10 Goofiest Action Movies, Ranked
One of the nice things about action movies, beyond all the, you know, action, is the fact that they can be pretty varied tonally and when it comes to other genres they cross over into. Certain action movies can also be epics (Gladiator), they can work as horror films simultaneously (Aliens), and then others can also be fairly serious dramas that just so happen to have action sprinkled throughout (Heat).
And then there are action movies that are unafraid to get more than a little silly. The following aren’t necessarily all the best that get goofy, but more so the goofiest films that also happen to be action movies. That being said, the way they’re ranked below is in terms of quality, so up first are some kind of fascinating ones that misfire a bit, and then at the end, there are some truly great action movies that are also exceptionally silly (but in good ways).
10
‘Miami Connection’ (1987)
Miami Connection is an absolute mess of a film, and one of the most over-the-top B-movies ever made, but in ways that prove oddly endearing if you’re after some good trash. The main characters are members of a rock band who also know martial arts, and they take on a group of ninjas who ride around on motorcycles while trying to deal drugs in the titular Miami.
It’s all very garish, on a visual front, and a bit of a nightmare tonally, since Miami Connection has a lot of action, unintentional comedy, melodrama, fake-looking violence, and a very mixed message, morally speaking, at the end of it all. But there is a certain amount of heart here, and (debatably) good intentions behind the whole thing, so even if it’s a creative misfire, it still feels like it has genuine value.
9
‘Six-String Samurai’ (1998)
It’s not so much an extreme sci-fi/action/comedy movie, but it is an extremely weird sci-fi/action/comedy movie, Six-String Samurai has a post-apocalyptic setting and almost feels like a Western at times, too. It’s about a musician who also happens to be a swordsman, and the misadventures he gets into while trekking across an America devastated by nuclear war, all while on his way to Las Vegas.
Maybe it’s like Mad Max, but done with a lower budget than most of the movies in that series, and also with samurai-related action. It also scratches the same sort of itch that the Fallout games sometimes do, but it’s a fair bit weirder than either Mad Max or Fallout (and both series themselves do get strange at times). Six-String Samurai is very much an acquired taste, as a result, but has enough style – not to mention an unapologetically unique voice – to make it worth a watch if you want something a bit unusual.
8
‘Speed Racer’ (2008)
The Wachowskis are best known for directing The Matrix, which is fair enough, since it’s an undeniable classic whether you want to define it as a shoot-em-up action movie, a sci-fi film, or a martial arts flick, or all of the above. But their other projects have just about always been interesting, as is the case for Speed Racer, which is about as cartoonish and animated as a technically live-action film has ever looked (alongside 2005’s Sin City).
But in trying to homage and then update the energy and style found in the anime (and manga) series of the same name, 2008’s Speed Racer can be seen as a general success.
It looks striking throughout, perhaps even too striking, since Speed Racer is maximalist with how much it moves and how much color it’s willing to use, all to the point where it can be a bit exhausting. But in trying to homage and then update the energy and style found in the anime (and manga) series of the same name, 2008’s Speed Racer can be seen as a general success, even if it might not be, from start to finish, for everyone.
7
‘Bad Black’ (2016)
One of those rare movies where the runtime might be the same number, in minutes, as the amount of dollars spent on the film’s budget (72 minutes and $72), Bad Black doesn’t need a long runtime to pack a lot of stuff into one movie, and it also doesn’t need a big budget to be creative. It’s a Ugandan film by Wakaliwood, a production company best known for Who Killed Captain Alex?, but Bad Black is honestly the stronger and more consistent movie.
It’s about a doctor being trained in the ways of martial arts by a young kid, all so he can take on various criminals and also get something stolen from him back. Bad Black uses the barebones and familiar premise to make fun of just about every type of action movie out there, but in a way that feels like a loving combination of mockery and homage. It’s also willing to do its own thing in other ways, and it’s so much funnier than any words used to describe it could make it sound.
6
‘Why Don’t You Play in Hell?’ (2013)
While Why Don’t You Play in Hell? is about filmmaking and filmmakers, it’s not biographical by any means, capturing certain things that might be relatable if you’ve tried to make a low-budget production, but then pushing things to eventual extremes, too. The extreme stuff is where all the action comes in, as the plot involves young filmmakers trying to make what they want, resurrect an actress’s career, and intervene in an ongoing Yakuza war all at the same time.
