10 Greatest Action Movies in Letterboxd Top 250, Ranked
Letterboxd has steadily risen to become one of the most popular film sites over the last decade. A social site where users can catalog, rank and review their favorite films, Letterboxd has become ubiquitous among cinephiles, critics and even members of the film industry to share in their love of cinema. Naturally, it has also become a resource for film fans to find consensus on what films rank as the very best, which has led to the Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative Feature Films list.
Among this list are the usual suspects of canonized classics. Films like The Godfather, Come and See, and Schindler’s List all rank highly, but there is also some space to allow for some crowd-pleasing genre fare as well, with a number of awesome action movies making the cut. From older masterpieces to more recent action-packed fare, the list includes a nice spectrum of representation across the genre. Of those action movies deemed good enough by Lettrboxd users, these are the greatest.
10
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ (2022)
That this list can start with a film that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards should be a bellwether for how good the action films that made the Letterboxd Top 250 truly are. There are no mediocre action movies here, and Everything Everywhere All at Once is one gonzo action extravaganza. A multi-genre, multiversal absurdist martial arts comedy, this movie from filmmaking duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert pulls no punches when it comes to having as many wild ideas stuffed into one narrative as possible.
Action movie legend Michelle Yeoh plays a struggling laundromat owner whose world is turned upside down and inside out when she discovers the existence of endless parallel universes, which also allows her to move between them and access all the skills of her parallel selves. It also means she has to face off with a multiversal mega-villain in the form of an alternate version of her daughter. A multi-generational story of an immigrant family wrapped in a wildly imaginative action movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once is a viewing experience of truly unique pleasures that any fan of cinema should want to jump into.
9
‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
One of the most consequential superhero movies ever made, and the peak of Batman on the big screen, Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight was not only a massive blockbuster, but it also led to a change in Academy Award nominations, leading the way for more populist fare to break through. While the first film in this DC franchise, Batman Begins, was a hit with critics and audiences, it certainly lacked a little in the action department since Nolan put more focus on the fear that Batman instilled in his enemies rather than tightly photographed fight scenes. That all changed with this expansive sequel, with some of the best action sequences to ever come out of a superhero movie.
The movie opens with a stellar heist sequence inspired by Michael Mann‘s Heat and only gets more explosive from there with a showstopping truck chase that is its action centerpiece. The Dark Knight was an evolution of everything that Nolan had started with Batman Begins, and represents a major turning point in his career as an action filmmaker, which would lead to even bigger showcases in films like Inception, Dunkirk and Tenet. The Dark Knight also made such an impact that its snubbing for Best Picture and Director at the Oscars led to an overhaul where an expanded ten films could be nominated for the top category, which ultimately led to the first superhero movie getting nominated a decade later with Black Panther.
8
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018)
The same year that Black Panther was getting its flowers from the Academy, there was an even better superhero movie that was being relegated to the animation category, even though it’s one of the best action movies of any medium of the last ten years. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel both hold spots on the Letterboxd list, and represent some of the most influential animated movies of the 21st century, with their stylized mix of CGI and traditional animation, used to mimic a moving comic book, redefining the limits of the medium and heavily influencing movies and series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Arcane.
Following alternate universe spider-hero Miles Morales, the movie breathes new life into the character as a whole, with a narrative that exponentially expands the comic book world into the movies and strays far from the staid superhero formula. As Miles experiences his origin story, he’s joined by a colorful squad of other Spider-People, each from distinct universes, leading to some spectacularly creative action scenes. It’s a true testament to what the superhero subgenre and animation medium can accomplish when pushed to their creative limits.
7
‘Akira’ (1988)
The Letterboxd Top 250 includes more than just American animated action movies, and if there’s any form of animation that can do action well, it’s anime, and if there’s anime that does action the best, it’s Akira. Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and based on his manga, this dystopic cyberpunk sci-fi movie is premium fuel for action junkies, with kinetic chase sequences and super-fluid animation. It’s also the anime that brought international attention to the medium, showing western audiences just what they were missing by limiting their animation education to domestic output.
Set in the neon-soaked Neo-Tokyo, a futuristic metropolis rife with violence, roving motorcycle gangs and rebels fighting against the oppressive military complex that has taken power. It’s here that gang leader Kaneda and his childhood friend Testuo come into conflict after the latter’s latent psychic abilities are unlocked, turning him into an antagonist with the power to destroy the entire city. A landmark in anime, adult animation and action cinema, Akira is a classic regardless of its medium.
6
‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)
The most recent movie to land on the Letterboxd Top 250 is Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another, a balls-to-the-wall black comedy that also sees the critically acclaimed director throw his hat into the action ring with some incredible action sequences amidst a timely plot of political rebellion. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a toasted revolutionary brought into conflict with Sean Penn‘s intense, lockjawed military man over his daughter.
One Battle After Another is a potent mix of screwball humor, ideological conflict, and go-for-broke acting, but it is also just a damned good action movie. Anderson is let off the chain with his collaborators, delivering the best action sequence of 2025 with its climactic car chase. It’s bravura filmmaking on an epic scale that is sure to make One Battle After Another an enduring classic of the genre; as of this moment, it is right on track to become so.
