Over the years I’ve come to love action movies, some of the greatest movies ever made are action movies. Today is going to be me sharing my 10 favorite action movies of all time. As I went into this, I’m counting straight forward action and sci-fi action. TO BE CLEAR, I’m not counting comic books or Star Wars movies, because action isn’t their main genre. Let’s get started!
10. Fast Five: To a lot of people, this is the best movie in the Fast and Furious franchise. And for good reasons, this is just such a fun blockbuster and a great heist movie. The producers looked and noticed that they were running a bit stale with their movies, so they went all out dumb blockbuster with this movie. The third act is them stealing the safe, and towing it with cars through the streets of Rio. It’s ridiculous, but it’s just a lot of fun. The introduction of The Rock just makes everything better, and he gets some great one liners, especially in his first scene. If you have seen the movie, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. I like that they brought back characters from other movies and started tying in 2, 3,and 4 all into this movie. Rio is just a pretty city, so it adds something to it. So all of it works, all of it is memorable and fun. And this is kind of what I want from the Fast and Furious movies.
9. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation: This movie will always have a special place in my heart, this was the first Mission Impossible movie that I ever saw in the theater. And this might be the most fun movie of them all. It moves so quickly, I love the opening to this movie with Ethan Hunt hanging off the side of a building. We get the introductions to Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris, who are these editions to the franchise. There are just a number of stand-out moments, with the opening like I just mentioned. Or the underwater sequence toward the finale of the movie, even the car/motorcycle chase at around 60% of the way through the movie is a ton of fun. Also Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames get some funny moments, and Alec Baldwin is great as the IMF leader for this movie. But what I think this movie did the best was make the world feel bigger. Where it starts to tie into the other movies, and we go to bigger and better places so it makes everything feel bigger inside of this movie. So this is easily one of the best Mission Impossible movies, and one of the best action movies.
8. The Bourne Identity: This is a fantastic starting point for the Bourne franchise. It’s a movie that changed the trajectory of Matt Damon’s career, where prior to this movie he was doing a bunch of dramas and smaller movies. But this made him the action star that he is so known for today. And it also helps that Matt Damon is just so great at playing smart characters, and great action heroes. I enjoy Chirs Cooper in movies so when he’s the main FBI guy in this movie it’s always fun to see him on screen. This is a movie that builds this sense of mystery surrounding the Jason Bourne character, and his backstory. The car chase in this movie is one of the best car chases in movie history. Doug Liman is great with shooting action, and I think this movie has the best action of the entire franchise. The little stealth sequence with Clive Owen’s character is great, and another stand-out of this franchise. Put all of the pieces together and you get one of my personal favorite movies of all time. And a movie that made me fall in love with Matt Damon as an actor.
7. Edge of Tomorrow: This is just a really fun time loop action movie from 2014. It stars Tom Cruise, who is playing against type he isn’t playing the hero, but more of a loser. Emily Blunt is the leading lady, and this was the first movie that I believe I saw her in a main role. I think Emily Blunt is great in these types of action roles, where Emily Blunt is playing more of the tough action hero than Tom Cruise, who is known for being the action hero, and they have a great chemistry. But it’s a movie that is really fun, it is a time loop movie but that gimmick never gets boring. They show each time he wakes up with him doing something different each time. The action is very well done in this movie, it’s directed by Doug Liman who did The Bourne Identity. And he brings his skills to this movie. Now, this is a movie that I want a sequel to, but the marketing for the movie didn’t sell it really well. So it kinda bombed at the box office, but easily this is one of the 10 movies I want a sequel to. Maybe a future blog post---I don’t know.
6. The Bourne Ultimatum: This is the Bourne movie that I think pulls of it’s bag of tricks together the best. It has some very cool action, and the final twists and turns are pretty interesting. I know some people aren’t a big fan of the fact that the third act is very talky, where Bourne goes to talk to Albert Finney’s character, and we learn more and more about Bourne as a person and how he got wrapped in this. It’s never bothered me, because I’ve always found it very interesting and something exciting to me. The spy sequence at the beginning with the reporter, is a great little sequence, maybe the best sequence of the entire franchise. I like Bourne’s relationship with the Julia Stiles character. So in general, I’ve always really dug this movie and honestly I go back and forth on whether Identity or Ultimatum is the better movie, but as of today, I gotta give it to Ultimatum. Because I think it does a few more things right with the story.
