Action movies get a bad rap. Not necessarily from the general public, of course. Audiences love ’em, for the most part, especially if you expand the definition to include superhero flicks and comedies like The Fall Guy. But for hardcore cinephiles, action is too often regarded as cinematic junk food, replacing all story and substance with eardrum-shattering explosions and mindless violence. Sure, you can enjoy one every now and then, but a steady diet of loud noises, death-defying stunts and one-liners? That’s for the normies to consume.

Here’s the thing, though: if the main point of any film is to make you feel something, what produces more visceral feeling than a good action flick? Anyone who’s ever had their senses rattled by a truly great action movie knows that there are few moviegoing experiences that can compare. Another thing: not all action movies are loud and dumb. Some are nearly operatic in scope and balletic in their grace – and sometimes, you might even actually care about the person dodging bullets and delivering throat chops.

This list of the greatest action films ever made is proof that the genre is more versatile than it appears. We polled over 50 experts in the field, from Die Hard director John McTiernan to Machete himself, Danny Trejo, along with Time Out’s writers. The results show that, when done right, there are few things more plainly awesome than an action movie.

Written by Eddy Frankel, Eddy Frankel, Yu An Su, Joshua Rothkopf, Trevor Johnston, Ashley Clark, Grady Hendrix, Tom Huddleston, Keith Uhlich, Dave Calhoun, Phil de Semlyen, Dave Calhoun and Matthew Singer

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🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time
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🪖 The 18 greatest stunts in cinema (as picked by the greatest stunt people)
🥋 The 25 best martial arts movies of all-time