Now that you’ve had a week to take it in, how are you feeling about EW’s countdown of the 25 best action movies ever?
Full disclosure: I’m not really an action-movie kind of girl. My brain tends to wander if there’s too much happening too fast, and then I start thinking of what I need to pick up from the grocery store (mmmm… bacon), and then I either (a) fall asleep or (b) suddenly snap out of my reverie and ask my annoyed husband exactly how the hell Johnny Depp got out of Davy Jones’ locker.
BUT: I was thrilled to see that a movie I do love, Die Hard, got the No. 1 spot. Other flicks I like that made the cut: Spider-Man 2, The Incredibles (inspired!), The Bourne Supremacy (call me, Matt Damon!), Crouching Tiger, and Speed.
What’s missing? I was surprised to see that William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning film The French Connection(1971), with its legendary car chase (pictured), didn’t make the cut.(By the way, there’s a ”how they did it” tribute to the sequence’ssound effects at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, worth checkingout if you’re in town.)
Anyway… enough about what I think. What about you, PopWatchers?What movies were missing from this list? What got ranked too high/toolow? Compliments/complaints welcome below.
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the killer, a better tomorrow most of the john woo, hong kong movies would do
heat!!!!!
I don’t know why, but I love Con Air. It is definitely my favorite action movie.
I’m not sure Heat really qualifies as an “action movie”, per se, but definately qualifies as one of the best, if not the best, crime dramas of the past 25 years. Plus it is unquestionably one of the most quotable movies ever made…..”Dont Waste My MUTHA F’N TIME!!!”
Definitely all three Terminator movies.
I’m surprised Ronin didn’t make the list…the car chase scene was more complicated than the French Connection and more plausible than Speed (at least we don’t see buses defying gravity in this movie).
i was so very perplexed about die hard being above everything else…it’s great, but really, not #1…then i remembered…of course there’s a new one to plug, let’s bestow an arbitrary award on this, oh and bruce willis is available for an interview, #1 with a bullet it is mr mcclane
Wow! Entertainment Weekly’s blog feattures an analysis of a list by… Entertainment Weekly!! Must be a slow news day, huh guys?
aka. “25 best American & Asian action movies, with the token Road Warrior mention, ever” And ‘Die Hard’ as number one? Hmmm, when does Die Hard 4.0 open? In bed with Fox & Bruce much?
Absolutely agree with Aliens.
Some of these films have great action SCENES, but they’re not what I would define as an ACTION FILMS.
I’ll label each film in the proper genre:
1. Die Hard – Action
2. Aliens – Sci-Fi
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark – Adventure
4. The Road Warrior – Action
5. The Matrix – Sci-Fi
6. Seven Samurai – Historical Epic
7. Gladiator – Historical Epic
8. Saving Private Ryan – War
9. Hard-Boiled – Action
10. Terminator 2: Judgement Day – Sci-Fi
11. Speed – Action
12. The Empire Strikes Back – Sci-Fi
13. The Wild Bunch – Western
14. RoboCop – Sci-Fi
15. Enter The Dragon – Martial Arts
16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Martial Arts
17. The Bourne Supremacy – Spy
18. The Adventures of Robin Hood – Adventure
19. Goldfinger – Spy
20. Kill Bill – Vol. 1 – Action
21. Spider-Man 2 – Comic Book
22. Predator – Sci-Fi
23. Druken Master II – Martial Arts
24. Lethal Weapon – Action
25. The Incredibles – Comic Book
That’s only six films I would define as pure action movies.
I like that you included The Incredibles, The 3 Die Hards are good and Terminator 2 is one of the best.
Pirates of the caribbean! Any of them, but mostly “The curse of the Black Pearl” The swashing! the Bucking! The swords! And I havn’t seen anything yet to match the final seas battle in “At World’s End”.
Where’s Face/Off??? Braveheart???
As I went through this list, I was pretty sure that something wasn’t quite right. Then I saw that Terminator 2 was only at number 10…one ahead of Speed. Are you kidding me? How can anyone look at those two movies and then put them on a list right next to each other?
It is amazing, the amount of love that Sly Stallone DOESN’T receive. Rambo: First Blood Pt. II should be in the top five of EW’s action list, not at #35 on “best of the rest” list.
How many movies since Rambo have we seen where the hero who has a tortured past is also the best at killing? How many movies have we seen where the hero or heroine who is grossly outnumbered, relies on his/hers physical prowess, wits, and combat knowledge to overcome impossible odds.
If it wasn’t for John Rambo, there wouldn’t be a John McCLane or a Jason Bourne (at least the movie version). And yes, Rambo predates Jason Bourne in both literature and film.
Oh and by the way, since EW is mixing genre’s on their action list, another George P. Cosmatos film that should be on the list along with Rambo: First Blood Pt. II, is Tombstone.
Woah… “Gladiator” is NOT a historical epic. Just because something is based in the past, does not make it historical.
