50 Best Action Movies of All Time, Ranked

Let’s be honest: the best action movies are often better – or at least more entertaining – than the best movies from any other genre. Good action movies are worth celebrating, and that’s what the following list of titles aims to do: show the action genre at its very best. Adrenaline junkies and action fans should make it a priority to check out all the following, as they comprise what can be definitively declared the best action movies of all time. In celebration of what could be the most cinematic genre out there, here’s an overview of the action genre throughout the decades, and the movies that represent it best. With a mix of classics and newer films, the following is an attempt to rank some of the greatest action-packed movies of all time, with all being essential viewing for fans of the action genre.

50 ‘Coffy’ (1973)

Directed by Jack Hill

Few actors or actresses have ever been quite as cool as Pam Grier, especially when she was at the height of her popularity in the 1970s (though she had a great comeback in the 1990s, partly thanks to Jackie Brown). Of her early films, Coffy and Foxy Brown are likely Grier’s most iconic, with the former being the slightly stronger one overall, particularly for those after a satisfying crime/action movie.

Coffy sees a nurse taking matters into her own hands when the drugs and crime that surround her life overwhelm her, and she enacts vengeance against the various nefarious individuals responsible for such wrongdoing and hardships. It’s a no-nonsense approach to being a vigilante movie, but it all works exceedingly well, and Grier is more than up to the task of considerably elevating the already solid material found elsewhere in the film.

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49 ‘Sorcerer’ (1977)

Directed by William Friedkin

It’s always hard to top a film that’s already seen as a classic when it comes to doing a reboot/remake, and William Friedkin therefore had a difficult task ahead of him when it came to making Sorcerer. This 1977 film is a reimagining of The Wages of Fear, which is one of the best movies of the 1950s. Both films are white-knuckle thriller/adventure films, following individuals tasked with transporting highly explosive material across rough terrain.

It’s hard to say which is better between The Wages of Fear and Sorcerer, and it is safe to say that both are worth checking out for fans of the thriller/action genres. But Sorcerer is a little shorter and snappier, and it was made more recently (comparatively speaking), so its more surprising scenes hit harder and feel more visceral. It’s an intense and unnerving experience in all the best ways.

48 ‘Goldfinger’ (1964)

Directed by Guy Hamilton

Though it feels like the James Bond movies have been around forever, back in 1964, the film series was relatively new. In fact, Goldfinger was only the third of the bunch, but to this date, it’s still usually considered up there as one of the greatest movies featuring 007, and includes perhaps Sean Connery’s greatest single performance in the lead role out of all of them.

Narratively, Goldfinger is typical spy/adventure/action stuff, with the main villain having an ambitious plan that involves a heist at Fort Knox, the consequences of which intend to disrupt the entire world economy. Of course, Bond is the only person up to the task of stopping such a thing from happening, and he does this while traveling to exotic locales, charming beautiful women, and kicking/punching/shooting various adversaries for good measure. You know, classic 007 stuff.

47 ‘North by Northwest’ (1959)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Though he made many great movies throughout his time, few Alfred Hitchcock films can strictly be labeled as action movies. Most of the time, Hitchcock was focused on suspense, favoring the build-up to an explosion more than showing the explosion itself, for example. But then came North by Northwest, which was one of his most action-packed efforts and showed the filmmaker was more than capable of tackling that broadest and most wide-appealing of genres.

North by Northwest is also a thriller, an adventure movie, something of a comedy, and a film that doesn’t skimp on romance, with Cary Grant being paired excellently with the always delightful Eva Marie Saint. Both shine in scenes both comedic and action-focused in nature, and to this day, North by Northwest is simply a relentlessly fun ride about a desperate chase playing out in the wake of an ordinary man getting accused of being a spy.

46 ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ (2023)

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

It’s not the easiest thing in the world to label one of the Mission: Impossible movies as the best, as they all have different things to offer while having generally consistent action and sequences of impressive stunt work. The ever-committed Tom Cruise sought to outdo what had been done in previous installments with 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and the results were largely successful and genuinely thrilling.

