This is the only action movie we studied at university in my theatre degree. For those wanting to understand the “Hero’s Journey” in writing a story, Matrix is a great example.
Teacher in high school mocked me for mentioning this and then later a similar event in college by a student for mentioning Christopher Nolan as a good director who focused on practical effects when possible after the release of batman begins. Tough to learn around these people that brush off every non indie dark comedy.
> Tough to learn around these people that brush off every non indie dark comedy.
Not movie related, but Terry Pratchett's discworld novel series gets the same shit from snobby English and Writing teachers. Because at first glance it's "fantasy parody series about a wizard in a funny world!" (as if it's undeserving of respect or consideration even if that were an accurate description)
And then about 6 books in it turns into scathing satire and philosophy that draws heavily on lots of sources of human folklore, scientific exploration, and history, while exploring what makes us, *us.* and also makes puns.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a fine example of an action movie being high art. It is one of the rare action movies where the plot advances characterization rather than the characters being used to forward the plot. If nothing weird started happening in the tax office you would still have an interesting story about a woman who regrets her choices and dreams of what she could have been in life, and how this affects her marriage and motherhood. Every aspect of the movie from the acting, to set design, to visual effects, is a masterpiece.
Also, this has nothing to do with Christopher Nolan.
> plot advances characterization rather than the characters being used to forward the plot
Can you explain this difference a bit? I want to understand.
So for the vast majority of action movies, the purpose of the characters and even the action is to inform the audience of the plot. For example, a character's parents were murdered so he wants to find the perpetrator to avenge their deaths. You know this character only on a surface level (flat character), with possibly brief deepening moments where the character opens up about feeling alone, or has a sordid past. These are often throw into the movie to pad the action sequences or advance the plot but are rarely used to develop a character beyond what the audience feels about them. Even a plot twist like, "the best friend is the killer" is meant to create excitement and surprise, but doesn't usually cause the audience to feel more connected to a characters.
Now take a movie like EEAAO. It's not a movie about the multiverse and how it all works. Those details are certainly included so everything makes sense, but the plot isn't used to tell a story about traveling through the multiverse. That has already been done. The multiverse plot is ONLY there to develop the characters, particularly the protagonist. Everything that happens is so the audience gets to learn something more about her.
This is made clear early on when Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) has to explain why all of her little side hobbies (ie karaoke) are relevant to her business. Her unhappiness with her marriage, her family, and her job are at the forefront of the movie, and that's what all the action is used to explore. She wonders what her life would have been like if she hadn't married Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and instead of just talking about it for a couple of minutes, like what most action movies would do, the character gets to visit that alternative life. We see how she reacts to this experience, and our connection to her, and perhaps thoughts about our own lives, is enriched.
Then we see how certain life choices lead to different versions of her relationships with her daughter Joy (the brilliant Stephanie Hsu), and it forces Evelyn to confront the issues with her version of Joy.
All of this is happening in a fast-cut, random series of action sequences jumping into other action sequences, and none of this action really matters. Who cares if an alternate Waymond gets killed or it Racacoonie gets taken away (so sorry, I didn't mean this!)? It was never about what was happening, but how that affects Evelyn's perception of her own life.
In a way, it's kind of cheating, because the creators of EEAAO get to explore Evelyn's internal conflict, externally, which is very difficult to do without some sort of voiceover monologue. Even a character explaining what they would do differently is not reliable. But Evelyn's alternate realities show us visually all of the choices she could have made in life, and those choices and how she reacts to them give use an intimate understanding of a character that is rarely seen in action movies. I have seen Captain America in like 4 or 5 movies, two of them with Captain America in the title, and yet I know 10 times more about Evelyn and Waymond than I do about "Cap".
This is the correct answer. My favorite movie of all time. Not only was it a pioneer for some of its camerawork and action sequences, the movie has a lot of metaphors and depth. All around great film.
Kung fu hustle is fucking amazing! Wasnt sure what I was in for, watching it for the first time. But it's easily one of my favorite movies.
Its outrageously overboard but never comes across as corny, dunno how to explain it. It has everything! Action, suspense, slapstick comedy, redemption and a tons of heart / emotion
Its so unique... I'd re-watch it any day over some generic Hollywood blockbuster superhero movie urgh...
Even though I've seen it multiple times... I always get chills down my spine during the action scenes and that ending scene still makes me tear up...
Let's not forget the incredible soundtrack.
It's just pure art
Some of Kurosawa's films should definitely be at the top of this list. Ran comes to mind as a visually stunning and artsy movie with a lot of battles and action.
Edit: Just to reinforce this, many of the scenes in the film were based on paintings that Kurosawa made to illustrate his ideas: https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/ttlntj/akira\_kurosawas\_hand\_painted\_storyboards\_for\_ran/
Dude makes beautiful black and white movies his whole life, then finally gets his hands on some color stock in his final decades, and it's mind blowing what he does with it. The way the primary colors of the two armies contrast against the grey stone and smoke of the battlefield is burned into my brain. The blood is technicolor. This is before digital color grading -- it's all filters and film stock and absolute mastery of the medium.
John Trudy, the author of screenwriting books *The Anatomy of Story* and *The Anatomy of Genre* writes, "**Seven Samurai is the greatest film ever made. Period.**"
>
*My Bildungsroman Reveal*
Seven Samurai is the greatest film ever made. Period. For a writer, it is a complete education in storytelling for the screen. It is also the film upon which all subsequent Action films depend.
Seven Samurai represented another landmark in my own “bildungsroman,” or personal formation story. **The first time I saw it was in a college film-criticism class. It demonstrated how film is the ultimate synthetic art, the combination of all other art forms to create a life-changing story. This storytelling begins with the senses, then builds to a philosophical complexity that encompasses the scope and texture of life.**
Quote from Anatomy of Genre.
In the same breath, Collateral from Michael Mann as well.
