Our list of the Top 30 Classic Action Movies of all Time. Do you Agree?………Catering for the teenage boy and young male adult market in films is almost entirely left up to comic book genre these days. But there was a time from the early 1980s to the late 1990s when this demographic was cornered by the action film genre. Action films’ big actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis ruled the roost as pumped up, muscular, macho alpha males. These action film adonis’ didn’t need secret identities or special powers, they just needed a roundhouse kick, a bullet shot or a solid right hook followed by a quippy one-liner to dispatch an enemy.
So when compiling a list of the all time top 30 action films, the majority come from this golden era. Action films are rarely made these days because comic book films have all the guns, explosions and car chases a growing man-boy could want, as such these modern action film wannabes are removed from the action film list. Also absent are any obvious fantasy films like Fellowship of the Ring, any martial arts movies like Enter the Dragon (they tend to lack the obligatory explosions anyway) and any films with a character called James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt. It’s not that these aren’t fine action films in their own right, it’s simply because they would dominate a list like this, which doesn’t seem right to the trailblazing, testosterone-fuelled maniacs that helped define a genre and a generation. So without further ado, cock your guns, charge up your electric cattle prods and pump your shotguns for That Film Guy’s Top 30 Action Films of All Time.
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Like many of Verhoeven’s later films, RoboCop deals with big sweeping ideas such as globalization, rebirth and the growing influence and power of corporations. While it doesn’t necessarily go into great detail on these topics, it uses them to frame the action and pulp storylines that run through his films.
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Like many action films, Universal Soldier is given an almost science fiction edge, with director Roland Emmerich mentioning, although rarely expanding on the idea of the military being desperate to create a ˜super soldier.’ Like Captain America, and the hugely successful Terminator 2: Judgment Day that was released a few years previous Universal Soldier plays on societies fears surrounding technology.
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Starship Troopers is one of the best examples of an adult sci-fi action films. It’s complex, it’s violent, and above all else, it’s fun. Some actors in the movie, like Michael Ironside or Clancy Brown, have been in quite a few military films, but it really shows the diversity of some actors like Neil Patrick Harris, who is best known as Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother. It’s a fantastic action film romp with some political satire and irony thrown in for good measure. I highly recommend you check this film out. If you can handle the violence.
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Rush Hour is The Maltese Falcon as if directed by action films wet dream, Michael Bay. The story stays true to its ˜Pulp fiction’ roots, with twists, turns, murder and intrigue. It’s basically all nonsense, but Ratner does a good job moving things along with some startling visuals and memorable fight scenes in the latter stages. Chan and Tucker hold up their end of the relationship, while Wilkinson and Leung are on hand for the ˜acting.’ The martial arts and Tucker’s wise-cracking compliment each other perfectly in the second half and the result makes Rush Hour one of the more enjoyable action films of the late 1990s.
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It’s intensely satisfying to see the cold-hearted Ryback massacre his way through an entire Battleship of villains to get to the frankly barmy duo of Busey and Lee Jones. It’s pure action the whole way. There’s even a stripper-turned navy seal sub-story that makes little sense, but just adds to the camp romp. Under Siege is a film that knows what it is, knows what its audience wants and delivers in bombastic and ridiculous fashion.
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Inspired by both the original TV show and a host of action films in the late 1980s and early 90s, The Fugitive is something of a hybrid. Like other action films, it is also part thriller and all fun. It has two fantastic central performances in Ford and Lee Jones, each doing what they can to escape and catch one another. In fact without them, it never would have caught the imagination of the public as it did, leading to Lee Jones’ well deserved Academy Award win, a rarity in the action films world.
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Like most of Schwarzenegger’s films, Commando revolves around the same type of storyline; man is threatened, man meets women, man and women join forces to beat down evil. In this day and age this type of film would be listed as ˜B’ list action but during the 80s he was king. One of the most recognisable and quotable action films going. Now, get to da CHOPPA!
