Are you looking for the best action movies to watch this weekend? Movies in the action genre are fast-paced and include a lot of action like fight scenes, chase scenes, and slow-motion shots. This is why they are well suited for people who are looking for high-octane films.
Best Action Movies of All Time
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Genres: Action/Adventure
Star Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
2. The Bourne Identity (2002)
Director: Doug Liman
Genres: Action/Thriller
Star Cast: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper
The Bourne Identity is a 2002 action-thriller film based on Robert Ludlum’s 1980 novel. It was directed and co-produced by Doug Liman and written by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron.
It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man suffering from psychogenic amnesia attempting to discover his identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the CIA. It also features Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Walton Goggins, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
3. 300 (2006)
Director: Zack Snyder
Genres: Action/War
Star Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham
300 is the American epic historical action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley. Both are fictionalized retellings of the Battle of Thermopylae in the Persian Wars.
The film was co-written and directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. The plot revolves around King Leonidas, who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian “God-King” Xerxes and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers.
4. Iron Man (2008)
Director: Jon Favreau
Genres: Action/Sci-fi
Star Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard
Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios it is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Directed by Jon Favreau from a screenplay by the writing teams of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man alongside Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
In the film, following his escape from captivity by a terrorist group, world-famous industrialist and master engineer Tony Stark builds a mechanized suit of armor and becomes the superhero, Iron Man.
5. Independence Day (1996)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
Independence Day is an American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, and Harvey Fierstein.
The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4 – Independence Day in the United States.
Also Read:
- 10 Must-Watch Movie Marathons You Can Stream Right Now
- HDEUROPIX Alternatives – 8 Best Websites Like hdeuropix
- Best Sarah Paulson Movies and TV Shows
6. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Director: Peter Jackson
Genres: Action/Adventure/Drama
Star Cast: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
The Lord of the Rings is a series of three epic fantasy action adventure films directed by Peter Jackson and based on the novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The films have been subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003).
The films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis and Sean Bean.
Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, to ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron.
The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, along with Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Merry, Pippin and the wizard Gandalf, unite to save the Free Peoples of Middle-earth from the forces of Sauron and rally them in the War of the Ring to aid Frodo by distracting Sauron’s attention.
7. The Terminator (1984)
Director: James Cameron
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son will one day save mankind from extinction by Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence in a post-apocalyptic future.
Kyle Reese is a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. received an “additional dialogue” credit.
8. The Matrix (1999)
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in The Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano.
It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, which intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.
When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias “Neo”, uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
9. Aliens (1986)
Director: James Cameron
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron. It is the sequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, and the second film in the Alien franchise.
Set in the far future, the film stars Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien attack on her ship. When communications are lost with a human colony on the moon on which her crew first encountered the alien creatures, Ripley agrees to return to the site with a unit of Colonial Marines to investigate.
10. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genres: Adventure/Action
Star Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, and Denholm Elliott.
Ford portrays Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting archaeologist vying with Nazi German forces in 1936 to recover the long-lost Ark of the Covenant, a relic said to make an army invincible. Teaming up with his tough former lover Marion Ravenwood (Allen), Jones races to stop rival archaeologist Dr. René Belloq (Freeman) from guiding the Nazis to the Ark and its power.