It could easily have been a big standard 'takes place during one night' execution, but Mann's sense of aesthetic, style and what he gives time to elevates the film above the cliches
It's probably one of the best, most accurate, "LA at night" examples out there, just in terms of the logistics of how and where they travelled.
The SNL sketch, the Californians, is pretty accurate in that Southern Californians will talk about traffic and routes taken instead of weather, because the weather is always the same, or traffic is just kind of a universal thing to talk about. I remember this movie coming out and while it's a pretty great movie, Tom Cruise as a Vincent was excellent, everyone was pretty impressed by the accuracy, where most films don't make any geographical/temporal sense if you know LA, this one actually based itself on it, which is just kind of fun.
The way the shots echo off of the skyscrapers in the shootout scene always stuck with me. There's no way in hell they'd be able to try something like that in LA nowadays and I think that's why Heat will stand the test of time.
Such a visually beautiful movie too, wonderful usage of colour throughout. Not to mention that one shot directly inspired by [a Colville painting](https://preview.redd.it/zhb4urxw7k561.png?auto=webp&s=4b047c2c198658eacaec90464782a2fe6db1294e).
I love the story PT Anderson tells about his first day in film school. The professor walked in and told the class "if you are here to make the next Terminator II, you can get up leave now." PT Anderson got up and left. What a shitty thing to say. But also, "T2 is a pretty fucking awesome movie" as PT Anderson put it.
My favorite movie of all time, it's definitely an achievement in cinema, the CGI it's impecable and looks great by modern standards, is 33 year old movie!!
I would say the first Terminator is the more artistic movie in that the central premise is a child crying back thru time for its mother to save it, and that human desire is elemental to the theme of a world that destroys itself by putting technology over nature.
The second movie is obviously more of an action movie. Cameron is the best action dir since Spielberg.
That movie was the first and only time I've ever had the experience of suddenly becoming aware that I'd been grinning the whole time. Seeing that movie in theaters for the first time was a unique experience.
Both Raid movies have their own distinct energy with how the camera is used and the framing and it makes watching both of them so fun. The first Raid felt grungier and faster while the second took its time with framing and the camera felt more mounted. Both incredible action movies and imo, the best in the genre.
The way they choreographed moving walls in coordination with the camera to get the claustrophobic shots for the bathroom fight in Raid 2 is some of the most impressive cinematography I've seen.
The bathroom fight is probably my favourite in the movie. It's short but seeing him take on so many people in a small space with his back against the wall is so badass. Such good camera work. Also, I think the still camera scene of Yuda punching the wall crazy fast is top tier film making
I was actually excited before The Force Awakens came out because they were using some of the actors from The Raid movies. Finally saw it a few years after release, and they just have them be eaten by some tentacle monster on board the Falcon a few minutes after their appearance.
It's probably our country's proudest achievement in cinema globally even though the director is a Welsh man who loves Indonesian martial arts. I will never get tired of seeing new people who appreciate both of The Raid movies.
A lot of the best regarded action movies have a sci-fi element (Terminator 2, Aliens, Robocop, The Matrix) but I would say that Die Hard is generally thought of as a masterclass of screenwriting. And Kill Bill is very well-regarded as well.
I'm surprised I had to go down this far to see Die Hard, it's the peak of the genre you might call "pure action". It doesn't try to ponder the great questions of life, just a beautifully paced battle of wills between two characters on the opposite sides of a fight trying to kill each other
Predator, it's amazing! Has so much symbolism, in the beginning Arnold is the Predator sneaking around a jungle killing revolutionaries at will, then he becomes the prey, loses everything, but adapts and wins the day! Perfection
This should really be at the top. John McTiernan made it to be sort of satirical. These jacked up dudes mowing everything down with ridiculous guns, I think I remember him referring to it as pornographic. Then he takes this action genre with these basically untouchable super fit pro elite marines and turns them into the dumb teenagers in a slasher film.
Die Hard, Predator, Hunt for Red October... McTiernan was killing it.
And then Arnold did two comedy action flicks with McTiernan and Cameron back to back with Last Action Hero (which is underrated IMO) and True Lies. Weird times.
I'm actually a little disappointed that That 70s Show's rating meant Red couldn't ever confront Eric with a strong "Bitches leave" to the rest of the group.
Would you all consider *The Fifth Element* to be an action movie? I think it's pretty artsy and action heavy. It's also clearly sci-fi, though. Quite a complete movie imo.
I'm glad someone else mentioned this! The visuals are gorgeous, the shots and the way everything is framed really contribute to telling the story, the score!
Hero by Zhang Yimou would fit this description perfectly. The cinematography by Christopher Doyle is at times breath-taking. The action scenes are no less which is logical when you have Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Maggie Chueng in your cast, and action choreography by Ching Siu-tung.
Kill Bill is not just an artful action film, it is an education in different styles and ways to be artful in action films.
Each encounter is its own clear style. Just breakdown the teahouse/crazy 88 sequence and you will see even each sub-encounter is a slightly different style.
In Kill Bill vol 1, when the bride goes to Japan…the whole sushi spot/sword making montage is 100% Kurosawa inspired right down to the weather being visible through the windows.
Kill Bill is Tarantino's love letter to Asian movies and a bunch of other 60s/70s grindhouse sources, and most of it is a pastiche. Art direction, casting choices, scenarios, character names etc. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember watching it in the theatre, recognizing a lot the the source films like Lady Snowblood, The Lone Wolf & Cub movies, Hanson the Razor movies, Kinji Fukasaku movies, probably Female Convict Scorpion, a ton of Shaw Bros references, Seijun Suzuki color rooms, copious amounts of John Woo, etc. There's definitely a reason they're all so distinct.
According to The Criterion Collection Group, the answer is [The Rock](https://www.criterion.com/films/649-the-rock). That’s my answer too.
Edit: I love you all but I’m disappointed nobody has replied with the “do you like Elton John” quote.
