34 Action Movies That'll Give You An Adrenaline Rush
We would like to take you to a tour through some of the fastest, meanest, most destructive action movies ever shown in the movies. While we tried to keep the choices action movie-centric (which meant excluding some classic films like Star Wars, Avengers, Avatar, The Dark Knight, Matrix, Transformers etc. which just didn’t feel at home with the rest of the movies chosen), there’s undoubtedly some genre-bleeding, but you can rest assured that every movie on this will raise your adrenaline and have you craving more car chases, more slow motion shootouts, more cocky one-liners and definitely more epic explosions. Here are 34 of the greatest action movies of all time, just for you.
34. Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) | IMDb: 6.4
Car theft in Long Beach went down 47% when Randall 'Memphis' Raines walked away from the life. He gets dragged back into it by assuming the job his brother Kip screwed up for stolen-car broker Raymond Calitri: steal 50 exotic cars and have them on a container ship by 8 AM Friday morning, and he got this news on a Monday. With Calitri threatening to kill him and Kip, and the police GRAB unit breathing down his neck, Memphis reassembles his old crew and attempts to pull off the logistically impossible.
33. Eagle Eye (2008) | IMDb: 6.6
Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.
32. Undisputed III: Redemption (2010) | IMDb: 7.5
Russian inmate Boyka, is now severely hobbled by the knee injury he suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight tournament begins - an international affair, matching the best fighters from prisons around the globe, enticing them with the promise of freedom for the winner - Boyka must reclaim his dignity and fight for his position in the tournament.
31. Crank (2006) | IMDb: 7.0
When the hit-man Chev Chelios is poisoned by the criminal Verona, his friend and doctor Miles advises him that he must keep his adrenaline levels elevated to stay alive. Chev meets his girlfriend Eve and together they look for Verona to kill him.
30. The Expendables (2010) | IMDb: 6.5
Barney Ross leads the 'Expendables,' a band of highly skilled mercenaries including knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, martial arts expert Yin Yang, heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitionist Toll Road and loose-cannon sniper Gunner Jensen. When the group is commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the merciless dictator of a small South American island, Barney and Lee head to the remote locale to scout out their opposition. Once there, they meet with local rebel Sandra and discover the true nature of the conflict engulfing the city.
29. The Rundown (2003) | IMDb: 6.7
The Rock is a bounty hunter who attempts to square a debt by heading to the Amazon jungle to capture someone. The bounty hunter discovers that his quarry isn't the bad guy he'd been warned about, and the two team up in pursuit of riches stored in a mine in the Amazon.
28. Banlieue 13 (2004) | IMDb: 7.2
In 2010, the dangerous districts in the periphery of Paris are surrounded by walls, and the dwellers do not have school, hospital or even police in the area, which is ruled by drug lords. In the 13th District, Leito is a honest man that lives in a clean building and does not permit drug dealers near his neighborhood. When he destroys one million Euros worth of Taha Bemamud's heroin, the criminal abducts Leito's sister Lola and the corrupt police arrests Leito. Six months later, the tough and honest Capt. Damien Tomaso is assigned to find and deactivate a stolen bomb that might destroy the 13th District and the two million dwellers. Together with Leito, they have to face Taha's gang and disclose a despicable secret behind the robbery of the bomb.
27. Death Race (2008) | IMDb: 6.4
Ex-con Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory.
26. The A-Team (2010) | IMDb: 6.8
Four American soldiers who are in Iraq are sent on a mission to recover plates for printing 100 dollar bills that were used to print a billion dollars. After doing the job and returning to the base their commanding officer is killed in an explosion and the plates are stolen by another operative. They would be court martialed and sent to different prisons. 6 months later, the leader, Hannibal Smith is visited by a CIA spook who tells him he knows where the man who took the plates is and wants him and his men to recover it. So he helps him escape and he breaks out the others and they go after the plates. But after doing it, they discover that the spook might not be ok. And a military intelligence officer who was involved with one of them is pursuing them.
25. The Man from Nowhere / Ajeossi (2010) | IMDb: 7.9
An ex-special agent CHA Tae-shik's only connection to the rest of the world is a little girl, So-mi, who lives nearby. Her mother, Hyo-jeong smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know. The traffickers find out about her smuggling and kidnap both Hyo-jeong and So-mi. The gang promises to release them if Tae-shik makes a delivery for them, however it actually is a larger plot to eliminate a rival drug ring leader. When Hyo-jeon's disemboweled body is discovered, Tae-shik realizes that So-mi's life may also be in danger. Tae-shik becomes enraged at the prospect that So-mi may already be dead and prepares for a battle, putting his own life at risk.
