No matter one’s mood, no matter one’s taste in movies, everyone can always do with a healthy dose of adrenaline-pumping action. Action has for a long time been one of the most popular and prolific movie genres around, each year delivering a number of all-timers that keep audiences on the edge of their seats and live in their memories rent-free for years after.

There are all sorts of fun tropes and subgenres in action, but one of the most entertaining is the globetrotting action movie. These are action flicks with a sense of adventure, telling stories of badass characters who travel the world in their quest for whatever their goal is — honorable or otherwise. From anti-heroic guns-blazing epics like John Wick: Chapter 4 to more sophisticated spy thrillers like Skyfall, these movies prove that even action heroes deserve a vacation every now and then.

10 ‘Fast Five’ (2011)

Directed by Justin Lin

It’s not exactly in a great spot today, and it wasn’t exactly in a great spot during its first four installments, but after Fast Five came out and veered the franchise into a whole new direction, audiences were surprised at where these movies could go. This is still the best-crafted, most exciting, most compelling film in the series, following Dom and his crew as they plan a heist to buy their freedom, while in the sights of a powerful Brazilian drug lord and a dangerous federal agent.

The Fast & Furious franchise is one of the highest-grossing in movie history, and it’s largely thanks to Fast Five having been a surprise hit. Though most of it takes place in Rio, there’s just enough globetrotting in it to satisfy fans of the subgenre. If that’s not enough, all the high-octane car chases, thrilling action set pieces, and surprisingly strong character moments should do the trick.

9 ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ (2023)

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Since the first John Wick film came out in 2014, the series has quickly become one of the most beloved and iconic action franchises not just of the 21st century, but of all time. The latest installment is John Wick: Chapter 4, where the former hitman uncovers a path to defeating the powerful High Table. Before he can earn his freedom, though, he must face a new enemy with powerful alliances all over the world.

Thanks to having some of the most exhilarating set pieces in the franchise, a hard-hitting arc for the titular character, and a third act that’s bound to have any viewer with a pulse biting their nails in suspense, Chapter 4 has become the most acclaimed outing in the franchise. It’s also the most that Wick has ever traveled on screen, so there’s that.

8 ‘Skyfall’ (2012)

Directed by Sam Mendes

It was acclaimed director Sam Mendes who took over the 007 franchise with Daniel Craig‘s third film as the popular character, Skyfall. In it, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, Bond must track down and destroy the threat, played by a terrifying Javier Bardem in one of his best roles.

Skyfall is about as entertaining as 007 films get, taking viewers all over the world as Bond faces his most personal threat up to that point. Craig’s rendition of the character was always characterized by being the most human and emotionally vulnerable of them all (while still being unbelievably cool), and in Skyfall, viewers get to see him at his most open. Mix that with some of the most thrilling set pieces in the series, and you get a Bond adventure for the ages.

7 ‘Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation’ (2015)

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

There is one particular film series that currently dominates the globetrotting action genre, and that’s the Mission: Impossible franchise. After Brad Bird revitalized it in 2011, Christopher McQuarrie (who used to be best known for his screenwriting credits) took over with Rogue Nation. The fifth installment in the franchise finds Ethan and his team having to eradicate an international rogue organization as highly skilled as them.

Rogue Nation was the most serious and exciting that the franchise had been up to that point, and it’s still worthy of being remembered as one of the best action adventure movies of the 2010s. It has some of the grandest set pieces in the series and some of its most adrenaline-pumping chases around the world, reveling in its exotic locales and mysterious story.

6 ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ (2007)

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Based on Robert Ludlum‘s popular spy novel series, the Bourne movies deserve to be talked about a lot more these days. The best one in the series is universally agreed to be The Bourne Ultimatum, the third installment, where the amnesiac character dodges a ruthless CIA official while searching for the origins of his life as a trained assassin.