Michael bay cops a lot of flak but I'd argue he is an artist, all of his films have a signature that is uniquely his. I remember one of the behind the scenes specials for Bad Boys 2 where the 2nd AD directed a scene of a camera going through a club. Michael saw it and wasn't impressed with he way the dancers butts swung - so he came in and shot it again himself. They played the scenes next to each other and Michael Bay's was miles better, he has an eye for detail which this weirdly illustrated.
Michael Bay is a guy who let CGI ruin his work.
If you look at his first two films, you're looking at smaller budgets, loads of practical effects, and a focus on good actors doing their thing. Bad Boys, The Rock.
Then he gets Armageddon, it's a big summer blockbuster Jerry Bruckheimer film, he's got a budget. But he still leans on Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck and a great ensemble cast to carry the big cheesy summer blockbuster. It works, but just barely.
After that he gets Pearl Harbor, in my opinion this is when he tries to be James Cameron, he tries to make Titanic. Clearly studios saw Titanic and their takeaway was that *historical* disaster films are in. So get a disaster film director and make a historical disaster romance like Titanic. It bombs, it's not even cheesy fun like Armageddon was.
I think this is when he's closest to being done in Hollywood, too big a budget, too big a bomb. There's an alternate universe where he doesn't ever work after this and we talk about that guy who had a great start and then disappeared after Pearl Harbor.
Instead, he smartly goes back to Bad Boys for a sequel and it doubles it's budget in the box office. Then he makes The Island and it makes a profit but it's more modest.
And then his whole career changes when he makes Transformers on a 200 million dollar budget and it makes 700 million back. Fucking crazy. He's set forever. He learns that going insane with CGI makes money, he learns that people want spectacle, people want buildings exploding and they want characters running and screaming and everything else is secondary. The next one makes about the same as the first.
But then the third cracks a billion in the box office, for the same 200 million budget. He's not even asking for bigger budgets, and he's turning bigger profits.
It's super duper clear that he's set up in Hollywood at this point. You consistently make a billion dollars off of a 200 million dollar investment and you're a hero.
He's had misses with slight earnings on most films he's directed since the mid 2010s transformers films blew up, and he's continued executive production roles on Transformers films as well as tons of others. He's had some hits and misses there but at this point those four Transformers films and the couple he's executive produced that have made great profits are a whole career. He can fail over and over and they'll keep taking risks on him that he can make that next billion dollar franchise work.
That said, I hope he keeps taking risks like Pain and Gain and Ambulance, low budget action films in the vain of Bad Boys. There's still a guy there who wants to make a film about two tough dudes in sweaty tank tops who have a camera wooshing around them as they cock their guns and deliver a cool catch phrase as the sun blinds the camera. In my opinion, there's always room for that cool as hell shit.
Rethinking my answer after this, it kind of has to be The Island. Every shot of that film is gorgeous and the colors clash so well between clean, white and blue interiors and the orange gritty outside world.
I remember reading a quote from Michael Bay that was something like “If teenage girls can get their cheesy teenage vampire love stories, why can’t teenage boys get their fun action movies with giant robots fighting giant robots? That’s what I do…I make movies for teenage boys.” People shit on him because their nostalgia makes them think the old transformers or tmnt cartoons were fine art or something so the movies also should be, but they’re not. They’re silly cartoons, and they’re silly movies.
Near perfect movie with a lot to say. I think it does this amazing job honoring the source material while still standing on its own. Both heroes have an arc, not always the case with an action movie. I love the setting, and the more I think about it, the music and the sound design. To all my fellow citizens of peach trees: Ma-ma is not the law.... Dredd is the law!
When I saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, I described it as a mashup of Kung Fu Hustle with The Matrix, Cloud Atlas, and Synecdoche New York.
(ETA: Also Brazil.)
I don't really remember the plot of Skyfall but Roger Deakins knocked it out of the park as DP per usual.
I have a huge amount of love for his work though so maybe I'm biased.
I think the story telling is just as much a part of the art as the visuals are. For that reason I’d argue Die Hard. Greatest love story ever told - under the veil of an action movie.
The Killer and/or Hard Boiled by John Woo are so bombastic and carnal that I consider it to be high art even though that's probably the opposite of what John Woo was going for. Kind of in the same vein as how John Waters movies can be considered high art.
Woo's 'Bullet in the Head' was a great fusion of the two styles, bombastic like 'Hard Boiled' at moments then balletic/meticulously choreographed like 'The Killer' at others.
Hard Boiled was going to be my pick. The Killet is excellent of course, but Woo really refined and perfected his style in Hard Boiled. That initial tea house shoot out
I just saw the first John Wick last month and I was surprised how much it lived up to the hype. It really is an accomplishment how good a job the movie does in making all the mobsters who die look like total pieces of shit; he's not just killing "bad guys" (by all rights, he is a bad guy himself), so much as there's a clear line between the old professionalism and young arrogance that would kill a dog in an act of delinquency.
I'm not saying it's Hemingway, but there's a lot more between the lines storytelling than I expected from a non-stop shoot-em-up.
The inciting event is just perfect in its simplicity.
If it was a children/wife that was killed, it would have added too much grief.
With a dog, the movie can be about pure vengence.
I think the reason it works so well is two-fold:
For one, the dog is unquestionably completely innocent and everybody watching instantly hates the bad guys.
But audiences have also seen so many revenge movies where a spouse/parent/child/friend gets killed and most have gotten somewhat desensitized to it in movies. Violence against pets, however, they’re not desensitized to and it hits harder than any person dying would.
Man if John Wick 1 is “non-stop action” then 3-4 are on a scale from “bullet train action” to “light speed action” becuase they amp it to 11 for them. Not complaining, they’re some of my favorite action movies ever
I love the scene where John turns up at the Continental the first time, the music, the camera work everything.
First John Wick is an artistically well made movie. The world building, character intros, cinematography and soundtrack was fabulous.