24. The Italian Job (2003) | IMDb: 7.0
A gang of robbers, lead by career criminal Charlie Croker, create the largest traffic jam in Los Angeles history, giving them time to pull off a theft of gold bullion. They get away in their Mini Coopers, which are small enough to drive on sidewalks so they can make a clean get away before the traffic jam clears.
23. Huo Yuan Jia (2006) | IMDb: 7.7
When an ill-advised fight destroys the reputation of a renowned martial arts champion and his family, his difficult path to redemption will bring him face-to-face with the most ferocious fighters in the world.
22. The Transporter (2002) | IMDb: 6.8
Ex-Special Forces operator Frank Martin lives what seems to be a quiet life along the French Mediterranean, hiring himself out as a mercenary 'transporter' who moves goods - human or otherwise - from one place to another, no questions asked. Frank's newest transport seems no different from the countless ones he's done in the past. He has been hired by an American known only as 'Wall Street' (see Rule Two) to make a delivery, but when Frank stops along route, he notices his 'package' is moving. Violating his own personal rules, Frank looks inside the bag, finding its contents to be a beautiful, gagged woman.
21. The Fugitive (1993) | IMDb: 7.8
A well respected Chicago surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble has found out that his wife, Helen, has been murdered ferociously in her own home. The police find Kimble and accuse him of the murder. Then, Kimble (without justifiable reason) is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. However, on the way to prison, Kimble's transport crashed. Kimble escapes and is now on the run and Deputy Samuel Gerard from Chicago takes charge of the chase. Meanwhile, Kimble takes up his own investigation to find who really killed his wife, and to lure Gerard and his team into it as well.
20. Jui kuen (1978) | IMDb: 7.7
The father of Wong Fei-hong has been attempting to teach his son kung-fu, but has found him too disobedient to teach and decides to send him off to his uncle, a cruel and torturous master of the 8-Drunken Genii kung-fu. After much suffering, the son comes back to rescue the father from an assassin who has also previously humiliated Naughty Panther.
19. Shoot 'Em Up (2007) | IMDb: 6.8
Late at night, in an unnamed U.S. city, a solitary man sits at a bus stop. A pregnant woman runs by, pursued by a man with a gun. He follows the couple, kills the man and helps deliver the baby in the middle of a shootout while a gang of hit-man tries to shoot them up. The woman is kille,d but Smith saves the baby, escaping from Hertz, the leader of the killers. Then he meets the prostitute Donna Quintano, who has just lost her baby, and asks her to breastfeed the newborn. They are chased by Hertz and Smith discovers the reason why the bad guy wants to kill the baby.
18. Shooter (2007) | IMDb: 7.2
Bob Lee Swagger, one of the world's great marksmen and the son of a Congressional Medal of Honoree, is a loner living in the Rockies. He's left the military, having been hung out to dry in a secret Ethiopian mission a few years before, when he's recruited by a lisping colonel to help find a way that the President of the US might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks. He does his work, but the shot is fired notwithstanding and Bob Lee is quickly the fall guy: wounded and hunted by thousands, he goes to ground and, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him. All roads lead back to Ethiopia.
17. Lethal Weapon (1987) | IMDb: 7.6
Roger Murtaugh has just turned 50, and only has a few more years to go before he retires from the Los Angeles Police Department. Martin Riggs has just lost his wife in an accident, and doesn't care if he lives or dies. When they are paired together, Murtaugh has problems with Riggs suicidal attitude towards work, as they investigate a drugs baron dubbed 'The General.'
16. Taken (2008) | IMDb: 7.9
After reluctantly agreeing to let his 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), go to France with her best friend, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is horrified to hear that she is kidnapped by an Albanian gang whose specialty is prostitution rings. With only 96 hours to go before he'll never find her again, Bryan rushes to France to save her. As a former CIA agent, he has all the skills necessary to rescue her - if he can only find her.
15. The Rock (1996) | IMDb: 7.4
A group of U.S. marines, under command of a renegade general, take over Alcatraz and threaten San Francisco Bay with biological weapons. A chemical weapons specialist and the only man to have ever escaped from the Rock are the only ones who can prevent chaos.
14. Live Free or Die Hard (2007) | IMDb: 7.3
On the July 4th holiday, an attack on the vulnerable United States infrastructure begins to shut down the entire nation! But as New York City police detective John McClane delivers old-school justice to a new breed of terrorist when a massive computer hacker on the U.S. infrastructure threatens to shut down the entire country over Independence Day weekend!
