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Looking for some action? A choice of 466 of the best action and action-packed movies released from 2000 to 2024. In random order and purely subjective. Only live-action movies included.
- The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) James Bond had been in a slump since 1974’s lackluster “The Man With the Golden Gun.” But Roger Moore’s third time as the secret agent ended up being one of 007’s biggest crowd-pleasers, as “You Only Live Twice” director Lewis Gilbert returned to the franchise, pairing the secret agent with Russian counterpart XXX, aka Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), who was the perfect foil for Moore’s debonair spy.
- Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Tom Cruise had long since established himself as willing guinea pig for any and all death-defying physical stunts when time came to follow up his first blockbuster, “Top Gun” — so why wouldn’t he fly the actual Navy vessels that the characters pilot in “Maverick”?
- The Fugitive (1993) This update of the classic ’60s TV series leaps from the original premise into a game of cat-and-mouse between grumpy old men Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
- Vanishing Point (1971) This dusty, greasy classic follows the revved-up adventures of Kowalski (Barry Newman), a delivery driver amped on speed, racing the police and everyone else on the road to get a Dodge Challenger from Colorado to San Francisco in record time.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- RRR
- John Wick: Chapter 4
- Fast Five
- Casino Royale
- IP Man
- Independence Day
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- The Raid: Redemption
- The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers
Where to Watch: Disney+, Prime Video The Russo Brothers' first directorial effort within the MCU was so superb that they not only went on to get their hands on Captain America: Civil War, but also the culminating Avengers films of the Infinity Saga. Winter Solider is a hard-hitting espionage thriller of the highest order, one that threw not only St...
Where to Watch: Netflix Taking select audiences by storm in 2022 was RRR, an outlandish Indian action epic featuring fictional versions of two Indian revolutionaries - Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) - their friendship, and their fight against the British and a baddie played by the late Ray Stevenson. Over t...
Where to Watch: Prime Video It's hard to believe that the John Wick movie franchise squeezed in so much action into four movies in just under a decade. The journey of one unstoppable hitman's quest to avenge his dead puppy (which was helping him grieve for his late wife) opened up into a worldwide battle for redemption full of kung fu, gun fu, krav...
Where to Watch: DirecTV, Turner apps Even though the Fast and Furious movies have gotten increasingly more death-defying (and reality-defying) since they began over two decades ago, Fast Five is still considered by many to be the best of the bunch, and the pinnacle that bridges the original story with the crazy world-saving A-Team style adventures ...
Where to Watch: Max This one is perhaps the most cerebral of all 007's adventures. Daniel Craig played James Bond as thuggish on the outside, but emotionally damaged and vulnerable underneath, in the process adding a layer of depth previously unseen in Bond's outings. (An absence of ice palaces and invisible cars also helped, of course.) Craig's 00...
Where to Watch: Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock Bruce Lee's martial arts teacher, the legendary Ip Man, is the focus of this four (soon to be five) film franchise that follows the Wing Chun grandmaster and his life during the Sino-Japanese War. Starring Hong Kong icon Donnie Yen in the title role, and with martial arts choreography by the unparallele...
Where to Watch: Starz This rousing slice of '90s bravado showed us a world outmatched by hostile alien forces bent on the utter annihilation of humanity. Arriving one day in city-size flying saucers, capable of causing mass destruction with a single beam blast, these extra-terrestrials had it in the bag - were it not for a plucky ensemble of charac...
Where to Watch: Prime Video, The Roku Channel Since this is an Ang Lee film, every character carries an angsty longing - while their bodies can fly weightlessly through the air, their souls are weighed down by repressed love and dark secrets. The magnificent, Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon- starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-fat - ha...
Where to Watch: Netflix One of the leanest and meanest action movies from the last decade comes to us from Indonesia. The Raid's (called The Raid: Redemptionin the U.S.) incredible action sequences don't just stun you, they kick your teeth in. The story is simple: When a SWAT team of 20 elite cops becomes trapped inside a building full of killers w...
Where to Watch: Max Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy contained plenty of armies clashing on the battlefield, but it was the war for Helm's Deep, which brought The Two Towersto its brutal close, that stands out in the arena of action cinema. The Two Towers split the fellowship into three storylines, making for a much more fragmented story c...
1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1. 2003 1h 51m R. 8.2 (1.2M) Rate. 69 Metascore. A pregnant assassin, code-named The Bride, goes into a coma for four years after her ex-boss Bill brutally attacks her. When she wakes up, she sets out to seek revenge on him and his associates. Director Quentin Tarantino Stars Uma Thurman David Carradine Daryl Hannah.
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- 'Casino Royale' (2006) Director: 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.
- 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007) Director: Paul Greengrass. Beginning with The Bourne Identity in 2002, the series about Jason Bourne - a CIA assassin struggling to recollect his past - proved hugely influential for the action genre.
- 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019) Directors: 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.
- 'RRR' (2022) Director: S.S. Rajamouli. In a year when some people began to express a certain amount of superhero fatigue, RRR stepped up to the plate and showed the world how modern action blockbusters should work.
1. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. 2023 2h 43m PG-13. 7.7 (261K) Rate. 81 Metascore. Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. Director Christopher McQuarrie Stars Tom Cruise Hayley Atwell Ving Rhames. 2. No Time to Die. 2021 2h 43m PG-13. 7.3 (450K) Rate. 68 Metascore.
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This list of the greatest action films ever made is proof that the genre is more versatile than it appears. We polled over 50 experts in the field, from Die Hard director John McTiernan to...