Action Movie SUBGENRES

This is a huge, ongoing project that I live to work on :D  If a movie that you think should be in a category is not there,
it's probably because I haven't gotten around to re-watching it to be sure. Same thing, if you see any glaringly wrong placements
of films in categories, please email me:  gynell@gmail.com. For a list of movies, see my Hit List.

REVENGE 

ORDER UP! It's said that Revenge is a dish that's best served cold. In the case of Action Movie revenge, you may get a 10-course meal where all the dishes are piping hot. Piping hot's good. Shut up and eat your awesome.
 

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982)

STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN

COMMANDO

ROBOCOP (1987)

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

KILL BILL VOL. 1

THE PUNISHER

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

MACHETE

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011)

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

NEED FOR SPEED

BULLET TO THE HEAD

JOHN WICK

MONTANA

12 STRONG

Conan The Barbarian
(14 May 1982) 
If you have never seen this, you will be surprised by how much sex there is. It's more than a little campy, and at the time it was like nothing we had ever seen in an Action Movie. We wanted more, but Conan The Destroyer and Red Sonja didn't quite live up to our expectations.  Maybe it was just more Arnold we wanted, and we got that!  I want to say it's so bad it's good . . . It's both. We love it! 

Owning a replica of the sword is about the coolest thing for an action movie freak (and Rambo's knife).

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(4 June 1982)  Action | Adventure | Drama . . . (what no Sci-Fi?! I submitted the addition on IMDb, let's see if it sticks.)
As Revenge movies go, this one is so much fun!  Partly because James Tiberius Kirk is involved, but also Ricardo Montalban's dulcet tones make it so satisfying.  "He tasks me. He tasks me and I will have him."  And what follows is a version of lines from Moby Dick. How well they are used here!  This is one of my all-time favorite movies.  I would so love to see a remake, but Khan's part must live up to the voice.  The whole idea of the Botany Bay and Ceti Alpha V and VI is intriguing and there could be two movies in this story.   If anyone who could make these movies reads this, you have to know that Khan and his family have to be superior in physique and looks for this to work really well. It plays well against the 'ordinary' people (like us) that we defeat them. I'm a big Benedict Cumberbatch fan but he's no Khan. The blonde Malibu Barbie and Ken look is so '80s and perfect! They have to be really great looking to pull this off. Cumberbatch is, let's say uniquely attractive.  I always thought the character of Khan should have been younger, but Montalban pulled it off.

Commando (4 Oct 1985)
Such an Arnold vehicle.  This movie gave audiences what they were clamoring for:  Arnold, Arnold, and more Arnold.  The one-man army.  When he takes off to rescue his daughter from a guerilla camp, his determination knows no bounds. From  the scene where they rob the store for weapons to how he boards the plane, to the beach assault where he takes on the entire camp by himself, to the subsequent rescue, this should be a Super Soldier movie because G. I. Joe was never so well built or well armed.  Arnold's walk-and-shoot borders on hilarious (but in a good way).  Aciton Movie audiences ate it up, still do.  Cheesy one-liners abound. The final gun battle is epic.  Alyssa Milano is good as Arnold's resourceful daughter.  Audiences loved that too: the idea of Arnold as their Dad.  The movie also stars Bill Duke who appeared next on the big screen with Arnold in  . . . Predator.

Robocop 
(17 July 1987) 
Yes, Robocop is movie about revenge, but really, it's so fucking bad ass that he's a robot, the story is background. Nothing has equaled this movie since. It's just so over the top that it's still wildly entertaining. I guess they were afraid to push the envelope with the remake but it couldn't hold a candle to this movie. 

Much credit has to be given to Peter Weller (who's just a great actor—he killed in Dragon Eyes) but the supporting cast is also a huge part of the fun. As cheesy as the special effects sometimes were (ED-209 looked like a electric shaver), the movie was part of a wave of fun, super creative late '80s/early '90s Sci-Fi movies that included The Running Man (1987), They Live (1988),  Total Recall (1990), Demolition Man (1993), Judge Dredd (1995), and . I'd like to think they were inspired by 1982's Blade Runner, but who's to say for sure.

This movie makes the revenge ultra satisfying and I think they get the balance of man and machine just right. What the machine adds to the man and how the man uses the machine is part of what made it a classic. It's always fun to watch even when some scenes are uncomfortable, they pump up the payoff.   . . . See also Super Cop.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1
(10 Oct 2003)
You can't argue that Quentin Tarantino's creativity and the entertainment factor is not incredible, but Uma Thurman? When I first saw it, I thought she was not the best choice. I don't care how well she handled herself and the sword, she looked awkward, un-athletic, and gangly doing it. I just wish someone else was cast. Someone with athletic prowess like her stunt double Zoë Bell. What a huge difference that would have made.  I'm not saying I didn't enjoy watching it but  . . . Quentin Tarantino fans will be hating on me for this but I'm not a huge fan of this movie. (She did not just say that. Oh yes, I did .)  Beside that, I liked it, but not Vol. 2.

The knife fight between  Zoë Bell and Angela Meryl / Uma Thurman and Vivica A. Fox was the best girl thing ever!

The Punisher 
 (16 Apr 2004)
This movie is in a league of its own. He's a bad ass on a whole other level.

