Action movies are often associated with hollow plots and are rarely considered masterpieces or award-worthy. For the most part, one of these things is true, and sometimes all of them are, but i. Great action is difficult to achieve, especially sequences and stories that attract a wide audience, including those who aren't avid fans of the genre.

A good action movie often has a gripping plot, charming or unforgettable characters, brilliantly choreographed action sequences, and visuals and a soundtrack that supports the feature and improves it. Over the decades, there have been ; the best action movies of the last 30 years are also great examples of the greatness that comes out when they're made with all the elements in mind.

is the most underrated action movie of the 2010s, for sure. (who wrote and produced the movies) and delivers some brutal gunfights, claustrophobic tension, and as Judge Dredd being a total menace for 90-plus minutes. It's a great, shorter - for today's standards - action flick that goes by as fast as it begins; there's no filler, only action and intensity.

Dredd is set in the dystopian and futuristic Mega City One. Judge Dredd (Urban) is tasked with chasing down three criminals and dealers of a drug called slo-mo; after they're found dead in the building complex, Peach Trees, Dredd is assigned a rookie Judge, Anderson (), to accompany him there. There, druglord Ma-Ma () is , hard. The entire movie takes place in the complex, with intense blood and splatter and some brilliantly crafted slow-motion scenes to emulate the effect of the drug. If you can handle some gore, Dredd is the ideal action movie for a night in.

Though people might universally agree is the best of all time, 's era delivered some of the most intense and action-packed Bond movies. It started with ; as technology progressed, we had the pleasure of watching some pretty great action movies with him as Bond, but . And while Bond is more imagined as a gentleman with slick weapons and a sharp tongue, it's refreshing to also see him get down and rowdy in some tense action sequences. Craig's first Bond feature, , is the best action movie of the franchise.

Casino Royale follows Bond after he first gets his 'license to kill,' aka his 007 title. His first mission as a 007 agent is to get close to a private banker and terrorist funder, Le Chiffre (). Entering a poker game, and his associates. The movie has raw and visceral fight scenes, including great parkour and car chases. The reinvention of Bond as a pretty ruthless agent was a welcome addition, and fans are eager to see what the next one might be like.

was a sequel to a classic that no one expected to work. Yet, Maverick was a product of love and admiration for everything the first movie was, and returns to the second movie with as much vigor as ever. Top Gun: Maverick might be the movie with the greatest aerial action ever put on screen. Every flight sequence was practical and real, and The in-cabin flying was recorded by the actors themselves, but, of course, they didn't pilot the jets—cameras recorded professional pilots performing aerial acrobatics.

Top Gun: Maverick follows Pete Mitchell, aka Maverick (Cruise), as . While there, he's forced to face his past, which haunts him after he meets Bradley (), aka Rooster, the son of his deceased best friend, Goose (), from the academy. The entire runtime of Maverick is a combination of nostalgia, great cast chemistry, and brilliant action sequences; there's a lot to love about the movie that gives legacy sequels a good name.

was filmed in Jakarta, Indonesia, and includes a wholly Indonesian cast. Yet, Welsh director conceived, wrote, and directed the movie and its sequel. Evans lived in Jakarta with his family until 2015, , including , , and . Uwais and Ruhian created the fight sequences, and Evans served as action supervisor on set. The actors went to military bootcamp to prepare for the role and embody real-life SWAT officers.

The Raid follows Jakarta's local SWAT team as they ambush and charge a building block where a known and dangerous drug lord, Tama (Ruhian), resides and runs his business from. A rookie in the SWAT team, Rama (Uwais), joins his first raid, which goes much harder and worse than anyone on the team expected. The Raid has perfect hand-to-hand combat, and the action starts almost immediately. Every scene is an absolute brawl, and , an Indonesian martial arts practice that uses the whole body.

Another Tom Cruise-led blockbuster has won over audiences everywhere over the past three decades, and it's one of the latest movies, Cruise may be a lot of things, but his dedication to delivering realistic and intense stunts to the screen himself is commendable and, frankly, not talked about enough. His readiness to break bones and stare death in the face with dangerous stunts is . In Mission: Impossible - Fallout, he leads a great cast into another mission that isn't just pure adrenaline fuel; Fallout is thoughtful in story and stunts.

