Today’s Guide celebrates a few things, namely the anniversary of our now all-pervasive, Internet-saturated, Pulitzer Prize-winning, globe-dominating Guide to What’s Good for You, which we kicked off a year ago with The 10 Worst Blockbusters of All Time. And as we did prior to last summer’s opening salvo, Mission: Impossible III, we are again celebrating the opening of blockbuster season by compiling a Guide that’s seasonally appropriate. Granted, action flicks are not necessarily the genre for which we are known here at Pajiba, but we are not immune to a quality film that prioritizes the three Bs (blood, bullets, and disemBowelment) over everything else.
The list was compiled as such: Each of us ranked our top 20 action films of all time, and the top 15 vote-getters comprised our list, with only one caveat: no comic-book films (saved for a future Guide, perhaps). The biggest impediment in creating this list was trying to define what exactly we’d characterize as an action flick. As the votes began to come in, however, a definition became apparent when I asked Seth why the hell Back to the Future wasn’t on his list. He offered this response, with the subtle eloquence we’ve come to know and love from the TV Whore: “To my mind, action flicks are guns and violence and high-adrenaline and things that grab and twist my nuts. Flicks that, when I walk out of the theater, make me want to be a spy or an assassin, drive fast cars, fly faster planes, or just plain hurt people. And that ain’t Back to the Future.”
So, without further do (and with apologies to our ovarian sistren), here are the Top 15 Nut Twisters of all time.
Afterward, please make sure to use the comments section below to burn us in effigy for leaving off your favorite, bawl us out for including some ridiculous travesty of a movie that has no fucking business belonging on a list like this, and belittle us for failing to grasp your keen understanding for the art of shit-kicking and carefully planned explosives. — DR
15. Commando (1985) — Ignore the low placement on this list — Commando is easily the zenith atop a mound of action garbage, the fun and colossally stupid cheese of the 1980s. This ’80s trash seemed to have a vague sense of itself as such — brutal interludes punctuating a plot that makes just enough sense to occur in sequence; brief, silly nods toward character development; and a connoisseur’s delight in military armament. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays John Matrix (!), the toughest soldier in history, on a mission to reclaim his kidnapped daughter (a pre-silicone Alyssa Milano) and annihilate the ex-comrades and evil Latin dictator who perpetrated the crime. In the first scene, the camera lingers on Schwarzenegger as he totes around an entire tree (uh, phallus anyone?), as well as the chainsaw that felled it. Back in his bodybuilding prime, Ah-nuld was a sculptor’s vision of masculinity — truly, every limb and sinew on him bulges like a Christmas sausage. Added to this mix is an unending string of yet more phallic weaponry — axes, pitchforks, huge knives, machine guns, shotguns, and finally, an enormous, steam-spouting pipe (seriously … phallus) — that Matrix uses to dispatch the oh-so-deserving bad guys. Before the credits roll, he’s killed over 80 people, often with an accompanying zinger, a macabre-yet-righteous finale: “Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last? I lied.” Commando is the apex, the pinnacle of the mindless, masculine mania that ran rampant 20 years ago, before descending into self-parody — a remorselessly bloody opera of explosions and screaming men that takes itself completely seriously while vaguely aware of just how ridiculous it must seem. Indeed, Commando is the best possible kind of stupid. — Phillip Stephens
14. Speed (1994) — Admittedly, when it was released, Speed was rightfully described as Die Hard on a bus, but there was something about the flick that kept me in theaters for the entire summer of 1994, re-watching it with all the enthusiasm an 18-year-old could muster. It didn’t matter that Keanu Reeves couldn’t act; it didn’t matter that Sandra Bullock never wore a bikini; and it didn’t matter that, unlike most action flicks, this one had something like 47 endings before screeching to a grinding halt outside a subway tunnel (how dumb was that?). What mattered was that it was energetic as hell and that once the action began, it didn’t simmer down until Dennis Hopper was mincemeat and Keanu was delivering the requisite Hollywood kiss to seal the deal. The conceit was mind-bogglingly simple: A crazy insane bomber, Howard Payne (the scene-stealing Hopper), has rigged a city bus so that once it reaches 50 mph a bomb is activated; if the bus slows down below 55 mph, it will be triggered. Keanu is a SWAT team member tasked with figuring out how to keep the bus from exploding, and Sandy is the whiny passenger who takes the wheel after the bus driver has been shot. Most of the lines are dumb as hell (“Pop quiz, hotshot!”), the action sequences are preposterous, and the story is barely existent, but the damn thing moved with such propulsive momentum that you barely even noticed. And I still have a difficult time coming to terms with the death of Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels) — it seemed unfathomable at the time that a good guy in an action film might be killed off. But, overall, I think that maximum enjoyment of Speed requires that you abide by the words of Howard Payne: “DO NOT attempt to grow a brain!” — Dustin Rowles
13. Layer Cake (2004) — Layer Cake was released a few years after Guy Ritchie had made a trend of frenetic, hyper-stylized, convoluted British crime capers, but it’s the best of the bunch. Before he was Bond, Daniel Craig played an unnamed cocaine trafficker here, and he’s perfect for the role, dealing with double- and triple-crosses, rolling around with Sienna Miller to “Gimme Shelter” by the Stones, and generally being about 10,000 times cooler than you, me, or anyone else. The movie’s saturated colors and judiciously assembled soundtrack are a big part of its appeal (in addition to the Stones, we’re treated to Duran Duran, The Cult, and a brilliant use of Joe Cocker’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” over the final scene and closing credits). But those sugary elements are built on a solid foundation of turns from several strong character actors — Colm Meaney, George Harris, and Michael Gambon. As Eddie Temple, the most rarefied of crime bosses, Gambon doesn’t appear until nearly an hour into the movie, but he steals it. In a movie full of lifetime thieves, that’s quite a feat. — John Williams
12. The Killer (1989) — Slow-motion shots of people ducking and dodging bullets from every direction, stylish long coats and dark sunglasses, dudes firing guns from each hand while falling backwards or flying sideways through the air — you can thank John Woo for making these as rote and commonplace as they now are. While Woo’s American movies leave a lot to be desired, many would argue that his best Hong Kong film is also one of the most complete action movies ever. The Killer, while ostensibly about a hitman taking one last job and the authorities’ attempt to track him down, is really about ethics and morals and the blurred line between antagonist and protagonist — unlike most action movies that came before it, The Killer has no clearly defined white-hat hero and black-hat villain. In fact, the movie’s “bad guy” gets a hero’s tragic ending while the “good guy” gets the right to remain silent. But The Killer didn’t just advance the form of action movie themes, it also helped advance the style of action movies themselves. It has all the typical John Woo “gun-fu” elements — the things I mentioned above, plus Mexican standoffs, white doves, and an absolute orgasm of bullets. But there are also things you still don’t see very often in action films: tranquil scenes where nothing happens, with a soundtrack song cueing up while the film allows characters to simply be; or the inter-cutting of different scenes, jumping back and forth from the dialogue of one to the violent bloodshed of the other. Plus, The Killer pairs Woo up with his muse, Chow Yun Fat. Few are better than Fat at playing a gun-toting bad-ass, and this movie would be worth its mustard just for Fat’s performance. But it has that orgasm of bullets, too. — Seth Freilich
11. Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2 (2003 and 2004) —There are many points of divergence between my personal esthetic and Quentin Tarantino’s, but one point on which we’d surely agree is that there are few things in life more exciting than watching a tough woman kick ass. We’d also agree that Uma Thurman’s distinctive beauty and long-limbed elegance make her a particularly fascinating woman to watch kicking ass. Finally, we’d agree that there’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve, that turning every moment of your film into a complex game of guess-the-homage is the ultimate film-geek turn-on, a cinematic reach-around by which the filmmaker rewards the obsessive moviegoer for neglecting his or her real life in favor of all those hours spent in the dark. Volume 2 is definitely a weaker entry — when Tarantino slows down for long stretches of exposition, he loses the momentum developed in his kinesthetic, gorgeously choreographed (by Yuen Wo Ping) action sequences — but the two volumes together form a towering achievement, a testament to the magpie’s art that filmmaking is. — Jeremy C. Fox
10. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) — This action-comedy doubles as an intimate and literal battle of the sexes, with a love story beneath the chemistry-laden veneer. Director Doug Liman fluidly choreographs the dance between John (Brad Pitt) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie), who are parties to a stagnant marriage and paid assassins without knowledge of the other’s actual career. He thinks she runs an IT agency, and she believes he’s in construction management. Just when we start to wonder how these incredibly sexy people cannot keep from banging each other every night, their respective bosses hire them to take each other out. John and Jane’s emotional distance is not unlike that of many married couples, but their main problem is their inability to reveal how much they really have in common. Once their joint realization hits, a bit of near-mortal combat gets the sexual juices flowing again. The movie’s thrilling cinematography and rapid pace is peppered with foreshadowing dance references and a clever musical score that lead to a martini-fueled tango, in which they frisk each other for weaponry. Once Jane’s hand lingers a bit and receives this acknowledgment, “That’s all John, sweetheart,” the frenetic pace increases until the audience is carried over the threshold of the Smith marital home for the drag-down, knockout fight of fists, guns, knives, and words. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a cynical yet brutally honest take on marriage between two death dealers who are surprisingly human. Not even high-paid, globetrotting assassins are immune from the difficulty of maintaining a relationship when reality sets in. — Agent Bedhead
9. The Professional (1994) — Luc Besson is a more proficient writer than director, but it’s when he helms his own material that he unleashes his full frenetic potential, as seen in the modern action classics La Femme Nikita and The Professional, known internationally as Leon. The Professional is ostensibly a story about a hitman (Jean Reno) who takes in a young girl whose family is slaughtered in a botched drug deal, but the sexual subtext goes a lot further. As the 12-year-old Mathilda, Natalie Portman, in her first feature film, is surprisingly adept at balancing the role’s requisite emotional insecurities and sexual curiosities. But it’s not as if she’s the only one flirting with the murky gray area between pedophilia and not; when she remarks that Leon has a “cute name,” he chokes on his drink and is visibly flustered. It’s not quite that he wants to screw her; rather, he’s responding in some way to her developing sexuality while also making the first genuine connection with another person in his life, and the combined effect is overwhelming. When he helps Mathilda escape during the final battle, their parting is as emotional as that of two lovers; every time I see it, I keep expecting him to kiss her. Besson’s emotional story is balanced with some blistering action sequences, whether it’s Leon slicing up a room full of generic bad guys or the film’s main villain, Gary Oldman’s Stansfield, going indescribably nuts. Oldman is way, way over the top here, even for Oldman, but it works in the context of the film’s larger melodrama. “Death is whimsical today,” Oldman utters at one point, and he’s right. Besson’s film is only infrequently violent, but when that violence comes, there’s a dark boisterousness to it all. It’s fantastic. — Daniel Carlson