13. Tango & Cash (1989) | IMDb: 6.3
Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash are narcotics detectives who, while both being extremely successful, can't stand each other. Crime Lord Yves Perret, furious at the loss of income that Tango and Cash have caused him, frames the two for murder. Caught with the murder weapon at the scene of the crime, the two have no alibi. Thrown into prison with most of the criminals they helped convict, it appears that they are going to have to trust each other if they are to clear their names and catch the evil Perret.
12. Mad Max 2 (1981) | IMDb: 7.6
A former police officer is now a lone wanderer, traveling through a devastated Australia after a nuclear war looking for now-priceless petrol. He lives to survive and is none too pleased when he finds himself the only hope of a small group of honest people running a remote oil refinery. He must protect them from the bike gang that is terrorizing them while transporting their entire fuel supply to safety.
11. Enemy of the State (1998) | IMDb: 7.3
Robert Clayton Dean is a successful labor lawyer based in Washington DC. He has a beautiful wife and adorable son with a nice house located in Georgetown. But things take a turn for the surreal, when a chance encounter with an old friend leaves him evidence of a politically-motivated murder. On the run from a treacherous NSA official and his men, he comes into contact with a former government operative and surveillance expert, who is his only way out.
10. Face/Off (1997) | IMDb: 7.3
FBI Special Agent Sean Archer tries to find a biological weapon placed in Los Angeles by a sadistic terrorist-for-hire and criminal mastermind named Castor Troy. Archer has hunted Troy for the last 8 years, and is consumed by revenge because Troy is responsible for the death of Archer's son. To do this, Archer must 'borrow' Troy's face using a surgical procedure to go undercover as Troy, but things go wrong when Troy assumes the identity of Archer.
9. Casino Royale (2006) | IMDb: 8.0
Armed with a licence to kill, Secret Agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007 and must defeat a weapons dealer in a high stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, but things are not what they seem.
8. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) | IMDb: 7.4
Ethan Hunt is broken out of a Russian prison by IMF team members and begins his search for an international terrorist who has successfully stolen Russian arm codes for their nuclear missiles. They must first identify him and the only way to do so is to break into the Kremlin archives. The end result is that much of the Kremlin is destroyed and now Russian agents are after the IMF. They track the thief, now identified as Kurt Hendricks, to Dubai where an attempt to con him out of the codes fail. They then follow him to Mumbai where it's believed he will transmit the signals to launch the Russian missiles at the USA.
7. Wanted (2008) | IMDb: 6.7
A young man finds out his long lost father is an assassin. When his father is murdered, the son is recruited into his father's old organization and trained by a man named Sloan to follow in his dad's footsteps.
6. Fast Five (2011) | IMDb: 7.3
Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner are still wanted men. They are now in Brazil along with Dom's sister, Mia. They were hired to do a job but it seems they were being used by someone and now that someone is after them. They decide to go after him so they bring in some of their friends to help them. And the same time, Luke Hobbs a government agent who specializes in tracking down fugitives, arrives in Brazil and is determined to get them.
5. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) | IMDb: 7.7
Mistaken for an actor, small-time crook, Harry Lockhart, finds himself in the midst of the Hollywood community. He's paired up with private detective 'Gay Perry' to get some training for his role, but things begin to get weird when they witness a real murder.
4. First Blood (1982) | IMDb: 7.7
Former Green Beret John Rambo is pursued into the mountains surrounding a small town by a tyrannical sheriff and his deputies, forcing him to survive using his combat skills.
3. The Island (2005) | IMDb: 6.9
Lincoln Six Echo is just like everyone else - he's waiting to go to the Island, the only place left in the world to actually live a life. Thousands of people stay at a facility waiting to go to the Island. It all sounds like paradise, but Lincoln Six Echo soon discovers that there's actually a sinister purpose going on at that facility and that he must escape - but not before stopping the sinister plan.
2. Ip Man / Yip Man (2008) | IMDb: 8.1
In 1935 in Foshan, south China, there are martial arts schools on every street corner. Ip Man is the undisputed martial arts champion, yet he has not devoted himself to teaching. Despite this, it seems that all the kung fu masters of the city are eager to fight him to improve their reputation.
1. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) | IMDb: 8.1
Jason Bourne is once again brought out of hiding, this time inadvertently by London-based reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar--an upgrade to Project Treadstone--in a series of newspaper columns. Bourne sets up a meeting with Ross and realizes instantly they're being scanned. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally, ultimately, uncover his dark past whilst dodging The Company's best efforts in trying to eradicate him.
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