M:I - Fallout follows the events of two years later, after IMF agent Ethan Hunt captured the rogue agent Solomon Lane (). Lane's remaining group becomes terrorists for hire, and their next mission is to steal three plutonium cores for nuclear bombs for a rich extremist. , unraveling the sometimes enigmatic and elusive leading agent. Tom Cruise jumps out of planes, flies helicopters, and engages in an epic bathroom fight. Fallout is currently (and still) the most successful Mission: Impossible movie of the entire franchise, box-office wise and critically.

Thefranchise is another success for , who somehow turns everything (well, most things) he touches into gold. It's safe to say he's been in more hits than flops, and John Wick is one of his greatest hits. One of the best action movies ever almost didn't get made, and thanks to some unexpected investors (everyone, say, "Thank you, "), John Wick saw the light of day and made all of its participants very happy. Director and creator of the franchise, , was Reeves' stuntman for years, and it's more than likely that .

John Wick is about a retired assassin of the same name, notorious as the Baba Yaga in his professional circles. After his wife died, Wick retired, and knowing she'd be gone, she left him a puppy to look after so he wouldn't be alone. However, when Wick encounters some not-so-friendly men, they break into his house later that night, kill the dog, and trash his place. Vengeful and angry, and heavy combat. The stunts are, of course, perfect.

When you think of the most exciting car chase movie you've seen, first think about whether you've seen . With two straight hours of vehicular mayhem, made his franchise proud with this movie, which is neither a reboot nor a sequel, and it's somehow both. Fury Road is one of the best examples of exceptional editing and why it's important in film; it's safe to say that it's , paired with real stunts, massive explosions, and adrenaline-fueled (and fuel-fueled) chaos.

Fury Road still follows Max Rockatansky () as he wanders the desolate, desert world. Immortan Joe () is in charge of an oasis with running water, and he releases it to his residents only occasionally to keep them loyal. When Max stumbles upon this oasis, he's captured as a "blood bag" for Joe's malnourished workers. Joe also has a rig with which he delivers water to remote areas in exchange for other goods; the driver of the rig is Furiosa (), a fierce and brave woman who crosses paths with Max during this insanely exciting movie. , who was shown through the sequel/prequel titled .

There can't be an action or thriller list without , potentially 's best-known film. He wrote Heat after reading more about a real-life professional thief named Neil McCauley - like is called in Heat - and set the movie across various, iconic locations in downtown Los Angeles. Heat is often mentioned as a blueprint for heist movies, , which was mainly possible with a great script and a talented ensemble cast.

Heat follows Neil McCauley, a professional thief with a crew of men highly skilled in different things, from weapons to driving. He organizes the robbery of an armored truck full of bearer bonds, but after it all goes wrong, McCauley ends up on the LAPD's most intense and persistent detective, Vincent Hanna's (), radar. The two men end up chasing each other across LA, while . Heat has an extensive runtime, but its intensity and action-packed scenes make it easy to watch (and rewatch).

made plenty of exciting action movies, and he's behind the most intense and realistic war-action film ever made - . It's a brutal firefight that never lets up, and every time you think someone's in the clear, another thing happens, the entire runtime. Black Hawk Down was based on a real mission in Mogadishu, following the events as they were written by investigative journalist in his book of the same name.

Black Hawk Down follows a large, all-star ensemble cast as the soldiers of the 75th Regiment (rangers), Delta Force operators, and a SOAR flight crew nearing Mogadishu in Somalia to capture the self-proclaimed president, Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Since the story was a project meant to be an homage to the US soldiers who fought there, the other side wasn't depicted. However, Black Hawk Down still finds a way to show the events without outright asking for sympathy; it's to be more appealing. Scott's vision was truly unique when he directed Black Hawk Down.

revolutionized action movies at the turn of the century. ' contribution to the film disciplines of gun-fu, wire-fu, martial arts movies, and high-stakes action was . The movie was full of firsts, including a bullet time scene that was filmed with plenty of cameras. I can only imagine that a studio pitch for this movie sounded like high gibberish to studio execs, but those who agreed to it must be praised for their vision to this day. It's OK; one guy lost a flash drive with 8,000 Bitcoins on it. He was arguably much worse off than some studio hotshot.

The Matrix follows hackers Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) recruiting programmer and secret hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves). When Morpheus explains to Neo that everything around him is a program, and he's in "the matrix," Neo gets the chance to live a "real life" and rid humanity of the machines that placed them in the matrix. The Matrix spawned a franchise, with the original trilogy often being considered iconic and history-making. Though all of the films are exciting, the first has a special charm that made people excited for the new millennium.

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