Best Action Movies Ever

I haven't done one of these lists in years, but after seeing the amazing Mad Max:Fury Road, my son asked me what is your favorite action movie of all time.  That is a darn good question that got me thinking.

First off, a reality; action movies today are a very different beast than action movies from 40 plus years ago.  Where as movies like The Dirty Dozen and The French Connection (both movies not on the list but I strongly considered) hold up for their action sequences, most from before 1975 aren't really comparable.  The action standards, intensity and special effects of the those days were different.  Doesn't mean their not good, but movies like Star Wars, Die Hard, The Road Warrior and Terminator changed action movies forever.

There are a lot of movies which I could consider in the category of best action, but I weeded out many because they primarily fall into different genres.  Horror movies (Jaws, The Thing, Aliens), war movies (Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon), westerns (Silverado, Quigley Down Under, Unforgiven, The Lone Ranger [I liked it!]), dramas (Heat, LA Confidential, The Departed) and comedies (The 5th Element, The Blues Brothers, Galaxy Quest) were some I disqualified from this list.  These movies are all great, well worth a watch in my mind, but I wanted more pure action.

These are movies which are known for their action more than anything else.

Two notes - I did not include any of the Harry Potter films, but not because they're not good.  I almost put Goblet of Fire on this list, but in the end they are 8 amazing films that are part of one continuous story.  It's hard to separate them out.  If I were to look at them completely, then they would get trounced by the Bond, Star Wars and Avengers films.

Second, I desperately wanted to include The Last Strarfighter on this list.  It was the last film I cut, a great film which deserves a remake SO badly.  The special effects are weak today, but it is a great film.  On to the Countdown!

#20 - (tie)  Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Batman Returns (1992).  It's funny how many sequels are far better than the originals.  Wrath of Khan changed Star Trek forever.  Originally, it was a mild action TV series about exploring space (something painfully mimicked in the first movie) but with Khan, they explore what happens when the help you tried to give years ago ends up blowing up in your face.  The Michael Keaton Batman movies were under appreciated, and Tim Burton really scored with me on a dark twisted sequel which had numerous biblical references.  Watch it again, it's actually really deep.  Plus Danny DeVito and Michele Pfeiffer are both excellent.

#19 - Live and Let Die (1973) - Spoiler, the second best Bond film in my mind.  The first outing with Roger Moore gives us the insane boat chase in the bayou, which followed an amazing alligator scene.  Plus the movie scores with having Paul McCartney and Wings on the soundtrack, adding to the pace.

#18 - The 13th Warrior (1999) - Antonio Banderas is an underrated action star and this movie, which was a big risk for him, pays off.  It's deep with action and suspense and his fish out of water character is what keeps this film from becoming cable TV fodder.  Plus really good fighting sequences.

#17 - Die Hard (1988) - There are some aspects of this movie I hate today, as the gun culture of this country has fallen in love with the idea of a guy with a six shooter taking on a cell of terrorists in Nakatomi Plaza, but the movie is still extremely entertaining.  It took the relentless nature of action films mastered in low budget fare of the early 80's and blew it up on the big screen as a goodbye kiss to the Reagan 80's.  I saw this movie in a movie theater on a military base, and let's just say the audience was engaged.

Quick note - I might be negative in the notes with each of these film at times, but remember, they're all in my top 20 of all time, so I clearly must like them.  My criticism is mainly geared to helping the reader understand why a movie is lower or higher on the list than other movies.

#16 - Avatar (2009) - This movie is stunningly beautiful to watch, and some might have this one much higher on the list.  The battle scenes are incredibly cool.  The story of trying to assimilate into the culture of another planet in a fake avatar, to trick the locals into allowing the big bad corporation to rape the environment was the opposite of Die Hard, but still just as heavy handed.

#15 - Terminator (1984) - James Cameron absolutely turned action movies on their head with this tale of a robot from the future coming back to kill Sarah Conner.  Reese's line, "You still don't get it, do you?",  right before Arnold remodeled the entrance of the police station, created a new standard for action.  After this movie, action stars became robots themselves, able to take on anything, pushing action at ridiculous levels, but this movie reminded us, we're the humans, and eventually we get tired.  This movie scared the crap out of me.

#14 - Blue Thunder (1983) - I imagine this is going to be one of the movies on this list where people say, "wha..?"  Blue Thunder is a really good film.  Look at this movie from both sides.  At the time, it's a great story of a police department helicopter unit getting a state of the art machine (dated looking now), and the nefarious people who want to use it for no good.  Look at it from today and this movie was 30 years in front of the current discussion about the militarization of our police forces.  Roy Scheider is fantastic as Officer Murphy, his best role next to Jaws.

#13 - Skyfall (2012) - The best Bond film ever, and yes it's better than Goldfinger.  The action scenes in this movie are sensational, like the chase through the London subway which had my jaw dropping, but in the middle of this never ending surge is a great story about revenge.  They embrace the old and new Bond, Javier Bardem is the best Bond villain ever, and we say goodbye to Judi Dench's M.  As a Bond fan (Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only and GoldenEye were all considered for this list) I love this one most of all.  And to think some people didn't like Daniel Craig as Bond because he was blonde.

#12 - Desperado (1995) - Sometimes an action movie needs to be deep with story, other times, not so much.  This movie is a good old fashion Mexican gun fight.  The shootouts are filmed with the loving care of the finest ballets and you really become attached to Antonio Banderas' El Mariachi.  Doesn't hurt that Salma Hayek is the most voluptuous bookstore owner of all time.  Damn!