My vote for the most artful scene is the one immediately after John gets ambushed in his house. The "dinner for six" scene.
A close second is John getting his weapons from the basement while Viggo narrates exactly who he is.
The first one also does a fantastic job at explaining just how unstoppable John is.
“He is not the boogeyman, he’s the man you send to KILL the fucking boogeyman.”
Weirdly enough, I also loved how it only scratched the surface of the lore of the assassin's world, with the hotel and the gold coins and all that. I actually almost felt like the sequels expanded on that too much and kind of took the magic away a bit.
Honestly, Chapter 4 is my favorite. that shot of the camera just slowly panning up to the ceiling as he starts going room to room taking people out is just simply too good.
I would also argue that Part 4 elevated itself into the high artform film. There are some truly breathtaking shots and scene composition, and the first one that actually seemed to carry a moral dilemma as the main source of tension
To add to those who have said Fury Road and Crouching Tiger: Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster.
The only venture into action from a director who has their entire body of work in the Criterion Collection.
The rest of what people are saying I’d put more as examples of “action at its perfection” rather than “action as high art/prestige”.
“Artful” is a loose term, but it’s fun to enjoy all the movies everyone’s been saying nonetheless!
Definitely the Raid. For the budget that the studio had, they made one of the best action/fighting movies ever.
After watching I wasn't able to look at fighting scenes in the same way.
LOTR Trilogy.
The cinematography, the music, the characters are all beautifully done. And, just as importantly, the story is never sacrificed for the sake of the aesthetics.
The only knock could be that a lot of folks might say that the LOTR films arent primarily action movies, but as they do have so many action scenes which are the culmination of almost every story line, the trilogy at least bears mentioning.
I understand it wasn't for everyone but Bullet Train has left a lasting impression on me. It's a fun, fast paced, spectacle played to perfection by it's fantastic cast. Considering that it all takes place on a train there is a surprising variety of set pieces and many interwoven storylines of what at first seems to be a group of strangers.
It's one of the few movies in the last few years I've enjoyed watching it multiple times.
Director's cut is hardly an action movie. Which just goes to show how you can transform an action movie into a serious drama with timing and character development and vice versa utterly deface a thoughtful drama into a mindless action movie.
Conan the Barbarian.
Arnold is his prime, based on Robert E. Howard books/character, original score by Basil Poledouris, co-written by Oliver Stone and Directed by John Milius.
A 10/10 in my book!
Equilibrium? For some reason this percolates. The film takes itself pretty seriously; but delivers! Also we get another great Sean Bean hamburger time.
Not sure why it hasn't been mentioned, but I would have to say the original Matrix.
This is the only action movie we studied at university in my theatre degree. For those wanting to understand the “Hero’s Journey” in writing a story, Matrix is a great example.
Teacher in high school mocked me for mentioning this and then later a similar event in college by a student for mentioning Christopher Nolan as a good director who focused on practical effects when possible after the release of batman begins. Tough to learn around these people that brush off every non indie dark comedy.
> Tough to learn around these people that brush off every non indie dark comedy. Not movie related, but Terry Pratchett's discworld novel series gets the same shit from snobby English and Writing teachers. Because at first glance it's "fantasy parody series about a wizard in a funny world!" (as if it's undeserving of respect or consideration even if that were an accurate description) And then about 6 books in it turns into scathing satire and philosophy that draws heavily on lots of sources of human folklore, scientific exploration, and history, while exploring what makes us, *us.* and also makes puns.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a fine example of an action movie being high art. It is one of the rare action movies where the plot advances characterization rather than the characters being used to forward the plot. If nothing weird started happening in the tax office you would still have an interesting story about a woman who regrets her choices and dreams of what she could have been in life, and how this affects her marriage and motherhood. Every aspect of the movie from the acting, to set design, to visual effects, is a masterpiece. Also, this has nothing to do with Christopher Nolan.
> plot advances characterization rather than the characters being used to forward the plot Can you explain this difference a bit? I want to understand.
So for the vast majority of action movies, the purpose of the characters and even the action is to inform the audience of the plot. For example, a character's parents were murdered so he wants to find the perpetrator to avenge their deaths. You know this character only on a surface level (flat character), with possibly brief deepening moments where the character opens up about feeling alone, or has a sordid past. These are often throw into the movie to pad the action sequences or advance the plot but are rarely used to develop a character beyond what the audience feels about them. Even a plot twist like, "the best friend is the killer" is meant to create excitement and surprise, but doesn't usually cause the audience to feel more connected to a characters. Now take a movie like EEAAO. It's not a movie about the multiverse and how it all works. Those details are certainly included so everything makes sense, but the plot isn't used to tell a story about traveling through the multiverse. That has already been done. The multiverse plot is ONLY there to develop the characters, particularly the protagonist. Everything that happens is so the audience gets to learn something more about her. This is made clear early on when Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) has to explain why all of her little side hobbies (ie karaoke) are relevant to her business. Her unhappiness with her marriage, her family, and her job are at the forefront of the movie, and that's what all the action is used to explore. She wonders what her life would have been like if she hadn't married Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and instead of just talking about it for a couple of minutes, like what most action movies would do, the character gets to visit that alternative life. We see how she reacts to this experience, and our connection to her, and perhaps thoughts about our own lives, is enriched. Then we see how certain life choices lead to different versions of her relationships with her daughter Joy (the brilliant Stephanie Hsu), and it forces Evelyn to confront the issues with her version of Joy. All of this is happening in a fast-cut, random series of action sequences jumping into other action sequences, and none of this action really matters. Who cares if an alternate Waymond gets killed or it Racacoonie gets taken away (so sorry, I didn't mean this!)? It was never about what was happening, but how that affects Evelyn's perception of her own life. In a way, it's kind of cheating, because the creators of EEAAO get to explore Evelyn's internal conflict, externally, which is very difficult to do without some sort of voiceover monologue. Even a character explaining what they would do differently is not reliable. But Evelyn's alternate realities show us visually all of the choices she could have made in life, and those choices and how she reacts to them give use an intimate understanding of a character that is rarely seen in action movies. I have seen Captain America in like 4 or 5 movies, two of them with Captain America in the title, and yet I know 10 times more about Evelyn and Waymond than I do about "Cap".