Like any Mission: Impossible movie, the plot of Dead Reckoning Part One is a bit all over the shop and not too important, ultimately benefitting from an interesting AI villain and using what it has narratively to showcase some truly impressive sequences. It’s a movie that’s worth watching for the final act on board a train alone, but everything up until that point is also great, ensuring Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a top-tier action/adventure/thriller movie.

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45 ‘Why Don’t You Play in Hell?’ (2013)

Directed by Sion Sono

Yakuza movies tend to get pretty violent, but at the same time, few can hold up to the level of carnage and bloodshed on display in the over-the-topWhy Don’t You Play in Hell? (a movie that also might have one of the best titles in recent memory). It’s about a film crew going to great lengths to capture authenticity in the movie they’re making, which leads to them finding themselves in the middle of a genuine yakuza gang war.

It’s not the most serious of looks at the infamous Japanese criminal organization, but the yakuza movie is certainly one of the most entertaining and darkly funny. Balancing the bloody violence and comedy with some occasional drama and simple but compelling characters, Why Don’t You Play in Hell? is a winner overall, so long as you’re not too squeamish a viewer.

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44 ‘Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind’ (1980)

Directed by Tsui Hark

Speaking of violent, dark, and fairly wild movies, Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind is genuinely unlike anything else out there, and serves as one of the most uncompromising and cynical action/crime/thriller movies of all time. The lead characters comprise a trio of social outcasts who one day begin setting off explosives in public places, seemingly for a laugh, which catches the attention of a much more violent and ruthless young woman who wants to use them for her own violent means.

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (not to be mixed up with a certain Steven Spielberg movie) looks at social isolation, the tedium of life in the 20th century, terrorism, misanthropy, and the cruel nature of fate. It’s the sort of thing that’s unpredictable from scene to scene, and it moves at a good pace, all the while having brief bursts of uneasy violence and tense action. It’s not for everyone, but it deserves credit for how out there it’s willing to get.

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind is currently not available to stream, rent, or purchase in the U.S.

43 ‘Magnificent Warriors’ (1987)

Directed by David Chung

Michelle Yeoh is best known for starring in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Everything Everywhere All At Once (winning a well-deserved Oscar for the latter), but her filmography goes back surprisingly far. Something like Magnificent Warriors isn’t as well known as those aforementioned later films she starred in, but is amazing and underrated nonetheless, and certainly deserving of more love.

It delivers so much action within a relatively short runtime, and is one of those excellently paced movies belonging to this genre that somehow keeps on one-upping itself with every big scene. It takes place during a time of war, but focuses more on explosive action and entertaining spectacle than being a traditional war movie. There are also key places in Magnificent Warriors where one can see other films that may have influenced it, but that’s okay when such influences are remixed and reimagined the way they are during this entertaining ride of a film.

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42 ‘Revenge’ (2017)

Directed by Coralie Fargeat

When a movie has a simple title, it can be a relatively safe sign that it will also have a simple premise, and that’s definitely the case for Revenge, which is about revenge. Specifically, the individual seeking vengeance is a young woman who’s horrifically mistreated and then left to die in the desert by a trio of men. When she miraculously (and perhaps even supernaturally) survives, she goes about getting back at them in an exciting, cathartic, and sometimes stomach-churning fashion.

Revenge gets extremely brutal at times, and even those who are okay with 99% of violent/gory scenes may find a couple of points in this film to be too much (the self-surgery scenes look way too convincing; that’s all that needs to be said). Still, by committing to this simple premise and tackling it in such a visceral and stylish way, Revenge is a hard movie to forget or shake, and instantly established its director, Coralie Fargeat, as someone to keep an eye on going forward (especially considering this was only her feature film debut).

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41 ‘Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril’ (1972)

Directed by Buichi Saitō

Not to be mixed up with the similarly named Chuck Norris filmLone Wolf McQuade, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril is instead an installment in the legendary Lone Wolf and Cub samurai movie series. This is the fourth film that was made within that series, and somehow came out the same year that the first three did: 1972. It’s remarkable how quickly they were all churned out, considering how good they are.