8. Desperado (1995) — Robert Rodriguez’s first major release, Desperado, begins it ass-kicking awesomeness with a Steve Buscemi-delivered speech in a small Mexican dive bar, recounting the mythic tale of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), a mysterious bandito with a guitar case full of weaponry, who takes out an entire bar single-handedly, presaging what is soon to come. Desperado is a simple story about one man’s need to avenge the murder of his lover, or, you know, “an eye for an eye and all that stuff.” It’s a blood-soaked story told with charismatic bravado, a wild stylistic flair, and maybe the coolest gunplay in any flick ever made without the name Woo attached. There’s almost no substance to Desperado, a loose, bigger-budget remake of Rodriguez’s debut feature, El Mariachi with 30 more minutes of violence and little else, but Rodriguez’s style — derived from Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, John Woo, Sam Raimi, and a catalogue of B-movies, all synthesized into a ferocious display of trigger squeezing — more than makes up for the absence of plot. There is the occasional lull between gun fights, but God bless those bullets, distributed with a machine-gun rat-a-tat-tat of hipster one-liners, dazzling eye-popping stunts and ejaculating pyrotechnics, climaxing in one incredible George Thorogoodish sequence involving a rocket-launching guitar case. And if that doesn’t do it for you, Salma Hayek’s backside (making its first appearance in a Hollywood film) should keep you otherwise preoccupied, you woman-objectifying bastards. — DR
7. Lethal Weapon (1987) — This classic buddy-cop film contains surprising depth of plot and character, as well as the obligatory shootouts, chases, and high body-count. This film tosses macho stereotypes out with the hardboiled bathwater when we first meet Detective Riggs (Mel Gibson) sobbing over a wedding photo, a beer in one hand and a gun in the other. Riggs is a severely depressed widower who is reassigned to the homicide squad and partnered up with the unwitting Detective Murtaugh (Danny Glover), a family man with everything to live for. The storyline runs from a seemingly cut-and-dried prostitute suicide to something much more convoluted and sinister. As a Vietnam vet, ex-Special Forces sniper, and registered “lethal weapon,” Riggs proves himself to be an asset when the two detectives are confronted with ex-CIA trained killers leading an underground drug syndicate. Soon, a genuine rapport develops between Riggs and Murtaugh, and their differing attitudes on life and death act as a study in contrasts. Their witty, tough-talking dialogue also lends a comedic undercurrent to the drama. Despite Riggs’ depression and suicidal tendencies, his healthy sense of black humor keeps him running, and his flashing eyes, waving gun, and ubiquitous bare chest are precariously balanced by his vulnerability. The reprehensible Gary Busey makes a rare great performance as a lean, mean, drug-smuggling henchman. Director Richard Donner maintains a fast-paced, stylish, and arguably classy thriller that shows real men can break down and cry and smoke, drink, and take a leak at the same time. — AB
6. The Bourne Identity (2002) — Though I have absolutely no qualms with the list we’ve created here, I have to admit that my personal favorite action flick of all time is this one, which glides by not necessarily on zippy one-liners and special effects but on an actual storyline that could’ve worked, to some degree, without the brilliant action elements. Based on a 1980 novel by Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity merges the Tom Clancy espionage flick, the Ronin car chases, the sophistication of a ’60s spy thriller, the sheen of art-house fare, the total hotness of Franka Potente, and the kinetic stoicism of Jason freakin’ Bourne, portrayed by an actor who can actually act. The plot focuses on Bourne (Matt Damon), who is pulled out of the ocean by a French fishing boat with two bullet holes in his back and no memory. He spends the rest of the film travelling through Europe trying to figure out his own identity while his employer, the CIA, attempts to track him down and kill him. Sure, the plot seems more complicated than it actually is, and it’s not quite as smart as it wants you to believe, but there is a plot, which is a lot more than can be said for most action flicks. Moreover, The Bourne Identity introduced, in Matt Damon, the modern action hero: Part nerd, part geek, and total fucking badass (and he’s only three feet tall!). Even better, Doug Liman (who also gave us our number 10, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) manages to create an action film that is just as much about character as it is about its high-energy action sequences. — DR
5. Aliens (1986) — Aliens is frequently listed as one of the best sequels ever made, and it deserves a place on that honor roll. Still, it’s difficult for even the best sci-fi to age well, and this movie is entertaining now for a variety of reasons, not all of them intentional. Fifty-seven years after she escaped imminent doom at the end of the first story, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is sent back to eradicate the renewed alien threat on a planet now colonized by human workers and their families. As an exercise in unbearable tension, Aliens is tough to beat. Weaver is a dignified, driven heroine, and even though many of the special effects look dated, the overall mood benefits from the feeling that not every shot was filmed in front of a blue screen (I’m looking at you, George Lucas). It also features one of the all-time classic shots, when the aliens are discovered closing in on Ripley’s crew from above. Perhaps lucky more than anything else, Aliens is also blessed with faults that still manage to add entertainment value. There’s the hilariously over-the-top Bill Paxton as panicky Hudson (“Game over, man!”), who acts like any average Joe would if faced with extinction at the hands (and slimy mechanical jaws) of vicious aliens. Then there’s the tense but funny finale, in which Ripley, looking like a cross between a Transformer and a construction site, stares down the mama alien and screams, “Get away from her, you bitch!” Mama doesn’t comply, of course, and go-time ensues. Aliens also significantly raised director James Cameron’s profile and sent him on his way to titanic fame. Hey, a movie can’t be perfect. — JW
4. The Matrix (1999) — Before the crashing disappointment of The Matrix 2 and the agonizing despair of The Matrix 3, before the hundreds of rip-offs and spoofs, before the seclusion and rumors of transsexuality, the Wachowskis were just a couple of moviemaking brothers and The Matrix was just the most exciting, stimulating, visually inventive action movie of the late ’90s. From Carrie-Anne Moss’ stunning opening fight/chase scene (And those famous last words: “I think we can handle one little girl.”), it was clear that this was like no movie we’d ever seen before, yet there have been few entries in the genre since that haven’t borrowed elements from The Matrix. All of the films on this list have been influential in some way, but few can claim responsibility for a comparable paradigm-shift. If only the Wachowskis had been able to maintain the promise shown here in the sequels (or even left this film as a stand-alone, open-ended story), this would probably be higher on the list. It’s been four years, and we still haven’t entirely washed the sour taste of those sequels out of our mouths. — JCF
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — Is there anything I can tell you about Raiders that you don’t already know? Dr. Indiana Jones is one of the best action film heroes ever, and I suspect almost every man of my generation desperately dreamt of being an adventuresome archeologist at some point, all because of this flick. Raiders also has great villains, with Jones not only facing off against his arch-nemesis, Dr. Belloq, but fighting the Nazis. There’s a “love interest,” Indiana’s former flame Marion, who isn’t just a damsel in distress but a sharp-edged gal capable of drinking much bigger men under the table and also throwing a solid punch. And of course there is scene after scene of great action, from the opening adventure culminating with the iconic big boulder chase (and the “Simpsons” parody of that scene remains one of the best parodies ever), to the barroom showdown, to Indy’s easy and silent duel with the crazy Egyptian swordsman, to a great truck chase, to the final opening of the Ark of the Covenant, complete with ghosts and face melting (!). But, of course, Raiders is much more than just action sequences thinly tacked together — it’s a well-crafted story of an immensely likeable hero involved in his Earth-shatteringly important race to find the all-powerful Ark, and it’s an engaging, adventurous tale that holds up quite independent of the guns and fists and whatnot. Raiders works as well as it does because everyone delivers — from Harrison Ford’s performance to Steven Spielberg’s direction to John Williams’ score, you rarely see any movie (let alone an action flick) with so many greats stepping up at the same time with all cylinders firing. Which is why Raiders isn’t just a great action film, but a great film, period. As Indy himself says, “I’m talking about folklore.” — SF
2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) — Before greater success inevitably drove him into mediocrity (as with George Lucas), James Cameron was one of the very few directors who could accomplish the same result with an overlarge budget that he could with a minuscule one, doing so by creating character-driven, emotional adrenaline-fests. Fresh from his string of sci-fi successes (including Aliens — number five above) Cameron made another homerun sequel in Terminator 2. His recipe for these super-sequels is deceptively simple — take the best elements of the original idea and magnify them by 1,000. The resultant film was a bloated, though unpretentious, labor of love — a mammoth action film in which everyone participating cared more about the final product than personal stakes or money. Cameron didn’t waste a penny of his then-enormous budget of $100 million; he packed the film with unbelievable stunts, explosions, special effects, car chases, and gunplay. And yet somehow he was still able to anchor his muscular trappings to emotional meaning — from the familial exchange of the Connors to the surprisingly poignant Schwarzenegger as an emotionless (?) machine, to the disturbing questions raised about artificial intelligence, time travel, and nuclear war, Cameron makes everything work for the story. T2 was and remains a rare blockbuster whose heart and head match the scale of its visual awe, but the latter alone is plenty impressive. — PS
1. Die Hard (1988) — I almost don’t know what more can be written about Die Hard, my personal favorite action movie of all time. Its impact on the genre can’t be overestimated; very few films become so ensconced in the pop consciousness that their titles actually become descriptors of an entire genre (Groundhog Day is another). Die Hard actually created a whole subset of modern action films, pitting a lone antihero trapped in a building/plane/ship/bus/whatever against a group of hardened terrorists with automatic weapons. Director John McTiernan is at the top of his game here, and along with d.p. Jan de Bont, McTiernan propels the action at full-throttle, but always somehow feasible, levels. McTiernan was a master at late-’80s and early-’90s action flicks, helming Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October in a heady three-year period. The trio charts an arc moving toward a more realistic type of action film, transitioning from the absurdist heights of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the jungle to Alec Baldwin beating the bad guys by just being a really good problem-solver. Considered as the middle part of that triptych, Die Hard is the perfect blend of realistic drama — John McClane and his wife are separated and hate each other pretty much the entire movie — and slick, glistening action, as McClane blasts his way through a dozen German bad guys before chucking Alan Rickman off the roof. It helps that Bruce Willis was born to play John McClane, the happy rule-breaker that’s since become a genre standby. Die Hard is fast, funny, energetic, and even beautifully scored by Michael Kamen (whose recurring use of “Ode to Joy” would be echoed years later when he wove “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” through the soundtrack of Die Hard With a Vengeance, a criminally underrated sequel). What else is there to say? “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.” Music to my ears. — DC
It's not TV, it's Pajiba | | Pajiba Love 05/02/07 |
Comments
I was thrilled to see Layer Cake on the list, Daniel Craig is one of the most charismatic actors working today. I think that Casino Royale was more badass in terms of an action flick (that chase scene in the beginning? Balls out awesome), but Layer Cake was definitely a thrilling movie.
A guilty pleasure of mine not included is True Lies...so very very stupid, but god help me I watch it every time it's aired on HBO. Bill Paxton pees his pants, Jamie Lee Curtis' hysterical strip-tease, Arnold tries to jump a fucking HORSE between two buldings...tremendous.