Quantum of Solace 
should have been called "Another Way To Die"
 (14 Nov 2008)  Action | Adventure | Thriller
This movie is unfairly underrated. I've watched it a bunch of times just for the Action. The Action is top rate and the movie never gets old. The fight scenes, the dogfight (he wins with a DC-3! that's saying something), the locations, the car chases, the whole thing is great. It's very James Bond and I loved the storyline. In fact, it's the same trio of writers as Casino Royale so I don't get why people didn't seem to take to this movie. The scenery and the pacing made it even more interesting to me. I love how many classic Bond elements it has. Even Felix Lighter is key.

There's a free short documentary "Bond on Location - Quantum of Solace" on amazon instant video you should watch if you love this movie like I do. It gives you an idea of just how much hard work goes into making a movie like this. (The footage on how they filmed the dogfight makes you realize how expensive this must be.)

Bond movies were the pinnacle of  Action Movies for years. This lives up to that legacy. I think what I like best is that it shows off Bond's skills and his perseverance.  I also loved the continuity of the story. It really humanized him. Without this movie, his relationship with "M" would not have been as poignant in Skyfall.

Machete 
(3 Sept 2010)
So much good and bad in one action movie. I loved it and I hated it. It was incredibly unkind to women. They crossed too many lines for me in the name of "art" and not to good effect, and they copied shamelessly. But, you know you wanted to see it just for the motorcycle gun.  Read more..
 

Conan The Barbarian (2011)
(19 Aug 2011)  This was really like two movies in one. The actor who played the younger Conan was so convincing and captivating, it seemed like a movie on its own.  After seeing the last half, I much preferred the first.  The second half seemed a bit silly and slow.  Jason Momoa was beautiful to look at, no complaints there, but . . . Leo Howard held his own in the acting department and then some!  

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
(17 Feb 2012) 
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is visually stunning, from the overall look of it with the intense colors, creative cut outs, collages, and camera angles, to the details like the absolutely bad-ass wardrobe of worn leather, to the stunts like Idris Elba's slow-mo fall backwards while shooting (as often as we've seen that original Dar Robinson move, it was a stand out, and delivered not only, surprisingly, SURPRISE, but impact—it says a lot that they made this move fresh, and that it was so bad ass, that it's still bad ass). I saw the movie in 2D thinking that if I didn't think 3D would have added anything, I would have been smart and saved the difference in the price of admission, but if it seemed like it would have been good in 3D then I could always pay to see it again. And will I! It delivered beyond my expectations on every level.

Read more . . .

Bullet to the Head (2013)
(1 Feb 2013)  Starting with “I got your old guy right here”, Sylvester Stallone wisecracked, shot, stabbed, punched, and drank his way through Bullet to the Head.  [Bulleit Bourbon must have paid handsomely to be so prominently featured. If they paid handsomely to help make a Stallone movie, I'm all for promoting them here as a thank you!]  The movie was a little Transporter-ish and like Parker, and like Statham's characters Stallone's character James Bonomo aka “Jimmy Bobo” has rules.  Read more . . .   

Need for Speed
(14 Feb 2014) 
What's more American than their love of cars? How about a drive-in? Meet small-town mechanic and local street-racing legend "Tobey Marshall" (Aaron P) who lost his girl to 'the bad guy': his high-school football and racing rival turned professional driver. So, this movie "ain't just about racing", it's about Revenge. Each major plot point kicks up the revenge motive more and more, but with a twist. This movie showcases top-notch old school stunt work thanks to veteran Lance Gilbert (son of stunt legend Mickey Gilbert).

Read more.

John Wick
(24 Oct 2014) 
It's a story of vengeance starring Keanu Reeves that takes you along for a wild ride! As John Wick, Keanu Reeves is single-handedly bringing Bad Ass back. John Wick is a true Action Movie (the best praise I can give).

This movie is different (better) than most "Action Movies" today because it's the directorial debut of the 87Eleven Action Design Team Owner/Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch—people who know Action (as it should be). Not only do they truly know Action Movies, their firm does the most impressive stuntwork in the business. I say that because after I first found out who 87eleven was—Ninja Assassin blew my socks off in 2009—whenever the Action in a movie was so good I wondered "Who did the Action on this?" Yeah, 87eleven!   Read more . . .

Montana
(19 Sept 2015) 
"Montana" is a great protégé movie with compelling characters, a ton of growling (LOVE that! LOL), and great fight scenes. This movie was something I stumbled on in Amazon.com. I highly recommend it and hope you enjoy the morality. It's always good to see the bad guys get their come uppance. There's a ton of cursing and some major assholes. So satisfying. They spend some time developing the back story on the characters and so you care what happens to them.

Directed by Mo Ali (amazingly good movie for it being only his second!), the movie is set in the "mean streets of London's East End". Who knew that neighborhood was so rough. Until I read that I thought it was in Eastern Europe someplace. The co-lead, "Dimitrije". (it's debatable which of the two the movie is about), is played by Lars Mikkelsen. You might recognize him from "Headhunter". The other lead "Montana" is played by (16-year-old?) McKell David. I hope we see more of him.  

12 Strong
(19 Jan 2018) 
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. retaliated with a Green Beret Direct Action Team . . .  They say it's not about vengeance, it's about . Potayto, pohtatto, payback's a bitch.