It’s not all James Bond when it comes to great spy movies. The Bourne Ultimatum is one of the best of the 2000s, mixing thrilling and badass action (shot in director Paul Greengrass‘s signature shaky-cam visual style) with a well-told and brilliantly-paced story, it’s the kind of globetrotting action thriller that grabs viewers’ attention tightly and doesn’t let go until the credits.

5 ‘Goldfinger’ (1964)

Directed by Guy Hamilton

It may be the Mission: Impossible franchise that currently dominates the globetrotting action realm, but it was James Bond who shot its popularity into the stratosphere. The legendary Sean Connery was famously the actor who first brought the character to life, and though his first two movies are fantastic, it’s Goldfinger that really does the trick. In it, while investigating a gold magnate’s shady activities, Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.

Whether viewers are fans of 007 or not at all, Goldfinger has it all; exciting action in fun locales, some of the best Bond gadgets, one of the best Bond girls (with a rather funny name), and Connery at the top of his slick, charismatic game. Everything Goldfinger touches sure does turn to gold, and this movie is no exception.

4 ‘Casino Royale’ (2006)

Directed by Martin Campbell

Yet another Bond masterpiece — the best in the whole franchise, some might argue — Casino Royale revived the franchise with a new lead actor, a new tone, and a whole new direction for this long-running series. More than just an exciting globetrotting thriller (which it absolutely is), Casino Royale is a delightfully sarcastic yet perfectly serious deconstruction of the Bond mythos and everything it represents in the 21st century.

Thanks to a flawlessly cool yet deeply human performance by Daniel Craig in his first outing as 007, this is easily one of the actor’s most rewatchable movies. It was a brilliant idea to reinvent the character and his mythology altogether for a new audience, especially following the rather lackluster final films of Pierce Brosnan‘s Bond. The result is one of the most enjoyable action spectacles of the 21st century thus far.

3 ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Back in 1981, Steven Spielberg was already a well-established director, but nowhere near the icon that he’s remembered as today. As such, perhaps not many people expected him to completely re-define a genre. Nevertheless, that’s precisely what he did. With his Raiders of the Lost Ark, about an archaeologist named Indiana Jones who’s hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis, Spielberg showed a whole new face of the adventure film.

This is one of the best desert adventure movies ever made, traveling from Peru to Connecticut to the arid Egyptian heat. Full of non-stop pulpy action that’s very reminiscent of the old adventure serials that inspired Spielberg to make the film, Raiders is one of the most purely fun movies ever put on celluloid. The protagonist is a legend, the story doesn’t have a single dead spot, and the third act is unforgettable.

2 ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ (2018)

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

After Rogue Nation, pretty much everyone realized that the Mission: Impossible franchise was in good hands with Christopher McQuarrie. What those people probably didn’t expect, though, was for the next installment in the series, Fallout, to become arguably the best action movie of the past ten years. It finds Ethan and his team facing their most impossible mission yet, racing against time to fix a mission gone wrong.

It’s nothing if not admirable that in its sixth installment, the franchise managed to be better than ever; more thrilling, more epic, and a lot more fun. Adding Henry Cavill at the top of his game to the mix was just the cherry on top of an already pretty perfect action movie, which takes viewers throughout Europe in a blood-pumping chase where the stakes are higher than ever before.

1 ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

If Raiders of the Lost Ark made Indiana Jones a genre icon, then Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade made him and Steven Spielberg genre legends. It takes place in 1938, after Indy’s father goes mysteriously missing while pursuing the Holy Grail. It’s the adventurer who has to go looking for his father and the Grail, once again coming face to face against the Nazis.

The movie brings back the desert setting, familiar faces, and a MacGuffin quest reminiscent of that of the original — yet at no point does it feel even slightly derivative or unoriginal. Perhaps it’s all thanks to the father-son relationship at the emotional core of the story (embodied flawlessly by Harrison Ford and Sean Connery), but the fact is that The Last Crusade is as perfect as globetrotting action adventures get.

NEXT:The Best Action Movies of All Time, Ranked