Posted by: Julie at May 1, 2007 2:36 PM
Wrong Bourne film i think. I would have gone for the Bourne Supremacy. Paul Greengrass's film is much more visceral.
Posted by: nevin at May 1, 2007 2:38 PM
"Shoot the glass..." Hans Gruber was the classic modern-day bad guy. Great list.
Posted by: Gorilla_six19 at May 1, 2007 2:40 PM
Hands down, this is the best list! I don't have any problems with a single enry on it and Kudos for including Aliens and Desparado. I still have a VHS copy (shut up) of Aliens that I bust out at least once a month.
There are a few other films I would add if the list were longer...
Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior (did he just light both his legs on fire and roundhouse kick that guy??!!)
Equilibrium - (hmmmm, your gun kata is good, but mine is better! Hai!)
Predator - If it bleeds $$$, we can make a crappy sequel....
Hard Boiled - Yeah, I know you included "The Killer", but still.....That shootout in the restaraunt with the bird cages.....poetry.
Ok, I'm spent.
Posted by: Manny at May 1, 2007 2:51 PM
GREAT list this time gang--I had a summer flash back as my brothers and I used to visit our aunt and uncle's cottage in the summers. They would let us stay up late and watch action movies (the ones we weren't allowed to watch at home)
Posted by: Jul at May 1, 2007 3:00 PM
I agree with every point you made. Hands down perfect.
Some honorable mentions though.
Predator
True Lies(I like cheesy Arnie flicks, what can I say?)
Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl(it made me want to be a pirate the first time I saw it)
Jurassic Park
Posted by: Cory at May 1, 2007 3:00 PM
Great list - I thiiiiink Kill Bill came out later than 1995 though, no?
Noted. Corrected. Many thanks. - DR
Posted by: b at May 1, 2007 3:01 PM
Great list.
I echo the previous comments that give shout-outs to True Lies, Ong-Bak, and Predator (though agree that they fall short of this top 15). Along those lines I add:
The Transporter
Face Off
Mission Impossible
But come on, no Star Wars or Braveheart!?
Posted by: david at May 1, 2007 3:03 PM
Man, I hate action flicks. This list just reaffirms that.
But boys, I loved Hot Fuzz. Is it too new? Or is it not really an action movie? Maybe it's the guns and guts film for people who hate guns and guts.
Posted by: idgiepug at May 1, 2007 3:05 PM
I loved Leon - the Professional. Jean Reno is amazing. This list was great.
Posted by: Monica at May 1, 2007 3:06 PM
I kept scrolling down, expecting to see Die Hard. By the time I got to Raiders I knew it HAD to be number 1 or else you'd've seriously screwed the pooch. It's my favourite action too - good call.
Posted by: Sarah at May 1, 2007 3:07 PM
Does my heart good to see "The Professional" on your list. I freakin' love that movie...it shouldn't work so well, but it does.
I agree with all your choices except for the Brangelina vehicle up there. WTF? And ranked higher than "The Killer"? Just no.
Posted by: heatdamaged at May 1, 2007 3:08 PM
Ah, my sweet Desperado! How I love that movie with a passion! It put Antonio Banderas at number 1 on my top five "freebies" list...girls, you know what I mean. I sooooooo wanted to be Salma Hayek in this movie.
Posted by: Helcat at May 1, 2007 3:08 PM
I was a little afraid to look at this list, the first thought popping into my head being "Good lord, please don't let there be any fucking hobbits on this thing".
I think people often forget that a well made, slightly dumb action movie can be a very enjoyable watching experience. I have to say though, considering the continued praise it has gotten for over a year on the site now, I was surprised that Crank didn't make it in there somewhere.
Posted by: Rrhag at May 1, 2007 3:11 PM
Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.
Fantastic work as always Pajiba. I'd personally have put Indy & The Last Crusade over Raiders simply because I've seen it more and it has a special place in my heart. Other than that though -- spot on (and for once a classic film list where I've seen every one).
Posted by: Si at May 1, 2007 3:11 PM
Oh, and another honorable mention for the list: Iron Monkey...man did I leave the theatre amped up!
Posted by: Helcat at May 1, 2007 3:11 PM
blech! whoever said equilibrium- no!
and i cannot believe no one has mentioned total recall! three breasted women, mind control, and an impending class war fueled by corporate greed and bad guys gone good! on MARS!
Posted by: breonne at May 1, 2007 3:12 PM
You've lost your mind! Commando and Speed??!!?? Those films are beneath contempt.
Posted by: Dano at May 1, 2007 3:13 PM
Second the call on Hard Boiled. As I was working my way through the list, I was all "oh, wow, Hard Boiled is going to be in the top ten?... the top five?... the top three?" And then... not at all? I mean, the film has Chow Yun Fat blasting bad buys (in beautiful slow motion, I might add) in a maternity ward with a baby tucked under his arm! And that's not even the coolest scene in the movie!
Posted by: Mr Wind-Up Bird at May 1, 2007 3:18 PM
Excellent list! I love that you included The Killer (I had to take a nap after that movie was over because I did not blink for the entire last hour).
(and with apologies to our ovarian sistren),
No apologies necessary. I have 16 of these 20 movies in my personal collection and I am sure my nuts would be torqued with each viewing if I had the necessary equipment. Fallopian tube-twisting, anyone?
Posted by: Claire at May 1, 2007 3:21 PM
The Professional? Mwah. Raiders of the Lost Ark? Unforgettable. Generation-shaping. This list? Almost perfect. Less two things: 1) where are the Usual Suspects? and 2) I'm hoping like hell you'll have a Gangster Movie edition so I don't have to beat you over the heads with Miller's Crossing.
Posted by: Jen at May 1, 2007 3:22 PM
But...No CRANK?!?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Posted by: Claire at May 1, 2007 3:23 PM
I own every single movie on that list. Yes, including Commando.
Predator is an egregious omission, and I'd have subbed it for Commando. Other honorable mentions:
The Great Escape
The Wild Bunch (no Peckinpah at all? Really?)
Gladiator
Bad Boys (Yeah, I said Bad Boys)
True Lies
The Magnificent Seven
The Rock
Blackhawk Down
ROBOCOP!!! (C'mon. This is a no-brainer)
Posted by: TK at May 1, 2007 3:25 PM
My American behind had to turn the subtitles on for Layer Cake. Glad to see it on the list.
Maybe it was the speculation (and my feminine sensibilities), but Mr. & Mrs. Smith did absolutely nothing for me. I found it dry, boring, cheesy, repetitive (they stole that tango scene from True Lies) and I thought Pitt & Jolie had ZERO chemistry (on-screen). And why was Angelina muttering the entire movie? Was that supposed to be sexy?
I'll second:
The Transporter
Pirates 1
Mission Impossible 1 (am I the only one who understood the plot tho'?)
and add:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Casino Royale (2006)
Shaft
Posted by: ciji at May 1, 2007 3:35 PM
oh, and it's woeful that first blood was left off the list, as well as mad max.
Posted by: breonne at May 1, 2007 3:35 PM
Not sure if you'd count this, but what about Fight Club?? Not enough weapons?
Posted by: Helcat at May 1, 2007 3:38 PM
Top to bottom a great list! i would have changed the ordering a bit but i have no complaints. I just wish the list could have been longer. I SECOND ROBOCOP!!! I saw that movie when I was 8 friggin years old at a double feature at the drive in with Platoon! i remember being totally geeked after seeing that movie. That's geekdom returned years later when i bought the Criterion DVD. Has anyone else seen this?!!!? The ED-209 blasting the office guy sequence is 12 seconds longer...complete with MEAT flying out of the squib hits!
Other honorable mentions:
The Running Man "Killian!...You're canceled."
Predator "You're on ugly motherfucker."
Barry Gordy's: Last Dragon...c'mon people....BRUCE LEROY!!!!!!
Posted by: PissBoy at May 1, 2007 3:40 PM
Hmmm. I don't know about this list.
I kind of feel like it should be split into two; like:
1) Stupid Testosteroneous Action Movies That Are Highly Enjoyable Guilty Pleasures, and
2) Intelligent Pieces of Film Making That Happen to Be Action-Packed.
I just can't agree with putting "Speed" and the "Kill Bills" together, you know?
Also, there's got to be at least one James Bond in here somewhere, right? Along with one installment of the Red October Trilogy... And the Fugitive deserves honorable mention... And Nikita, I think...
Yeah. Like I said, I don't know; I just can't get behind this. Otherwise, there are simply too many Arnold movies (and maybe even a couple of Stallone ones) and they just don't belong up there with The Professional.
Sorry... I do agree with most of the choices; just not in one same list.
Posted by: Gabrielle at May 1, 2007 3:43 PM
well geez, I was pretty worried there when I started at number 15...um never saw, prolly never will but I was getting excited by the time I got to Aliens...you pajibaguys DO know a thing or two. But then it was the ultimate letdown...Terminator 2 over Terminator??? You have to be kidding. T1 was a masterpiece of suspense and action, T2 had cool stuff but nowhere near the pace.And then to add insult to injury...Diehard. I know I've seen it, probably some of the sequels too, but can't say a remember a single thing from them.
Posted by: brite at May 1, 2007 3:51 PM
This list is exactly what I need. I've been dying for a good mindless action flick lately, and nothing has been able to satisfy me yet (though Grindhouse went a long way). Sometimes I just wanna throw out every bit of plot and exposition that isn't absolutely necessary and just revel in the badassity.
I gotta say, though... Speed bored me out of my skull. It's been years since I've seen it - I just remember finding it very pedestrian (ha ha) and being unable to sit still through it.
What about The Long Kiss Goodnight? As I understand it, it's not very popular, but I can't understand why. I caught it on TV a few months back, and I had a blast watching it. Big guns, bigger explosions, two awesomely over-the-top protagonists, and surprisingly funny one-liners - what more could an action flick hope for?
Oh well, to each their own.
Posted by: Mentalepsy at May 1, 2007 3:52 PM
great call on Long Kiss Goodnight
and great call on two distinct lists (the kill bills, the professional, bourne identity, etc. vs. commando, speed, die hard, etc.)
finally, i agree with many that Mr. and Mrs. Smith was lame (save for vince vaughn and the husband/wife fight) i don't even remember the ending of the movie.
Posted by: david at May 1, 2007 4:00 PM
An ovarian sistren chiming in here: I'd put Raiders as #1 on my own list, and can't wait till my daughters get old enough to watch it. At 7 and 3, I'm thinking the melty faces/demons at the end might be a bit much - even with the dated effects...
the iconic big boulder chase (and the "Simpsons" parody of that scene remains one of the best parodies ever)
not to mention it's the beginning of the vocabulary building episode:
Marge: Homer, has the weight loss tape reduced your appetite?
Homer: Ah, lamentably no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satiety.
