Excellent (or Better) Films with Excellent (or Better) Action Scenes
by TheHestinator | created - 07 Apr 2021 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicNote: The films on this list are ranked in order of how much I enjoy them as overall movies, not by the quality of their action scenes (although they had to have excellent or better action sequences to make the cut). In other words, Road to Perdition (2002) is ranked higher than, say, Hard Boiled (1992), even though Hard Boiled has better action, because I prefer Road to Perdition as an overall movie.
Note: I do not have a Facebook account, so I cannot reply to any comments made about this list.
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1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies
Votes: 1,037,202 | Gross: $248.16M
The first Indiana Jones movie contains the most well-rounded action scenes of any film that I've seen. The choreography, editing, cinematography, sound effects, special effects, tempo, music (composed by John Williams), stuntwork, emotional and physical stakes, etc. for them are impeccable.
2. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure
In 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri
Votes: 535,452 | Gross: $179.87M
The second Indiana Jones picture contains action that's just as pulse-pounding as anything found in the first one. The final act of this movie is just one phenomenal action set-piece piled on, one after the other.
3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure
In 1938, after his father goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones finds himself up against the Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 811,217 | Gross: $197.17M
While the action in the third Indiana Jones flick isn't as hard-boiled as it is in the first two, these are still extremely high-quality action scenes.
4. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
Votes: 1,450,308 | Gross: $322.74M
The first Star Wars film has it all: space battles, laser gun (blaster) shootouts, and a lightsaber duel. The action's truly great.
5. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,121,893 | Gross: $309.13M
Does the third Star Wars movie contain the best space battle in cinema history? It very well might! However, don't discount the other exceptional action sequences found here.
6. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,380,423 | Gross: $290.48M
The action's just about as exciting as it gets in the second Star Wars feature, with the Battle of Hoth, a chase through an asteroid field, a lightsaber duel on Cloud City, and more.
7. Rough Riders (1997)
16+ | 240 min | Action, Drama, History
Undersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt resigns to form a volunteer militia unit called "The Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American War.
Stars: Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, Gary Busey, Brad Johnson
Votes: 2,285
This Spanish-American War film contains tremendous combat scenes. It's three hours long, but a huge chunk of the movie (perhaps as much as half) is warfare. It's a bit too gung-ho to be genuinely realistic, but the choreography is immaculate.
8. Commando (1985)
R | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A retired Special Forces colonel tries to save his daughter, who was abducted by his former subordinate.
Director: Mark L. Lester | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Vernon Wells
Votes: 174,966 | Gross: $35.10M
This is Arnold Schwarzenegger at his most pure. The action is, of course, ludicrously over-the-top, but it's all part of the fun. Seeing the Austrian Oak take on an entire army at the end is ecstasy.
9. The Wind and the Lion (1975)
PG | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A Berber chieftain triggers an international incident, drawing the involvement of Theodore Roosevelt, when he kidnaps an American widow and her children in 1900s Morocco.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, Brian Keith, John Huston
Votes: 10,154 | Gross: $0.75M
This action-adventure/war film (very, very, very, very, very loosely based on a true story) has some of the very best swashbuckling and battle action ever filmed.
10. Dillinger (1973)
R | 107 min | Action, Biography, Crime
John Dillinger and his gang go on a bank robbing spree across the midwest, but one G-Man is determined to bring him down.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman
Votes: 5,854 | Gross: $2.00M
The Great Depression-era gun battles here are sublime. There's plenty of antique firearms and pulpy thrills.
11. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach
Votes: 102,583 | Gross: $4.91M
The original The Magnificent Seven flick from 1960 just might contain the best action ever for a western movie outside of The Wild Bunch (1969). The action is heroic, inspiring, and expertly staged.
12. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Not Rated | 158 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle
Votes: 55,424 | Gross: $28.90M
This World War II commando picture has some excellent action bits, although the very best one (the confrontation with the Nazi patrol boat) is the first one to take place in the runtime.