5. The Matrix: One of the great sci-fi action movies of all time, that might have the best action on this entire list. And it might tell the best “the one” story in any movie ever. Where you have Neo who gets wrapped in this sci-fi adventure, and becomes the hero that Morpheus knew that he was. Hugo Weaving is great as Agent Smith, and this was the movie that launched him into the a-list for the past 21 years. Like I said the action in this movie is just so great, and exciting. The gun sequence in the lobby with Neo and Trinity, is one of the best action sequences of all time. The fight between Neo and Smith in the subway is another fantastic action sequence. But the visuals for this movie are fantastic, and it’s just one of the great movies of all time. And a movie that I haven’t really talked about on my blog before, but I love this movie. And it’s just such a cool movie, that from what I have heard the sequels undermined this movie a bit. But if you haven’t seen The Matrix...what are you doing?
4. Mission Impossible: Fallout: It’s crazy to me that the 6th movie in the Mission Impossible franchise is the best movie. With most action franchises, they start strong but definitely get weaker as they go along. But with 4,5,and 6 they just kept on getting better and better. I’ve always loved this movie, and think that it has some great action. The Bathroom fight is maybe the best hand to hand fight scene in the entire franchise. And it’s fun to see Henry Cavill playing the complete opposite of Superman, and just having this big guy destroying people in this bathroom, is a lot of fun to see. Also just the addition of Cavill adds a nice dynamic to anything, maybe a bit predictable with the way things play out. The final helicopter chase is so groundbreaking, and the fact that Tom Cruise was actually up there doing that stuff is mind blowing to me. So I’m very excited for Mission Impossible 7. I like that Christopher McQuarrie is returning to direct that movie, so easily it’s one of the best action movies of all time.
3. Predator: There is a bit of a funny story surrounding this movie, so for years my dad was wanting me to watch this movie. But I kept on saying no, I don’t want to watch it. Because prior to that the only Arnold Schwarznegger movie I’d seen was Batman and Robin, which I didn’t really want to watch. I finally did, and loved it and loved everything about it. It’s just such a dude movie, where dudes love this movie and I guess I’m a dude because of that. Arnold is just as great as Dutch, and he pays attention to little details in the first act that help him later on in the movie. The final fight between Dutch and The Predator is one of the best final showdowns in any movie ever. The reason why Dutch was able to defeat The Predator was because he noticed little details earlier in the movie that helped him with defeating this alien from space. So this is one of the great action movies of all time, and I think it’s the greatest sci-fi action movie of all time. Maybe if I see T2 that would change.
2. Die Hard: Some people might debate that this movie is the best action movie of all time, but I think there is one movie that is a better action movie. But this was one of the first movies that my dad showed during quarantine, and I fell in love with this movie. When you think about the movie Die Hard, people might not think much about the script. Which is understandable, the plot here is very straight forward. But it's a script where things that are set up earlier in the movie have a consequence later on in the movie. The best example of this being, the opening where McClane is talking about taking his shoes off with a guy on the plane, and that sets up why he doesn’t have shoes later in the movie. Alan Rickman is wonderful as Hans Gruber, one of the classic action movie villains of all time. And one of the classic movie villains in general. He’s great through the performance, but he doesn’t have a big emotional back story. Bruce Willis is fantastic as John McClane, another classic action movie character. This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time.
1. Furious 7: For me, this is the most well rounded movie in the Fast and Furious franchise. It has action, heart, and humor that you expect from this movie. I think this movie has the best action of the entire franchise, the car chase thru the forest where they are rescuing the Ramsey character is just a lot of fun. And I wish this franchise did more of that type of action, the whole fight in Dubai at the party is great, it’s fun to see Rounda Rousey as an antagonist toward Letty. The third act fight between Dom and Shaw is just great to see, and satisfying. Jason Statham is such a great edition to the franchise and gets in on the action. But what I think this movie does the best is what they do with the Brian character in the final scene of the movie. Where Paul Walker tragically passed away half way through production of this movie, so how they bookend Brian’s story in this movie is perfect. And watching that scene play out is so emotional to watch. Put all of it together, you get a fantastic edition to one of my absolute favorite franchises of all time.
There you have it, my 10 favorite action movies of all time. What are some of your favorite action movies?
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