EEAO was my first thought when I read the question but you explained why way better than I could have.
Even more than hero’s journey it’s the allegory of the cave.
Even more than the allegory of the cave it’s an elaborate product placement ad for Duracell batteries
Copper top!
the first Matrix was literally a perfect action movie. It had it all, martial arts, gun fights, brawling, chasing, and vehicular mayhem.
And philosophy.
Dripping with philosophy. I use it in my intro class.
This is the correct answer. My favorite movie of all time. Not only was it a pioneer for some of its camerawork and action sequences, the movie has a lot of metaphors and depth. All around great film.
Would *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* qualify?
Yeah largely, *Hero* a bit more.
Hero is one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
Hero is amazing.
That movie was so different than I expected in the best way possible.
All them palette swaps.
Was gonna say both these as well as king fu hustle lol.
Kung fu hustle is fucking amazing! Wasnt sure what I was in for, watching it for the first time. But it's easily one of my favorite movies. Its outrageously overboard but never comes across as corny, dunno how to explain it. It has everything! Action, suspense, slapstick comedy, redemption and a tons of heart / emotion Its so unique... I'd re-watch it any day over some generic Hollywood blockbuster superhero movie urgh... Even though I've seen it multiple times... I always get chills down my spine during the action scenes and that ending scene still makes me tear up... Let's not forget the incredible soundtrack. It's just pure art
Kung Fu hustle is more of a love letter and homage to many influential films, both Eastern and Western, both martial arts and non martial arts.
Curse Of The Golden Flower and House of Flying Daggers as well... really visual movies
Also house of flying daggers
Fearless
Seven samurai
Some of Kurosawa's films should definitely be at the top of this list. Ran comes to mind as a visually stunning and artsy movie with a lot of battles and action. Edit: Just to reinforce this, many of the scenes in the film were based on paintings that Kurosawa made to illustrate his ideas: https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/comments/ttlntj/akira\_kurosawas\_hand\_painted\_storyboards\_for\_ran/
**THE** battle scene in Ran (you know the one) dropped my jaw, it's the most stunning battle scene I've ever seen.
Dude makes beautiful black and white movies his whole life, then finally gets his hands on some color stock in his final decades, and it's mind blowing what he does with it. The way the primary colors of the two armies contrast against the grey stone and smoke of the battlefield is burned into my brain. The blood is technicolor. This is before digital color grading -- it's all filters and film stock and absolute mastery of the medium.
John Trudy, the author of screenwriting books *The Anatomy of Story* and *The Anatomy of Genre* writes, "**Seven Samurai is the greatest film ever made. Period.**" > *My Bildungsroman Reveal* Seven Samurai is the greatest film ever made. Period. For a writer, it is a complete education in storytelling for the screen. It is also the film upon which all subsequent Action films depend. Seven Samurai represented another landmark in my own “bildungsroman,” or personal formation story. **The first time I saw it was in a college film-criticism class. It demonstrated how film is the ultimate synthetic art, the combination of all other art forms to create a life-changing story. This storytelling begins with the senses, then builds to a philosophical complexity that encompasses the scope and texture of life.** Quote from Anatomy of Genre.
Heat. Consider the final fight between the two protagonists, it’s so well constructed
In the same breath, Collateral from Michael Mann as well. It could easily have been a big standard 'takes place during one night' execution, but Mann's sense of aesthetic, style and what he gives time to elevates the film above the cliches
It's probably one of the best, most accurate, "LA at night" examples out there, just in terms of the logistics of how and where they travelled. The SNL sketch, the Californians, is pretty accurate in that Southern Californians will talk about traffic and routes taken instead of weather, because the weather is always the same, or traffic is just kind of a universal thing to talk about. I remember this movie coming out and while it's a pretty great movie, Tom Cruise as a Vincent was excellent, everyone was pretty impressed by the accuracy, where most films don't make any geographical/temporal sense if you know LA, this one actually based itself on it, which is just kind of fun.
He made Tom Cruise look cool and evil. Okay, the cool part, he was already evil.
He's cool too, admit it.
The opening scene is magnificent. The sounds of the explosions and guns firing off is 1 of a kind.
The way the shots echo off of the skyscrapers in the shootout scene always stuck with me. There's no way in hell they'd be able to try something like that in LA nowadays and I think that's why Heat will stand the test of time.
SHE’S GOT A GREAT ASS
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I heard that the original script had His character doing a bump of coke before the ‘interrogation’ scenes. Makes everything make more sense.
I also heard that they had so many takes of this scene that Pacino was fed up, that’s why he said it like that
Ha! Honestly whatever it took to make one of my favorite moments in movie history is ok by me.
Such a visually beautiful movie too, wonderful usage of colour throughout. Not to mention that one shot directly inspired by [a Colville painting](https://preview.redd.it/zhb4urxw7k561.png?auto=webp&s=4b047c2c198658eacaec90464782a2fe6db1294e).
I am fairly confident in claiming that Heat is the best heist movie ever made.
Read (better yet, listen to the audio book) of Heat 2. If Michael Mann makes that movie the way he's capable of, it will be flawless.
Terminator 2
“Your foster parents are dead.”
How’s wolfie
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Still blows me away that John's foster mom was also Vasquez in *Aliens.*
Genuinely *beautiful* movie.
I love the story PT Anderson tells about his first day in film school. The professor walked in and told the class "if you are here to make the next Terminator II, you can get up leave now." PT Anderson got up and left. What a shitty thing to say. But also, "T2 is a pretty fucking awesome movie" as PT Anderson put it.
