For my money True Lies and The Rock are the most perfect summer action flicks ever made. Die Hard and T2 tied for third, Speed a solid fourth.
An “action flick” as I define it is lighthearted, unrealistic summer entrtainment. It’s the movie equivalent of a roller coaster: a perfectly safe yet thrilling ride. It should have big explosions, good triumphing over evil, and a helicopter by sunset.
I would personally discount any movie intended to be “serious drama” (The Depahhhted) or intended to shock with its gory violence (Kill Bill) regardless of the amount of action it has.
How in the world can Pulp Fiction be an action movie? Dancing, drug taking, lots of dialog, a boxing scene, a disturbing attack are all there. An action movie to me involves, ya know, action.
I love both of those movies and own them on DVD, but I would still consider T2 to be a superior film to both. I guess it depends on the question. Best “popcorn” action movie of the 90’s and 00’s? I would say True Lies. Best action film of the 90’s and 00’s? Terminator 2.
I disagree. This list already has science fiction, fantasy, martial arts, crime, historical fiction and cartoons, so why not war? If a movie has action in it, it’s an action movie.
… looking over the suggestions, I realize that I don’t like “action movies,” or at least am indifferent enough to the genre to not bother seeing many in the theaters.
But that could be tied in with the whole “busy raising small children in the Ninties, now that the last one is off to college I can’t afford to go to movies” thing.
By “a disturbing attack” you mean the section where Bruce Willis gets into a car crash after intently slamming his ride into Ving Rhames, which kicks off the gunplay-punctuated foot chase that ends up turning into a fists-and-swordplay fight, then, yeah, it’s pretty much just John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson coming under fire in between spraying bullets of their own, leaving aside the fast-paced armed robbery in the diner.
You mean the “fast-paced armed robbery” where Samuel L. Jackson talks calmly for 10 minutes then lets the robbers walk out quietly in each other’s arms and no one fires a shot?
Well, that’s what it transitions into, yeah – but it kicks off with two robbers loudly rushing around to bully rather a lot of folks at gunpoint, and only later turns into a Mexican standoff.
Oh, yeah, I loved that movie. Caught it in a run-down New Hampshire theater on a very snowy night - there were probably just three or four other people there in the dark with me - but it blew me away.
I have nothing to add to those already nominated. My top honors would go to:
True Lies
The Incredibles
The Matrix
Kick-Ass
Gladiator
Since I tend to agree with the putdown of Pulp Fiction as an action film, I would replace it with either (or both) of the later Bourne films. They are close to exactly what an action film means to me. Going back to earlier years I would insist on Bullitt and The Getaway (McQueen version) making the list. And Eastwood has had a bunch, too, in older days.
Con-Air (1997)
Demolition Man (1993)
Jurassic Park 3 (2001)
A Knight’s Tale (2001)
Ninja Assassin (2009)
Oldboy (2003)
whichever The Punisher the good one was…
And Zombieland sure as hell counts as action. I would have nominated it if it weren’t already named.