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Con Air has everything an action junkie could want, and in Cage, it has a central, stoic influence that binds everything together. Normally known for his bizarre characters, Cage is somehow able to control himself while everything around him gets more and more outrageous. It lacks the originality of Face/Off and the central chemistry of The Rock, but the action results are fantastic, making Con Air one of the last great action films.
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While there are gaping plot-holes and unfeasible acts of brutality, Road House remains a slice of pure 1980s nostalgic gold. It’s a good thing Family Guy˜s Peter Griffin brought it back into the public’s consciousness: ROAD HOUSE! As silly as it is magnificent and an all time cult classic from the golden era of action films.
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One of the most recognisable actors of the 1980s, was action film supremo, and former bodybuilding champion Arnold Schwarzenegger. From the ridiculously quotable Commando to his defining iconic role in The Terminator, Arnie (as he’s affectionately known) built a reputation on zinging one-liners and violent action. What he is lesser known for is his actual acting ability, which is something that comes to the fore in the Paul Verhoeven-directed Total Recall.
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Schwarzenegger’s own brand of charisma is on full display here as are his now famous one-liners. In fact The Running Man must now be considered one of the Austrian ex-bodybuilders most entertaining action films and one that has lasted longer than its initial reception suggested it would. Influential and above all else, a lot of fun, The Running Man is one of the great all-time action films from an era that produced some of the best.
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As with many action films, its success of failure relies on the chemistry between the lead characters and The Rock boasts one of the most unlikely pairings in film history. Connery and Cage fizz one-liners off each throughout and build a genuinely warming and entertaining relationship that the audience can get behind. When you pit them against a Brigadier General whose motives are not necessarily evil and a selection of muscle-bound henchmen to be dispatched in a variety of humorous ways and you’re well on the way to the heaven of action films.
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The main pairing of Stallone and Snipes clearly had so much fun filming this, each satirizing aspects of previous action films, while simultaneously letting the audience in on the joke. Even the supporting cast get in on the act with Bullock, very early in her career, shows the kind of comic timing that would see her cast in a slew of romantic comedies further down the road. But this is Stallone and Snipes˜ film and every time they’re on screen together, one-liners are traded, muscles are tensed and things explode.
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Like some candy cane coloured vision of a dystopian future, Besson is able to overwhelm and impress at every opportunity. The Fifth Element is something that will be burnt into your minds eye for years to come, and it deserves praise for breathing some new life into both science fiction and action films.
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Stallone encapsulates the brooding anti-authority, action film anti-hero with aplomb and is probably his second best performance outside the original Rocky. It’s odd to note that all the sequels portray Rambo as an unstoppable juggernaut, killing and destroying all enemies in his path. yet this first instalment is a post-war drama as much as it is an action film.
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Die Hard: With a Vengeance follows on from the commercially successful, but critically hounded Die Hard 2. It goes back to the basic ideas that made the original Die Hard such an enduring action film classic. There’s ˜average Joe’ cop John MacClane going above and beyond his call of duty to save innocent lives and stop a mad German from killing, stealing and generally being a nuisance. It’s action film heaven and while it lacks the overwhelming charisma tornado that is Hans Gruber, Irons does a passable job as the less impressive younger sibling.
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The obvious scenes like car chases and the actual surfing are done with aplomb, switching between slow-motion and high-speed with casual ease, but it’s the unexpected action scenes that seperate Point Break from the more testosterone-fulled action films of the time. The finest examples are a fast-paced foot chase ending with the now iconic scene of Utah firing his pistol in the air (parodied wonderfully in Hot Fuzz) and the single tracking shot of Bodhi leaping from a plane, which without the use of stuntmen creates a real sense of danger and excitment.
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With a terrifying new creature in place, it was down to director McTiernan and star Arnold Schwarzenegger do the rest of the heavy lifting with regards pacing and central performance. McTiernan, reaching the apex of his career and one year away from Die Hard creates a tense atmosphere throughout. Sure the dialogue is a little cheesy and often nonsensical, but with Arnie in fine form and a supporting cast including Jesse Ventura and Predator has earned it’s place as one of the finest action films of all time.
