The Best Action Movies of All Time

Image via Lionsgate/Niko Tavernise

Director: Chad Stahelski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane

The Keanu Reeves-led series seems to outdo itself with every new chapter, putting the haggard assassin John Wick in danger via a dizzying array of villains in wilder locales. With Parabellum, we get everything from the viral horse ride through the streets of NYC to Wick and Sofia (Halle Berry)—along with her two dogs—ripping through the streets of Casablanca to the Battle of the Continental. Wick’s murdering people with knives, in pools, and with his bare hands; it’s a beautiful display of ultra-violence that’s perfect for theaters. It kinda started out as a film about the death of a dog but turned into a series that puts Keanu’s staying power on full display.

Director: Anthony and Joe Russo

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt

While it’s counterpart Endgame was obviously the more fan service-y of the series, Infinity War packed a cruel, Infinity Gauntlet-clad punch. The Russo Brothers took the “War” in the title seriously, with this film basically being one intergalactic battle. From Thanos taking out the Hulk with ease to Iron Man and company taking on Thanos’ Children in the streets of NYC to the epic confrontations on Titan and in Wakanda, this film gathered all of the pieces of the decade-long MCU puzzle and set them on fire. We were left with loads of dust, a pit in our stomachs, and some of the most insane action sequences to hit a superhero film of this caliber.

Director: George Miller

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Mad Max: Fury Road is a lot of things, but it is primarily a great action movie. Expect firey, loud car chases, explosions, actually scary villains, and high stakes. Set in a post-apocalyptic universe, it manages to be wildly violent without turning gratuitous. Of course, there’s a lot of CGI, but it doesn’t overpower the movie, and feels like it belongs there. There are some legitimate climate change concerns in the background (a nuclear holocaust is unlikely, but water access is already a major concern, as are the wars being aged over oil). The film explores the intersection of a real crisis scenario and raw power—how far we’ll go to keep it, how strong oppositions can be, and just how important it is for any kind of civilization. Last but not least, it’s also feminist AF, which is rare in quality action movies, so it’s an all-around great watch, worthy of the 17,000 Oscars it was nominated for (it actually won six and was nominated for 10, including Best Picture).

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey, Denholm Elliot

Impressionable '70s babies kids learned a lot from Raiders—what "archaeology" means, how much fun whips can be, and that Nazis melt like a nice Gruyère. Above all, Indiana Jones taught us that swagger goes a long way.

Director: Pierre Morel

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy, Leland Orser

An ex-spy dusts off his mayhem and sadism skills so he can save his daughter from European human traffickers. Suburban high schools: incorporate this movie into your freshman-year curriculum at once.

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames

The Mission: Impossible series is practically synonymous with the phrase "best action movies." The sixth installment of the Tom Cruise-led franchise, Mission: Impossible — Fallout features all of the running, shooting, and jumping out of planes you'd expect, and fully lives up to the greatness of its predecessors. The film follows Ethan Hunt in a race against time as he struggles to retrieve the plutonium core from the reinvented Apostle organization. The summer blockbuster is a rousing rollercoaster ride, jam-packed with intense fight scenes, jaw-dropping explosions, and seamless rooftop jumps. Cruise makes it all look easy, and that's why it's so good.

Director: Larry and Andy Wachowski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano

The inspiration for countless camera tricks and slow-the-action-waaaaay-down shootouts, The Matrix managed to do what Speed and Point Break couldn't: make Keanu Reeves seem human (albeit only compared to a horde of intelligent computer programs, but still).

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle

You can love Captain America because it puts 12 Marvel characters all in one place. You can love it because it’s just not Batman v Superman. Those are all fine reasons, but you should also love it because of its masterful action scenes. It employs its heroes’ superpowers masterfully, celebrating each individual’s abilities and personalities instead of conflating them. The best example is the climactic fight scene at the airport when the superheroes fight each other: the Scarlet Witch directs magic to spice up the smaller fights, Black Panther is the fiercest competitor in hand to hand combat, Ant Man grows huge and throws around an airplane, Captain America is all brawn, Spider-Man is cheeky and throws webs in just the right places at just the right moments, while Iron Man is behind the explosions and witty one liners. There are cars flying from the sky and buildings collapsing all around them and it works because it still sets the heart racing. Commercially, it does what it needs to do: leave you craving for more Marvel.

Director: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Edgar Ramirez, Scott Glenn, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Colin Stinton, Joey Ansah

The last of a trilogy that improved with each sequel, Ultimatum's relentless cat-and-mouse chase turns a train-station stroll into a pulse-quickening pursuit, a coffee-table book into a brutal weapon, and Matt Damon into the ultimate ass-kicking machine. That was a lot of hyphens, but you get the drift.

