Best Action Movie of All Time

[IrishCanadian25]

2011 Zonie Awards

Nominees for Best Action Movie of All Time

Die Hard

The Bourne Identity

Golden Eye

Lethal Weapon

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Last Boyscout

Point Break

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The Dirty Dozen

Enter the Dragon

The Road Warrior

Robocop

The Expendables

Kill Bill: Volume 1

Speed

*discussion will be open until Monday, May 23rd, on which date the polls will open and voting will be permitted. No spamming, no flaming.


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[The Rob]

Speed.

I adore this movie. It's an amazing combination of action, suspense and mystery, but it maintains this simplistic feel. It isn't fully 'in your face' through-out, it ups the pace at certain points and then slows down, allowing everything to flow right into place which is quite rare in an action film. Most of the time their in your face, all the time, in a relentless fashion that can get a bit samey. Whilst Speed maybe a bit too simple for some people, it's got a great plot and all the leads actors involved are at the top of their games. Once the bus has been stopped, the girl gets kidnapped, and everything Dennis Hopper does is done in a way that makes you go 'ohhh, clever'. Excellent movie.

 

[LSN80]

Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first true action movie I ever saw. Raiders took a simple idea and maybe an idea that the guys had from watching Saturday afternoon movies and made it larger than life. This film never stops for you to take your breath. It is filled with rich characters from Indy himself Marion, Belloq, and even Marcus Brody. Each character has their own distinct personality that shines through in certain scenes, which is what truly sets it apart from other action movies. Despite the movie never slowing down, each characteris developed well at the breakneck speed the movie heads in, which is more that can be saidfor most other action movies. Not only that, each character is compelling in his or her own way.

The set pieces are fantastic, and although some of the wilder end sequences are slightly dated now, it hasn't lost the excitement factor. It's a perfectly crafted movie as well, moving from location to location without any distraction or superfluous scenes, it just feels like it's all there for a reason and that it belongs there. Harrison Ford is excellent in the role, and I'm inclined to think he was more Indy than he was Solo, but that's a personal opinion. The villains—especially Indy's suave and cultured French rival wearing a Panama hat and white suits, Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman)—are not really that much different from him, except in their motivation. The heroine of the movie, Marion, playe by Karen Allen, isn't the typixal girl in discomfort. She's a resourceful, dynamic and formidable woman who doesn't necessarily require a hero at all.

The hunt for the Ark of the Covenant is more than just an excuse for action. Many an action flick today, and some on this list even, come up with action first and a plot second, it seems. One of the reasons Raiders holds up so well is because it works the Covenant story so well into the plot. As much as this was an action film, it was just as plot driven, and seemed to one up itself as it went along. Im a fan of films that have to increasingly better themselves in every scene, and Raiders did just that. Raiders introduced this as a standard that the sequels had to live to. A nice little idiosyncrasy with Indy is that even though he's a College Professor and Doctor, he has no beef killing people. Its thi type of character development strung together with a strong plot and character driven actors that simply make this the best action film Ive ever seen, to the day.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Robocop, even though I wouldn't necessarily classify it as action myself. Violent, satirical, a villain who's a break from the norm. It really should be better loved than it is. Its smarter than anything else on that list.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared."

The Last Boyscout - simply the best action film in my eyes. Joe Cornelius Hallenback is Lethal Weapon's Riggs without the suicidal edge (because he's to tough to wimp out that way) and it could be easily assumed that John McClane wouldn't have developed his drinking problem in Die Hard: With A Vengeance if not for this film.

The film is Princess Bride quotable (personally I think Shane Black is on a par with Tarantino in the dialogue stakes).

Both the heroes are flawed - Joe is an alcoholic with a cheating wife and a rebellious daughter who both dislike him, Jimmy Dix is a disgraced ex footballer who takes drugs and cheats on his girlfriend. It says a great deal that you care for them given that they are, at first glance, fundamentally unlikeable. Like them you do though and reasons for their predicaments are explained, and you warm to the old fashioned buddy dynamic - Dix pretty much becomes a rookie PI (to Hallenback's veteran) as he and Joe go after the murderers of Jimmy's fiancé. Joe has his own reason's too, as Jimmy puts it - "I figure you gotta be the dumbest guy in the world, Joe. You're trying the save the life of the man who ruined your career, and avenge the death of the guy that fucked your wife."

Every single movie on this list is great but as an all round actioner, vote the Last Boy Scout - it rules "And then some!"

 

[JWGunslinger]

Gotta go with The Expendables. The star power is amazing, having all of the biggest action movie stars, mixed with one of the best WWE superstars in history and one of the best mixed martial artists in UFC history. To me that cast is already a win, but then the movie delivered! The Expendables is without a doubt the most bad ass hardcore action flic in movie history.