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Released around the same time as Con Air and The Rock, Face/Off completes a trilogy of action films in the late 1990s starring Nicolas Cage. Directed by famed Hong Kong action film connoisseur John Woo, it represents one final hurrah for the seemingly dying breed of action films that were so popular from the late 1980s. In coming years comic book films would surpass the modern action film as the common consumption of teenage to young adult males, but in Face/Off they had one last old school action film to enjoy.
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Where other action films attempt to keep the script tight, portray the hero as a cold and ruthless killer and overload the action scenes, True Lies takes a different approach. Sure Cameron’s eye for a memorable action scene is never better illustrated than in a film that contains bombs, horse chases, gun fights and a harrier jump-jet, but where True Lies really deconstructs genre is in its gentle mockery of its leading man.
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Sandra Bullock is also a hit and miss actress. The film roles she makes a point in choosing do not do her any justice; however Speed gives her more integrity. The character she takes on is ditzy yet capable, which she nails. Speed doesn’t test her acting skills but it is highly entertaining. She brings an element of eccentricity and sarcasm to the film, whereas Reeves and Hooper bring the masculinity and anger. Long live the action film!
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Set to the blistering duel-soundtrack of a score that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film and the sound of classic cars revving and exploding, The Road Warrior is one completely overwhelming and oppressive film. The violence is raw and brutal as is common with a lot of Australian-based films and perfectly compliments the incredible atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. An absolute classic, The Road Warrior is the archetype of modern action films and a launch pad for an entire sub-genre of films.
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The key, not only with action films, but all films is to make the cinema-going public care about your characters. It’s all well and good to have unbelievable action scenes and huge explosions, but if you can’t engage with the characters the genre becomes tired and dull very quickly. It’s lucky then that Lethal Weapon has two incredibly convincing performances at it’s heart. Glover as the stay-at-home, calm character plays perfectly against the over-the-top, twitchy and suicidal Gibson.
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With a pitch-perfect cast, a novel idea for a script and the latest top-range special effects The Terminator became a huge success that spawned numerous sequels and set Cameron on the way to untouchable director status. Still as relevant today as it was in 1984, it is a classic of science fiction action films and created the iconic villain of an entire era of film-making.
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Hard Boiled is effective and memorable, which is all that can be asked from a new director trying to establish himself as unique within the already clichéd genre of action films. John Woo would go on to success in the US, but it is Hard Boiled that stands the test of time as his greatest entry into the action films genre.
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The Matrix’s action scenes are the clear talking point that stays with audiences after the film ends. At the time, ground-breaking ˜bullet time’ was quite unlike anything anyone had ever attempted or seen. The John Woo styled slow motion, combined with breath-taking 360 degree swing shots and overtly-stylised combat help make The Matrix one of the most incredible action films of all time.
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Arguably Aliens’ greatest achievement in narrative terms is how Cameron builds action films’ first powerful female lead. With Ripley mourning her absence from the life (and death) of her only daughter, we are given a heroine driven by a need for revenge and one hell of a maternal instinct. Cameron throws in an orphaned girl, Newt, to give Ripley something to fight for, also providing moments of tenderness between the two. Cleverly, this prevents the film from turning into a case of ˜angry woman versus dumb macho types’, helped to no end by Sigourney Weaver˜s astounding turn.
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day stands tall alongside the collected works of James Cameron and despite not making as much money as Titanic or Avatar, might just be one of the best paced, directed and action films he has ever created. It firmly established The Terminator mythos in popular culture to the point where there have been numerous sequels that still gain attention to this day.
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The 1980s brought a rejuvenation in the very definition of action films. The likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Steven Seagal released huge commercial success after huge commercial success playing alpha males who could fight their way out of any situation. In the Christmas of 1988, one actor, with no background in action helped create one of the most iconic action heroes, a man who was just an ordinary New York City cop placed in extraordinary circumstances. That actor was Bruce Willis, that cop was John McClane and that film was Die Hard.
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