Rotten Tomatoes' 140 Essential Action Movies

Rotten Tomatoes' 140 Essential Action Movies's icon

Created by Arkantos.

Favorited 1 time, disliked 0 times, added to 3 watchlists.

Welcome to our guide to the most Essential Action Movies! Where everyone enters…and only 140 leave. Which sounds like a lot, but when you’re considering thousands of action movies, it’s only the most thrilling, the most exciting, the most brutal, and the influential who make the cut!

Action is a wide-open genre and term, and we endeavoured to include something from every era, style, and movement of action movies. We have the classics (Die Hard, The French Connection), modern fan favourites (Hardcore Henry, John Wick), superhero blockbusters (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and plenty from the macho ’80s (Commando, First Blood). Not to mention some action genre crossovers: sci-fi (Equilibrium), horror (They Live), and, of course, comedy (Beverly Hills Cop).

Internationally, we reach as far as Hong Kong (Police Story, Hard-Boiled), Australia (The Road Warrior), England (Kingsman: The Secret Service), France (La Femme Nikita), Indonesia (The Raid: Redemption), Korea (The Villainess), and beyond.

These are the action movies whose influence can be seen in the films that followed. They spawned franchises, pushed back against time, defined and even expanded the genre. These are the badass movies that make audiences feel cooler from having seen them. In the interest of keeping the Essential Movies as tight and pure as possible, we excluded the genres of war, sports, Western, and samurai. Otherwise, a movie’s Tomatometer score was not a factor, so long as the plot was kicked forward in a hail of bullets, car chases, fist fights, and martial arts wizardry.

Now, it’s time to pound faces and popcorn, with the 140 Essential Action Movies to watch now!

Remove ads

Pssst, want to check out the Rotten Tomatoes' 140 Essential Action Movies list in our new look?

Filter

  1. 89 new

    300

    2006, in 6 top lists Check
  2. 118 new

    Air Force One

    1997, in 2 top lists Check
  3. 134 new

    Aknyeo

    2017 — a.k.a. The Villainess, in 1 top list
    Check
  4. 6 new

    Aliens

    1986, in 24 top lists Check
  5. 61 new

    Assault on Precinct 13

    1976, in 6 top lists Check
  6. 80 new

    Atomic Blonde

    2017, in 0 top lists Check
  7. 44 new

    Avengers: Endgame

    2019, in 8 top lists Check
  8. 98 new

    The Avengers

    2012, in 7 top lists Check
  9. 30 new

    Baby Driver

    2017, in 3 top lists Check
  10. 115 new

    Bad Boys

    1995, in 2 top lists Check
  11. 78 new

    Banlieue 13

    2004 — a.k.a. District B13, in 0 top lists Check
  12. 107 new

    Batman

    1989, in 9 top lists Check
  13. 72 new

    Batoru rowaiaru

    2000 — a.k.a. Battle Royale, in 9 top lists Check
  14. 77 new

    Beverly Hills Cop

    1984, in 7 top lists Check
  15. 81 new

    Big Trouble in Little China

    1986, in 3 top lists Check
  16. 48 new

    Black Panther

    2018, in 9 top lists Check
  17. 116 new

    Blade

    1998, in 2 top lists Check
  18. 117 new

    Bloodsport

    1988, in 1 top list Check
  19. 42 new

    The Bourne Identity

    2002, in 5 top lists Check
  20. 13 new

    The Bourne Ultimatum

    2007, in 9 top lists Check
  21. 46 new

    Braveheart

    1995, in 19 top lists Check
  22. 104 new

    Bullitt

    1968, in 11 top lists Check
  23. 119 new

    Captain America: Civil War

    2016, in 2 top lists Check
  24. 58 new

    Captain America: The Winter Soldier

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  25. 31 new

    Casino Royale

    2006, in 7 top lists Check
  26. 99 new

    Cliffhanger

    1993, in 3 top lists Check
  27. 112 new

    Code of Silence

    1985, in 1 top list Check
  28. 75 new

    Collateral

    2004, in 6 top lists Check
  29. 25 new

    Commando

    1985, in 2 top lists Check
  30. 125 new

    Con Air

    1997, in 3 top lists Check
  31. 110 new

    Crank

    2006, in 0 top lists Check
  32. 38 new

    The Dark Knight

    2008, in 27 top lists Check
  33. 87 new

    Demolition Man

    1993, in 1 top list Check
  34. 2 new

    Die Hard

    1988, in 21 top lists Check
  35. 132 new

    Die Hard 2

    1990, in 3 top lists Check
  36. 114 new

    Die Hard: With a Vengeance

    1995 — a.k.a. Die Hard with a Vengeance, in 4 top lists Check
  37. 28 new

    Dip huet seung hung

    1989 — a.k.a. The Killer, in 16 top lists Check
  38. 52 new

    Dirty Harry

    1971, in 17 top lists Check
  39. 43 new

    Dredd

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  40. 108 new

    Drive

    2011, in 8 top lists Check
  41. 51 new

    Edge of Tomorrow

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  42. 128 new

    El mariachi

    1992, in 4 top lists Check
  43. 26 new

    Enter the Dragon

    1973, in 14 top lists Check
  44. 120 new

    The Equalizer

    2014, in 1 top list Check
  45. 139 new

    Equilibrium

    2002, in 0 top lists Check
  46. 73 new

    Escape from New York

    1981, in 5 top lists Check
  47. 124 new

    The Expendables 2

    2012, in 1 top list Check
  48. 40 new

    Face/Off

    1997, in 7 top lists Check
  49. 55 new

    Fast & Furious 7

    2015 — a.k.a. Furious 7, in 2 top lists Check
  50. 36 new

    Fast Five

    2011, in 2 top lists Check
Remove ads
Show all 140 movies

Last updated on Jan 7, 2024; source