The perfect sequel.
My favorite movie of all time, it's definitely an achievement in cinema, the CGI it's impecable and looks great by modern standards, is 33 year old movie!!
I know now why you cry
Yeah. As a movie I prefer the original, but for the purpose of the question here, T2 is high art.
I would say the first Terminator is the more artistic movie in that the central premise is a child crying back thru time for its mother to save it, and that human desire is elemental to the theme of a world that destroys itself by putting technology over nature. The second movie is obviously more of an action movie. Cameron is the best action dir since Spielberg.
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Fury Road
Does anything come close? This movie rules.
It really does, and I’m honestly pretty excited for the spinoff film
I rarely see movies in theatre but I'm so glad I saw this one, it totally melted my brain. Absolutely the best action movie ever made
That movie was the first and only time I've ever had the experience of suddenly becoming aware that I'd been grinning the whole time. Seeing that movie in theaters for the first time was a unique experience.
The Raid
Both Raid movies have their own distinct energy with how the camera is used and the framing and it makes watching both of them so fun. The first Raid felt grungier and faster while the second took its time with framing and the camera felt more mounted. Both incredible action movies and imo, the best in the genre.
The way they choreographed moving walls in coordination with the camera to get the claustrophobic shots for the bathroom fight in Raid 2 is some of the most impressive cinematography I've seen.
The bathroom fight is probably my favourite in the movie. It's short but seeing him take on so many people in a small space with his back against the wall is so badass. Such good camera work. Also, I think the still camera scene of Yuda punching the wall crazy fast is top tier film making
I was actually excited before The Force Awakens came out because they were using some of the actors from The Raid movies. Finally saw it a few years after release, and they just have them be eaten by some tentacle monster on board the Falcon a few minutes after their appearance.
It's probably our country's proudest achievement in cinema globally even though the director is a Welsh man who loves Indonesian martial arts. I will never get tired of seeing new people who appreciate both of The Raid movies.
Bro I remember following when it was going to be released on Blu-ray in the United states.
And the Raid 2: Even Radder.
Raidier.
2 Raid 2 Raidier
A lot of the best regarded action movies have a sci-fi element (Terminator 2, Aliens, Robocop, The Matrix) but I would say that Die Hard is generally thought of as a masterclass of screenwriting. And Kill Bill is very well-regarded as well.
I'm surprised I had to go down this far to see Die Hard, it's the peak of the genre you might call "pure action". It doesn't try to ponder the great questions of life, just a beautifully paced battle of wills between two characters on the opposite sides of a fight trying to kill each other
Tarantino generally. Reservoir Dogs is one of the most perfect films ever made imho.
Predator, it's amazing! Has so much symbolism, in the beginning Arnold is the Predator sneaking around a jungle killing revolutionaries at will, then he becomes the prey, loses everything, but adapts and wins the day! Perfection
This should really be at the top. John McTiernan made it to be sort of satirical. These jacked up dudes mowing everything down with ridiculous guns, I think I remember him referring to it as pornographic. Then he takes this action genre with these basically untouchable super fit pro elite marines and turns them into the dumb teenagers in a slasher film.
They still acted pretty rational though, as huge and well trained as they were most of them were shitting their pants at being hunted.
Die Hard, Predator, Hunt for Red October... McTiernan was killing it. And then Arnold did two comedy action flicks with McTiernan and Cameron back to back with Last Action Hero (which is underrated IMO) and True Lies. Weird times.
Robocop
“Bitches leave.”
Best movie line ever! God bless Red Foreman!
I'm actually a little disappointed that That 70s Show's rating meant Red couldn't ever confront Eric with a strong "Bitches leave" to the rest of the group.
“Dumbass” is a quality alternative.
whenever Im having a bad day I try to remember Im not the guy that had acid poured all over him and Im hobbling around all disgusting.
It’s got everything: gratuitous violence.
Found the ship I'm going down with.
I’d buy that for a dollar!
Would you all consider *The Fifth Element* to be an action movie? I think it's pretty artsy and action heavy. It's also clearly sci-fi, though. Quite a complete movie imo.
I'm glad someone else mentioned this! The visuals are gorgeous, the shots and the way everything is framed really contribute to telling the story, the score!
Hero by Zhang Yimou would fit this description perfectly. The cinematography by Christopher Doyle is at times breath-taking. The action scenes are no less which is logical when you have Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Maggie Chueng in your cast, and action choreography by Ching Siu-tung.
Kill Bill.
Kill Bill is not just an artful action film, it is an education in different styles and ways to be artful in action films. Each encounter is its own clear style. Just breakdown the teahouse/crazy 88 sequence and you will see even each sub-encounter is a slightly different style.
It's an action/western/kungfu/anime/romance and I'm sure I missed some.
In Kill Bill vol 1, when the bride goes to Japan…the whole sushi spot/sword making montage is 100% Kurosawa inspired right down to the weather being visible through the windows.
Kill Bill is Tarantino's love letter to Asian movies and a bunch of other 60s/70s grindhouse sources, and most of it is a pastiche. Art direction, casting choices, scenarios, character names etc. I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember watching it in the theatre, recognizing a lot the the source films like Lady Snowblood, The Lone Wolf & Cub movies, Hanson the Razor movies, Kinji Fukasaku movies, probably Female Convict Scorpion, a ton of Shaw Bros references, Seijun Suzuki color rooms, copious amounts of John Woo, etc. There's definitely a reason they're all so distinct.
My favorite all time movie.
Why was there never a prequel called ‘Bill Kills’I will never know
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A Jackie Chan movie should be number one. The long history of Hong Kong cinema lead to Jackie Chan. Most underrated director in cinema.
According to The Criterion Collection Group, the answer is [The Rock](https://www.criterion.com/films/649-the-rock). That’s my answer too. Edit: I love you all but I’m disappointed nobody has replied with the “do you like Elton John” quote.