Posted by: mswas at May 1, 2007 4:13 PM
sorry for all the white space... preview post didn't seem to work correctly for me.
Posted by: mswas at May 1, 2007 4:14 PM
I'm with Gabrielle, there needs to be two distinct lists. Kill Bill was way at the botton while other tripe was up higher. Didn't make sense at all. Mr. and Mrs. Smith above Kill Bill?
Posted by: Athena at May 1, 2007 4:15 PM
Thanks, David.
And I just want to be clear; I'm not talking about a split between 80s/early 90s action movies and films that came out in the last decade. The differentiation is between junk food for the eyes and actually intelligent films, even though they both feature a lot of explosions.
For instance: F/X is a brilliant, self-reflective, engaging (action) movie from the 80s. Ananconda 2: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid came out last year, and while I'm sure it may have been entertaining enough to action-addicts, it was fucking stupid.
Posted by: Gabrielle at May 1, 2007 4:19 PM
I admit that this probably doesn't fall into the "action" genre, and is therefore pointless, but True Romance is a great action movie that isn't an action movie.
Posted by: DollyLlama at May 1, 2007 4:19 PM
man you know how shitty i feel to see that i have seen everyone of of those movies and thought that they were the greatest pieces of art when i saw them (except of mr. and mrs. smith - - i knew it sucked when i first saw it). the only other one i cant think of thats not on the list is Run Lola Run.
Posted by: shamed at May 1, 2007 4:21 PM
I would add a heroine movie to the list.
How about Run Lola Run
Posted by: seaturtles at May 1, 2007 4:23 PM
The Long Kiss Goodnight - yeah! I saw that as the surprise movie at the London Film Festival that year. I - and the entire audience judging by the reaction - was blown away! Preposterous, OTT fun. I still love it.
'Chefs do that!' Hee!
Totally agree with Die Hard at number one in the list. Another film which knocked my socks off.
But (going back a few years) I'd add The Towering Inferno to the list. I'm sure it's dated terribly, but at the time it was awesome. Newman & McQueen in the same movie, out-machoing each other. Faye Dunaway when she was still amazing. People getting arbitrarily barbecued. Excellent!
Posted by: tarn at May 1, 2007 4:33 PM
Hmmm. My ovaries and I are chiming in (although I always prefer "tits" as the default switch/replacement for all things balls--because they can be grabbed, twisted, measured in weight, and even grow the odd hair in extreme cases), and my eyebrow is raised because I'm not buying into this list as much as I expected I would.
I agree about Die Hard, Kill Bill, either Terminator, Alien, and seriously disagree about the omission of Robocop (thanks TK).
I would replace Desperado with El Mariachi--if I couldn't just toss it right out--and substitute Crank for Mr. and Mrs. Yawn (this selection absolutely astounds me), and Predator for Speed (why not up the quality, if it comes down to a competition between tit-tweaking elements?)
Other lervelies I love for the suspense and/or gun-busting/car-chasingness:
- Road Warrior
- The Thing
- Pitch Black (this is in spite of and not because of VD)
- Split Second
- Assault on Precinct 13 (Carpenter, thanks)
- Grindhouse (although, like Crank, I think it needs time to age a bit)
And we are perilously close to merging SF, fantasy and horror with 'action' flicks which, for the real purists, really only include those earthy types like Die Hard and Commando and First Blood, but that's probably too messy a can of worms to get into. The overlap makes it nearly moot, now.
Posted by: Ranylt at May 1, 2007 4:36 PM
I suspect almost every man of my generation desperately dreamt of being an adventuresome archeologist at some point, all because of this flick.
Chicken and the egg, man -- We ALWAYS wanted to be world-traveling archeologists -- THEN they made a movie about it.
Awesome list, but...
great call on Long Kiss Goodnight
I would easily have subbed LKG for Mr & Mrs Smith -- great action but there's no beginning and certainly no ending. They really should have made three LKGs in a row before listening to anyone else.
Posted by: Meander at May 1, 2007 4:38 PM
When I first saw that the list was action movies, I thought, "Eh," but it turns out I've really enjoyed at least half of these movies. The big action, testosterone-driven ones with the beefcake superstars don't fall into that camp, so I can see what Gabrielle is saying about two separate lists. I just wouldn't categorize the other movies as the "intelligent" ones. They're just not as silly as the others and try to have a plot.
Posted by: JKo at May 1, 2007 4:41 PM
Love, love, loving the list. I was excited to see other people talking about Long Kiss Goodnight. Gina Davis kicks ass.
Posted by: Sharon at May 1, 2007 4:42 PM
To my mind, action flicks are guns and violence and high-adrenaline and things that grab and twist my nuts. Flicks that, when I walk out of the theater, make me want to be a spy or an assassin, drive fast cars, fly faster planes, or just plain hurt people. And that ain't Back to the Future.
I have never read a more accurate description of a genre (nbook, movie, music or sadwich) than that. Good show Mr. Orangutan
Posted by: Brian at May 1, 2007 4:44 PM
Great list! The Lethal Weapon series aside, I never appreciated action movies until I got married to a man who loooooves them. It has really opened my eyes to how enjoyable it can be to watch big explosions.
I second Run Lola Run and Braveheart (though I don't know if I consider that an 'action' movie, actually--is 'historical bloody chopfest' a category?)
Posted by: Cara at May 1, 2007 4:45 PM
Yeah, I have to agree that Run Lola Run and La Femme Nikita (the OG French version) should have made the list. Both had great female leads and could compete with any of the action flicks mentioned above.
Posted by: melete at May 1, 2007 5:00 PM
TK did you not read the ten worst blockbusters? Seriously, The Rock?
This list is almost perfect, although I wouldn't have put Mr.&Mrs.Smith on as number 10, I'de say like 15.
I would like to give honourable mention to the following for being delightful action flicks as well.
Predator & Total Recall (I loved Arnie pre Kindergarten Cop)
Crank (mmmm Jason Statham, such a badass)
Boondock Saints (Not only did I want to go on a killing all the slime living in my hometown but I also desperatly wanted to be Irish after watching that movie, anyone with me?)
Equilibrium (If only for my unnatural love for Christian Bale)
Starship Troopers (I seriously considered joining the army after that movie but only for about 5 seconds)
Fight Club? (Not sure if that counts as an action flick - there were big explosians, lots of guys fighting, some opposite sex interest - that sounds like an action flick to me)
The Princess Bride!!! (Can't believe you guys didn't add this one, INCONCEIVABLE)
Enter the Dragon (You made a best of action list and there's no Bruce Lee? Come on! That's worse then not adding Princess Bride, I grew up on Bruce movies and almost broke my sisters jaw when I was "practising" my Bruce moves)
Posted by: REW at May 1, 2007 5:04 PM
I was with you until you put in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I was even okay knowing that the Matrix was on there because even though I personally despise it, it's loved by many. But Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Seriously?
Posted by: Samantha at May 1, 2007 5:06 PM
i second the why no starship troopers? my guiltiest guilty pleasure of all time. also, mr and mrs smith, bleeeech.
Posted by: jordan at May 1, 2007 5:26 PM
mr and mrs smith bored me to tears. AWFUL.
Yay everything else.
Posted by: soda at May 1, 2007 5:31 PM
Where the hell is Hard Boiled on this list? It surpasses The Killer in every way: a more sophisticated (and often bleak) worldview, better action sequences, better acting, better pacing, better bad guys, better everything. If James Cameron can get two entries on this list, there's no fucking way John Woo can't, especially when his competition is fucking Commando and Mr. And Mrs. Smith.
Posted by: mightygodking at May 1, 2007 5:33 PM
Yes yes yes yes yes! I love all of these movies. The Killer is so beautiful, Kill Bill kicks ass, Die Hard, what else can you say? This list totally pumped me up. This is the first list where I have seen ALL of these movies, even more than once. Fabulous!
Posted by: Rachael at May 1, 2007 5:44 PM
I'd pull "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", and "Desperado" at the least. Desperado was good but any time I've seen it recently it seems flat. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was largely a "True Lies" ripoff as others have said.
I submit "Way of the Gun" and "Last Man Standing". They may not be everyone's choice but the gunfights in those movies are awesome. Or the Bruce Willis/Shane Black opus "The Last Boy Scout". It's definitely dated but still pretty damn cool/crazy.
Posted by: Rob at May 1, 2007 5:44 PM
I agree with most of the list, but:
No Bourne Supremacy?? C'mon, I thought it was way better than the Bourne Identity, and the story was even more sophisticated.
No Will Smith?? Anywhere?? Bad Boys was awesome (and yes, I know, I'm lame), not to mention Enemy of the State.
But I am so with you about Die Hard.
Posted by: bonnie at May 1, 2007 5:56 PM
There's some good picks, but I miss:
-Point Break: c'mon, it's awesome! Great performances by Swayze and Gary Busey...and the coolest foot chase of all time!
The Schwarzenegger triptych:
-Predator: "There's something out there waiting for us...and it ain't no man." Holy God!
-The Running Man: So many awesome one liners!
'Where's Buzzsaw?' 'He had to split.'
'No...last year's losers.'
-The Terminator: as cool as T2 is, I would've gone with this one.
...oh, and actually, 'triptych isn't quite right, 'cause 'Total Recall' should be here as well!
Posted by: Carlos D at May 1, 2007 5:57 PM
Oh, fuck...forgot my other all-time favorite:
...The Last Boy Scout!!!!
Posted by: Carlos D at May 1, 2007 6:00 PM
Haha, I have no nuts to twist, but pretty much every single entry had me grinning like a fool. I'm such a sucker for action flicks, and I was pleased by almost all of the entries.
I'd quibble only with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, simply because I didn't feel my disbelief suspend itself while I was watching (like it does for most action movies), but other than that, I'm with you all the way. I'd probably replace the Smiths with The Transporter, just because Jason Statham needs recognition as an incredible badass.
Posted by: Kate K. at May 1, 2007 6:18 PM
My brain shuts off during all action movies, with the exception of 'Speed' and any of the 'Indiana Jones' movies. Those I LOVE.
Also, I have 32nd that Mr. & Mrs. Smith isn't so much action? Just kind of a lot of bullets and a couple of barbie dolls.
Posted by: samantha at May 1, 2007 6:33 PM
Bad Boys II. This shit just got real. Bay doing his most magnificent idiocy ever.
Posted by: Justin at May 1, 2007 6:43 PM
I'll back up TK on The Rock - it was quite entertaining. Face Off was awesome as well - that was when Nicolas Cage could do action films well.
Concur with others in that I was confused about the inclusion of Mr and Mrs Smith. The Long Kiss Goodnight could easily replace that one (yes, Geena Davis was totally bad-ass, even more so than Uma Thurman).
True Lies is a great movie, too.
I remember seeing Bourne Identity and Minority Report the same year - I was more impressed with Minority Report. Not implying that Minority Report should be on the list at all, but just using it as an example of how overrated I think Bourne Identity is. That said, and despite my known annoyance of Matt Damon, I have to agree that the Bourne Supremacy is a superior sequel.