Baby Cart in Peril continues the adventures of the revenge-seeking former executioner Ogami Itto and his young son, here being assigned with killing a notorious assassin while clashing with a feared clan of fighters. The plot isn’t always super necessary, with this Lone Wolf and Cub movie – like most of them – being most concerned with delivering bloody, over-the-top action and taking no prisoners in the process. In that sense, it’s a rousing success, and a blast to watch.

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40 ‘Last Hurrah for Chivalry’ (1979)

Directed by John Woo

Any discussion about great on-screen action is inevitably going to involve name-dropping John Woo one or several times. Few directors have delivered explosive shootouts quite as well as he has, but less well-celebrated are his efforts within the martial arts genre, and it’s one of his earliest movies – Last Hurrah for Chivalry – that shows his surprising knack for staging elaborate combat sequences that don’t contain firearms.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry is one of the most underrated action movies of its era, and an essential martial arts film for those who like this brand of action. Its plot can be convoluted, throwing together a group of skilled fighters and giving them all intense reasons to dislike each other and clash, but it never loses the plot entirely, and even if it did, most wouldn’t mind when the fight scenes are as good as they happen to be here.

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39 ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

While it’s not the only Indiana Jones movie worth bringing up when discussing great action movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is usually considered a series highlight, and likely to be either the second-favorite or favorite for most people. It retreads some familiar territory during this third time around for the titular roguish hero, but The Last Crusade does have an ace up its sleeve in the form of Sean Connery.

He’s paired expertly here with Harrison Ford’s protagonist, portraying Indy’s father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr., with their dynamic injecting a healthy dose of comedy into the proceedings and making this action/adventure film also feel like a buddy movie. That coupled with typically great action sensibilities from the ever-versatile Steven Spielberg ensures The Last Crusade is a great time, and one movie that manages to blend action with suitable amounts of humor and heart very well.

38 ‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird’ (2008)

Directed by Kim Jee-woon

Anyone who’s a fan of both action cinema and the classic Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly owes it to themselves to stop whatever they’re doing and watch The Good, The Bad, The Weird. It’s a Korean film that takes a similar premise to Sergio Leone’s legendary 1966 film and injects it with broader comedy and more over-the-top action, making for a relentless and dizzying viewing experience.

The characters of The Good, The Bad, The Weird inhabit a cruel world and are similarly hard-edged for survival’s sake, all the while scheming and competing to get to a hidden stash of treasure before anyone else. It’s a film that shows how you don’t, by any means, need to come up with a brand-new plot for a movie to have a reason to exist, as the presentation, emphasis on action, and style of The Good, the Bad, the Weird prove to be more than enough to make it feel fresh and unique.

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37 ‘Mad Max 2’ (1981)

Directed by George Miller

Though it feels, in hindsight, a bit like a feature-length warm-up for a certain 2015 film within the same series, Mad Max 2 is still an excellent action/sci-fi movie in its own right. Sometimes called The Road Warrior, Mad Max 2 takes the character and world of the first movie and does something radical with them, as while the original from 1979 was more of a revenge thriller that was surprisingly light on action, Mad Max 2 goes for broke and feels a great deal bigger.

And sure, the Mad Max series as a whole would wage into even more grand territory further down the road, but Mad Max 2 was pretty unreal for its time. The titular character clashes in a post-apocalyptic landscape with a foe known as Lord Humungus, who lives up to his name and becomes a great source of conflict, leading to a ton of action crammed into a runtime that’s only a little over an hour-and-a-half long.

36 ‘A Touch of Zen’ (1971)

Directed by King Hu

A Touch of Zen could well be definable as a fantasy movie, as it gets pretty mystical in parts and has an overall strange and otherworldly atmosphere. While it does eventually reveal itself to be a rather fantastic martial arts movie, it’s a patient film that takes some time to get to the action, so to speak. For the first hour or so of the fantasy-action movie’s mammoth three-hour runtime, there’s little to no action to be found.