13. Death Wish 3 (1985)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.
Director: Michael Winner | Stars: Charles Bronson, Deborah Raffin, Ed Lauter, Martin Balsam
Votes: 17,403 | Gross: $16.12M
This unintentionally hilarious vigilante feature contains action scenes that simultaneously pump the adrenaline and provoke laughter at their absurdity.
14. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction.
Director: Gareth Edwards | Stars: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen
Votes: 686,797 | Gross: $532.18M
This Star Wars movie delves into the nitty-gritty of warfare in that far, far away galaxy, while also delivering some of the most terrifying lightsaber-play in the series. It should be noted that I don't consider any of the Star Wars flicks since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) to be canon in my "headcanon," but I still feel like they qualify for this list anyway.
15. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Three years into the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi pursues a new threat, while Anakin Skywalker is lured by Chancellor Palpatine into a sinister plot to rule the galaxy.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson
Votes: 845,837 | Gross: $380.26M
I believe that this entry into the Star Wars franchise contains more lightsaber duels than any other flick in the series. Whether they involve "laser swords" or not, the action sequences here are riveting.
16. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
During an adventure in the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebel Alliance.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover
Votes: 379,362 | Gross: $213.77M
It's a bit smaller in scale than some of the other, save-the-galaxy Star Wars movies, but, make no mistake, the action scenes are still terrific (plus there's a slave revolt...those always rock!).
17. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
As a new threat to the galaxy rises, Rey, a desert scavenger, and Finn, an ex-stormtrooper, must join Han Solo and Chewbacca to search for the one hope of restoring peace.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 974,014 | Gross: $936.66M
The high-octane action in this film reinvigorates the franchise after it had been dormant (on the cinematic front, at least) for ten years.
18. Khartoum (1966)
Approved | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
Directors: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon | Stars: Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier, Richard Johnson, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 8,274 | Gross: $6.54M
It's not really an action film, but the battle scenes in this Mahdist War epic are basically guaranteed to floor the viewer when they do arrive.
19. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 259,016 | Gross: $12.10M
The motorcycle pursuit scene in this movie is the stuff legends are made of.
20. The Killer (1989)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu
Votes: 51,091
Director John Woo delivers some of the very best "gun-fu" in cinema history here. Have the acrobatic shoot-'em-up scenes in The Killer ever been topped by its peers?
21. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 330,928 | Gross: $76.27M
The action sequences here are nothing short of superb. The largely slow-motion shootout on the train station staircase just might be the highlight.
22. High Noon (1952)
PG | 85 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 110,219 | Gross: $9.45M
The action in this classic western appears sparingly, but it makes every bullet fired and punch thrown matter.
23. Police Story (1985)
PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
Directors: Jackie Chan, Chi-Hwa Chen | Stars: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Yuen Chor
Votes: 41,897 | Gross: $0.11M
This just might be the best martial arts movie in history (it certainly is of the ones I've seen). The breathtaking stunts and wildly intricate action choreography are insane.
24. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,509 | Gross: $26.83M
There are three battle scenes here (the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Grimball's Landing, and the Second Battle of Fort Wagner) and they are beautifully choreographed and pretty much guaranteed to send chills down your spine.
25. Gettysburg (1993)
PG | 271 min | Drama, History, War
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Richard Jordan
Votes: 31,316 | Gross: $10.77M
The battle scenes in Gettysburg aren't as grisly as some wish them to be, but they're still lengthy and magnificently staged. The prequel, Gods and Generals (2003), also has some tremendous battle action, but that movie is, overall, very much inferior to this one.
26. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
R | 111 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman
Votes: 120,652
The graphic violence in this picture helped break down barriers for American movies, and the action scenes here still stand tall as exquisite.
27. Rambo III (1988)
R | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rambo mounts a one-man mission to rescue his friend Colonel Trautman from the clutches of the formidable invading Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Director: Peter MacDonald | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith
Votes: 140,241 | Gross: $53.72M
Armed with the best action in the Rambo series, this flick has both top-of-the-line run-and-gun, shoot-'em-up mayhem and large-scale warfare. It's not realistic, but it doesn't have to be to thrill.