And considering that “The Incredibles” was never a comic book, how is it a comic book movie? Animation doesn’t automatically give it a berth in the comic book genre.
Hey Ricky…the Category Police are looking for a new deputy. You might want to check it out.
For straight up action – Van Damme in Lionhear or Hard Target (John Woo) and Segal in Out for Justice. Most of their movies suck — but those were fantastic
I don’t understand how Die Hard places above Raiders. I mean Raiders practically invented the category. And I know it came out just this past year but I would think Casino Royale would beat out The Incredibles on an action movie list.
That EW forgot Lord of the Rings and Batman Begins is indicative of selective viewing.
When the person making the listed “Hard-Boiled” as being better than “The Killer” and then told the readers to shut up, it’s because he knew he was being silly and we would call him out on it; “The Killer” is hands down John Woo’s best flick. Also, I love “Die Hard”, but it was pretty obvious when they made this list in honor of the new installment that this was gonna be #1. Predictable, I would have picked “Aliens” or “Speed”. Also, how could “The French Connection” not have made the cut? That IS the best car chase ever: Almost fifteen minutes long and ALL real!
Since we’re operating under a pretty broad definition of action, I’ll toss two out there that I like.
“Minority Report”: Yeah, I know it’s sci-fi, but it’s got a great opening sequence, as well as some great action sequences throughout (jet packs! cars riding up sides of buildings!)
“The Mask of Zorro”: I liked seeing the adventures of Robin Hood on the list, and “Zorro”s was kind of a callback to those old-fashioned, sword-fighting derring-do action movies.
When Air Force One didn’t make the top 25 I was SURE that it would be number 26. Imagine my disappointment when I checked back on Thursday for the rest of the list. Have you seen The Fugitive recently? It does not hold up well. There was some serious category fraud on this list. Just because a movie has action in it, does not make it an action movie. If I were a WWII veteran leaving the theatre after watching Saving Private Ryan, and I heard some idiot kid say “That was a great ACTION movie!” I would be pissed.
When Air Force One didn’t make the top 25 I was SURE that it would be number 26. Imagine my disappointment when I checked back on Thursday for the rest of the list. Have you seen The Fugitive recently? It does not hold up well. There was some serious category fraud on this list. Just because a movie has action in it, does not make it an action movie. If I were a WWII veteran leaving the theatre after watching Saving Private Ryan, and I heard some idiot kid say “That was a great ACTION movie!” I would be pissed.
I agreed with the list for the most part(your Master Killer omission is forgiven thanks to Enter the Dragon), but I disagree with the choice of Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon over Fong Sai Yuk 2.
THe Chinese made great high wire kung fu movies with romantic subplots long before Crouching Tiger, and to better effect.
Fong Sai Yuk II starred Jet Li. Not Chow Yun Fat pretending to be Jet Li.
The man climbs over a wall of 100 dudes and fights off multiple suitors to win the love of a woman who becomes his second wife.
All this while Fong does his best to juggle the Red Lotus society, his relationship with his first wife, his relationship with his mother, his surprise fight with a band of water reed riding Japanese Samurai, and a surreal final fight.
Canton’s “Man of the Year” kicks Coruching Tiger’s sorry little Tiger Butt out of the Cineplex. Just ask the Wu Tang Clan. Proteck Ya Neck!
Oh the irony…Die Hard #1 the week prior to DH4’s premiere. Yo guys should have waited to make your list next summer before the new Indiana Jones, thus guaranteeing Raiders it’s well deserved #1 spot.
I thought it was a pretty good list overall. I agree with the suggestion that Pirates of the Caribbean should have been on there. But only the first one. And what’s with Lethal Weapon being so low?
I think you guys at EW.com think far too highly of The Matrix, though. Not only was it the #1 Sci-fi film in the past 25 years, but it was quite high on this list, too. It wasn’t that great of a movie. I don’t argue that it shouldn’t be on either list because it should be on both, but it just seems like you guys like it a little too much.
I do love that you included Seven Samurai and The Incredibles. The Incredibles is possibly the most amazing bit of animation not to have come from Studio Ghibli.
This is ew’s most ridiculous list ever imho. Not only is it filled with boring kung fu movies, but Gladiator a film with poorly edited (choppy) overly dark and blurry action sequences is in the top ten. This while fellow oscar winner Braveheart a film which redefined the way in which large scale battles are shown in all their very graphic glory doesn’t make the top 50. I firmly believe that Braveheart set the standard for such battle scenes and that the glorious opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan is in it’s debt. It’s omission is a catastrophic demonstration of bad taste.
How do you include Spiderman 2, which isn’t even the best Spiderman film, ahead of X-Men United, a superior film, and the first 2 Superman films (which many still consider to be the best superhero movies ever made)? Finally how could you ignore Batman Begins which finally introduced the true legend to the silver screen?