What are the best action movies?When the genre Action Movies comes in mind then most of the fans think of Hand to Hand combat battles of a single hero with dozen of goons. It was true too in the Bruce Lee era but with the change of time, the Action genre too developed and branched out. Rather than just putting heroes in to a hand to hand combat with multiple goons, the heroes were forced into life threatening situation where they have to save their love, family or on several occasions the entire world. Such action movies are always considered inspiring where the victory of the hero not only satisfy the audience but also gives a small boost to the confidence of the viewers. Probably this is the reason why from past 5 decades Action heroes are among the leading actors of Hollywood and Hollywood action movies are top grosser world-wide.
It is hard to track back the very first Action film but most of the fans consider Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 film “North By Northwest” to be the first popular action film. Cary Grant did several daring scenes in the film. Then came the era of Bruce Lee, about whom it is famous that even film roll was slowed down so that viewers can see the movements of Bruce Lee whiling beating up mobsters. Though the star died at a very young age of 33 in the year 1973 but he inspired whole new generation of action heroes.
When we talk about classic action movies then it won’t be an exaggeration to say that 80s action movies are the best as compared to other decades. Harrison Ford, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis become the heart throb of audience after doing daring stunt scenes in action movies like Rambo, Die Hard and Terminator. Die Hard Inspired many action movies in coming decade and many 90s Action movies were revolved around the main hero caught into a die hard kind of situation.
The 00s gave way to the popular genre Superhero and action movies of 2001 to 2009 were full of thrilling action scenes. Several other genres like Sci Fi and Comedy were mashed up with action and the flavor become favorite of audience in the 00s decade. Over past 2 decades Action genre has branched out into several sub genres including Action Comedy, Action Horror, Action Thriller movies, Action Science Fiction, Buddy Cop, Heist and Action war. Recent action movies have too much violence in them and you can’t include them in the family action movies.
Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Nicolas Cage, Harrison Ford, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes, Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jean Claude Vanne-Damme, Tom Cruise and Matt Damon are some of the finest Action heroes of all time.
Among actresses Uma Thurman, Mila Jovovick, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie and Hilary Swank have done some of the finest Action roles in their career.
Here is the list of 100 greatest action movies. We tried to include almost all sub genres of action ranging from Martial arts to Car chases to gun fights to Superhero films. Check Out Best Action movies of all time:
Contents
100. The Italian Job
Director – F. Gary Gray
Cast – Charlize Theron, Seth Green, Mos Def, Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton
IMDB Rating – 7
Rotten Tomatoes – 73%
Release Date – 30 May 2003
Box Office – $176.1 million
Genre – Action, Crime, Thriller
Awards – None
Plot –
99. Pearl harbor
Director – Michael Bay
Cast – Kate Beckinsale, Tom Sizemore, Ben Affleck, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Hartnett
IMDB Rating – 6.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 24%
Release Date – 21 May 2001
Box Office – $449.2 million
Genre –
Awards –
Plot –
98. Equillibrium
Director – Kurt Wimmer
Cast – Emily Watson, Christian Bale, Angus Macfadyen, Taye Diggs
IMDB Rating – 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 40%
Release Date – 6 December 2002
Box Office – $5.3 million
Genre – Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Awards – None
Plot –
97. Red Series
Director – Robert Schwentke
Cast – Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich
IMDB Rating – 7.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 71%
Release Date – September 29, 2010
Box Office – $199 million
Genre – Action, Comedy, Crime
Awards – None
Plot –
96. Thor Series
Director – Kenneth Branagh
Cast – Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Ray Stevenson, Chris Hemsworth, Stellan Skarsgård
IMDB Rating – 7
Rotten Tomatoes – 77%
Release Date – May 6, 2011
Box Office – $449.3 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Awards – None
Plot –
95. Looper