28. First Blood (1982)
R | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Brian Dennehy, Richard Crenna, Bill McKinney
Votes: 275,708 | Gross: $47.21M
First Blood, the first Rambo movie, has a certain grounded nature to it that makes even the smallest bit of action feel outrageously exciting. The body count is microscopic, but don't let this fool you. This one can compete with action flicks that contain apocalyptic death tallies.
29. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rambo returns to the jungles of Vietnam on a mission to infiltrate an enemy base-camp and rescue the American POWs still held captive there.
Director: George P. Cosmatos | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Charles Napier, Steven Berkoff
Votes: 182,576 | Gross: $150.42M
The one-man-army antics in this film will blow you away. It may not be realistic, but it's still jaw-dropping.
30. Rambo (2008)
R | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In Thailand, John Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit.
Director: Sylvester Stallone | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish
Votes: 244,631 | Gross: $42.75M
Watching the carnage in the fourth installment in the Rambo franchise might require a strong stomach. Fifty-caliber rounds truly shred people here, but the top-notch choreography means that it's more than just senseless gore.
31. Drunken Master II (1994)
R | 102 min | Action, Comedy
A young martial artist is caught between respecting his pacifist father's wishes or stopping a group of disrespectful foreigners from stealing precious artifacts.
Directors: Chia-Liang Liu, Jackie Chan | Stars: Jackie Chan, Ho-Sung Pak, Lung Ti, Anita Mui
Votes: 48,938 | Gross: $11.55M
Jackie Chan continues his tradition of providing grade-A+ action scenes to viewers. The intensity of the kung fu fights here is off the charts.
32. Road to Perdition (2002)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman
Votes: 284,612 | Gross: $104.45M
This is a non-action movie that still has some moments of gunplay that excel. The highlight is an edge-of-your-seat, near-point-blank-range shootout in a hotel room.
33. Taken (I) (2008)
PG-13 | 90 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.
Director: Pierre Morel | Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser
Votes: 634,703 | Gross: $145.00M
The fast and furious action sequences in this action-thriller will rock your socks. Make sure to watch the unrated cut to feel the maximum impact of the episodes of violence.
34. Nobody (I) (2021)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A docile family man slowly reveals his true character after his house gets burgled by two petty thieves, which, coincidentally, leads him into a bloody war with a Russian crime boss.
Director: Ilya Naishuller | Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd
Votes: 324,698 | Gross: $27.27M
Nobody contains astonishing action, whether it be oriented around thrown fists or bullet-spewing firearms.
35. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey takes on the members of a vicious Los Angeles drug cartel to stop the flow of drugs after his girlfriend's daughter dies from an overdose.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Charles Bronson, Kay Lenz, John P. Ryan, Perry Lopez
Votes: 11,128 | Gross: $6.88M
There's a bunch of terrific action set-pieces in the fourth entry into the Death Wish series. It's kitschy and low-brow, but that only makes me love it even more.
36. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
PG-13 | 163 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg
Votes: 247,407 | Gross: $172.14M
Carefully orchestrated action and suspense scenes with compounding troubles for the heroes help make this a masterclass in how to make an action-adventure movie.
37. Army of Darkness (1992)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie
Votes: 194,435 | Gross: $11.50M
The super-charged action scenes in Army of Darkness, especially the final battle for the castle, rely on laughs, wonderful special effects, and great choreography.
38. Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After ninjas killed his family, Cho and his son Kane come to America to start a new life. He opens a doll shop but is unwittingly importing heroin in the dolls. When his friend betrays him, Cho must prepare for the ultimate battle.
Director: Sam Firstenberg | Stars: Shô Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye, Arthur Roberts
Votes: 5,867 | Gross: $10.33M
This is one very silly and cheesy movie, but it's a million miles from boring and the action is outstanding, despite its unintentional hilarity.