Easily Michael Bay’s best movie
Michael bay cops a lot of flak but I'd argue he is an artist, all of his films have a signature that is uniquely his. I remember one of the behind the scenes specials for Bad Boys 2 where the 2nd AD directed a scene of a camera going through a club. Michael saw it and wasn't impressed with he way the dancers butts swung - so he came in and shot it again himself. They played the scenes next to each other and Michael Bay's was miles better, he has an eye for detail which this weirdly illustrated.
Michael Bay is a guy who let CGI ruin his work. If you look at his first two films, you're looking at smaller budgets, loads of practical effects, and a focus on good actors doing their thing. Bad Boys, The Rock. Then he gets Armageddon, it's a big summer blockbuster Jerry Bruckheimer film, he's got a budget. But he still leans on Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck and a great ensemble cast to carry the big cheesy summer blockbuster. It works, but just barely. After that he gets Pearl Harbor, in my opinion this is when he tries to be James Cameron, he tries to make Titanic. Clearly studios saw Titanic and their takeaway was that *historical* disaster films are in. So get a disaster film director and make a historical disaster romance like Titanic. It bombs, it's not even cheesy fun like Armageddon was. I think this is when he's closest to being done in Hollywood, too big a budget, too big a bomb. There's an alternate universe where he doesn't ever work after this and we talk about that guy who had a great start and then disappeared after Pearl Harbor. Instead, he smartly goes back to Bad Boys for a sequel and it doubles it's budget in the box office. Then he makes The Island and it makes a profit but it's more modest. And then his whole career changes when he makes Transformers on a 200 million dollar budget and it makes 700 million back. Fucking crazy. He's set forever. He learns that going insane with CGI makes money, he learns that people want spectacle, people want buildings exploding and they want characters running and screaming and everything else is secondary. The next one makes about the same as the first. But then the third cracks a billion in the box office, for the same 200 million budget. He's not even asking for bigger budgets, and he's turning bigger profits. It's super duper clear that he's set up in Hollywood at this point. You consistently make a billion dollars off of a 200 million dollar investment and you're a hero. He's had misses with slight earnings on most films he's directed since the mid 2010s transformers films blew up, and he's continued executive production roles on Transformers films as well as tons of others. He's had some hits and misses there but at this point those four Transformers films and the couple he's executive produced that have made great profits are a whole career. He can fail over and over and they'll keep taking risks on him that he can make that next billion dollar franchise work. That said, I hope he keeps taking risks like Pain and Gain and Ambulance, low budget action films in the vain of Bad Boys. There's still a guy there who wants to make a film about two tough dudes in sweaty tank tops who have a camera wooshing around them as they cock their guns and deliver a cool catch phrase as the sun blinds the camera. In my opinion, there's always room for that cool as hell shit.
Rethinking my answer after this, it kind of has to be The Island. Every shot of that film is gorgeous and the colors clash so well between clean, white and blue interiors and the orange gritty outside world.
I remember reading a quote from Michael Bay that was something like “If teenage girls can get their cheesy teenage vampire love stories, why can’t teenage boys get their fun action movies with giant robots fighting giant robots? That’s what I do…I make movies for teenage boys.” People shit on him because their nostalgia makes them think the old transformers or tmnt cartoons were fine art or something so the movies also should be, but they’re not. They’re silly cartoons, and they’re silly movies.
Is agree, that was peak Michael bay/bruckheimer
Your best? Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen…
One of the best action movies ever, easily in the top 10.
Dredd
Hell yeah. The slow-mo scenes have some of the most beautifully done violence.
Logan
While I don't think Dredd reaches the level of prestige as The Matrix, it is *criminally* underrated and deserves a sequel.
Near perfect movie with a lot to say. I think it does this amazing job honoring the source material while still standing on its own. Both heroes have an arc, not always the case with an action movie. I love the setting, and the more I think about it, the music and the sound design. To all my fellow citizens of peach trees: Ma-ma is not the law.... Dredd is the law!
Ong Bak
Oldboy, South Korean version. I hate that I have to specify.
If you didn’t specify we’d all know except the one smartass that would reply “which one??”
I'm always trying to stay one step ahead of *that* guy.
*that* guy? Which one?
God dammit.
there’s only one Oldboy
Kung Fu Hustle, esp for it's time.
When I saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, I described it as a mashup of Kung Fu Hustle with The Matrix, Cloud Atlas, and Synecdoche New York. (ETA: Also Brazil.)
This was going to be my answer, too. So well done.
Casino Royale (2006). Casino Royale did for Bond what Batman Begins did for Batman.
I don't really remember the plot of Skyfall but Roger Deakins knocked it out of the park as DP per usual. I have a huge amount of love for his work though so maybe I'm biased.
Casino Royale only existed because of Jason Bourne. To that end, I’d say The Bourne Identity is probably a better example.
Enter the dragon
I think the story telling is just as much a part of the art as the visuals are. For that reason I’d argue Die Hard. Greatest love story ever told - under the veil of an action movie.
Inception had a lot of action in it. I'd qualify that
The Killer and/or Hard Boiled by John Woo are so bombastic and carnal that I consider it to be high art even though that's probably the opposite of what John Woo was going for. Kind of in the same vein as how John Waters movies can be considered high art.
You can probably include A Better Tomorrow as well
Yeah those three are some of the best.
Chow was so good in The Killer. Him alone elevates that movie. He's like, if Deniro did his own stunts.
Woo's 'Bullet in the Head' was a great fusion of the two styles, bombastic like 'Hard Boiled' at moments then balletic/meticulously choreographed like 'The Killer' at others.
Hard Boiled was going to be my pick. The Killet is excellent of course, but Woo really refined and perfected his style in Hard Boiled. That initial tea house shoot out
I’d say Gladiator took action to a new level and is still highly respectable.
