I had a lot of fun watching Edge of Tomorrow.
When I saw Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in a mech suit, I don’t even care what it is about, I just have to watch it multiple times.
Been rewatching it at least once every year.
I’m not often into action and even I enjoyed that one, so I’m going to second that vote.
For me personally it’s “Dredd”, but to be fair I am also a sci-fi fan in general.
I guess besides that “the raid”, “Kill Bill” and the first “John wick” probably have to be up there.
Fury Road probably
Clearly it’s The Matrix, that only came out ten years ago, right? Fifteen, tops
Oh…
I think Fury Road, RRR, and The Raid: Redemption are easily the top 3.
The Villainess, Crank, and Shoot ‘Em Up are also contenders.
In some kind of rough order from those I’ve seen:
- Kung-fu Hustle
- Blade II
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Battle Royale
- Hero (2002)
- Tokyo Gore Police
- Old Boy (2003)
- House of Flying Daggers
- Shanghai Noon
- Versus
- Minority Report
- Kill Bill 1 and 2
- Hellboy
- Serenity
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
- Equilibrium
- Spider-Man (2002) and the other Raimi offerings
- Once Upon a Time in Mexico
- Smokin’ Aces
- Ong Bak
- IP Man
- Banlieue 13
- District 9
- Batman Begins and other Nolan Bat films
- Meatball Machine
- Machine Girl
- Night Watch (and Day Watch)
- Shoot 'Em Up
- Children of Men
- V for Vendetta
- Resident Evil
- Iron Man
- Sin City
- Crank
- Shaolin Soccer
- Hot Fuzz
- Zatoichi (2003)
- Underworld
- Æon Flux
- Zebraman
Worst:
- League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- House of the Dead 2 - I had to bump up my rating for House of the Dead so I could give this the lower rating
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they’re all bangers
My criteria was if I had some free time and the film came to mind, would I go “hell yeah, get that on!”.
they cover many genres and styles
Which made it tricky picking one favourite as they are very different. I gave Kung-fu Hustle the top slot because it is so good but it is a bit niche and some of the others make better recommendations to people depending on their taste in films. Versus is probably got a higher position than most people would give it but I was obsessed with the film when it came out and it would lead, by circuitous routes, to the films I describe as New Japanese Gore (Tokyo Gore Police, Meatball Machine and Machine Girl make this list too).
you’re the only one so far who understands that the 2000’s are a decade.
Yeah, I was a bit confused by that “2000s” is a decade but “so far” suggests they meant “of the 21st Century” or “since the Millennium”. However the list was big enough already so I stopped there.
Kung Fu Hustle is so good! I still think about some of those fights randomly sometimes.
Was Ong-Bak 2000s?
I just checked, 2003!
I know it’s cliche but John Wick 3 just has incredible choreography. They take the stunt people from The Raid, the budget of a huge series, and the gunplay that Keanu has spent 3 decades working on. It’s just incredible all around
Dredd, Fury Road, Everything Everywhere All At Once
In my mind the best action movies are the movies where the action shines the most and bad plot doesn’t get in the way. I haven’t seen John Wick which I’ve heard excels in this, but I gotta say I think Mad Max: Fury Road deserves high praise for being a great movie nearly all about raw action.
Furthermore, we are not in the “2000s” anymore, we’re in the 2020s. We are well into the third decade of this millennium. The 70s, 80s, and 90s do have commonalities in the action movies of each era and I feel like those probably exist for the 00s, 10s, and 20s as well though I can’t identify them yet.
If Fury Road is my favorite of the 10s, then maybe Prey is my favorite of the 20s, and Transformers is my favorite of the 00s.
I know everything I mentioned is part of an established franchise but I don’t care all that much. Good action movies can still be creative using established stakes and framing if they have good direction. All 3 of those movies definitely have that. I thoroughly enjoy and am excited by the action in those movies each time I watch them. Lackluster stories aside they are all awesome.
The 70s, 80s, and 90s do have commonalities in the action movies of each era and I feel like those probably exist for the 00s, 10s, and 20s as well though I can’t identify them yet.
The Noughties saw Wuxia break into western cinema with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and we saw the start of the resurgence of the superhero movie, Blade 2 into Batman Begins and then the start of the MCU with Iron Man.
Also, The Matrix dropped in 1999, so it’s influence really only started to be felt in the 2000s, most obviously with Equilibrium but note generally with an improvement in action choreography across the board (ultimately leading to the John Wick films that pulled in a lot of the ideas and people inspired by The Matrix - Chad Stahelski being a common factor in a lot of the key action movies of the 21st Century).
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RRR
Trying to pick off things not mentioned…Jesus Christ, that’s Jason Bourne! The Bourne identity first three at least are up there. As much as I don’t like glorify the guy, the Mission Impossible films from 2 onwards have all been pretty great as was Top Gun:Maverick and Collateral. Away from Tom… Oldboy, The Departed (thriller probably more than action) Taken (first one) The Craig Daniel’s Bond Films 300, Equaliser, Does Nolan’s Batman trilogy count?