39. Marked for Death (1990)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A retired DEA agent is out to hunt down and take out a Jamaican drug posse that has targeted he and his family for murder.
Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Steven Seagal, Joanna Pacula, Basil Wallace, Keith David
Votes: 24,321 | Gross: $46.04M
Steven Seagal brings the pain in his best film. Sure, it's an unintentional laugh riot, but the excitement value of the action scenes is nothing to scoff at.
40. Zulu (1964)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, History, War
Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.
Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth
Votes: 42,765
The fierce, well-choreographed battle action in this Anglo-Zulu War picture sometimes looks unrealistic, but, get past that, and you'll find that it's some of the best of its kind.
41. Kelly's Heroes (1970)
GP | 144 min | Adventure, Comedy, War
A group of U.S. soldiers sneaks across enemy lines in WWII France to get their hands on a secret stash of Nazi treasure.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor
Votes: 53,727 | Gross: $1.38M
Despite being a comedy, the absolutely spectacular combat sequences found in Kelly's Heroes make it an action tour-de-force.
42. Saints and Soldiers (2003)
PG-13 | 90 min | Action, Drama, War
Four American soldiers and one Brit fighting in Europe during World War II struggle to return to Allied territory after being separated from U.S. forces during the historic Malmedy Massacre.
Director: Ryan Little | Stars: Corbin Allred, Alexander Polinsky, Kirby Heyborne, Larry Bagby
Votes: 21,424 | Gross: $1.31M
Its budget was very small, but Saints and Soldiers still has some intense World War II combat scenes that make it a force to be reckoned with.
43. Safe (I) (2012)
R | 94 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Mei, a young girl whose memory holds a priceless numerical code, finds herself pursued by the Triads, the Russian mob, and corrupt NYC cops. Coming to her aid is an ex-cage fighter whose life was destroyed by the gangsters on Mei's trail.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Chris Sarandon, Robert John Burke
Votes: 117,643 | Gross: $17.14M
New York City hasn't seen this much big-body-count destruction since Death Wish 3 (1985)! The delightful action scenes in Safe are staged with panache, whether they involve cars, firearms, or fists.
44. The Batman (2022)
PG-13 | 176 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell
Votes: 787,676 | Gross: $369.35M
They're not the biggest, most spectacular action scenes that the Batman franchise has seen, but they are filmed clearly and feature some impressive choreography. The pulse-pounding car chase, the fist fight illuminated by automatic weapons' fire, and the finale are the highlights.
45. The Expendables 2 (2012)
R | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.
Director: Simon West | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Liam Hemsworth, Randy Couture, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Votes: 322,402 | Gross: $85.02M
The second installment in The Expendables franchise still has some obvious computer-generated blood spurts, but the action is a bit of an improvement over that found in the first one. The skillfully-directed carnage here hits the right notes.
46. The Expendables (2010)
R | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A CIA operative hires a team of mercenaries to eliminate a Latin dictator and a renegade CIA agent.
Director: Sylvester Stallone | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren
Votes: 364,798 | Gross: $103.07M
Yes, the action here is top-drawer, but it does have some drawbacks, like obvious computer-generated blood and gore, dark lighting at times, and cameras occasionally placed too close to the chaos. Still, it's impossible not to be thrilled by what's onscreen here.
47. The Expendables 3 (2014)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Barney augments his team with new blood for a personal battle: to take down Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables co-founder and notorious arms trader who is hell bent on wiping out Barney and every single one of his associates.
Director: Patrick Hughes | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Antonio Banderas
Votes: 196,269 | Gross: $39.32M
Despite being released in theaters with a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, the action (especially the free-for-all in the bombed-out casino) is just as brilliant as anything in the rest of the series.
48. Sergeant York (1941)
Passed | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
A Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias
Votes: 19,794 | Gross: $16.40M
The action scenes in Sergeant York - a barroom brawl and a depiction of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive - are some of the very best of the time period...and they still hold up miraculously well today.
