Brace yourself. From Die Hard to Aliens to John Wick: Chapter Four, this is Collider's ranking of the best action movies ever made.
Few genres benefit from the art form of film as much as the action genre does. More grounded, less explosive genres sometimes work just as well in novel form or as stage plays, for example, as they would in the form of a movie. Yet while there might be some good action-heavy books out there, there's an argument to be made that action just hits harder when it's visual, audible, and presented on the big screen.
Top Gun: Maverick Release Date May 27, 2022 Director Joseph Kosinski Cast Jennifer Connelly, Tom Cruise, Monica Barbaro, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer Rating PG-13 Runtime 146 Stream on Paramount+ 28 'The Killer' A John Woo movie that was clearly influential on the action movies that followed in its wake, The Killer is an overall excellent and action-packed film. It follows a remorseful assassin who wants to atone for a hit that went wrong with unintended consequences, only for his personal quest to land him in even deeper trouble.
Heat Release Date December 15, 1995 Director Michael Mann Cast Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora Rating R Runtime 170 Stream on Netflix 25 'Fast Five' Directed by Justin Lin The Fast and Furious series has turned into a behemoth franchise at this point in time. It began in 2001 and had a 10th entry released in May 2023, with the series focusing on illegal street races near the beginning, and then transitioning to more spy/espionage-focused stories in later entries.
23 'Avengers: Endgame' Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo The impact of Avengers: Endgame is only truly felt when one's seen the majority of the MCU movies that came before it. It was technically the second-last Phase 3 film, but still served as a climax for the first three phases of the MCU as a whole, given it centered on fighting back against Thanos and reversing the damage he caused to the universe at the end of 2018's Infinity War.
21 'Casino Royale' Directed by Martin Campbell The James Bond series is one of the longest-running in cinema history, and it's a vitally important one within the action genre as a whole. For as great as the campier, escapism-heavy entries could be, however, there's a case to be made that 2006's Casino Royale is the best of the lot.
Few offer quite as much as the original Police Story, though. It's less comedic than most of Chan's other Hong Kong action movies, but makes up for it with incredible action sequences, with the climactic fight in a shopping mall being a particularly staggering scene that needs to be seen to be believed.
It's all incredibly well-made and easy to get invested in, and also helped kick off a short-lived trend of big-budget historical action epics . Few were anywhere near as good as Gladiator, though, and as a throwback to the Hollywood epics of old, it works amazingly well.
15 'Hard Boiled' Directed by John Woo While Face/Off might well be John Woo's best American film, he also made numerous films in Hong Kong that are just as good, or arguably even better as action movies. The Killer might have the best and most emotional story of all his Hong Kong movies, but it's 1992's Hard Boiled that delivers the best and most explosive action.
13 'John Wick: Chapter 4' Directed by Chad Stahelski As far as modern-day action franchises go, few do it better than the John Wick series does. The films may have some flaws, but they shine brighter than the vast majority of modern-day action movies, with increasingly creative fight and chase sequences throughout, and excellent stunt work that's often presented with minimal editing or close-up shots designed to hide imperfections.
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