Damn, I loves me some action.
Posted by: Daphne at May 1, 2007 6:50 PM
A couple of truly glaring omissions come to mind:
Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back - want to talk about influential and genre-defining? The discussion starts here.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Top Gun
And some personal guilty pleasures:
Con Air
Starship Troopers (brilliant satire)
Independence Day (I know, I know, but it's a guilty pleasure nonetheless)
The Quick and the Dead (do Westerns count?)
The first 15 minutes of Cliffhanger
Posted by: bartapbartap74@gmail.com at May 1, 2007 6:52 PM
My additions/comments on this already fantastic list-
I know it's been said...Boondocks!!! Maybe it's cause I'm a trueblood Irish, maybe cause Willem Dafoe is so frickin hot...love this movie and glad others do too
Heat- awesome
Conair- Cusack in a suit, with a nice car, and a cool gun- not much more that this girl needs, even if rest of movie is kinda lame
Fugitive- not really a movie that stands test of time, but I'll never forget the first time I saw it in the theater, just totally kicked some ass.
And I will 33rd the deletion of Mr and Mrs Smith, got totally ridic even for action flicks...plus I think we all know why it was honestly popular, just for the backstory.
Posted by: Be Adequite! at May 1, 2007 7:17 PM
Forgot one- Wild Bunch...Peckinpah's the inspiration for your Tarantino, right?
Posted by: Be Adequite! at May 1, 2007 7:26 PM
The Road Warrior. Come on!!!
Posted by: Mattfactor at May 1, 2007 7:34 PM
Good choices.
I would have swapped out a couple of entries for the already-mentioned Robocop and True Lies as well.
I would like to give a "shout out" (as the young turks say) to Dr. No. It's very mild compared to most of this list, but it was the first of its kind and every film on this list owes something to the first James Bond movie.
Rambo: First Blood Part 2: When action films really got dumb.
Cobra: When action films really got big shoe wearing retarded. I'm surprised that no one has made the link between this film and the massive shoot-out in the supermarket in Hot Fuzz. Bravo.
Thank God these didn't make the list:
Lethal Weapon 2 - 4: Just Wingin' It!!
Die Hard 2: Die Harder: "McClane!!! You're a hot dog and a maverick and even though you've been right about everything that's happened and we've been wrong, we're still not going to listen to you." Who else was wishing McClane was going to pop a cap in Dennis Franz's ass?
A View to a Kill: When you (as Bond) are older than the mother of the actress playing a character you're banging, it is time to hang it up.
Posted by: Robert at May 1, 2007 7:54 PM
Bunch a slack-jawed ******* around here. Putting Predator on the list would have made you a god damned sexual Tyranosaurus, just like me.
Posted by: predator at May 1, 2007 8:04 PM
Great list. For those that say that SW and LOTR should be on here, not sure I agree. Neither really seemed like 'action' movies to me. The kinda transcend the genre to something else entirely.
Posted by: Trek Barnes at May 1, 2007 8:08 PM
Love the list :) Sure, you had to omit stuff, but who cares? Indiana Jones rules and Terminator II still excites me (I agree with you picking it over the first film, because it is way louder and brighter, but in no way stupider. Just more fun).
Posted by: :) at May 1, 2007 8:29 PM
Great list for the most part (wasn't a fan of Layer Cake but I know many are). But still...Mr and Mrs Smith? Srsly? I thought it was ordinary as fuck.
Posted by: Arran at May 1, 2007 8:37 PM
Seriously, TK... can I pajiba-marry you?!?! You always get to my point before I can!
Posted by: Lauren at May 1, 2007 8:38 PM
Not today a coworker and I were talking about which was better - Raiders or Die Hard. Uncanny.
Posted by: Matt P. at May 1, 2007 8:40 PM
Serenity...would that count? If so, I'm sad it's not on the list, because I am obsessed with that movie.
I thought the list was pretty great though. I would also have supported a little True Lies, if it came down to it.
Posted by: Jenna at May 1, 2007 8:43 PM
Not too bad...although like a few have said...The Killer is better than Hard Boiled.Both should have been on the list.
And Mr. and Mrs. Smith? C'mon.
How about the Wild Bunch? Enter the Dragon? Ong Bak wasnt a great movie...but the fight scenes were amazing.
Posted by: sean at May 1, 2007 8:46 PM
My thoughts whilst reading down this list: "Professional...Professional....Profess...YES!!" I was prepared to raise all manner of hell had you not included good ole' Leon, or at least Nikita.
But not one Bond flick?
Also, someone above mentioned that this should have been split up into two lists, and I agree. Commando would be okay on a "Most craptastic" list, but here its just the awkward kid in the corner who no one wants to dance with.
Posted by: Matt B at May 1, 2007 8:53 PM
I must say I'm surprised by the inclusion of Speed, a movie which I regard with special loathing. Especially since you were awesome enough to include my all time favorite, Leon. Two that definitely should have been on the list-- Fight Club and Saving Private Ryan.
Posted by: Jon at May 1, 2007 9:02 PM
Great list. I think I could think of something clever to add, but action films are really not my thing. You got good, classic stuff, like The Professional.
About Back To The Future, it's simple: don't mix action film with adventure film. When you take it like that, any Indiana Jones movie is an adventure, just like Lord of The Rings or Pirattes of The Caribbean. They are not exactly action flicks, even if there is insane action going on. They just don't match the others when you compare them. Like Fight Club (personal favorite) would never fit as well, for being a more, huh, psychological movie.
Posted by: Gargumma at May 1, 2007 9:31 PM
Big Trouble In Little China.
You're welcome.
Posted by: KC at May 1, 2007 9:52 PM
Not bad, but Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Ye gods. I nominate Predator, True Lies, or even Con Air over that. Hell, even Under Siege beats it.
Posted by: Bill at May 1, 2007 10:40 PM
I am soooooo happy that others in our little band of geeks appreciate Bad Boys they way that I do. I can't tell you how many times I've sent my hot friend out to find someone to buy us drinks, catcalling, "Kitty, Kitty, strutty, strutty" at her ass as she walks away. That movie is everything that an action flick should be, including hot chicks in lingerie. Plus, Tea Leoni's wardrobe was bad ass. I still want that chinois mini skirt. I much prefer the sinister drug/dealer/thief genre to random terrorists.
Posted by: Kitty X at May 1, 2007 10:45 PM
Excellent list. But I would substitue Mr. & Mrs. Smith for True Lies. That movie kicked serious ass. Even Tom Arnold (who I usually see as a waste of space) had some hilarious one liners in that one. And I am shamelessly thrilled to see Bad Boys get some requests. The acting is sub-par, but the action scenes are intense, and I still get shaky watching the last scene with Will Smith.
Kill Bill totally deserves to be here, but only the first one; the second was talky and boring. But that scene with Uma Thurman fighting the Crazy 88's against that blue screen is one of the greatest fight scenes of all time.
Posted by: Brie at May 1, 2007 10:49 PM
Mr and Mrs Smith was so shitty and boring, I'm surprised it's here in such good company. It's also disapointing Jean Claude didn't get any love. I know a lot of us grew up watching his great/bad movies on saturday mornings on USA. And how about some recognition for the the geratest action star of all time: Jackie Chan? Or the real-life Spider-Man, Tony Jaa?
Posted by: Frank at May 1, 2007 11:00 PM
I gotta put in my vote for...
- The Dirty Dozen (I saw this when I was seven with my dad and it has been one of my favorite movies ever since)
- Princess Bride (made me wanna be a pirate AND a swordfighting Spanaird throughout my pre-teen years)
- Run Lola Run (if action can be related to suspense, a frenetic pace, and the sexilicious Franka Potente, this has to be near the top)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (just some of the most iconic swordfight-related scene ever)
- The Last of the Mohicans (I had to watch this for school and I ended up watching this movie every day for a few months...that main riff in the score was the first thing i ever learned to play on the guitar)
And for the questionable ones that might belong in another list:
- The Incredibles (awesome action sequences even for a cartoon)
- the first third and the last third of 28 Days Later (the middle third with Brendan Gleeson et al. wasn't very actiony)
Posted by: Mook at May 1, 2007 11:03 PM
Sorry for taking up so much space...my HTML skillz need some polishing...
Posted by: mook at May 1, 2007 11:04 PM
The Transporter - oh yeah, Jason Statham
La Femme Nikita - I really think this one deserves to be on the list, it's beautifully shot, and that restaurant scene is fuckin' awesome
Long Kiss Goodnight - saw this in the theater when it came out, and was not too impressed, but it gets better with repeat viewings; Sam Jackson alone is worth the time to watch it
Payback and/or Mad Max - either one of these Mel Gibson flicks is OK by me
I agree with The Dirty Dozen - that is a great, classic action movie
I thought Mr. and Mrs. Smith was OK, not great
Posted by: LL at May 1, 2007 11:41 PM
I'd replace Speed with Mad Max 2.
Posted by: Linka at May 1, 2007 11:50 PM
i have never seen Matrix 2 or 3 and absolutely love the original--after reading this, i'll make sure to avoid them the rest of my life...
Posted by: maxpurr9 at May 2, 2007 12:06 AM
Agree with all those who don't think Mr and Mrs. Smith should be on the list - that movie did nothing for me, and I usually love D. Liman films.
I'd definitely put 'Heat' on that list - somewhere in the top 5. The bank robbery scene is the best action scene evah.
Posted by: Mia at May 2, 2007 12:38 AM
Ronin, and Big Trouble in Little China deserve to be on there somewhere. And I am surprised there is not ONE Paul Verhoven pic in that list. While Arnold might have started the high death count phase, Verhoven and his films were the first into far more bloody and violent movies, typically also being great reflections of society. Brains and Brawn.
And Fifth element. As far as mindless action movies go, no are much better looking as this. It also set the record for largest indoor explosion on film. That's gotta count for something.
Posted by: some guy at May 2, 2007 1:17 AM
Gargumma! Thank you! I was just about to suggest Big Trouble in Little China. Absolute classic.
Also, this wasn't necessarily big at the Box Office, but I loved Kung Fu Hustle.
I agree with all those that mentioned Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Beautiful film.
Posted by: Ali B at May 2, 2007 1:28 AM
AHAHAHAH. In a week of impossible stupidity, this list. This wonderful heavenly list. HAHAHAHAH.
Unlike others, I am so /with/ the inclusion of MMSmith. X3 So very with. My only critique would be Kill Bill; I think a general nomination of QT's films, without specification, would be necessary to really cover it. *cackles*
So, now on my list to see are #5, #12, and #13. Oh yes, #13. I don't know how I could have missed that...
(PS, I don't suppose you lot will do revised lists in a few (or several) years? Because there so needs to be a general record of the shibby nut-twister flicks. Also, a kept record of flicks like of your Ros N Guil list. Its so easy to miss films like that...)