49. Castle Keep (1969)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
During the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his remote 10th Century castle hoping a battle there against the advancing Germans will not lead to its destruction and all the heritage within.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Falk
Votes: 3,484
This World War II movie is mostly remembered for its surreal atmosphere and situations, but it would be a mistake to discount the combat sequences, which are excellent and occasionally somewhat realistic-feeling.
50. Vera Cruz (1954)
Approved | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
During the Mexican Rebellion of 1866, an unsavory group of American adventurers are hired by the forces of Emporer Maximilian to escort a countess to Vera Cruz.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero
Votes: 11,329
Check out this exceptional war-time action-adventure-western for plenty of rousing and stirring action scenes, including a couple of big battles.
51. Conan the Barbarian (1982)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A powerful warrior seeks to avenge the genocide of his people and the murder of his parents at the hands of a snake cult.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Max von Sydow, Sandahl Bergman
Votes: 162,571 | Gross: $39.57M
This sword-and-sorcery fantasy-action-adventure film contains action scenes that are powerful, overwhelming, and magnificently choreographed...not to mention graphic. The moments of violence are heightened by the majestic musical score from Basil Poledouris.
52. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger
Votes: 24,267
The action scenes here are short and few in number, but they are riveting when they do show up, especially the punch-up in the diner.
53. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,567 | Gross: $13.01M
This satirical action-sci-fi-thriller is primarily on this list for the wonderful back-alley brawl between the characters played by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David.
54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,706 | Gross: $3.27M
The brutally realistic depiction of World War I trench warfare here is so authentic-feeling that I believe that I've seen footage from it placed in documentaries on the First World War.
55. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
R | 148 min | Action, Drama, War
A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.
Director: Edward Berger | Stars: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus
Votes: 245,941
The ferocious, take-no-prisoners, blood-splattered combat scenes in this version of All Quiet on the Western Front are harrowing. They're not as raw as the ones in the 1930 original, but they're still as intense as all get-out.
56. Hard Boiled (1992)
R | 128 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan
Votes: 54,048
The elaborate gunfights in Hard Boiled are first-rate. Why settle for quantity or quality when you can have plenty of both?
57. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Votes: 1,211,108 | Gross: $305.41M
This pirate-oriented swashbuckler's action scenes are not to be underestimated.
58. True Lies (1994)
R | 141 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller
A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton
Votes: 281,097 | Gross: $146.28M
The large-scale, blockbuster mayhem in True Lies is some of the finest of Arnold Schwarzenegger's career. The special effects and moments of humor make the action something special.
59. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,497,149 | Gross: $216.54M
The fearsome, prolonged scenes of combat in Saving Private Ryan will make you want to take cover under the couch. The savage realism of them caused many veterans watching the movie in theaters to leave early.
60. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,459 | Gross: $33.40M
It's fairly restrained in the action department (compared to some of the other entries on this list), but when action does break out, it certainly makes a very positive impression.
61. Extreme Prejudice (1987)
R | 105 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A Texas Ranger and a ruthless narcotics kingpin - they were childhood friends, now they are adversaries...
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Michael Ironside, Maria Conchita Alonso
Votes: 8,766 | Gross: $11.31M
The action sequences here - especially the Sam Peckinpah-esque hacienda shootout at the end - are probably the best of Walter Hill's directorial career.
62. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
PG | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Two Jedi escape a hostile blockade to find allies and come across a young boy who may bring balance to the Force, but the long dormant Sith resurface to claim their original glory.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd
Votes: 856,922 | Gross: $474.54M
Don't be quick to dismiss this one, because the action parts - ranging from the escape from the Droid Control Ship to the Podrace to the concluding lightsaber duel - are astounding.
63. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
PG | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Ten years after initially meeting, Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala, while Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers a secret clone army crafted for the Jedi.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee
Votes: 759,281 | Gross: $310.68M
This might be another controversial entry on the list, but the action scenes are fantastic, if a bit heavy on the computer-generated imagery.
64. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)
PG-13 | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again in the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver
Votes: 493,620 | Gross: $515.20M
It has some of the weakest action of any live-action, theatrically-released Star Wars picture, but it's still Star Wars, so the action is still better than that found in most movies.
65. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rey develops her abilities with the help of Luke Skywalker, as the Resistance prepares for battle against the First Order.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher
Votes: 672,250 | Gross: $620.18M
Some of the action bits here have been analyzed pretty closely, revealing various flaws, but, if you just sit back and enjoy the fireworks, you'll probably find them pretty exciting.
66. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 594,631 | Gross: $67.21M
The battle sequences in Hacksaw Ridge aren't as realistic as they think they are, but they're still grueling, ferocious, and gripping.
67. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
PG | 107 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg
Votes: 243,311 | Gross: $77.59M
The manic action in this animated movie shows off choreography and scenarios that would've been near-impossible to successfully pull off in live-action.
68. Troma's War (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A group of assorted Americans survive a plane crash in a Caribbean island, and discover it is infested with crawling snakes and other venomous beasts. Even worse, terrorists are preparing a full out war on America with a biological weapon.
Directors: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman | Stars: Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Rick Washburn, Patrick Weathers
Votes: 2,454
The intentionally farcical and over-the-top action scenes packed into this film are marvelous and pile the corpses quite high.
69. Face/Off (1997)
R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 401,055 | Gross: $112.23M
You can't really go wrong with John Woo-directed action scenes, and the gun battles in Face/Off are no exception.
70. Furious 7 (2015)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham
Votes: 414,894 | Gross: $353.01M
The high-octane action found in this motion picture is absurdly over-the-top, but I wouldn't want it any other way.
71. The Sand Pebbles (1966)
PG-13 | 182 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1926, a U.S. Naval engineer gets assigned to a gunboat on a rescue mission in war-torn China.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen
Votes: 16,436
The Sand Pebbles is not an action flick, but, when the physical action does show its face, you'd better buckle up! The boarding action between the American gunboat and the Chinese warlord's barge on the Chinese river is possibly the best naval action scene in cinema history.
72. The Lost Battalion (2001 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 92 min | Action, Drama, War
Fact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I.
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Ricky Schroder, Phil McKee, Jamie Harris, Jay Rodan
Votes: 8,234
Set during World War I's Meuse-Argonne Offensive, The Lost Battalion is crammed full of remarkable combat.
73. The Longest Day (1962)
G | 178 min | Action, Drama, History
The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.
Directors: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck | Stars: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda
Votes: 59,086 | Gross: $39.10M
The battle scenes in The Longest Day are some of the most massive in scale ever filmed. Their choreography and excitement value cannot be questioned.
74. The Blues Brothers (1980)
R | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Jake Blues rejoins with his brother Elwood after being released from prison, but the duo has just days to reunite their old R&B band and save the Catholic home where the two were raised, outrunning the police as they tear through Chicago.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, John Candy
Votes: 214,569 | Gross: $57.23M
It's a comedy, but The Blues Brothers still features some of the best car chase action ever.
75. Twin Dragons (1992)
PG-13 | 104 min | Action, Comedy
Identical twins are separated at birth, one becoming a streetwise mechanic, and the other an acclaimed classical concert conductor. Finally meeting in adulthood, they each become mistaken for the other and entangled in each other's world.
Directors: Ringo Lam, Hark Tsui | Stars: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Teddy Robin Kwan, James Wong
Votes: 12,761 | Gross: $8.33M
It's a Jackie Chan film, so you'd be right to assume that the action scenes are going to be world-class. I love that bit with Chan running over the top of a car speeding at him.
76. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
R | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz
Votes: 1,087,111 | Gross: $154.06M
This frenetic science-fiction-action film redefines the phrase "turbo-charged." The rough-and-tumble action scenes (basically the entire flick) have a positively manic pace.
