View Poll Results: Best Action Movie 1991-2010
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 41 58.57%
True Lies (1994) 29 41.43%
The Matrix (1999) 25 35.71%
The Dark Knight (2008) 25 35.71%
The Bourne Identity (2002) 23 32.86%
Iron Man (2008) 22 31.43%
The Fifth Element (1997) 20 28.57%
Casino Royale (2006) 20 28.57%
Independence Day (1996) 19 27.14%
Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003) 19 27.14%
Speed (1994) 16 22.86%
The Rock (1996) 13 18.57%
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) 13 18.57%
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) 13 18.57%
Ronin (1998) 12 17.14%
Inception (2010) 12 17.14%
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) 11 15.71%
Heat (1995) 11 15.71%
The Transporter (2002) 11 15.71%
Braveheart (1995) 10 14.29%
The Mummy (1999) 10 14.29%
Snatch (2000) 10 14.29%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 70
I don’t consider Heat to be an “action movie.” I think it is a better movie than any of the films listed in this thread, but an action movie it is not. There are vast sequences in Heat consisting of nothing but dialog or planning, and the movie as a whole is just too cerebral and heavy to be considered an action film. There are action scenes in it - some of the best of all time - but the movie is really a character drama.
I *loved *Shoot 'em Up, I even bought the DVD, but I wouldn’t call it a “best” action movie by any stretch. It’s a spoof. I love spoofs, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t think derivative works should win this sort of polling. But maybe that’s just me.
It’s not like a film is a zero-sum affair, where an increase in drama and character means a decrease in action. Heat is 100% an action movie *and *100% a character-driven drama.
Remember, the poll is for best action movie, not purest.
I was rooting for The Long Kiss Goodnight to make it to the second round, but in any case it’s good to see it punching above its weight. It’s certainly not a good movie, but it’s a great action flick.
I used as my criterion: “Would I get sucked into watching most of this movie if I were flipping through the channels?”
I liked Timecop, but I doubt it would suck me in like that. Same with a lot of other movies on that list, even movies that I think are otherwise great. That’s what makes a movie like The Matrix or Kill Bill a classic (or Predator or Commando or Die Hard, from days of yore), in my opinion.
If the voting in the next round(s) is anything like the big multi-phased polls I’ve been involved with, the way that Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) has run away from the pack means it will most likely continue to do so in later round(s). That’s a good reason to go ahead and declare it #1 and remove it from later polls.
That would free up votes for the #2-#whatever to be a little more liberal.
Think Omar in those The Wire things and The Simpsons in the TV Shows one. I can supply other examples if the point seems debatable.
And I guess I have to admit I liked something about each of them (even the beleaguered Timecop).
Sometimes it’s the great scenery-chewing bad guys (c’mon, I love Jane Austen movies, but are you ever going to get a Hans Gruber in one of them?)
Hmm, maybe we need a Merchant-Ivory film with Samuel L. Jackson facing off against Alan Rickman in “Remains of The Motherfukkin’ Day With A Vengeance”.
Hypothetically, it might only be everyone’s second- or third-favorite choice. So if thirty sci-fi action fans would use their sole vote on The Matrix, and thirty Schwarzenegger fans would use their sole vote on True Lies, and all of 'em then went on to cast a vote for T2 solely because you’re allowing multiple votes…
I long ago came to the conclusion that I’m the only person on the planet who thought that T2 was an overrated piece of dreck that relied too heavily on cheesy special effects, and that T3 is the movie that T2 should have been.
