ALL TIME BEST ACTION MOVIES

 THE BEST ACTION MOVIES OF ALL TIME 

It's time to get crazy coming at you in two parts these are our picks for the 10 best action films of all time  , best action movies - imdb

The first half of this we wanted to look at some of the larger subgenres inside of the high-adrenaline umbrella that is the cinematic world of action sorry great action horrors action romances and action faith films you're gonna have to find homes inside other categories these are only for the biggies and speaking of other things we aren't looking at today superhero movies we're saving them for a later list but in terms of what we are looking at 

first up is the action-comedy and my god is it a beast of a category here from 

1. Sherlock jr.  

2. 21 Jump Street

3. Starship Troopers

4. Attack the block

5. Men in black 

6. Tropic thunder

7. The good The bad The weird

There's an entire buddy comedy sub-sub-genre in here with movies like

1. Lethal Weapon

 

2. Bad boys

3. 48 hours 

4. The nice guys

we freaking love the work of Stephen Chow especially his

1. kung fu hustle 

2. journey to the west

of Edgar Wright especially in his never vested action parody 

1. Hot Fuzz 

all of Jackie Chan's lighter work and we went back and forth on a number of films from all three of these action comedy artisans but at the end of the day there was just an irrepressible special place in our hearts for 

The legend of  the drunken master 

drunken master 2 is about as brilliant in action-comedy as there ever could be and we've talked about it before notably It final flight see but almost every a single moment of combat and there are lots put most other action comedies to shame and that's because it manages to sit astride both of its - its sub-genre components as an action movie and a comedy such that one side strengthens the other action makes the comedy better and vice-versa it isn't a good action film at the expense of being a good comedy and it isn't alternately funny and full throttle it is both together at the same time driven by the exact same engine this averaged martial artist gets better the The drunker he gets and the drunker he gets the better the action becomes the The more absurd the whole thing is the more we're laughing it's an action-comedy the perfect storm which is why it's the true Jim of the sub shop 

let's turn now to the science fictionalized world of action where the best examples will be those that use the peculiarities of future tech to expand the creativity of their carnage here we find 

1. Snowpiercer

2. Escape from New York

3. The edge of tomorrow

4. Inception

5. Minority Report

6. Upgrade

look it wasn't a perfect movie but recently Aleta had some pretty awesome action in it but standing a top the sub-genre we find three clear standouts that we spent an an uncomfortable amount of time going back and forth between they are

1. Aliens 

2. The matrix

3. Terminator 2 

pick get down much like drunken master T-2 straddles both its sub-genre elements in a way that maximizes their synergy it sets up its story premise with time travel develops its combat with a robot on robot badassery and even flesh out its human moments through the improbable pairing of boy and AI Guardian and every a single one of these elements works perfectly Terminator was already a fantastic action film but in t2 the set pieces are second to none Arni has never had a better role and oh god is the t-1000 a perfectly engineered villain t2 was earth-shattering in an era of action movies breaking ground combining ingenious practical effects with ILM latest wizardry with an endless watch ability that endures to this day 

Next up we look to the best of the war films we get to mostly skate past incredible non-starters that aren't quite action an enough like 

1. Apocalypse Now 

2. The Deer Hunter

3. Battle of Britain 

4. Platoon

 

5. Lone survivor

6. Cross of iron 

We find excellent have actions in the form of zero dark thirty 

The Hurt Locker

especially Saving Private Ryan indifferent times in places we find excellent more action in 

1. Braveheart

2. 300 

3. Run 

But for our third pick on this list and by action movie criteria alone we actually think no one has done it better than Ridley Scott in 

Black Hawk Down  

let's just set aside what are some legitimate questions about representation so we can focus on luck Blackhawk down does write the action and fortunately for us, there's about two solid hours up it is essentially a near-constant cascade of battles and skirmishes punctuated by the occasional brief dialogue and each successive set the piece is as awesome as it is Scott brothers colorful Scott manages the rare a feat of engaging you at the level of the strategic in the command tent watching the map change from the height of the the helicopter of the tactical seeing how various charts work together to address challenges and tackle obstacles and the creative team has driven way and in the individual feeling for each exchange of bullets and soldier injured it is an astonishingly complicated balancing act that only very occasionally manages not to juggle all three balls at once across its entire length sustaining a constant nerve-wracking tension and rhythm of serious adrenaline all the while

Next we turn to action-adventure but first what really is action-adventure it's honestly hard to say and we're not entirely sure but you know it when you see it you know it's gonna take you somewhere exciting you know it's gonna be a little funny along the way and most of the time it's not rated on it's 

1. The mummy 

2. Pirates of the Caribbean 

3. The Adventures of Robin Hood

4. The Great Escape

5. North by Northwest 

6. Star Wars 

7. Jurassic Park 

 

8. The fugitive

9. Raiders of the Lost Ark 

But we think you can find adventurous action at its absolute best in the recent 

Mad Max fury road

who here is even one bad thing to say about George Miller's high-octane crowning jewel can see it visually from go with panels rather than words cutting-edge CGI well-hidden emits real practical mayhem that harkens back to the best parts of an earlier era filmmaking vast in its creativity and the world-building that suggests backstory and consequences extending far beyond the runtime and frame the latest Mad Max truly is a masterpiece of action there is such unbelievable attention to detail in its rhythm and tight race that Miller seems to magically guide your attention to just the right things for just the the right amount of time for maximum coherence there are about 10,000 things happening at once yet you never once lose track there is a mastery of craft on display here that is rare indeed and it doesn't hurt either that the character and the a story that craft is being employed to illustrate happen to be certifiably batshit awesome 

Rounding out the first half of our list we want to take our intermission only after a fitting first act climax at the epic action film with the size and scale and volume all turned up to 11 combining the vastness of the adventure film with the conflict size of the war film and there aren't a ton of films that can pull this off but the ones that do are those like 

1. Alexander Nevsky 

2. The Seahawk 

3. BEN-HUR

4. Lawrence of Arabia 

5. The Lord of the Rings

6. Gladiator 

7. The gangs of wasseypur

 absolutely belongs in this part of the conversation as the Bollywood action film answer to The Godfather as does love exposure for its length and tonal scope alone

however to cap things off for today we don't think there's a better made more exciting and forever enduring action film 

Seven Samurai 

 there's a reason we keep talking about Kula Sawa's Seminole samurai film here movie lists it does just about everything you'd ever want an epic to do and how it's got comedy-drama romance action-adventure pathos heartbreak team-building plan-making entire village train Kikuchi oz bare buns show-stopping skirmishes in a the rain-soaked final battle sequence that shots simply and clearly and without VFX and yet still manages some all-time great levels of excitement it's all the complex whole team action dramatics of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in one single movie it's got one of cinema's best heroic journeys and its power pick one of the best action films of all time are one

so what do you think disagree with any of our picks do we leave out any of your favorite action films let us know in the comments below so we can steal all your ideas and claim them as our own in part two and be sure to subscribe for more we're real just kidding about stealing your ideas we already wrote it

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