10 Best Epic Action Movies, Ranked
“Epic” can sometimes be used as an adjective to describe things that are cool or grand in some way, but the word can also refer to a certain kind of movie. Epic movies are also often grand, with large production values, spectacle, and a story that usually needs a long runtime to be properly told. Some of the most iconic movies of all time also happen to be epics, as the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly show.
As for action movies? They can sometimes be epic in nature without necessarily being epics, but a few epic movies also happen to have enough action to count as action movies. The following aim to demonstrate this, with all of them exceeding 2.5 hours in length and having “action” be one of their marked genres on Letterboxd (it’s best just to stick to what that site considers an action movie, for consistency’s sake).
10
‘Braveheart’ (1995)
There’s a lot that’s grand about Braveheart, since it features some massive battle scenes, has a fairly bombastic score, and also goes very broad emotionally, but not in a bad way. It’s very loosely based on a real-life person, William Wallace, as he seeks revenge for the murder of the love of his life, in turn inspiring a rebellion against English forces occupying Scotland.
It’s a blunt and very straightforward movie, on a narrative front, but it still tells its simple story well, with a bunch of characters both heroic and villainous proving memorable, and it’s also an undeniably exciting watch. There are certainly imperfections with Braveheart, and much of the movie can be picked apart if you feel so inclined, but as far as action-packed epics go, it does really satisfy in many ways.
9
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (2022)
Avatar: The Way of Water is probably more definable as a science fiction epic, but there’s also a good deal of action here, especially in the pretty relentless final act. It’s yet another film that demonstrates James Cameron’s knack for crafting very strong sequels… well, aside from that second Piranha movie, but that was his feature “debut” and he’s also since disowned it.
As for Avatar: The Way of Water, there’s not really a strong consensus over whether it tops its predecessor, but it is a bit more original narratively than Avatar, even if it could potentially lack the same wow factor, technically speaking, that the first movie had. But both probably count as epics, with the sequel being included here because it goes a little bigger, gets a bit more ambitious, and also clocks in at about half an hour longer runtime-wise.
8
‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)
The longest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, as of 2025, remains Avengers: Endgame, which kind of had to be the biggest thing in said series, since it wrapped up more than 10 years’ worth of story, and kept certain threads alive for future phases. But it was phases 1 to 3 that Avengers: Endgame sought to mostly end, and it did well there, also serving as a great follow-up to Avengers: Infinity War.
Avengers: Endgame had plenty of spectacle and action, particularly when it came to that big final battle that’ll be hard to top going forward.
There was a bold ending to that 2018 movie, and Avengers: Endgame resolved it while also bidding farewell to a bunch of characters in ways that mostly worked emotionally. It also had plenty of spectacle and action, particularly when it came to that big final battle that’ll be hard to top going forward, though the MCU will probably – and might even have to – try to do just that in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars.
7
‘A Touch of Zen’ (1971)
Most martial arts movies clock in at relatively digestible runtimes of 90 to 10-ish minutes, but A Touch of Zen is not most martial arts movies. In fact, it’s not really much of an action film at all for its first hour or so, establishing a setting and atmosphere over anything else while also starting to tell a story about a princess on the run, and a handful of characters who end up helping combat those who are after her.
It really takes its time, but that ends up not being a problem, since A Touch of Zen is one of the most visually pleasing films not just of the martial arts genre, but perhaps even of all time. And then the fight choreography, once things do ramp up, ultimately impresses just as much, making the whole three-hour film well worth devoting a good chunk of time to.
6
‘RRR’ (2022)
.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=500&dpr=2)
Like Avatar: The Way of Water, RRR was a large-scale action movie released in 2022, and another that made great use of its beefy 3+ hour-long runtime. It’s set near the start of the 20th century, and involves two real-life people who both rebel against British rule in India, though they weren’t associated in real life, and RRR is more about imagining what they could’ve done if they’d known each other.