I suspect almost every man of my generation desperately dreamt of being an adventuresome archeologist at some point, all because of this flick.
My college teaches a course on practical archeology. I'm certain at least half the enrollment is courtesy this film. X3 I certainly know part of my intention in taking it is because of it. (That, and the bloody Social Studies requirement for my degree. Cursed certifications authorities. *hisses*)
Ahahahah. *awaits comics included list*
This is a movie marathon in the making, I swear. XF
Posted by: NM at May 2, 2007 1:34 AM
Ok...first off, If you describe Commando and neglect to mention the glorious 2nd banana/damsel in distress role played by Rae Dawn Chong...then damn you...damn you to hell! :)
Props to those who mentioned Long Kiss Goodnight...pure cheesy genius...Also Boondock Saints...just loved that film.
For what it's worth I proffer:
Escape from New York - Snake Pliskin is the man! But let us never mention the ill advised Escape from L.A.
Posted by: Dandabellw at May 2, 2007 2:17 AM
Argh...Universal Soldier! Must have Universal Soldier on the list...again ixnay on the many sequels...all dreck.
Posted by: Dandabelle at May 2, 2007 2:19 AM
Sweet list guys. My personal favorite is Die Hard 1/3, but a close second is The Long Kiss Goodnight. I thought that movie was amazing. I was a bit surprised that I didn't see the Nic Cage 90's trio on here: The Rock, Face/Off, and Con Air. I'll have to see The Killer.
Posted by: Ryan at May 2, 2007 3:00 AM
I was suprised not to see Boondock Saints on there, GREAT movie. But love the list, its quite good. my personal favorite is The Professional.
Posted by: Magick at May 2, 2007 3:46 AM
SEATURTLES: I would like to wholeheartedly second Run Lola Run. If that is ever on TV I sit and watch until the end. It's fantastic.
And I know this has been said before, but Mr. and Mrs. Smith? Really? I almost expected a Sister Act "gotcha" at the end of that. I found this so tedious and banal. Pretty people delivering trite lines in a ridiculous plot. I know one has to willingly suspend belief to enjoy almost any action movie, but I could not get past the "why the HELL are these people even together in the first place other than the fact it makes for a funny action-gag?"
Posted by: Brianne at May 2, 2007 3:53 AM
...The best part of commando being when he rips off his vest to reveal tthat he has in fact cammed up his chest. Arnie was all "well at some point I'm blatantly going to take off my shirt so I'd best be prepared". Brilliant. I also enjoy the one bullet fired, eight generic communist badguys die mentality.
Brilliant.
I was sad to see it placed so low on the list until I saw some of the other choices. Sufuckingperb. I've just been reminded how very much I need to watch Mr and Mrs Smith again too. I was another person seriously worried about the lack of Die Hard right up until I saw Indy, then I knew that Pajiba wouldn't let me down. Fantastic list and, for once, one I've actually seen every movie on.
I'd like to second/third/whatever shout outs for Running Man and Total Recall. Stupid action, woeful interpretaions of decent books, Arnie? Surely all the ingredients of a classic. Also with The Long Kiss Goodnight, I randomly come across it on TV once every couple of years and every time I remember how much i love it. And then immediately forget again. And as much as I despise Nic Cage and all he stands for Face/Off would have been a decent addition... but hey, you guys only had 15 spaces to fill and I'd say you did a damned fine job.
Posted by: Alex the Odd at May 2, 2007 5:01 AM
Great list, makes me want to run to my local video shop. And I'm pleased to see my fave "Die Hard" is number one. Everytime I hear "Ode to Joy" on the classic radio station, I smile and think of explosions, glass and Eurotrash dudes.
"I suspect almost every man of my generation desperately dreamt of being an adventuresome archeologist at some point, all because of this flick."
Reading this reminds me of my friend's boyfriend who is obsessed with Indiana Jones, to the point where I think he would fuck Harrison Ford if he had the chance (seriously, he has the official Indy hat).
Posted by: loulou at May 2, 2007 5:05 AM
OK, now you've made me add Mr & Mrs Smith to my queue, after resisting all this time. Damn you, Pajiba.
Posted by: oaklandcat at May 2, 2007 5:11 AM
KC - I want to have your e-babies. Not only does Big Trouble in Little China deserve to be here, but it's probably (I'm being totally serious here) my favorite movie of all time.
Posted by: TK at May 2, 2007 8:42 AM
TK: why thank you. and quite honestly, how can it not be (and I too am being totally serious here) everyone's favorite movie of all time? Kurt Russell (at the apex of his career)with a mullet doing a god-awful (which is why it was so great)John Wayne impersonation while fighting supernatural asians in San Francisco circa 1985. i'm not articulate enough to express just how epic this film was, so i'll just leave you with these gems:
"we take what we want, and leave the rest, like your SALAD BAR!"
"what's in the flask Egg, magic potion?"
"yeah!"
"good, thought so. what do we do, drink it?"
"yeah!"
"good, thought so."
"you never could beat me Egg Chen."
"jack, i can't--"
"WHERE IS IT?"
"thank you jack."
"have i paid my dues? yes sir the check is in the mail."
"gimme your best shot pal. i can take it."
and my favorite movie quote of all time:
"you know what Jack Burton says at a time like this?"
"WHO?"
"Jack Burton! Me! ol' Jack always says....what the hell."
Posted by: KC at May 2, 2007 9:24 AM
What about First Blood?
And I agree with Aliens,and the Kill Bills...I would've left Speed to die.
Posted by: Melina at May 2, 2007 10:18 AM
I have to jump onto the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Seriously?" bandwagon. Husband and I resisted going to the movies to see it, and when we finally rented it it was only because of the Brangelina hype. We were sorely disappointed. I kept checking the time and praying for it to end, it was that boring. I think the first thing I said after the credits began to roll was, "Meh."
That being said, "The Professional" kicks ass.
Posted by: Kolby at May 2, 2007 10:28 AM
Yes! To Big Trouble in Little China.
"We've got our best man inside right now...stirring the pot." Kim Cattrall was hilarious.
Posted by: hb at May 2, 2007 11:15 AM
The Brangelina hype ruined Mr and Mrs Smith, without the media circus surrounding it the movie would have been a fairly decent action flick: Fairly smart, some funny moments, solid action sequences and two of the prettiest people known to man. Alas! It was not to be.
Posted by: Alex the Odd at May 2, 2007 12:03 PM
I know it's basically Aliens redux, but how about a little love for Starship Troopers?
Machine guns, giant bugs, war satire and hilariously awful dialogue and acting = one of my favorite cheesy action movies.
Posted by: Lanky at May 2, 2007 1:30 PM
I would have to find room for '300' in my top ten. The battle started early and didn't stop for 2 hours.
Posted by: slug at May 2, 2007 1:34 PM
First, thank you for including Kill Bill.
Secondly, as I was scanning your list, I thought well, maybe they excluded action flicks that are also sci-fi, but then I saw Aliens.
So now I have to say: NO FIFTH ELEMENT?????? WHAT???
Also: my husband would personally kick your ass for not including the old James Bond movies.
Posted by: Kathy at May 2, 2007 1:36 PM
I'm surprised that there are a few of these I haven't seen. I do have to put in a supporting vote for Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which my husband and I have adored since we saw it in the theater. When it comes on, we can't stop watching.
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a worthy entry. As for The Rock, most of that movie is abysmally stupid--but Ed Harris provides a couple of good moments that keep me from hating it entirely.
I don't see why Raiders has to settle for #3. I'd put it at #1, but I can't really argue with Die Hard in that spot. I think they tie, personally.
And I do have to give a nod to First Blood, which is generally dragged down by its idiotic sequels.
Posted by: Kate at May 2, 2007 2:08 PM
Where is Rambo?
Also, Commando was the third "capitalist" action movie that I saw as an 8 year old in Soviet Union 20 years ago. The "Holy Trinity" of action movies for me and my comrades at the time was Commando, Rambo and Die Hard.
Posted by: red devil at May 2, 2007 2:18 PM
Great list! I only wish that True Lies had made it in there (Jamie Lee Curtis doing a striptease, people!). I wasn't too fond of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though, so I'll do my own substitution.
Thanks so much for starting the "What's Good For You" guides. I really have a lot of fun with them, and judging by the enormous response you guys always get, everyone else does, too.
Posted by: zambonigirl at May 2, 2007 3:32 PM
I was happy to see The Professional on here, it's one of my favorite movies, period. La Femme Nikita is damn good too, Luc knows his action movies and imbues them with a sense of humanity unlike any other action flick. I feel like there's something missing on this list, but I'm not sure from where. Probably Heat actually, which was action packed and psychological as well. That's it, there's not a single Michael Mann film on this list, what gives?!
Posted by: g at May 2, 2007 3:52 PM
This is obviously a worthy list that prompts discussion. To echo the sentiment above, I agree that the biggest problem here is how you've defined the genre.
I LOVE Commando.
I LOVE Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's unquestionably in my top ten films ever.
But I just don't see these two belonging on the same list. Raiders is so much more than an "action" movie. If you're talking about the "testicles" in the article title, I'd keep Commando. I could go into all sorts of parsing similar to the comments above, but I'm sure I'd just be repeating what has already been said.
And for the record, I LOATHE The Long Kiss Goodnight. I'm certainly glad it didn't make it on this list.
Posted by: Rob at May 2, 2007 4:30 PM
I'm kinda surprised to see so many fans of The Long Kiss Goodnight. I was sure I'd be the only one.
Does anyone else get frustrated by action movies a lot of the time? Too often, they just don't have enough action to satisfy me. Don't get me wrong, I love movies with well-developed characters and complicated drama... but if I walk into the video store and pick up an action movie, that means I want some action!
Posted by: Mentalepsy at May 2, 2007 4:45 PM
o.k., at the risk of being redundant, Leon is a great film, but I also don't see it as belonging on an action movie list.
And to the idea of adding The Fifth Element? Ummm...no.
Posted by: Rob at May 2, 2007 4:58 PM
You just about lost me with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", a vacuous bore of a movie, but your top five are dead, solid perfect, though I would substitute "Terminator" for T2.
Posted by: James S at May 2, 2007 5:13 PM
No "Road Warrior"? Come on people.
Posted by: John at May 2, 2007 5:55 PM
mr & mrs smith?
are you kidding me?
Posted by: al at May 2, 2007 6:07 PM
I'm not an action-movie kind of girl -- the only movie I've seen from the list was Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and I spent most of the movie cowering against the back of my seat with my hands over my ears. That being said, The Boondock Saints is one of my all-time favorite movies. "... and we will send you to whatever god you wish." Frakking amazing, man.
Posted by: Liz at May 2, 2007 6:37 PM
Ok, it may not be worthy of this list, but Snakes on a Plane was pure action/comedy fun. I laughed and howled throughout the whole thing.
Additionally, I'd call for Ghostbusters and Men in Black, but maybe the Back to the Future situation applies again...