 

[Notorious718]

I'm going with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Out of all the movies in the Terminator series, I think that one was my favorite. It had a great storyline and every scene perfectly set up the next one like links in a chain. I also found myself at the edge of my seat at quite a few scenes like when the T-1000 was running after a young John Connor and keeping a good pace despite the fact that John was riding a motorscooter. I almost thought that was the end of the road for him. The chasing and battle scenes were great for thrills and Arnold Schwarzenegger did a great job playing the Terminator, who despite being a robot was able to show emotion and a genuine father-son connection with John Connor. Made me shed manly tears at the end of the movie. And of course, how can anyone forget the debut of the line that this movie made famous? Hasta la vista, baby. I love this movie and it never gets old for me.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Best Action Movie of All Time

Die Hard - Never understood the hooplah around this one. Decent action film, easily the best of the series, but I wouldn't rank it among the top dogs in this genre.

The Bourne Identity - Definitely one of my favorites among action films. Action films should keep moving, never slow down. This film did exactly that, and still had one hell of a story.

Golden Eye - Best Bond film of the 80's and 90's. I prefer any Bond film with Sean Connery over this one, along with Casino Royale. This definitely had an interesting set of characters for Bond to play off, and the video game owned all sorts of ass.

Lethal Weapon - One of my two or three favorite action films. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson were absolutely perfect together, polar opposites. Gibson definitely made this film what it is/was, and I wish they had kept him as nuts in the rest of the films as he was in the original.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day - Much, much better than the original. From a wrestling point of view, turning Arnold babyface was a great move. He was far too big of a star to draw any sort of heat, and the film didn't suffer because of it. Best of the series, no question.

The Last Boyscout - I still believe, to this day, that Bruce Willis gave his best performance in this film. Nowhere near a great film, nor is it even one of the greats among actions films, but I actually liked Willis, and that never happens.

Point Break - One of the most underrated films of the past 30 years. Yes, I have been called insane for believing that.

I have seen this film dozens of times, and still have a hard time finding a flaw. It's nowhere near one of the best films I have seen, but it was perfect for what it was. The visuals were amazing (the water), Swayze gave his least cheesy performance, Keanu did a nice job (I feel weird saying that), and Busey wasn't a joke... yet. The story worked, and wasn't some simple pile of shit. The agents had to work at finding the criminals, details were explained, etc. I wouldn't call the story complex, but it never took the easy way out, and that always makes a film worth watching. Amazing soundtrack as well (for its time, obviously).

This isn't the best film on this list, but I'm obsessed with how underrated it is. Given what I have just said, I'm voting for Point Break, seeing no one else will.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - I enjoy this movie each time I watch it, but the hype is insane. Really good action film, maybe the best of the 80's, and that's about it.

The Dirty Dozen - Best movie on this list. Victor Franko (John Cassavetes) is one of my favorite characters of all time, and you totally buy into Lee Marvin being able to lead this group of nutballs. Bronson, Savalas, Donald Sutherland.. all of these guys were great. The whole cast, actually. If you haven't seen this film, rent it, right now. One of the most entertaining films I can think of. Should probably get my vote, but not this time, for reasons already stated.

Enter the Dragon - I have only seen this film one time, and it was like 15 years ago.

The Road Warrior - Same answer given for Enter the Dragon.

Robocop - I hate this movie. End of story.

The Expendables - Really entertaining, neat idea. But, I don't think it ranks up there with a lot of these films.

Kill Bill: Volume 1 - I understand what Tarantino was going for here, I just didn't care for the end result. Easily the weakest film (along with part II) he has put out there.

Speed - In a shocking turn of events, I really like this movie. Never slows down, never attempts to be more than what it is. Oh, and Hopper is always fun to watch.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

My loyalties lie with Lethal Weapon. And objectively, I could probably even be convinced that one of the other films is better, but I'll still side with Lethal Weapon.

Buddy comedies have been a way of life, and as admirable as Nolte and Murphy were in 48 hours, it was Glover and Gibson who truly redefined the inter-racial cop action-drama. Their on-screen chemisty in all 4 films, not just the original, is better than most romantic comedies. Both characters are insanely believable - Gibson's back story is relevant and it does make some sense (the stuff about the 'psycho pension' is chilling) and Glover's role as the well-natured and unshakably ethical family man is the perfect balance. In 7 days, these two change each other's lives - Gibson reignites Glover's passion for police work and Glover saves Gibson's life and gives him a 2nd chance at family.

The villains in Lethal Weapon are also tremendous. I've always liked Mitch Ryan (he played General Peter McAllister but was also Dr. Wynn in Halloween 6 and Mr. Allen in Liar Liar), but Gary Busey is right at home in this role as Mr. Joshua. A true psycho path. I believe it was D-Man who pointed out to me the other day that the end scene was one of the first bits of cinema to feature actual mixed-martial arts, and was the mainstream debut of the trianlge choke.

I won't begrudge anyone for voting for some of these films, but I'm backing my favorite here. It helped pave the way for films like Rush Hour and spawned 3 sequels, each as impressive as the original.