77. The Raid: Redemption (2011)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
Director: Gareth Evans | Stars: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy, Donny Alamsyah
Votes: 217,138 | Gross: $4.11M
The first-class action scenes in this feature helped reinvigorate the action genre with style. The action in the sequel, The Raid 2 (2014), is almost as good, but that movie is decidedly inferior to the first one.
78. Django (1966)
Not Rated | 91 min | Action, Drama, Western
A coffin-dragging gunslinger and a prostitute become embroiled in a bitter feud between a Klan of Southern racists and a band of Mexican Revolutionaries.
Director: Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Franco Nero, José Canalejas, José Bódalo, Loredana Nusciak
Votes: 31,017 | Gross: $0.03M
This "spaghetti western" (Italian-made western) is full of big-body-count violence. Some of the bits of action are choice.
79. The Protector (2005)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young fighter named Kham must go to Australia to retrieve his stolen elephant. With the help of a Thai-born Australian detective, Kham must take on all comers, including a gang led by an evil woman and her two deadly bodyguards.
Director: Prachya Pinkaew | Stars: Tony Jaa, Nathan Jones, Xing Jin, Phetthai Vongkumlao
Votes: 39,004 | Gross: $11.91M
Tony Jaa pummels tons of fools here in martial arts fights that are masterful.
80. Eastern Condors (1987)
R | 93 min | Action, Adventure, War
A group of Asian prisoners is recruited, trained, armed and sent to Vietnam to destroy a cache of American weapons left behind after the Vietnam War, before the Vietcong discovers its location.
Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung | Stars: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Haing S. Ngor, Ching-Ying Lam
Votes: 2,881
Jackie Chan wasn't the only Hong Kong martial arts actor who could serve up spellbinding action scenes. Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao deliver all the goods (and then some) in this kung fu classic.
81. Violent Night (2022)
R | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller
An elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone hostage. However, they aren't prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he's about to show why this Nick is no saint.
Director: Tommy Wirkola | Stars: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo, Alex Hassell
Votes: 99,146 | Gross: $50.06M
This action-comedy about Santa Claus (David Harbour) slaying bad guys with a sledgehammer delivers Christmas cheer with its highly bloody and inventive action scenes. Die Hard (1988) only wishes it had fight sequences as well-choreographed as the ones here.
82. The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1988)
R | 97 min | Action, Drama, War
A tough U.S. sergeant and his sidekick roll into a demoralized firebase, where they attempt to rebuild morale and fortifications amid a climactic battle with the Viet Cong.
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith | Stars: Wings Hauser, R. Lee Ermey, Robert Arevalo, Mark Neely
Votes: 3,341
Cheesy as it may be, this Vietnam War movie still has lots of high-powered mayhem that will please action fanatics.
83. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
PG | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A plumber named Mario travels through an underground labyrinth with his brother Luigi, trying to save a captured princess.
Directors: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack | Stars: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black
Votes: 237,083 | Gross: $574.93M
The action here is video gamey, as is expected, but the eye-popping visuals are a treat. One action sequence plays out like an animated, kid-friendly Mad Max vehicle chase.
84. Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
R | 89 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission.
Director: Adrian Grunberg | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Adriana Barraza
Votes: 109,579 | Gross: $44.82M
The slaughter here is graphic and stirring. So what if it's the least-best of the Rambo series? It still has some tremendous action set-pieces.
85. Drunken Master (1978)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Comedy
Wong Fei-Hung is a mischievous yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Jackie Chan, Siu-Tin Yuen, Jeong-lee Hwang, Dean Shek
Votes: 43,878
It seems like a stupendous action scene breaks out every couple of minutes in this excellent Jackie Chan martial arts comedy.
86. Wings (1927)
PG-13 | 144 min | Drama, Romance, War
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston
Votes: 14,546 | Gross: $6.59M
It's silent and it's from the 1920s, so the action must be boring, right? Wrong! The combat here, whether it be on the ground or in the air, still dazzles, after all these decades. This could be considered the Top Gun: Maverick (2022) of its time, as the two lead actors actually had to pilot airplanes for the scenes where they're in the cockpit.