Director: Robert Clouse

Starring: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri, Shih Kien, Robert Wall

Purists can quibble and say that Bruce Lee was doper before he went big budget Hollywood, but Enter The Dragon had Jim Kelly, Bolo, and the Master taking on like 50 dudes in the penultimate scene. And no, Bruce Lee don't need no stinkin' "pause."

Director: Michael Bay

Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Tea Leoni, Tcheky Karyo, Theresa Randle, Joe Pantoliano

Will Smith solidifies his star power alongside pre-breakdown Martin Lawrence in Bay's auspicious debut (at least for a career built on explosions). Two Miami drug detectives driving around in a Ferrari blowing shit up? Works every time. Thanks, Anthony Yerkovich!

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Taro Yamamoto, Kou Shibasaki, Masanobu Ando, Takeshi Kitano, Chiaka Kuriyama

A high school class gets dropped on an island, where they must hunt and kill each other until only one remains. So basically: regular high school, with maybe a little more crossbow and skull cracking.

Director: Stephen Norrington

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N'Bushe Wright, Donal Logue

The first non-embarrassing black superhero movie (we see you, Steel!) has the half-human, half-vampire on a mission to exterminate every last bloodsucker on Earth with an arsenal of bitchin' weaponry—all while keeping his fade tight. Shape up and rent it.

Director: Martin Campbell

Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright

James Bond (Daniel Craig) faces off against businessmen with terrorist ties in this gritty franchise reboot. After 20 cheeky movies, the 007 series finally gets real—apparently, killing for a living and heartlessly (digging and) dogging out women makes a man kind of a dick. Who knew?

Director: Simon West

Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Monica Potter, Ving Rhames, Mykelti Williamson, Nick Chinlund, Rachel Ticotin, Steve Buscemi

Poor, wrongly imprisoned Nic Cage gets released, then has the gosh-forsaken luck to be on a prisoner transport plane full of insane killers and Dave Chappelle—who then of course take over the plane. You name the creepy movie badass—John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo—and they're in it. A classic ensemble murderfest.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Eric Roberts

Heath Ledger's final opus, directed by the dude who made Memento, all with Christian Bale's hilarious gravel voice and some of the greatest psychosis/blowing things up in the greatest city of all time. The final result: A superhero epic that's well worth the two-and-a-half-hour sit-down.

Director: John McTiernan

Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Alexander Godunov

It's Christmas Eve, and John McClane (Bruce Willis) has to go rescue his wife's douchebaggy new employers. So, what if McClane peppers his destruction with self-pity? You would too if you were gunning for the world's only terrorist with feet smaller than your sister's.

Director: John Woo

Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, Gina Gershon, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavettes

Dicey surgery allows a goody-two-shoes cop (John Travolta) to swap faces with a crime boss (Nicolas Cage). Hilarity ensues. But John Woo orchestrates some great scenes: sweeping pans, slow-motion gun battles—oh, and doves. Lots of doves.

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Ralf Moller, Richard Harris

In which Russell Crowe goes from respected general to tiger-slaying slave to redemption. Like the ancient Roman version of Coming to America! Only with more (pre-rap) Joaquin Phoenix and less Soul Glo.

Director: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Margaret Colin, Judd Hirsch, Mary McDonnell, Robert Loggia, Randy Quaid, James Rebhorn

Before his steady decline into thetan-purging and benevolent douchebaggery, Will Smith took on a technologically superior alien race hellbent on blowing up iconic cities in an awesome display of CGI bloat. Oh, and Jeff Goldblum. A Sunday afternoon cable classic.

Director: Chad Stahelski, David Leitch

Starring: Keanu Reeves

John Wick wanted to stop killing people. He married the love of his life, moved into a lovely house, and devoted himself to his car. But then, after his wife dies tragically young, a punk-ass son of a Russian mobster steals John’s car and kills his puppy—the final gift Wick ever got from his spouse. At that point, Keanu hits perhaps the best, oh-somebody-gonna-get-their-ass-kicked face in cinema history before checking into an assassins-only hotel and following through on the promise communicated in his expression. The barebones plot gives just enough emotion to make the unending series of intricately choreographed fight scenes cathartic—as opposed to just purposeless killing, which Wick clearly did often before his mid-life pivot.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Julie Dreyfus, Sonny Chiba, Michael Parks

The first volume of Quentin Tarantino's fantastically twisted samurai epic has better (and bloodier) action than your favorite male lead action flick. Every character is memorable, each death scene is awesome, and the dialogue is… Well, it's Tarantino.