I second the motions calling for Boondock Saints and Sin City. Those movies are pure action delight.
Posted by: ally at May 2, 2007 6:41 PM
I agree with Rob - not sure I would put Leon/The Professional in a Top 15 of action films, but I'm not surprised it was included, given its popularity. Plus, the pedophilic subtext kind of ruined the film for me, especially given how unnecessary it was.
Posted by: Daphne at May 2, 2007 6:55 PM
"... but we are not immune to a quality film that prioritizes the three Bs (blood, bullets, and disemBowelment)..."
Giggle.
Posted by: EB at May 2, 2007 7:32 PM
LOL @ Ali B. - sorry, I've never seen Big Trouble in Little China, but, according to "TKC", that's something I want to do soon.
The Fifth Element - same confusion on action, adventure and all. This film is a sci-fi adventure, not an action flick. Run Lola Run probably goes down a similar path. And I have both in my collection, love them.
I didn't vote for anyone earlier, but I'd like to second some suggestions for action flicks here:
- The Warriors: that was mindless and funny as hell.
- Independence Day: one *extremely* guilty pleasure. Thank god I'm already tired of it.
- Escape from NY: that's a classic in this genre, period.
- The Rock: I'm yet to find a shelter somewhere...
maxpurr9, you do well never to watch The Matrix 2 and 3. They have their moments (burly brawl, highway chase, et al.), but the original is far, far ahead of anything in those.
Also, I'd vote against anything with Schwarza and VD on it any day. If you can't follow a movie, then it's not a movie...
And why, oh, why would I ever watch Mr and Mrs Smith....?
Posted by: Gargumma at May 2, 2007 8:26 PM
"Just when we start to wonder how these incredibly sexy people cannot keep from banging each other every night, their respective bosses hire them to take each other out."
Really? Were we wondering that? I'm mainly wondering how the hell "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is on the same list as "The Professional," "The Bourne Identity" and "Die Hard." It's not bad, but it's by no means great. A better substitution: "The Fugitive."
Posted by: Sarah C. at May 2, 2007 9:39 PM
Unlike many on this site, I dug The Fifth Element. But then I liked Mr and Mrs Smith too. (ducks) Thoroughly hated Speed (116 minutes on a bus)
I'm guessing Beverly Hills Cop is sliding too much into comedy though it definitely had action.
Where's the love for Grosse Pointe Blank? That movie has the perfect mix of humor and action for me. And the fist (and pen) fight in the school hallway is still the best I've seen for realism with badassitude. 'Popcorn!'
Posted by: NirgalW at May 2, 2007 10:40 PM
14 out of 15 isn't bad, but i must agree with the others that Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a bad, bad call. Much rather see Fifth Element, The Hunt for Red October, Big Trouble, but definitely have to include my vote for Enter the Dragon, an absolute masterpiece of the action variety.
Posted by: funtime42 at May 2, 2007 11:12 PM
After reading the entire list and then every single comment, I feel compelled to stand up for Mr.&Mrs. Smith, a movie which I thoroughly enjoyed and subsequently purchased. I am truly shocked to see how much it appears to be disliked and even despised by other Pajiba readers, while I for one was delighted to see it make the list.
As an action flick, it really was not bad - I have seen many worse ones, and the snappy dialogue plus sexual tension made it fun and interesting, to me.
Certainly Brad and Angelina are beautiful people, which helps. Possibly one reason I like the movie so much is that Angelina is one of my favorite actresses.
Please, don't be so hard on it. It's really not meant to be a gritty serious movie, just a cute one.
I feel much better having expressed those thoughts.
Excellent list... and terrific site. Vive l'Pajiba!
Posted by: Sofia at May 2, 2007 11:13 PM
Im pretty sure this was mentioned but Predator should've been on this list.
Posted by: Candy at May 3, 2007 12:20 AM
Im pretty sure this was mentioned but Predator should've been on this list.
Posted by: Candy at May 3, 2007 12:25 AM
umm, hello? where the fuck is everyone's balls? how can you mention inspirations without putting them in the top 15.
im talking mainly about:
The Dirty Dozen
Straw Dogs
The Wild Bunch
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Rambo? youre just gonna suck arnolds weiner and reject stallone.
Eraser
Con Air
The Rock
Broken Arrow
Posted by: brandt at May 3, 2007 1:22 AM
well not so much the last 4...but how dare you leave out Slater and Travolta
Posted by: brandt at May 3, 2007 1:23 AM
I agree with the full list (Even Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but where is...
Long Kiss Goodnight (Geena Davis & Sam Jackson bliss)
Equilibrium (Christian Bayle kicking so much ass)
Robocop 9Kurtwood Smith as the greatest psycho with a shotgun ever and Ronny Cox)
Predator ("I ain't got time to bleed.")
Split Second ("We need to get bigger guns. BIG FUCKING GUNS!")
The Road Warrior ('The Ayatolloh of Rock and Rollah...")
Under Siege (Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey going so far over the top)
???
Posted by: Adam C at May 3, 2007 1:49 AM
What about "They Live?" That movie has the longest fist fight in movie history (i'm guessing) all over a stupid pair of sunglasses. Granted you can see aliens with em but...
"I'm here to kick some ass and chew some bubblegum. And I'm all out of bubblegum!"
classic
Posted by: trixie at May 3, 2007 1:53 AM
also
Big Trouble in Little China, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, The Thing, and Red Dawn.
Posted by: Adam C at May 3, 2007 1:53 AM
I'm amazed that Dirty Harry wasn't on the list. Whats even more amazing is that nobody mentioned it yet before. Come on, that movie influenced just about every action movie ever made after it and it also has just about the most badass monologue of all time (the entire thing leading up to the "Do I feel lucky?" line). Rambo II, as the most absurd, over the top action movie that I've ever seen, should have been included too.
Posted by: Zac at May 3, 2007 2:21 AM
You've covered most of the bases, so good on you. I can't agree with Matrix in the top 15. Aside from the opening sequence, most of the action suuuuucked long "invisible" wires. That laughable Keanu learns kung fu scene just killed it for me.
Yeah, where is Bruce Lee?
How soon they forget Crouching Tiger. Or for variety, how about Hero or House of Flying Daggers?
A big finger in the french fries for whomever forgot The Hitcher.
Posted by: Janis at May 3, 2007 3:13 AM
The original, that is.
Posted by: Janis at May 3, 2007 3:15 AM
What about "Crank"? Absolutely mindless but talk abotu non-stop action
Posted by: Tariq at May 3, 2007 3:34 AM
Generally a great list, but I'm yet another Pajiban who didn't get the inclusion of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Love the premise, love the fights, love the eye candy...but Angelina Jolie's performance pulls me right out of the movie. She drops many of her lines halfway through (what was she supposed to be saying to Brad as they were swapping drivers in the minivan?), and she does a couple of ridiculous high-school-actor affectations (the whole pounding her head against the headrest, "keep it together" thing in her car as she's leaving the restaurant and talking to Brad on speakerphone).
Aaaaanyway.
I would also have included The Long Kiss Goodnight for all the reasons stated above, plus Craig Bierko and David Morse are hot. That is all.
Posted by: Jen at May 3, 2007 4:31 AM
IMHO female opinion on this subject can be disregarded. Mr. and Ms. Smith, Long Kiss Goodnight and even Riders shouldn't even be near this list. Here's the REAL list:
Commando
Terminator
Rambo
Predator
Die Hard
Dirty Harry
Death Wish
Robocop
Unforgiven
Posted by: Red Devil at May 3, 2007 9:23 AM
No list is ever perfect, but for a top 15 yours is a good one. But their were some glaring omssions.......
NO Clint Eastwood? Not one of his flicks?
NO Rambo?Come on......
NO Chuck Norris? Come on, he went back to Vietnam after the war is over and got some pay back. Got to be noteworthy.
NO James Bond????
Aliens? Hmmmm, I'd go with The Transporter.
No Bullets involved but what about Bravehart, 300, Enter the Dragon?
Last but not least.......
Where's GRINDHOUSE???????
IT HAD BULLETS, GIRLS, BLOOD, MUSCLE CARS, AND STUNT MAN BOB!!!!! (Best work by Kurt Russell since his Snake Pliskin & Tango & Cash days)
Still good list. I'll add a link today on my blog...
Posted by: Walter at May 3, 2007 9:25 AM
Interesting list. It's tough to call "best" action flicks since there's such a huge range. But no matter what the criteria, "The Killer" should be my number one (have you seen the Mandarin version with 20 extra minutes? And almost none of it is action? It's awesome. And CYF did his own dubbing.)
Missing in action:
Run Lola Run (Franka!)
Gonin (Beat Takeshi rules the action genre)
Yojimbo
Boondock Saints
Long Kiss Goodnight
Posted by: JH Maximumm at May 3, 2007 10:48 AM
I'm surprised no one has brought this up, but why is Layer Cake on this list?
Don't get me wrong, it is a fabulous movie. I've liked it since I first saw it, I own it, and I've introduced my friends to it, but action? Balls to the wall, adreneline pumping, explosions and fire fights and one liners galore?
That's what I think of when I think of action. Layer Cake was smooth, but it didn't have as much action, as, say, Casino. Hell, casino had at least had a car blowing up.
Layer cake is a cops and robbers crime drama in the vein of Scorcese and Guy Ritchie. To mention Die Hard and Commando n the same article is tantamount to blasphemy.
Not necessarily bad blasphemy, but blasphemy all the same. It doesn't belong on the list.
But again, let me stress the point that I think it is a great movie.
but it isn't an action movie.
Posted by: some guy at May 3, 2007 12:37 PM
HORRIBLE list! This is not the 'best action flicks of all time' rather, you seemed to comprise a list of 'the best movies with action in them'.
How can you include Layer Cake, or Leon - and then in your synopsis list the movies' poignant yet unviolent attributes. I'm not arguing as to whether or not those are good films, but they certainly are not action films. I'd say about 9 films on the list are dead-on, but 5-6 have no place.
Predator deserved a mention. Its 3 acts are stellar. Men vs. Men; Men vs. Alien; Man vs. Alien/self - the last 30 mins have next to zero dialogue and yet the tension builds throughout.
If you were truly going to make an Action movie list you have to include van-Damme and Seagal (80s-ness aside they played an integral part in action films.
Posted by: CoolWhip at May 3, 2007 12:59 PM
Honorable Mention- Kung Fu Hustle.
Don't fuckin' look at me like that, I'm serious.
Posted by: that bees chick at May 3, 2007 1:22 PM
Oh yeah, and Ronin. I loved that movie.
Posted by: that bees chick at May 3, 2007 1:26 PM
Awwww, come on -- I loved Mr and Mrs Smith. Sexy + action-y + actually give a shit about the characters = happy me
Posted by: Heqit at May 3, 2007 1:45 PM
Did I miss something? Where's Road Warrior? I mean come on!! ROAD WARRIOR?!?!?!? You want to talk about seminal generation defining movies? Who didn't want to be a post apocolyptic desert pirate and drive a semi-trailer full speed down the highway with a horde of ugly footbalshoulderpad wearing biker thugs after seeing that one? I mean Speed? How is a speeding bus better than Mad Max in a Semi? How? Oh, despair....