5
‘Sorcerer’ (1977)
Sorcerer and its predecessor, The Wages of Fear, both based on the same French novel by Georges Arnaud, are included on the Letterboxd list. They both follow the same basic plot of four ex-pats, living in a South American village, who are hired to drive trucks of highly volatile nitroglycerin across rugged terrain to deliver it to help extinguish oil well fires. While the Henri-Georges Clouzot original is a thriller masterpiece, and a sort of proto-action movie, it’s William Friedkin‘s remake that is the full-bore action-adventure movie.
As Friedkin’s follow-up to the dual acclaim of The French Connection and The Exorcist, Sorcerer was initially given a far more mixed reception and quickly disappeared from the public consciousness thanks to its proximity in release to Star Wars. In the years since, the film has been given a revival thanks to champions such as Martin Scorsese, and it is now recognized as Friedkin’s third masterpiece, one that may even surpass the other two. It’s a white-knuckle ride all the way through, and Friedkin brings the same action acuity to the proceedings as he did the iconic car chase in The French Connection.
4
‘Oldboy’ (2003)
Park Chan-wook‘s sensational, nerve-frying action thriller of vengeance, Oldboy, is best known for two things: it’s absolutely brain-breaking, gut punch of a twist ending, and its iconic midfilm fight sequence down a hallway. Hallway fight scenes have become something of a staple in action films and series, and fans can thank Oldboy for setting the template for that trend. It’s also done in a single, long take, making it all the more technically impressive but also allowing the audience to feel the exhaustion and desperation in every blow delivered by the protagonist. It’s a microcosm of the entire film, and its lead character’s desperate search for answers.
Choi Min-sik plays Oh Dae-su, a businessman who is abducted and imprisoned for fifteen years without ever being told why by his mysterious captor. He is then set free just as unceremoniously, leading him on a dark, twisted journey of revenge to find out who has taken so many years of his life from him. Oldboy has a brutal, bloody action narrative that leads to an even more brutal ending that has to be seen to be believed.
3
‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day‘s place among action cinema classics is assured. This James Cameron sequel consistently ranks among not only the filmmaker and star Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s best but also among the greatest sequels ever made, the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, and, most relevantly, the greatest action movies ever made. It’s a blast from the future that firmly cemented Schwarzenegger’s status as an action hero and upgraded Cameron’s down-and-dirty sci-fi slasher into a full-blown action epic.
In a move that was once considered a risk, by turning Schwarzenegger’s iconic cyborg villain into a hero, Terminator 2 not only took advantage of the Austrian Oak’s superstar status that was becoming increasingly family-friendly, but also made way for another iconic villain to take his place. Robert Patrick‘s T-1000 is just as intimidating an enemy, but with a liquid metal upgrade thanks to some groundbreaking visual effects courtesy of ILM. The clash between the monosyllabic tank and his sleek counterpart makes for blockbuster entertainment of the highest order, and Cameron tops his first film in every aspect, but most of all in the action department.
2
‘Heat’ (1995)
Heat is primarily a crime thriller, but across its sprawling narrative, it also has some of the best action scenes ever put on film, so it has to qualify. Michael Mann’s magnum opus, which is technically a remake of his earlier TV movie L.A. Takedown, pits Robert De Niro‘s elite team of thieves against Al Pacino and his crack squad of police investigators. Neither man is willing to back down, even if it means one of them will surely die by the end.
The movie introduced a new kind of muscular heist into the cinematic lexicon, and it has continued to influence a legion of movies since, like the aforementioned The Dark Knight, The Town, and Den of Thieves. The action scenes, though they are few across its runtime, are expertly executed with crackerjack timing and lethal efficiency. The downtown broad daylight bank robbery that devolves into a bullet-laden shootout is still one of the most iconic gunfights in film history, with the cacophony of real bullet sounds ricocheting off the glass canyon surroundings providing a deafening experience of unparalleled action.
1
‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)
Where the action genre begins in earnest is a matter of debate. Some cinema scholars would point to the relatively action-packed silent film The Great Train Robbery as the first, while others might cite the set-piece-heavy North by Northwest as the beginning, but there’s never been a more compelling case put forward for the first true action movie than Akira Kurosawa‘s Seven Samurai. A samurai epic that established the team formula that so many action classics, from The Dirty Dozen to The Avengers, are indebted to, Kurosawa’s masterpiece is as important to cinema in general as it is to every action movie made since.
When a village of farmers is beset by crop-stealing bandits, they turn to the noble samurai to defend them. The stoic Kambei, played by Takashi Shimura, then assembles a team of rogues, including Toshiro Mifune‘s wild-eyed aspiring samurai. With a narrative based around its core conflict and which is consistently progressing towards it until the rain-soaked final batter, Seven Samurai’s impact cannot be overstated in the action genre, and while there are other action classics chosen to be included in the Letterboxd Top 250, none can compete with this masterpiece.