Director – Rian Johnson
Cast – Paul Dano, Bruce Willis, Noah Segan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt
IMDB Rating – 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%
Release Date – September 6, 2012
Box Office – $176.5 million
Genre – Action, Crime, Drama
Awards – None
Plot –
94. Hot Fuzz
Director – Edgar Wright
Cast – Jim Broadbent, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 91%
Release Date – 14 February 2007
Box Office – $80.7 million
Genre – Action, Comedy, Mystery
Awards – None
Plot –
93. King Kong
Director – Peter Jackson
Cast – Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Evan Parke, Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Kyle Chandler
IMDB Rating – 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 84%
Release Date – 5 December 2005
Box Office – $550.5 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Drama
Awards – Won 3 Oscars
Plot –
92. I Robot
Director – Alex Proyas
Cast – Bridget Moynahan, Chi McBride, Will Smith, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk
IMDB Rating – 7.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 56%
Release Date – July 16, 2004
Box Office – $347.2 million
Genre – Action, Crime, Drama
Awards – None
Plot –
91. 21 Jump Street
Director – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Cast – Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Rob Riggle, Jonah Hill
IMDB Rating – 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 85%
Release Date – March 16, 2012
Box Office – $201.5 million
Genre – Action, Comedy, Crime
Awards – None
Plot –
90. Rush Hour Trilogy
Director – Brett Ratner
Cast – Tzi Ma, Jackie Chan, Tom Wilkinson, Chris Tucker, Mark Rolston, Ken Leung
IMDB Rating – 7
Rotten Tomatoes – 60%
Release Date – 18 September 1998
Box Office – $244.4 million
Genre – Action, Comedy, Crime
Awards – None
Plot –
89. Point Break
Director – Kathryn Bigelow
Cast – Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty, Gary Busey
IMDB Rating – 7.3
Rotten Tomatoes – 69%
Release Date – 12 July 1991
Box Office – $83.5 million
Genre – Action, Crime, Thriller
Awards – None
Plot –
88. Platoon
Director – Oliver Stone
Cast – Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe
IMDB Rating – 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes – 88%
Release Date – 19 December 1986
Box Office – $138.5 million
Genre – Drama, War
Awards – Won 4 Oscars
Plot –
87. The Day After Tomorrow
Director – Roland Emmerich
Cast – Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Ian Holm, Dennis Quaid
IMDB Rating – 6.4
Rotten Tomatoes – 44%
Release Date – May 28, 2004
Box Office – $544.3 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Awards – None
Plot –
86. The Last Samurai
Director – Edward Zwick
Cast – Timothy Spall, Tom Cruise, Tony Goldwyn, Billy Connolly, Ken Watanabe
IMDB Rating – 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes – 66%
Release Date – 22 November 2003
Box Office – $456.8 million
Genre – Action, Drama, War
Awards – None
Plot –
85. From Dusk Till Dawn Series
Director – Robert Rodriguez
Cast – Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, Harvey Keitel, Fred Williamson, George Clooney, Fred Williamson
IMDB Rating – 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 63%
Release Date – 19 January 1996
Box Office – $59.3 million
Genre – Action, Crime, Horror
Awards – None
Plot –
84. Clash of the Titans,Wrath of the Titans
Director – Jonathan Liebesman
Cast – Gemma Arterton, Sam Worthington, Mads Mikkelsen, Ralph Fiennes, Alexa Davalos
IMDB Rating – 5.7
Rotten Tomatoes – 26%
Release Date – April 2, 2010
Box Office – $493.2 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Awards – None
Plot –
83. Starship Troopers
Director – Paul Verhoeven
Cast – Denise Richards, Casper Van Dien, Neil Patrick Harris, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
IMDB Rating – 7.2
Rotten Tomatoes – 63%
Release Date – 4 November 1997
Box Office – $121.2 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Awards – None
Plot –
82. Serenity
Director – Joss Whedon
Cast – Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Adam Baldwin
IMDB Rating – 7.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 83%
Release Date – 24 August 2005
Box Office – $38.9–40.3 million
Genre – Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Awards – None
Plot –
81. The Island
Director – Michael Bay
Cast – Djimon Hounsou, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ewan McGregor, Sean Bean
IMDB Rating – 6.9
Rotten Tomatoes – 40%
Release Date – 11 July 2005
Box Office – $162.9 million
Genre – Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Awards – None
Plot –