And it goes beyond historical accuracy in terms of getting really over the top with its action, but RRR doesn’t really want you to believe it’s based on a true story the same way the revenge/revolution-focused Braveheart might’ve. The approach works, and it’s up there among the best Indian films in recent memory easily, feeling like one that’ll enthrall and entertain even those not too familiar with movies from that part of the world.
5
‘Heat’ (1995)
If you’re talking epic movies that are set in modern times, or had contemporary settings at the time of release, then few can claim to be quite as good as Heat. It’s also a heist movie, and one that, at its core, focuses on a detective pursuing a thief who’s trying to pull off a large-scale bank robbery, but it beefs everything up and has a much larger cast of characters than you’d ordinarily see in this kind of movie.
And it’s the size of Heat that helps make it stand out. You get more invested because you spend more time with the characters, and there’s similarly extra runtime devoted to building up to the big heist that ends up being the movie’s centerpiece. Also, the cast is absolutely stacked, which isn’t too surprising when the two leads are Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
4
‘Sholay’ (1975)
Almost 50 years before RRR, Sholay scratched a similar itch, in terms of being a long, action-packed, and overall relentlessly entertaining Indian epic. It’s also more than just an action film, feeling like it fits into the majority of broad genres out there, but it’s also narratively simple, telling a tale about a man pursuing revenge after his family’s murdered, and getting the help of some outlaws to do just that.
Sure, three and a half hours sounds like a lot, but Sholay makes all that time pass quite effortlessly. It never lets up, bounces around gleefully between all sorts of tonal ups and downs, and also gets big and explosive on an action front. It’s really approachable and easy to like, even with the daunting runtime, and it’s aged very well in the half-century since its initial release.
3
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Of all his epics, Gladiator is Ridley Scott’s best, and it joins the ranks of some of the previously mentioned films by being about one person in a historical setting swearing revenge on another. Here, the story takes place more than 1800 years ago, and is about a Roman general becoming a slave after the Emperor he serves is murdered, and the Emperor’s son takes over, also ordering the deaths of the general’s family.
As far as epics go, Gladiator might technically be on the shorter side, since it’s 155 minutes long, but that’s still above average, and the runtime ends up feeling just right for the story at hand. It’s extremely well-paced and manages to be consistently exciting, also working as a pretty damn good drama when it’s not delivering pure action and spectacle.
2
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
Three years on from Gladiator winning Best Picture at the Oscars, the similarly exciting third The Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King, did the same. The whole trilogy is immense, of course, and quite easy to judge as one massive film because that’s how it was treated during production, and also possible to do because J.R.R. Tolkien’s original text was written as one story, but initially published in three parts.
And sure, The Return of the King is primarily a fantasy movie, but it also has a ton of action, with the most battles occurring in this part of the trilogy because everything comes to a head and the stakes have to be at their highest. It’s more than just technically dazzling and action-packed, of course, but that stuff does stand out while also going a long way to make the concluding chapter of this trilogy extra special.
1
‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)
Without Seven Samurai, there might not be the action genre as it’s currently understood or appreciated, since this one really defined what action movies could be, especially structurally. It’s a neatly-told story that occurs over three distinct acts, all in a way that might not seem as special nowadays, but that’s largely due to so many grand action movies taking inspiration from this classic.
Since it’s long and takes its time in parts, it’s not fully accurate to call Seven Samurai fast-paced, but it is perfectly paced, since the slower moments inevitably end up being incredibly valuable. Seven Samurai makes you care about the conflict in the film’s final act, and expertly develops a whole host of characters who get wrapped up in it. It’s easily one of the greatest epics ever made, and that it also works as a brilliant and genre-defining action movie is just an added bonus, really.
Seven Samurai
- Release Date
-
April 26, 1954
- Runtime
-
207 Minutes
- Director
-
Akira Kurosawa
- Writers
-
Akira Kurosawa
