Top 10 Best Action Films of All Time

George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, released after 30 years in development, won 6 Academy Awards — the most ever for an action film — and holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the highest ever achieved by an action blockbuster. Shot primarily in the Namibian desert with predominantly practical effects, its 120-minute near-continuous chase was assembled from 480 hours of footage. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron's performances were delivered in conditions so punishing the two stars reportedly despised each other during production.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger as the Joker, became the first superhero film to gross over $1 billion ($1.005 billion worldwide) and spent 4 days as the highest-rated film on IMDb with a score of 9.5. Ledger's posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — the first in the superhero genre — acknowledged one of cinema's most celebrated villain performances. The film fundamentally elevated the commercial and critical expectations for the entire comic book movie genre.

Produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark became the highest-grossing film of 1981 with $389 million worldwide against an $18 million budget and launched a franchise totalling $2.5 billion (5 films). The American Film Institute ranked Indiana Jones the second greatest film hero in cinema history (behind Atticus Finch). The film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999 as a work of enduring cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Directed by the Wachowski siblings, The Matrix grossed $463 million worldwide and introduced the "bullet time" visual effects technique that was imitated in hundreds of subsequent films. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne star in a story combining Hong Kong action choreography, cyberpunk philosophy, and groundbreaking computer effects that won 4 Academy Awards. The film launched a $1.6 billion trilogy and was selected by UNESCO for preservation as a work of cultural significance.

James Cameron's Terminator 2 was the first film in history to cost over $100 million to produce, pioneering liquid metal CGI effects that earned it 4 Academy Awards including Best Visual Effects. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as a heroic T-800 sent to protect a young John Connor from the liquid-metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick), reversing the original film's dynamic. The film grossed $519 million worldwide and remained the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time for 20 years.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible - Fallout holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score — the highest of any Tom Cruise film — and grossed $791 million worldwide, the highest in the franchise. Cruise performed all his own stunts including a HALO jump filmed over 106 takes across 3 months, a helicopter cliff chase in New Zealand, and a London rooftop run during which he broke his ankle on camera. The 3-minute Parisian helicopter chase sequence is considered among the finest stunt achievements in film history.

Directed by Chad Stahelski, John Wick was produced for $20 million and grossed $88 million worldwide before spawning a franchise totalling over $1 billion (4 films through 2024). Keanu Reeves's performance as a retired assassin seeking revenge created a new benchmark for "gun fu" action choreography — precise, kinetic, and technically demanding. The Continental hotel world-building and assassin mythology the film introduced became one of cinema's most influential action-universe templates, inspiring numerous imitators worldwide.

James Cameron's Aliens earned $183 million against an $18 million budget, won 2 Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing), and is consistently ranked among the greatest sequels and action films ever made. Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley earned an Oscar nomination — unprecedented for an action role — establishing the template for the female action hero. The climactic battle in which Ripley fights the Alien Queen in a power loader remains one of cinema's most celebrated action set pieces.

Michael Mann's Heat features the only film scene in which Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — each among cinema's greatest living actors — appear on screen together for the first time. The film's 12-minute downtown Los Angeles bank robbery, choreographed with SAS personnel to achieve unprecedented tactical realism, became a training standard for actual LAPD tactical units and has been studied at police academies internationally. The film's exploration of obsessive professionalism on both sides of the law became the defining template for the heist thriller genre.

George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, released after 30 years in development, won 6 Academy Awards — the most ever for an action film — and holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating, the highest ever achieved by an action blockbuster. Shot primarily in the Namibian desert with predominantly practical effects, its 120-minute near-continuous chase was assembled from 480 hours of footage. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron's performances were delivered in conditions so punishing the two stars reportedly despised each other during production.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger as the Joker, became the first superhero film to gross over $1 billion ($1.005 billion worldwide) and spent 4 days as the highest-rated film on IMDb with a score of 9.5. Ledger's posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — the first in the superhero genre — acknowledged one of cinema's most celebrated villain performances. The film fundamentally elevated the commercial and critical expectations for the entire comic book movie genre.

Produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark became the highest-grossing film of 1981 with $389 million worldwide against an $18 million budget and launched a franchise totalling $2.5 billion (5 films). The American Film Institute ranked Indiana Jones the second greatest film hero in cinema history (behind Atticus Finch). The film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999 as a work of enduring cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Directed by the Wachowski siblings, The Matrix grossed $463 million worldwide and introduced the "bullet time" visual effects technique that was imitated in hundreds of subsequent films. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne star in a story combining Hong Kong action choreography, cyberpunk philosophy, and groundbreaking computer effects that won 4 Academy Awards. The film launched a $1.6 billion trilogy and was selected by UNESCO for preservation as a work of cultural significance.

James Cameron's Terminator 2 was the first film in history to cost over $100 million to produce, pioneering liquid metal CGI effects that earned it 4 Academy Awards including Best Visual Effects. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as a heroic T-800 sent to protect a young John Connor from the liquid-metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick), reversing the original film's dynamic. The film grossed $519 million worldwide and remained the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time for 20 years.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible - Fallout holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score — the highest of any Tom Cruise film — and grossed $791 million worldwide, the highest in the franchise. Cruise performed all his own stunts including a HALO jump filmed over 106 takes across 3 months, a helicopter cliff chase in New Zealand, and a London rooftop run during which he broke his ankle on camera. The 3-minute Parisian helicopter chase sequence is considered among the finest stunt achievements in film history.

Directed by Chad Stahelski, John Wick was produced for $20 million and grossed $88 million worldwide before spawning a franchise totalling over $1 billion (4 films through 2024). Keanu Reeves's performance as a retired assassin seeking revenge created a new benchmark for "gun fu" action choreography — precise, kinetic, and technically demanding. The Continental hotel world-building and assassin mythology the film introduced became one of cinema's most influential action-universe templates, inspiring numerous imitators worldwide.

James Cameron's Aliens earned $183 million against an $18 million budget, won 2 Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing), and is consistently ranked among the greatest sequels and action films ever made. Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley earned an Oscar nomination — unprecedented for an action role — establishing the template for the female action hero. The climactic battle in which Ripley fights the Alien Queen in a power loader remains one of cinema's most celebrated action set pieces.

Michael Mann's Heat features the only film scene in which Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — each among cinema's greatest living actors — appear on screen together for the first time. The film's 12-minute downtown Los Angeles bank robbery, choreographed with SAS personnel to achieve unprecedented tactical realism, became a training standard for actual LAPD tactical units and has been studied at police academies internationally. The film's exploration of obsessive professionalism on both sides of the law became the defining template for the heist thriller genre.