Instead, A Touch of Zen is all about atmosphere and is dedicated to being a slow-burn, though once the action does start, it’s spellbinding to watch. The plot is fairly straightforward overall, being about a woman on the run and how she joins forces with a group of monks to eventually stand up to those pursuing her, but it’s the execution that makes the film special, and an undeniably essential watch for any and all martial arts fans.

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35 ‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

The Dune duology has two distinct halves, with 2021’s Dune being mostly focused on world-building and set-up before having a more action-heavy final act. Dune: Part Two isn’t necessarily constant action and fighting, but it has noticeably more compared to the first film. Characters are established, the stakes have been set, and the climactic action here is even bigger and more spectacular than comparable scenes found in the first movie.

Denis Villeneuve uses Dune: Part Two to further demonstrate his mastery of the science fiction genre, with both Dune movies standing together to be an immense and amazing epic blending adventure, sci-fi, drama, and action to stunning effect. Dune: Part Two isn’t just an action movie by any means, but that side of it impresses more than enough for it to be considered a great action film alongside being an excellent sci-fi flick.

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34 ‘The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter’ (1984)

Directed by Lau Kar-leung

Like the aforementioned Touch of Zen, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter is another absolutely essential martial arts movie classic that’s lost none of its impact in the decades since its original release. The plot is minimal, all things considered, with The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter’s narrative essentially boiling down to an elongated and bloody quest for revenge on the part of one inexperienced martial artist (who soon becomes very experienced) after a violent and bloody betrayal.

It might be a little unclear what all the hype is about surrounding The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter at first, but viewers should stick with this one for the long haul. The final 15 to 20 minutes delivers some of the best and most brutal action sequences in the history of the action genre, and it’s all a sight to behold (so long as one isn’t looking away from the screen, owing to all the surprisingly gruesome violence that still feels a little hard to watch to this day).

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33 ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ (1985)

Directed by William Friedkin

When it comes to the filmography of the legendary William Friedkin, you can’t really go wrong with much of what’s there. And sure, his best efforts were probably from the 1970s (looking at you, The French Connection and The Exorcist), but beyond that decade, his best single film might well be that of To Live and Die in L.A., which is a gritty blend of crime/action/thriller genres that feels of its time, yet also somehow timeless.

Like a great many action movies, the plot here never gets too complex, more or less being focused on one man’s quest for revenge against an elusive criminal after his Secret Service agent partner is killed in cold blood. To Live and Die in L.A. is relentless, violent, and unpredictable, and delivers some seriously impressive action within its runtime, including an all-time great car chase sequence.

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32 ‘Hero’ (2002)

Directed by Zhang Yimou

For a movie that’s got a title as simple as Hero, this 2002 martial arts epic does have a surprisingly complex and intricate structure, even if the plot itself isn’t too convoluted, at the end of the day. Things revolve around one hugely talented warrior detailing how he took down three assassins in rapid succession, each playing out through a series of gorgeously filmed and quite stunning flashbacks.

Once the stories are over, other things transpire that aren’t worth spoiling, but the overall structure and slow-burn narrative building in the film’s present does somewhat mimic the storytelling found in Masaki Kobayashi’sHarakiri. Hero is a good deal more action-centered than that iconic samurai drama movie, though, and is worth a watch for just how visually beautiful it is alone (that the action is also very good honestly just feels like icing on the cake).

31 ‘Drunken Master II’ (1994)

Directed by Lau Kar-leung

It’s impossible to talk about great action movies without bringing up the legendary Jackie Chan, who’s been in so much (and many of those titles get underrated/overlooked). One of his earlier starring roles was in Drunken Master, and while that film was a more than a solid piece of martial arts entertainment, its eventual sequel, 1994’s Drunken Master II (sometimes known as Legend of the Drunken Master) was a significant improvement in almost every regard.

This 1994 flick is funnier and far more bombastic when it comes to action, delivering some huge sequences where Chan’s character and an ally take on dozens of foes, as well as a climactic fight where Jackie Chan fights another skilled martial artist in a scene that feels like it never ends, all the while continually escalating. Those who aren’t familiar with martial arts outside American cinema ought to make watching the martial arts classic Drunken Master II a priority, because it does undoubtedly represent this genre at its best.

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