EW's 25 best action movies ever

Not bad.
Though I would give props to Independence Day, Armageddon and Braveheart.
Top 5 are pretty strong...


The list:
No. 25. The Incredibles
24. Lethal Weapon
23. Drunken Master II
22. Predator (22? Are you kidding me? This movies was way better than 22 and Predator II should have been included)
21. Spider Man 2 (I don't know about all that. I would have taken X2 instead)
20. Kill Bill Vol. 1
19. Goldfinger (Love Bond, but this might be a stretch.)
18. The adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
17. Bourne Supremacy (Good Call!)
16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
15. Enter the Dragon (Oh hell yeah. But should be a top 10)
14. Robocop (Excellent call. When I first rented this movie I watched it three times in one day.
13. The Wild Bunch
12. The Empire Strikes Back
11. Speed (Are you freaking kidding me?)
10. Terminator 2
9. Hard Boiled
8. Saving Private Ryan
7. Gladiator (No, but thanks for playing. No Braveheart? PUh-lease)
6. Seven Samurai (props to the man)
5. The Matrix
4. Road Warrior
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Aliens
1. Die Hard

 

I don't think The Incredibles should be on this list and they really included the wrong Star Wars movie. I know it's popular to say Empire is the best of the original trilogy, but it also included the least action. The Battle on Hoth was awesome, but that was the biggest action piece of the film by far.

Return of the Jedi would have been a better fit in a list of action movies. Jabba's palace was a great scene and once they began the battle on Endor, it was non-stop cutting between the forest battle, the Death Star battle and the lightsaber duel between Vader and Luke. And both the Death Star battle and lightsaber duel were much more dynamic action scenes than anything in the previous two movies.

I wouldn't have included Gladiator or Saving Private Ryan for the same reason I would have excluded Braveheart ... I don't consider them 'action' movies. They're really dramas that happen to include violence. I'd classify 'Jaws' as an action movie before those three (but I wouldn't put that on this list either. It just doesn't feel like an 'action movie,' though I'm not sure what I'd classify it as, outside of one of the best movies of all time.)

The Bourne movies both sucked and I wouldn't have included either (the car chase in Supremacy was damn good, but that was about it).

I would have definitely had 'Independence Day' in there somewhere, perhaps 'True Lies,' 'X2,' 'Batman' or 'Batman Begins.' I'm sure there are others i'm not thinking of at the moment.

 

Am I hallucinating, or did I just see this posted under a different name?

 

I believe you did.

 

The Bourne movies sucked? Are you crazy? I thought both were fantastic...

I think it's a great list with the possible exception of combining sci-fi movies with action movies...

 

I liked both Bourne flicks, but I think they put the wrong one in. The fighting in the first Bourne was much better, IMO, than in the second one. Either way, I'm eagerly awaiting the third one.

 

The car chase in the first one is one of the best I've ever seen... Doug Liman is an amazing director...

 

I'm digging Die Hard at the top.

 

25. The Incredibles - The best animated film in years, but it's not an action flick.
24. Lethal Weapon - Should be much higher. People forget how good the first one was since the II-IV were essentially comedies.
23. Drunken Master II - Great flick.
22. Predator - Should be higher.
21. Spider Man 2 - Great film.
20. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - One of my favorites ever...
19. Goldfinger - Spy Who Loved Me is my favorite Bond movie, but this is a good one...
18. The adventures of Robin Hood - Puhleeze...
17. Bourne Supremacy - The first one is better, but this one is great...
16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - I liked it, but thought it was overrated.
15. Enter the Dragon - Definitely.
14. Robocop - Tremendous film.
13. The Wild Bunch - Never seen it...
12. The Empire Strikes Back - One of the best ever, but I don't consider it an action film.
11. Speed - People like to hate Keanu, but this is a great movie...
10. Terminator 2 - Great film, but Terminator 1 has the much better plot.
9. Hard Boiled - Maybe a little too high.
8. Saving Private Ryan - I don't know if it's an action film.
7. Gladiator - Great film.
6. Seven Samurai - Never seen it.
5. The Matrix - Again, should be on the Sci-Fi list...
4. Road Warrior - The best of the Mad Max movies...
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Definitely...
2. Aliens - Should be No. 1 on the Sci-Fi list...
1. Die Hard - No argument here... The second one should be on this list too...

 

No sequels should be on this list. Just my TWO cents.

 

So Empire, Aliens, Road Warrior, Bourne Supremacy, Drunken Master II, T2, Spidey 2 should all be omitted?

Nonsense...

 

I agree with many of your comments here Mizzou, except that the second Die Hard should be on the list. The second one was an awful, awful movie (although it did give us the immortal voice over, "Yippe kai ay, Mr. Falcon!"). The third one, however, I thought could be on this list, but I think they intentionally tried to keep it to one movie per series.

Interesting that Keanu, Mel Gibson and the Governator are the only people with multiple entries on this list.
EDIT: Correction, add Harrison Ford to that list.