10 Action Movies That Escalate Perfectly, Ranked
Of all the genres out there, it’s probably either thrillers or action movies that benefit the most from being perfectly paced and continually exciting. It feels obvious to say that such movies should start interesting, get a little better with every new set piece, and then conclude on the most spectacular note possible, but not every action movie or thriller gets this right, meaning it’s worth celebrating those that stick to such rules and ultimately satisfy in totality.
Many of these movies do qualify as thrillers, but not all, since it’s action films that are worth focusing on here for now. These are all well-paced, consistent, and solidly constructed on a writing and editing front. They’re not necessarily all non-stop when it comes to action, but they flow incredibly well and remain compelling, even during the quieter moments needed for the narratives at hand.
10
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ (2023)
If you’re really into action movies, you can’t go wrong with any of the John Wick flicks, with the movies in this series starting kind of personal and intimate, and then ballooning/escalating over the course of several movies. But it would be a bit weird to mention the entire series here and compare it to soon-to-be-mentioned individual films, so in the interest of singling out one particularly great John Wick film, it may as well be the fourth.
It’s a joy to watch every action scene be a little better than the one that came before, and the bonkers final 30 to 45 minutes or so really has to be seen to be believed.
The unsurprisingly named John Wick: Chapter 4 goes bigger than all the others in terms of spectacle and runtime, and memorably starts at 11 before finishing at, like, 37 or something. Some kind of high number. It’s a joy to watch every action scene be a little better than the one that came before, and the bonkers final 30 to 45 minutes or so really has to be seen to be believed. The fifth movie definitely has its work cut out for it, but if it can top this one, that would indeed be neat.
9
‘The Matrix’ (1999)
15 years before he first starred as John Wick in that series, Keanu Reeves was in The Matrix, and it remains probably his best-ever action movie. It’s also a great sci-fi film, telling a story that involves the human race being enslaved by machines, and a small group of people who know the truth about what’s happened to humanity, and fight back against the machines. There’s also a lot of kung-fu and slow-motion shootouts along the way.
The Matrix was a breath of exceedingly fresh air back in 1999, and though it’s been imitated and referenced quite a bit since then, it still retains much of its power and awe. It’s intelligently made as a sci-fi film, and pretty breathless as an action movie, being the best of both those worlds and delivering some of the most technically impressive set pieces of any film of its decade.
8
‘The Killer’ (1989)
If you’re looking specifically at movies that were released before 2000, you can’t really go wrong with John Woo, and you especially can’t go wrong with something as perfectly crafted as The Killer. Hard Boiled might be more spectacular and relentless, and Face/Off is certainly more bombastic with its premise and acting, but The Killer balances telling a genuinely involving story and having tons of great action with absolute precision.
It’s about an assassin seeking redemption after he accidentally blinds a woman during a hit, and how he eventually crosses paths with a police officer who also has his own moral code and doesn’t necessarily play by typical cop rules. And that might sound a bit hammy, but The Killer strikes the right balance for this sort of premise, with it being a near-perfect melodrama and an excellent heroic bloodshed action-fest, all at once.
7
‘Fast Five’ (2011)
Since it’s a very broad and melodramatic series, some people will tell you that the Fast and Furious movies are too silly to get invested in, but those people are wrong. Okay, maybe those people are right about some of the Fast and Furious movies, but you’d be sillier than the silliest Fast and Furious movie to dismiss the entire series, especially when one of them is as good as Fast Five.
Sure, it’s the peak of the whole series, so if you want to get pessimistic, it’s all downhill from there, and has been going downhill since 2011, but still, what a high this is. Fast Five is a relentless heist movie that benefits from bringing a whole bunch of previously established characters together and picking up immediately from a cliffhanger that concluded the fourth film. Also, it saves the best action sequence for last, since the chase with the safe being towed is just incredible stuff.