#11 - The Matrix (1999) - I did not see this movie when it was originally released in theaters.  There were a lot of people critical of the gun violence in it, so I passed.  Was I a fool.  Granted, the gun play is pretty intense, but to be offended by it, you have to purposely take the movie out of context.  A fake world set up by the machines to grow humans for energy, and in turn let them live their lives in a computerized matrix, only to wake up to the dystopian future the world has become.  Damn cool. And the stunts and special effects set another bar which movies are still trying to match.

#10 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Spielberg's love affair with classic cinema shines through in a 1940's movie made with the budget of an 80's Hollywood wonderkid.  Harrison Ford proves to be the best box office actor for the second half of the 20th century with another top 10 movie character role of all time.  There are so many now iconic bits in this movie, you have to remind yourself they all came from the same film.

#9 - The Road Warrior (1982) -  1982 was such an incredible year for movies.  There are 3 movies from that year on this list alone, two more, Conan the Barbarian and Tron, were both on my final 50 list and that doesn't even count the 30 other incredible films of that year (I am particularly fond of The Verdict).  In this sea of great movies was this little gem from Australia.  Mad Max was a good revenge film from a few years earlier, but mix in a nuclear apocalypse, fast cars and an amazing plot over the fight for guzzaline, and you have joyful insanity.  This movie would be top three if not for Mel Gibson's sad fall.  It's hard to watch it knowing what he would become.  Still has the greatest stunt ever, as I have no idea how the flipping motorcycle guy landed without breaking his neck.

#8 - The Avengers (2012) - This is the most ambitious movie ever made.  Just to entertain the idea of it, they had to release four different characters in their own movie franchises and hope they all were successful to justify the ensemble picture.  Not only do they pull it off, but they do so with a great script, sensational action and Tom Hiddleston as a great bad guy, Loki.  Currently, every movie studio is trying to figure out how to build their own version of the Avengers.  As The Terminator and Matrix changed movies for the next five years after their individual releases, The Avengers has changed movies for the next 20.

#7 - The Dark Knight (2008) - Kudos to Christopher Nolan for figuring out how to successfully transfer a decades old, beloved comic book character to the movie screen.  This movie did something I never thought possible, make the Batman, Joker, Two-Face and Scarecrow believable as real characters in a real city.  Great acting, great stunts, great everything.  Heath Ledger got most of the credit for his Joker, but I actually think Aaron Eckhart is very underrated as the tragic character Harvey Dent.

#6 - Mad Max:Fury Road (2015) - I joke you not.  This movie is that good.  Since it's just released, I will limit the details, but two things which really shocked me was the poignant theme displayed throughout the movie and the cinematography is gorgeous, as if a nuclear wasteland could ever be beautiful.  Go see it, you'll agree.

#5 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) - James Cameron made an incredible original (see #15) but outdid himself with the sequel.  Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the same model of terminator robot, but this one has been sent back to defend.  His enemy?  A liquid metal robot you can shoot, set on fire, crash, freeze, and will still keep coming.  It's the perfect sequel, as it captured the original fear of an unstoppable machine even after seven years of people thinking of ways to try to stop it.

#4 - The Bourne Identity (2002) - The ultimate question Hollywood has been trying to answer since 1965 is how do you out-Bond James Bond.  This movie is the only movie to actually accomplish it.  What happens when a guy is found floating in the ocean with no idea of who he is, but a identifying chip leading him on a path to discovery?  Matt Damon is perfectly cast as a guy who looks lost and unassuming at first, but the minute he gets harassed by two police officers on a park bench, you realize he is something far more.  The most human spy film I've ever seen, and a movie that actually got Bond movie makers to change their formula.  The sad part about this movie was how they seemed to burn it all off in the first movie and never could get close to matching the intensity in the sequels.

#3 - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) - Hard to figure out how to break apart the three Lord of the Rings movies and where to place them.  What I decided to do was only place one on this list as really all three are top ten for me.  I chose this one because of the unrelenting pace of it.  Starting with the fall of Saruman, to the epic battle scenes on the battle field, and in the city, and then to Mount Doom itself, this movie is an insane roller coaster ride.  The books were always considered to be un transferable to movie form, but somehow Peter Jackson did it, and this movie became the first of it's kind to win Best Picture at the Oscars.  Deservedly so.  I was actually crying in the theater when the eagles came out of the sky at the end.

#2 - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Same problem with Lord of the Rings, how do you separate these movies apart from each other.  For the record, Star Wars I and II sucked, Revenge of the Sith was pretty good, but nothing matched the original trilogy.  Of those three movies, The second, number V in the series, was the best.  There isn't a bad scene in the movie, there isn't a weak character, there isn't a wasted line, it's a perfect movie.  You hate Darth Vader more when he freezes Han, you know Luke is going to lose when he battles him, but it doesn't stop you from rooting for him, and the escape in the end will make you ache with sadness while you breath a sigh of relief.  I don't know what the next three movies will do to me, but the bar is set pretty high.

#1 - Blade Runner (1982) - I almost didn't put this movie on this list as I kept going back and forth on if it should be a drama or action.  I decided on action.  Same critique for this move as for Empire Strikes Back, perfect everything.  Harrison Ford (his third appearance in my top 10!) as Deckard, tasked with tracking down four replicants who have escaped from their required tasks, is a man on a quest for answers, who also is a damn good cop.  Rutger Hauer is so complex in his character, has one of the great soliloquies EVER, and in the end you root for him and hate him at the same time.  A sensational supporting cast includes a very young Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh and Daryl Hannah. Why is this movie number one on my list?  When you are making a space movie, you have a lot more freedom than you do when you are doing a future movie.  Your future can look dated and foolish if you get it wrong (Back to the Future Part II), but Blade Runner is the most realistic future world ever made.  The dates might be off, but when you watch any of the street scenes, is there any doubt you are seeing something which will likely exist in some future.  Ridley Scott made an unbelievable film everyone should own.  My top action film, with no regrets.