Posted by: Brian at May 3, 2007 2:21 PM
"IMHO female opinion on this subject can be disregarded."
Classy. Yeah, I can't believe they let Agent Bedhead participate in this guide, can you?
Posted by: Mentalepsy at May 3, 2007 7:33 PM
Bullitt, assholes.
Posted by: Flannery at May 3, 2007 9:15 PM
Dude, where is Hard Boiled?
Posted by: Todd at May 3, 2007 11:20 PM
No District B-13 or Brotherhood of the Wolf?
Posted by: Brett at May 4, 2007 12:49 AM
Minus ten points for including Layer Cake and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (sorry, terrible movie, I thought), but add on 20 for including the wonderful and amazing The Killer.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of my favorite movies... but I think I'm the only person that didn't hate Matrix: Reloaded. Hated Revolutions though x_X
T2 is pretty much one of the best movies ever.
I also would have loved to see Predator on here, though :x And having a list with Commando and no Rambo does seem rather... out of place.
And fellow Pajiba visitors, I love me some Christian Bale, but Equilibrium is much more of a sci-fi mood piece than an action film, imo. Much too quiet in a lot of scenes to keep the adrenaline rushing.
Honorable mention for 300! I've never seen so many guys dying on screen, that's pretty amazing.
Posted by: AD at May 4, 2007 4:30 AM
I was waiting for Face Off to show up too...but it didn't. That's one of my favorite action movies
Posted by: dene at May 4, 2007 11:19 AM
Oh yeah. Con Air is the shit!
Posted by: soda at May 4, 2007 11:27 AM
ommisions?
ROAD HOUSE- i love that shit!
under siege
hard to kill
timecop
point break
Posted by: DanR at May 4, 2007 11:47 AM
i forgot bloodsport
Posted by: danr at May 4, 2007 11:48 AM
WTF?
Ronin!
How in Hell could you have drakh like Desperado and Speed on a list of action movies and not include Ronin?
It has all of the elements you said were basic to the quintessential action movie, and an actual fucking plot and a series of kick-ass performances by the cast and pairs Jean Reno with Robert de-fucking-Niro!
WTF?
Posted by: wenchmaster at May 4, 2007 5:19 PM
While I'm on the subject, why not Brother or Grosse Pointe Blank?
Haven't yet seen Layer Cake or The Killer, but I will on the strength of your recommendation.
But seriously, take Speed and Desperado out back, shoot them, then feed their corpses to the pigs.
Posted by: wenchmaster at May 4, 2007 5:27 PM
What about 48 Hrs?
Posted by: Slouchmonkey at May 4, 2007 8:24 PM
I've only seen a few of these movies (and of those few, I agree with your choices of KBI&II, and especially Leon, but... Mr. and Mrs. Smith? What were you thinking? Action, yeah, but... kind of embarrasing, isn't it?
However more embarrasing it might be for me to say so, I think something like Equilibrium deserves to be on this list a hell of a lot more than a hey-look-it's-Brangelina publicity whore-off spectacular.
No Ong Bak? No Shiri? I love you, Pajiba, but this is just awful. I don't know if I can forgive you for not including Shiri.
Posted by: Lola at May 5, 2007 1:33 AM
Oh, and I'm retarded for not remembering 300 should be on there as well. It had giant fucking rhinos that people were riding on, and Xerxes was like twenty feet tall, and people flew and kicked messengers into pits and it was badass and after viewing it made me want to yell at everyone I ran into who slightly annoyed me, "THIS! IS! SPARTAAAAAA!" before kicking them in the stomach while my thigh muscles rippled in exquisite joy. Movies that make 100 pound girls fantasize about having rippling thigh muscles and riding a giant rhino into battle while wearing a loincloth are more than just movies.
Last point: While the initial scenes in Casino Royale were incredible, the rest of the movie left a lot to be desired. I want to see people getting their heads smashed over urinals, not hours of bloody poker or go fish or whatever the hell they were playing.
Posted by: Lola at May 5, 2007 1:55 AM
Movies that make 100 pound girls fantasize about having rippling thigh muscles and riding a giant rhino into battle while wearing a loincloth are more than just movies.
Nice to know I'm not alone, Lola!
Posted by: Ranylt at May 5, 2007 9:39 AM
[i]"Last point: While the initial scenes in Casino Royale were incredible, the rest of the movie left a lot to be desired. I want to see people getting their heads smashed over urinals, not hours of bloody poker or go fish or whatever the hell they were playing."[/i]
Finally, someone else who thought Casino Royale was a drag. I had high hopes for the rest of the film after the awesome chase scene at the beginning, but to me, it was tedious, unengaging and way too long.
Posted by: Mentalepsy at May 5, 2007 11:27 AM
Oops. Pretend I used the correct brackets there. I've been playing on message boards too long.
Posted by: Mentalepsy at May 5, 2007 11:29 AM
"IMHO female opinion on this subject can be disregarded."
Just because I have more estrogen than you do doesn't mean I don't have testosterone in my body somewhere.
That said...
Darnit, I miss watching action movies! I've seen 90% of that list and pretty much agree with it (even with the controversial Mr and Mrs Smith). Some omissions in my book:
Total Recall
The Rock
Ronin
300 (Movies that make 100 pound girls fantasize about having rippling thigh muscles and riding a giant rhino into battle while wearing a loincloth are more than just movies. Amen!)
James Bond film! (My dad loved them, and I remember watching them before I was old enough to actually see them and thinking that they were the best movies I'd ever seen)
And I don't know if this would actually qualify as an action film in your eyes, but the Japanese movie Battle Royale was one of the best bloodbaths I'd ever seen. Not to mention having a teenager tote around a machine gun...
Posted by: bloodsugar at May 14, 2007 9:47 AM
I watched District B13 for the first time last night, thanks to the recommendation of several Pajiba commenters, and it is the unrelenting, high energy kick-ass action film that a piece of garbage like Crank (sorry Stratham fans) dreams of being. It definitely deserves at least an honorable mention here. And yes, it is MUCH better than Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Posted by: bartap at May 24, 2007 2:23 AM
Have you ever seen Versus? That's my number one. Or BAttle Royal? Hahaha. Speed Made it tho.. Cause that really makes sense............ Good call on The Professional.. And el mariachi should have made it instead of Desperado
Posted by: Steve at May 25, 2007 6:58 AM
Layer Cake was an obvious unoriginal rip-off of Snatch and Lock Stock and you put it on the list. Most of the list was so right, how could you get this so wrong? Daniel Craig ain't the next big thing, he's totally done.
Posted by: Tony at June 5, 2007 6:22 PM
This is my first time to pajiba and let me just say, to the people who compiled this list and to the people who have commented: I love you guys! Seeing that so many people loved the cheesy action movies I do simply made my day. I'm a fan of this site now; you'll never get rid of me. Never!
Posted by: J.S. Peyton at July 24, 2007 11:50 AM
Pretty good list, and I agree with most of your choices. Commando is pretty cheesy, but hey, if that's your thing... And Lethal Weapon has got to be one of the dumbest movies ever made. What kind of an idiot drives his car through the wall of HIS OWN HOUSE?!
I would have put Terminator on there, instead of T2. The second one was well-made, to be sure, but the story was just a rehash of the first one. And I definitely would not have put Mr. and Mrs. Smith on the list. I don't care how beautiful they are, watching those two wander around a big sanitized house is not my idea of fun.
I can only assume you had some kind of no-martial-arts rule going on, since Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Hero, Kung Fu Hustle, and The Crow weren't on there. I mean, not even ONE them? Not even Enter the Dragon, for Pete's sake?
And for an action movie with - gasp! - depth, I recommend The Train, with Burt Lancaster. A kick-ass, mano-a-mano battle with a Nazi colonel for the soul of the French people, and the last thirty minutes will have you on the edge of your seat.
Posted by: Todd at July 25, 2007 5:35 PM
Sweet jesus- the only harm I wanted to commit after Speed was a bullet to my own head. There's so many movies full of guns, guts, and gore (and plot, and character development) that outrank some of the Hollywood fluff on this list.
What about Miike and Kitano? And I haven't seen any mention of Park Chan-Wook, and nothing makes me want to fuck someone up more than an nice evening curled up on my couch watching Lee Guem-ja blast the shit out of someone who really deserves it.
The no manga/comic book rule is a shame, because what is action if not the hammer fight scene in Oldboy? Or the knife fight in V for Vendetta? Or any five minutes of Ichi the Killer?
That aside, for pure nut-twisting I recommend Hard Candy. It's not traditional action but it did make me comtemplate becoming an assassin, and I lamented for three whole days what a waste I made of my teenage years. (I could have been doing castrations?!? Should have paid more attention in science class...)
Posted by: niko at July 27, 2007 8:34 PM
Great list indeed,you choose really well if lethal weapon,indiana jones,die hard and bourne identity are all there,yeah you choose really good!!!But i dont see what makes peaple thing that Die Hard beats Lethal Weapon and that it created genre,Lethal weapon has similiar style,simply over the top atmosphere,and it was year BEFORE die hard!!!!So no way could die hard create that style of whole genre,it was lethal weapon!!!!And thats not all,lethal weapon is also better,there are more superoriginal scenes than in any other movie exept maybe Raiders.Superoriginal are those which you dont see in any other movie,like bomb on toilet atd...So great list,but i would put Lethal weapon and Indy on top,not Die hard!!!!!Lethal weapon was the first movie i saw after Die Hard that i said was similiar and that i said was better!!!!!So for me its forever SUCCESOR TO DIE HARD and if you ask me for which lethal weapon is worthy succesor for me i will tell you for Die hard!!!!!Martin Riggs is more original than John McClane anyday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I also love Indiana jones and Bourne Identity,and i would of course put there some James Bond too...
Posted by: Mad Holman at August 27, 2007 11:11 AM
Predator for Commando. Underrated, brilliant acting and directing.
"Ain't got time to bleed..."
Possibly the best quote in the world.
Robocop for Speed. Sorry - no contest there.
Not seen Mr and Mrs Smith, so can't comment. Big Trouble in Little China is awesome and worth owning.
One film no one has mentioned, which I personally find very enjoyable: Drive (1997, Mark Dacascos). I wouldn't put in my top 15 but I would highly (highly) recommend it for fighting action.
Posted by: b0se at October 3, 2007 7:23 PM
sweet list man, how bout this take all 3 lord of the rings, cut out all the talking and bullshit leave just enough to tie all the battles together and u got 1 kick ass movie let me know what u think. 300 gotta be up there that shit is killer. die hard kicks ass
Posted by: jokey Chingee at October 9, 2007 11:01 PM