6
‘The Blues Brothers’ (1980)
Not only is The Blues Brothers up there among the funniest movies ever made, but it’s also seriously impressive as an action movie. There are lots of stunts throughout, given that an emphasis is put on physical comedy and chaos, with the two most memorable sequences involving car chases that depict ridiculous amounts of destruction, with the spectacle going along surprisingly well with the comedy.
Also, The Blues Brothers is a musical, and an all-timer when judged as one, so to say that it’s a lot of things all at once is quite the understatement. It’s anarchic, but it also has a certain amount of heart, not to the extent that it’s heartwarming necessarily, but the main characters are determined and sincere with their whole mission from God, and even if they’re not technically amazing/flawless people, they’re very easy to root for.
5
‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)
It’s hopefully not too controversial to say so, but Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the best movie in the long-running Tom Cruise-starring action/spy series. It’s about trying to prevent a catastrophic event, as per usual, but everything feels particularly energetic and exciting here, with no real moment when things ever slow down (which is quite impressive, considering the movie is about 2.5 hours long).
There’s immense quality to the action, and it also delivers when it comes to quantity, once more being one of those excellent and admirable action movies that saves its best set pieces for the final third. It was indeed a mission somewhat impossible to exceed this sixth film, though Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning gave it a pretty admirable shot (The Final Reckoning, on the other hand, had its moments, but was honestly rather dismally paced by the standards of the series).
4
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (1991)
The Terminator had a good amount of action, but Terminator 2: Judgment Day memorably took things to a whole other level. It did for the first movie what James Cameron’s Aliens did for the first film in that series, casting aside a good deal of horror and keeping things suspenseful and thrilling, sure, but also more bombastic when delivering action of a very explosive nature.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day also isn’t any sort of slouch narratively, since it throws a pretty good twist at you early on and then proves continually willing to build upon the story that kicked off in the first movie seven years earlier. It does time travel well, and it’s also a surprisingly emotional movie when it wants to be, inevitably striking a remarkable balance across the board and being one of the best movie sequels ever made, too.
3
‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ (2003)
Quentin Tarantino has made a handful of action movies in his time as a filmmaker, and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is easily the best of them. It’s ultimately just one half of a bigger revenge story, but it is the part of the story that focuses on action more than anything else, making the entire thing very fast-paced and even a bit dizzying. It’s sort of style over substance, but done right.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 is similarly well-paced, but is light enough on action that it feels like a bit of a stretch to call it a full-on action movie, at least compared to Vol. 1. Taking both parts together makes it easy to cut the lack of narrative and character development in the first volume some slack, and it’s also just too enjoyable and explosive to even think about shortcomings while it’s all playing out.
2
‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)
Seven Samurai is about as definitive as epic movies come, with its potentially imposing 3.5-hour-long runtime and three acts that each on their own are kind of feature-length. But it’s an extremely well-told story that needs to take its time, and ends up being remarkably paced even in those slower moments, setting up a town that needs protection, introducing seven warriors who’ll defend it, and then showing preparation for a climactic battle that itself ultimately takes up much of the final act.
It’s very smoothly done, to the point where Seven Samurai still does a great job at holding one’s attention span, even if plenty of the films it inspired are technically a little snappier on a pacing front. Calling it one of the greatest movies of all time is a bit of a no-brainer, and it’s the kind of film that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime.
1
‘Die Hard’ (1988)
Sorry to be predictable, but Die Hard is pretty much the gold standard for how to structure and execute an action/thriller movie, and so it nabs the #1 spot here for being absolutely impossible to fault when looking at editing and writing. It’s a lean film, but it also knows when to slow down and take its time, having great characters you either come to care about or enjoy disliking before the action kicks off.
Alan Rickman is legendary as the bad guy here, and Bruce Willis gives what’s understandably his most iconic performance as everyday/unlikely hero John McClane. Die Hard is also very simple, when you break it down, but nothing about it feels simplistic, overly cheesy, or otherwise forced. It’s efficient, always exciting, and justifiably considered one of the best action films of all time.