87. The Getaway (1972)
PG | 123 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers
Votes: 35,702 | Gross: $36.73M
There's quite a bit of exciting physicality here, topped off by a fist-pumping, shotgun-blasting hotel shootout.
88. Flyboys (2006)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Drama, History
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Director: Tony Bill | Stars: James Franco, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, Scott Hazell
Votes: 44,501 | Gross: $13.08M
As unrealistic, corny, and computer-effects-heavy as this film is, I still think it has some of the best aerial dogfighting action out there.
89. The Dark Knight (2008)
PG-13 | 152 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
Votes: 2,872,256 | Gross: $534.86M
Several of the action set-pieces found in this Batman (Christian Bale here) flick are stunners - especially the opening bank heist and the vehicle chase.
90. The Warriors (1979)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A street gang known as the Warriors must fight its way from the Bronx to its home turf on Coney Island when its members are falsely accused of assassinating a respected gang leader.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler
Votes: 110,749 | Gross: $22.49M
The action scenes in The Warriors are not epic-scale or particularly lengthy, but they still excel at what they do.
91. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton
Votes: 528,596 | Gross: $209.40M
Inventive and thrilling action sequences are the lifeblood of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - the best Mission: Impossible movie at the time of its original release.
92. Infra-Man (1975)
PG | 90 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Princess Dragon Mom and her mutant army have risen, and only Infra-Man can stop them.
Director: Shan Hua | Stars: Danny Lee, Terry Liu, Hsieh Wang, Man-Tzu Yuan
Votes: 2,266
I've never done drugs, but I'd imagine that this is what watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while on acid feels like. The action is crazy.
93. The Beekeeper (2024)
R | 105 min | Action, Thriller
One man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as "Beekeepers."
Director: David Ayer | Stars: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, Josh Hutcherson
Votes: 86,831
Jason Statham goes to town on the bad guys here in action scenes that are creatively sadistic and interestingly choreographed.
94. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure
Indiana Jones becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen
Votes: 491,564 | Gross: $317.10M
This movie catches a lot of flak, but I think that the action scenes found in it are generally superb, even if the cinematography makes everything look like computer-generated imagery, even stuff that probably wasn't.
95. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,054,418 | Gross: $171.48M
The lobby shootout alone means that The Matrix must be included on this list.
96. Batman Returns (1992)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Crime, Fantasy
While Batman deals with a deformed man calling himself the Penguin wreaking havoc across Gotham with the help of a cruel businessman, a female employee of the latter becomes the Catwoman with her own vendetta.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken
Votes: 327,611 | Gross: $162.83M
While I don't love this movie as much as Batman (1989), I do think that it has the better action of the two.
97. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
GP | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Will Geer, Delle Bolton, Josh Albee
Votes: 35,005 | Gross: $47.74M
The mountain man saga Jeremiah Johnson may not be an action film, but the action's surprisingly intense when it does show up.
98. The Magnificent Seven (2016)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Seven gunmen from a variety of backgrounds are brought together by a vengeful young widow to protect her town from the private army of a destructive industrialist.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 228,302 | Gross: $93.43M
Overall, the quality of the awesome action in this western is roughly on par with that from The Magnificent Seven (1960), but this one has a greater quantity of it.
99. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
M | 158 min | Action, Adventure, War
Allied agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding American brigadier general George Carnaby prisoner, but that's not all that's really going on.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure, Patrick Wymark
Votes: 62,938
This World War II commando action-adventure flick offers an explosive amount of video gamey thrills.
100. Shane (1953)
Not Rated | 118 min | Drama, Western
A weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde
Votes: 44,162 | Gross: $20.00M
Yes, the scenes of gunplay are very good, but the hard-hitting fist fights are possibly even more exciting.
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