Director: Luc Besson

Starring: Anne Parilaud, Jean-Hughes Anglade, Tcheky Karyo

Just your average "teenaged French girl gets strung out, shoots a cop, goes to jail, gets drugged, has her death faked, and is trained to become a super-assassin" movie. Except even better than it sounds. Sorry, Bridget Fonda, but the U.S. remake (Point Of No Return) doesn't compare.

Director: Luc Besson

Starring: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello

Historically speaking, The Professional (also known as Léon: The Professional) has remained in film circle discussions due to its previously unknown, at the time young star, Natalie Portman. Playing the enormously complicated and resilient Mathilda, Portman injected a 12-year-old character with the heart, soul, and toughness of a woman four times her age.

And while we totally cosign the future Academy Award winner's performance, The Professional's biggest hook, at least in our eyes, is writer-director Luc Besson's assured skills at staging livewire gunfights and action set-pieces. Just as much of an art-house picture as it is a popcorn thrill ride, The Professional hits all of its targets head-on.

Director: Park Chan-wook

Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong

The Korean filmmaker's third revenge saga has so many mindfuck moments that to call it "intense" is an understatement—and that's not even counting the illest plot twist possibly in film history. You have to see it to believe it.

Director: John McTiernan

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo

OK, let's get this straight. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura (that's two governors right there), and Apollo fucking Creed (Carl Weathers) get stalked by a dreadlocked alien who's armed with a nuclear device? Two words: Fuck and yes.

Director: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah, Yahan Ruhian, Pierre Gurno, Tegar Setrya, Ray Sahetapy

In the age of CGI overload, modern-day filmmakers have mostly forgotten about the charms of simply watching guys beat the shit out of each other with their bare hands. Or, in the case of writer-director Gareth Evans' ferocious and breathless The Raid: Redemption, bare hands, feet concealed by boots, and automatic weapons. With the leanest of plots, The Raid incorporates the Indonesian fighting style known as Silat to a punishing degree, showing how SWAT team members and ruthless criminals try to out-Silat one another while trapped inside a beat-down apartment building. The result: Some of the best hand-to-hand choreography you'll ever see.

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer

The darkly funny, ultra-violent tale of a murdered-cop-turned-cyborg had to be cut nearly a dozen times before earning its final "R" rating. A crime-ridden Detroit plagued by flagging industry and unemployment? Sounds like Elite Squad director Jose Padilha's 2014 remake was right on time.

Director: Robert Houston

Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama

Aside from being one of the most influential action flicks on this countdown, Shogun Assassin has one particular distinction that sets it apart from the pack: Director Robert Houston's infamously savage film was once included on the United Kingdom's list of “video nasties,” which were movies banned for being too graphic, either sexually or gore wise.

Shogun Assassin, a combination of two episodes from Japan's popular Baby Cart series, is a symphony of decapitations, severed limbs, and blood geysers. And arguably the movie's coolest byproduct, its opening was used by GZA for the beginning of his classic LP Liquid Swords.

Director: Jan de Bont

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels, Joe Morton, Glenn Plummer, Alan Ruck

Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure is arguably Reeves' greatest work, but this little arthouse gem about Sandra Bullock jumping a bus over an overpass and getting hit on by Johnny Utah is worth having in your culture holster. Spoiler alert: Dennis Hopper loses his head in a most unappealing manner.

Director: Stanley Tong

Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Yuen Wah

American audiences got their first dose of Hong Kong native Jackie Chan's lively, comedic take on martial arts in 1995, with the successful but ultimately uneven Rumble In The Bronx. But it wasn't until Supercop hit U.S. theaters in 1996 (four years after its initial Japanese release) that stateside action fans were blessed with the man's true genius.

For purists, Supercop remains Chan's all-around best movie, and it's easy to see why: With high-flying, hilariously timed stunts (all performed by the man himself) and impeccable chemistry with fellow kick-and-punch champ Michelle Yeoh, director Stanley Tong's romp never gets old.

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

Robo-Schwarzenegger returns, this time to save John Connor, the future leader of the human resistance against machines. With a freaky sci-fi premise, amazing action, and visual effects that still hold up, T2 gets our vote. The Governator, not so much.

Director: Paul Verheoven

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside

Have you ever had the feeling, after morning sex with Sharon Stone, that your life was a lie? Tell it to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had to go to Mars and team up with a shrunken parasitic head to get to the bottom of things.