Action is a film genre that focuses on excitement, fast-paced scenes, quirky dialogue and visual spectacle, usually with a large measure of violence. Explosions, car chases, gun fights, fist fights, sword fights... fights, fights, FIGHTS! That's what the action genre is all about: unending tableaus of smoke and flames and a hail of bullets that will keep one gripped to their seats until there's nothing left to do but to pick your jaw up off the floor. Wussies need not apply. Whereas romantic comedies have often been labeled as "chick flicks", action films serve as their immediate and direct counter balance and have earned themselves a place in movie cinema as "dude films". As with all film genres, there are different types of action films.
Traditional[]
- A-Team, The
- Baywatch
- Code of Honor
- Commuter, The
- Deadpool
- Die Hard
- Hard to Die
- Logan
- Long Kiss Goodnight, The
- Peppermint
- Point Break
- Savage Streets
- Speed
- Speed 2: Cruise Control
- Surf Nazis Must Die
- Tango & Cash
Adventure films[]
Biker films[]
Blaxploitation[]
Cops & Robbers[]
Buddy cop films[]
- 2 Guns
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Beverly Hills Cop II
- Beverly Hills Cop III
- Dead Heat
- Hot Fuzz
- R.I.P.D.
- Tango & Cash
Crime films[]
- 2 Fast 2 Furious
- 3 from Hell
- Assault on Precinct 13
- Baby Driver
- Body Count
- Fast and the Furious, The
- Fate of the Furious, The
- Forever Purge, The
- From Dusk Till Dawn
- From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money
- Guns, Girls and Gambling
- Hotel Artemis
- Hudson Hawk
- John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum
- Kill Bill, Volume 1
- Kill Bill, Volume 2
- Now You See Me
- Now You See Me 2
- Point Break
- Pulp Fiction
- Raw Justice
- Saint, The
Disaster films[]
Martial arts films[]
- Elektra
- Firecracker
- Kickboxer (1989)
- Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991)
- Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon (2004)
- Max Havoc: Ring of Fire (2006)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
- TNT Jackson
Military action[]
Natural disaster films[]
Off the Chain[]
Supernatural action[]
Car chase films[]
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Fast and the Furious, The (2001)
- Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The (2006)
- Fast & Furious (2009)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- Furious 7 (2015)
Sexploitation films[]
- Angels' Wild Women
- Chanbara Beauty: The Movie Vortex
- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
- Machine Girl, The
- Oneechanbara: The Movie
- Parasite Doctor Suzune: Evolution
- Parasite Doctor Suzune: Genesis
- Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak, The (1984)
- She-Wolves of the Wasteland
Sci-fi films[]
- Aeon Flux
- Alita: Battle Angel
- Barb Wire
- Battle Beyond the Stars
- Elysium
- Escape from New York
- Heavy Metal 2000
- Independence Day
- Independence Day: Resurgence
- Island, The
- Lucy
- Meatball Machine
- Monolith
- Mutant Girls Squad
- Pacific Rim
- Parasite Doctor Suzune: Evolution
- Parasite Doctor Suzune: Genesis
- Planet Terror
- Rampage
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse
- RoboWoman
- Speed Racer
- She-Wolves of the Wasteland
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- Surrogates
- Terminator, The
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Terminator: Salvation
- Terminator: Genisys
- Trancers
- Transformers
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- Upgrade
Spy films[]
- Atomic Blonde
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
- Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
- License to Kill
- Living Daylights, The
- Mission: Impossible III
- Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol
- Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
- Modesty Blaise
- Phantom Creeps, The
- Red Sparrow
- Ronin
- Saint, The
Superhero fantasy[]
War films[]
Westerns[]
Notes[]
- "Action" is also a verbal cue that a film director gives to his actors to let them know that the cameras are rolling and it's time to stop dicking around and get some work done.