When things get bloody and heightened, the action in Why Don’t You Play in Hell? impresses, but it’s also pretty focused on comedy, plus a little drama where needed. It’s a tonally varied film, and not always something that’s able to transition seamlessly between the jumps in genre and emotions, but the ride provided is a blast. If you like bombastic action movies and films about making films, then it’s easy to recommend.
5
‘Kung Fu Hustle’ (2004)
Kung Fu Hustle sort of does for martial arts movies what Shaun of the Dead did for zombie movies. Both operate as parodies of certain genres while themselves being examples of good movies within those genres. It’s not an easy tone to strike, but when it’s done this well, it does feel a bit like you’re getting the best of both worlds: great action (or zombie-related scares, in Shaun of the Dead’s case) alongside excellent comedy.
The story of Kung Fu Hustle involves unusual side characters, a copious quantity of bad guys, and a hero who desperately wants to become a fearsome and physically imposing fighter. It goes beyond normal martial arts comedy by getting more surreal, and sometimes to the point where you might well be watching a live-action cartoon. It’s another somewhat exhausting watch, but it is a good one.
4
‘Black Dynamite’ (2009)
Another film that aims to be a homage/parody, Black Dynamite takes on the Blaxploitation sub-genre/movement, making those sorts of films from the 1970s all the more absurd, surreal, and over-the-top. Again, though, you do see an appreciation for those movies shine through here, and it’s not the kind of parodying that feels petty or needlessly cruel.
You could also argue this sort of works as its own kind of martial arts movie, too, so long as you’re okay with most of the action focusing more on being funny than genuinely exciting or spectacular. But the humor here, in Black Dynamite, is something special, with so many jokes coming so fast throughout, and pretty much all of them hitting in one way or another. That makes the entire thing pretty easy to revisit, too, since you’ll probably miss a few of the jokes the first time around.
3
‘Hundreds of Beavers’ (2022)
There are some hyperbolic things that can be said about Hundreds of Beavers – a near-silent film that involves a man trying to hunt beavers so he can obtain various items that’ll help him survive in the wilderness – but they’re all worth saying. It’s an all-timer of a comedy, it’s one of the most ambitious action movies in recent memory, and its originality is hard to put into words or wholly appreciate, since it’s all just that different.
So many different things influenced Hundreds of Beavers, but to see them all remixed and reworked in such a way throughout is honestly mind-blowing. And then when it comes to action, some of it’s actually surprisingly well-staged and pulled off, and the film’s commitment to the whole ridiculous bit is staggering. You could probably watch Hundreds of Beavers hundreds of times and still get caught off guard by the odd joke here and there.
2
‘Godzilla: Final Wars’ (2004)
This is one of the best of the cinematic messes out there, of all time, whatever you want to say. It’s Godzilla: Final Wars, the film that was released to mark 50 years of Godzilla, as a series, existing. The plot has aliens trying to invade Earth, and generally being up to no good, going so far as to use various monsters from past movies in the series to destroy cities and demolish much of what humanity has built.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the only hope ends up being an extra-powerful version of Godzilla being unleashed so he can stomp around the globe, taking out all the other monsters. That’s what Godzilla: Final Wars boils down to, plus a bunch of action scenes without giant monsters that feel like they steal from various other blockbuster action movies. Almost nothing feels serious, and everything also feels as over-the-top as possible, and the result is something that simply has to be witnessed to come even close to being believed.
1
‘Face/Off’ (1997)
One of the quintessential “wait, they’re allowed to do that?” kind of action movies, Face/Off is a thing that somehow exists, and it is, to put it bluntly, simply wonderful that it does. It’s about Nicolas Cage and John Travolta playing mortal enemies on opposite sides of the law, but they both end up with the face (and, as such, the life) of the other, and then they keep fighting.
So, the hammy Cage gets to play Travolta’s character, and the equally hammy Travolta gets to play Cage’s character. It is so ridiculous as a sci-fi movie, but then it also pushes things far enough to be a comedy at times, and it has the sort of overblown action you’d expect from John Woo. It’s a director known for going big, with a wild premise, and with two actors who are pros at over-acting. Calling Face/Off ridiculous, as a result, is a massive understatement, but also, somehow, it just works.
