Grady Hendrix

June 2025 update: In this update, we've added one of the best blockbusters of the last decade, Top Gun: Maverick, the movie that finally brought audiences back to theaters post-pandemic and which firmly outclasses the 1986 original with some of the most thrilling flight sequences ever put on film.  Everyone loves a good action movie. Sure, film school snobs may turn up their noses, but even hardcore cineastes cannot live on indie dramas and experimental art flicks alone. No matter how cultured you are, there’s a part of your lizard brain that loves explosions and shootouts and badass one-liners – and it needs to be satisfied. And the only thing that will scratch the itch is watching something get blowed up real good.  The truth is, action is a deeply misunderstood genre. Action flicks needn’t be dumb or epic or even particularly loud to succeed. Some find beauty in violence. Others might dropkick you right in the heart. Heck, some even have character development. So light that fuse, clip that wire and batten down the hatches – these are the most pulse-pounding, heart-racing, edge of your seat action movies of all-time.  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 Recommended: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time💥 The 18 greatest stunts in cinema (as picked by the greatest stunt people)🥋 The 25 best martial arts movies

For the uninitiated, martial arts cinema can seem overwhelming. The starting points are well-known: Enter the Dragon; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Kill Bill; a handful of Jackie Chan flicks… or God help us, Steven Seagal. But delving deeper is an intimidating prospect. For decades, beginning in the 1970s, Hong Kong produced thousands of movies full of eye-popping, mind-blowing action scenes. Figuring out which are truly worth seeking out can require some guidance.  Consider this your road map. To help steer the kung-fu curious past the basics, we’ve ignored some of the more obvious choices to focus on the genre’s deeper cuts. Here are 25 of the most kick-ass martial arts movies ever made. Recommended: 💣 The 101 best action movies ever made😬 The 100 best thrillers of all-time🌏 The 50 best foreign films of all-time🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time

They get a bad rap from snobs, but don’t mess with action movies—they’re pumped up, loaded with ammo and in your face like Arnold Schwarzenegger on a bad day. Truth be told, no one can live solely on Woody Allen movies or animation alone. We need explosions periodically. Big ones. Preferably accompanied by catchphrases and squealing electric guitars. With crucial contributions from Hong Kong and France, the genre has a global richness that sneaks up on you like a swarthy henchman with a knife clenched between his teeth. And when we arrived at action’s ’80s movies heyday, when Hollywood stars ruled the roost, our research was euphoric. We’ve polled over 50 experts in the field, from essential directors like Die Hard’s John McTiernan to the actual folks in the line of fire, such as Machete himself, Danny Trejo. Critics and experts have weighed in, too. And if we’ve missed something, drop a bomb in our comments. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the 100 best movies of all time