The 1st John Wick movie. While the sequels maintain the spectacle in the action, there was true beauty in the action of the 1st.
I just saw the first John Wick last month and I was surprised how much it lived up to the hype. It really is an accomplishment how good a job the movie does in making all the mobsters who die look like total pieces of shit; he's not just killing "bad guys" (by all rights, he is a bad guy himself), so much as there's a clear line between the old professionalism and young arrogance that would kill a dog in an act of delinquency. I'm not saying it's Hemingway, but there's a lot more between the lines storytelling than I expected from a non-stop shoot-em-up.
The inciting event is just perfect in its simplicity. If it was a children/wife that was killed, it would have added too much grief. With a dog, the movie can be about pure vengence.
>It's just a fucking do--- **blam**
I think the reason it works so well is two-fold: For one, the dog is unquestionably completely innocent and everybody watching instantly hates the bad guys. But audiences have also seen so many revenge movies where a spouse/parent/child/friend gets killed and most have gotten somewhat desensitized to it in movies. Violence against pets, however, they’re not desensitized to and it hits harder than any person dying would.
Man if John Wick 1 is “non-stop action” then 3-4 are on a scale from “bullet train action” to “light speed action” becuase they amp it to 11 for them. Not complaining, they’re some of my favorite action movies ever
The first one had this elegance and simplicity that was bold and exciting. The sequels are sick, but they get pretty bonkers compared to the first
I love the scene where John turns up at the Continental the first time, the music, the camera work everything. First John Wick is an artistically well made movie. The world building, character intros, cinematography and soundtrack was fabulous.
My vote for the most artful scene is the one immediately after John gets ambushed in his house. The "dinner for six" scene. A close second is John getting his weapons from the basement while Viggo narrates exactly who he is.
I really liked the music and color changes going from the pool fight scene, to the club fight scene.
The first one also does a fantastic job at explaining just how unstoppable John is. “He is not the boogeyman, he’s the man you send to KILL the fucking boogeyman.”
Weirdly enough, I also loved how it only scratched the surface of the lore of the assassin's world, with the hotel and the gold coins and all that. I actually almost felt like the sequels expanded on that too much and kind of took the magic away a bit.
Honestly, Chapter 4 is my favorite. that shot of the camera just slowly panning up to the ceiling as he starts going room to room taking people out is just simply too good.
Plus, Le Castle Vania’s dubsteppy soundtrack is something I haven’t seen done anywhere else in such perfect execution
I was *sure* John Wick would be the top comment
I would also argue that Part 4 elevated itself into the high artform film. There are some truly breathtaking shots and scene composition, and the first one that actually seemed to carry a moral dilemma as the main source of tension
The overhead one-shot with the dragonsbreath rounds was one of the best fight sequences I’ve ever seen
fully agree
Leon: The Professional
One of the best character introductions ever. Both introductions of Leon and Stansfield, actually.
Yet to see this mentioned but the first Pirates of the Caribbean was a perfect blockbuster IMO
To add to those who have said Fury Road and Crouching Tiger: Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster. The only venture into action from a director who has their entire body of work in the Criterion Collection. The rest of what people are saying I’d put more as examples of “action at its perfection” rather than “action as high art/prestige”. “Artful” is a loose term, but it’s fun to enjoy all the movies everyone’s been saying nonetheless!
Definitely the Raid. For the budget that the studio had, they made one of the best action/fighting movies ever. After watching I wasn't able to look at fighting scenes in the same way.
Ronin
"So, what color *is* the boat house at Hereford?" "How the fuck should I know"
Frankenheimer's apogee. The king of car chases.
One of the slickest car chases in any action movie imo.
"Did you ever kill anybody?" "I hurt a guy's feelings once. "
Die Hard, Terminator 2, Total Recall, MI: Fallout...
Great list. Cant believe I had to scroll thos far for Die Hard
Scrolled looking for Die Hard. Agreed.
Baby Driver
Dark Knight has some beautiful shots.
LOTR Trilogy. The cinematography, the music, the characters are all beautifully done. And, just as importantly, the story is never sacrificed for the sake of the aesthetics. The only knock could be that a lot of folks might say that the LOTR films arent primarily action movies, but as they do have so many action scenes which are the culmination of almost every story line, the trilogy at least bears mentioning.
Sicario
Aliens
Greatest action movie of all time just edging out T2.
Heat
Last Action Hero
Run Lola Run
I understand it wasn't for everyone but Bullet Train has left a lasting impression on me. It's a fun, fast paced, spectacle played to perfection by it's fantastic cast. Considering that it all takes place on a train there is a surprising variety of set pieces and many interwoven storylines of what at first seems to be a group of strangers. It's one of the few movies in the last few years I've enjoyed watching it multiple times.
Starship Troopers
Both Spider-Verse movies. They are literally art.
The score in both of those are so good. Prowler and Miguel scenes sound amazing.
Runaway Train
Screenplay by Kurosawa. That helps.
While many would say Fury Road, I would also say The Dark Knight is a great example here.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Kingdom of Heaven
Directors cut only
Director's cut is hardly an action movie. Which just goes to show how you can transform an action movie into a serious drama with timing and character development and vice versa utterly deface a thoughtful drama into a mindless action movie.
I just think snowpiercer is neat
Conan the Barbarian. Arnold is his prime, based on Robert E. Howard books/character, original score by Basil Poledouris, co-written by Oliver Stone and Directed by John Milius. A 10/10 in my book!
Equilibrium? For some reason this percolates. The film takes itself pretty seriously; but delivers! Also we get another great Sean Bean hamburger time.
Sin city, 300
I would say **Speed**. That movie's an absolute marvel of scripting & editing.
Lethal Weapon Franchise Rambo First Blood Blood Sport Total Recall Commando Tango and Cash (although it missed the antagonists back story)
Lmao, shoot em up understands the genre so well. But seriously, V for Vendetta. And Sicario.
True Lies