born.
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys Davies, Alfred Molina
Genre: Action adventure
Country: USA
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” became the blueprint for the classic archaeological adventure that to this day continues to inspire fresh waves of filmmakers. Harrison Ford is pitch perfect as Indiana Jones (“It belongs to a museum!”), whip, hat and pistol tied together in an appealing package that is a far cry from another cosmopolitan hero (i.e., James Bond). Squaring off against Nazis who desire to use mystical artifacts in order to change the course of war, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is a globe trotting adventure that goes from the jungles of South America to the icy peaks of Nepal. Emphasizing visual storytelling and unique setpieces, Steven Spielberg makes the most of the script, giving Ford the role of a lifetime and putting him in several peculiar (and sometimes scary) scenarios that involve wit and brawns to make it out alive. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” remains a blockbuster at its purest form, a wonderful blend of old school romance, archaeology and adventure.
Explosions:
💣💣
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫
Car chases:
-
Fights:
👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀💀💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: An accidental bar shoot out is both hilarious and exciting.
5. Desperado (1995)
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi
Genre: Neo western action
Country: USA
Technically a more expensive remake of Rodriguez’s own “El Mariachi” (1993), “Desperado” features Antonio Banderas in the quintessential role of “El” who can dispatch an army of foes by using creatively guns, lots of guns. Sharing similarities with Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western trilogy especially around the origins of its main character, this burrito take on a nameless stranger who seeks a man “who calls himself bucho” oozes with style and personality and Banderas portrays its antihero as someone who can be sweet as a baby and lethal as a tornado. While it is relatively light in plot, Rodriguez’s direction and script gives plenty of room for one liners, memorable characters and lots of violent shoot outs infused with humor at its most inappropriate moments. Salma Hayek is in there too in one of the hottest sex scenes ever shot while the soundtrack is perhaps one of the best. Ever.
Explosions:
-
Shoot outs:
-
Car chases:
-
Fights:
👊👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
-
Style:
👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: The final fight with its incredible choreography and the presence of burning coals.
4. Drunken Master II (1994)
Director: Lau Kar-leung
Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Ti Lung, Ken Lo, Lau Kar-leung
Genre: Action comedy kung fu
Country: Hong Kong
Directed by Lau Kar-leung (and ghost-directed by Jackie), “Drunken Master II” is a classic vehicle for the beloved Hong Kong actor. Boasting some of his finest accomplishments in martial arts choreography with zero attitude stuntwork and hilarious comedy, the film has become a thing of legends. Showcasing the drunken boxing style with more finesse and panache than the first time (“Drunken Master” (1978) with Yuen Woo-ping as the director) and complemented by the heart that Anita Mui brings, it ticks all the right boxes and offers plenty of martial arts spectacle that remains unparalleled to this day. The final nine minute fight that sees Chan taking seemingly impossible poses to fend off a powerful opponent in the form of Ken Lo is one of the top ten moments in his extensive film career which now spans more than six decades and that says a lot. Watch this immediately.
Explosions:
💣💣💣💣💣
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫🔫
Car chases:
-
Fights:
👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
Death count:
💀💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: Too many to choose from but “Shoot the glass Hans” remains ingenious after all this time.
3. Die Hard (1988)
Director: John McTiernan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman
Genre: Action
Country: USA
The movie that begun the entire trend of a solo hero against a group of much more sophisticated and well armed antagonists, “Die Hard” was a first (and perhaps the best) for many things. From its relatable hero with his receding hairline and average body and its wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time motif who would rather flee than fight to one of the best villains of all time in the face of Alan Rickman - a highly intelligent, ruthless and collected antagonist who dominates the scenery even with a subtle look. Yet, the way “Die Hard” is structured feels fresh with superb scenes of suspense under the surgically precise direction of John McTiernan and a cat and mouse game between John McClane and Hans Grubber that leaves the Nakatomi tower eventually in ruins. And all that wrapped in a wonderful Christmas package with plenty of lines to quote from.
Explosions:
-
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀💀💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: The kitchen fight has to be seen to be believed but the actual standout is a prison skirmish on a muddy yard - how people never broke any bones is beyond human comprehension.
2. The Raid 2 (2014)
Director: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Yayan Ruhian, Julie Estelle
Genre: Action crime
Country: Indonesia
Nothing could top Evans’ “The Raid” (2011), a film already in the top ten of action films of all time. So it is only wise for Evans to follow up his hugely successful and influential film with a different type of genre. Imagine if “The Godfather” (1972) solved all his problems with extensive and gory martial art sequences. Clearly growing as a filmmaker, the Welsh director shows an eye for kinetic, hyperviolent and novel action sequences in unexpected places that range from a porn den and prison yards to restaurant kitchens and subway cars. Occasionally it might be too violent for its own good which could turn some people off and its main character might be overshadowed by a variety of more interesting baddies from every side. Yet Evans’ script provides sharp characterization and creating suspenseful moments out of nothing making an absolute crime epic for Indonesia with stellar cinematography.
Explosions:
-
Shoot outs:
🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫
Car chases:
🚔🚔
Fights:
👊👊👊👊👊
Stunts:
🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍
Battles:
-
Death count:
💀💀💀💀💀
Style:
👓👓👓👓
Characters:
🎭🎭🎭🎭
Stand out moment: The final 20 minutes is action cinema at its finest with style and visuals that make John Wick more of a funhouse experience than a simple minded genre film.
1. John Wick Chapter 2 (2017)
Director: Chad Stahelski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose, Lance Reddick
Genre: Action thriller
Country: USA
With its sequel, the filmmakers went above and beyond to establish the intriguing world of John Wick by expanding its scope and cinematic flair. Offering plenty of novel and superior to the original’s action moments under the outstanding cinematography of Dan Laustsen who captures gorgeous neon lights (monochromatic or not), “John Wick Chapter 2” feels indeed more of the same but with extra flavor. The bar was raised for stunts, fight choreography and shout outs involving a particularly bombastic sequence in the catacombs of Rome as well as a stand off inside a mirror/art exhibition under a thrilling rendition of Vivaldi’s “Winter”. Keanu plays Wick with a straight face but provides enough warm stoicism that you cannot help but side with this unstoppable assassin and his quest for peace even at impossible odds.