“Die Hard” changed the action genre almost 30 years ago, and ever since then it has evolved in numerous, interesting ways (mind you not all successful), but it’s given us a handful of great movies. “Mad Max: Fury Road” was only the latest addition to make a dent into this ever-evolving genre. Where do we go from here? What will be the consequences of a post-“Fury Road” action world in the decade to come? Tom Cruise will eventually age, I know who’d a thunk it, so will Keanu Reeves, whose ballet-esque action moves in “John Wick” felt like pure poetry. If anything, this decade in action reminded us just how important practical effects are for the viewer to suspend disbelief — the more realism there is, and less CGI, the more intensely visceral an action experience can be.
Here are ten movies—all released within the last 10 years—that tried to change the game, succeeded and made it a lovely day for blockbusters.
1) “Mad Max: Fury Road”
You can't deny the sheer impact of Mad Max: Fury Road. Director George Miller's Fourth installment of the film franchise is proof that not all blockbusters should be greeted with an indifferent shrug. If anything, this brutal action film is even more intense and exciting than its predecessors. With its nihilistic outlook on human nature and a nasty, in-your-face style, this is Miller's triumph through and through. The amount of detail that he brings to every frame is as obsessively meticulous as any Wes Anderson picture I've seen, as is the editing by Margaret Sixel, which is most deserving of its Film Editing Oscar. Edited at breakneck pace and staged with manic fury, Sixel is the unheralded hero here. The celebrated one is, of course, Miller who's passion and vision comes through in every frame. The total control he must have had with this project to pull off what he did on screen is unheard of, which is good for him and great for us. A total and utter masterwork.
2) “Mission Impossible — Fallout”
You can always count on the “Mission: Impossible” franchise to deliver much-needed thrills. It helps that Tom Cruise, playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt, does his own stunts, which brings an authentic feel to the set pieces that most summer blockbusters lack due to overreliance on CGI. “Ghost Protocol” (which could have easily made this list) had Tom Cruise hanging on for dear life on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. In “Rogue Nation,” the Vienna State Opera House sequence, a blend of nastily rendered Hitchcockian suspense, stunned us with its risk-taking acrobatics. In “Mission: Impossible - Fallout,” we’re not really sure what the highlight, or pièce-de-resistance, is because there are so many contenders. Stunts, stunts, stunts, and more stunts. That’s how the series has been reinvented for the 21st century. That’s practical effects for you — barely any computers or CGI were used in the making of this blockbuster. A cause for celebration? More like a damn-near miracle. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, “Mission: Impossible - Fallout” is the sixth film of the series, and, quite possibly, the best.
3) “Skyfall”
For a film that happens to be the 23rd installment in a movie franchise that was supposed to run its course a long time ago, the latest James Bond thriller “Skyfall” is a surprisingly original treat. Daniel Craig's third outing as 007 is unlike any Bond movie we've seen before. It looks back on the first 50 years of Bond, shows him in a refreshing new light and sets him up nicely for his next 50 years of cinematic endeavors. Just like "Casino Royale" the film could use a little trim, but some of the action scenes here stand as one of the very best of the franchise. All credit must be given to director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty", "Road To Perdition") and director of photography Roger Deakins who combine to make a formidable duo. They accomplish something that has been rather ubiquitous in the last 3 decades of Bond: They bring back the cinematic in 007.
4) “John Wick”
Who doesn’t love a movie about revenge? What Liam Neeson did in “Taken” was clearly an influence for director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves. “John Wick” was a visceral, well-made B-movie. It is very hard NOT to enjoy what Reeves and the directing duo of Chad Stahelski/David Leich did in 2014 with the action genre. The story itself was simple: A low-key, but lethal hitman gets brutally beaten up by gangsters and, more importantly, his dog gets killed, which flicks off a switch in his head to exact the ultimate revenge. On a $20 million budget it made $86 Million at the box-office, but, more importantly, it became an enormous hit on streaming services and home video. Much like its excellent sequel, there is so much going on in every action-fueled frame of this film that it deserves repeated viewings. Stahelski has stuffed his film with the kind of unexpected jolts that have become near-obsolete in cinema. The action feels like poetry in motion, a ballet of bullet-riddled choreography that has to be seen to be believed.
5) “The Raid”
This non-stop cornucopia of an action film comes from, of all places, Indonesia. And yet, director Gareth Evans’ “The Raid” might just be the most influential action movie of the decade. The film is jam-packed with a relentless assault of action. It doesn’t let up either, it just keeps upping the ante at every turn — In that sense, Evans paved the way for thin-plotting and relentless action cinema which the likes of “John Wick,” “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” would then use to create their own minimalist vision of the action genre. The plot was quite simple, really, as close to two dozen well-armed police officers enter a 15-story apartment complex packed with armed drug dealers intent on holding their ground. The over-anxious Lieutenant doesn’t care, he leads his troops to their death march as they go in to face off the armed militia. For the next 90 minutes, we are enthralled into a world of gratuitous world of gunfights, knife fights, and hand-to-hand combat. Buckle-up.
6) “Edge of Tomorrow”
You may have missed the exhilarating work that director Doug Liman, his stars Tom Cruise (him again) and Emily Blunt gave us in the summer of 2014 with "Edge of Tomorrow.” The paltry $90 million it made at the box-office was further proof that Tom Cruise just wasn’t the box office draw he used to be. Chances are you may have, at first, even dismissed the film as a sci-fi “Groundhog Day.” However, Liman's film was more than just a gimmick. It had an originality and spontaneity that most other blockbusters failed to capture this decade. A playfulness that left you giddy with excitement. It also had a great, strong female lead performance in Emily Blunt’s war-torn hero Rita. For a film that essentially dealt with Cruise’s Colonel time-looping the same war zone memory over and over again, the repetitiveness factor never showed up. People eventually caught on as to how great “Edge of Tomorrow” was when the film was released on home video, capturing a solid fan base and becoming a sci-fi classic in the process.
7) “The Winter Soldier”
The film should be the blueprint for how Marvel should construct their future superhero films. There is a lot of influence from cinematic genres, especially the 1970s political thriller which this film is clearly inspired by. Classics such as "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of Condor" loom large in every frame of the Russo Brothers' finely crafted film. Tonally, The Winter Soldier is also the darkest and most pertinent story to have emerged from the Marvel Universe. It asks many questions about government and the cost of war. The film features the best action scenes to have emerged from the genre as well, eclipsing what Joss Whedon achieved with "The Avengers" in every which way. This suspenseful, tensely-driven film was the way forward for MCU, no wonder the Russos were then tasked to direct the last two ‘Avengers’ movies.
8) “Baby Driver”
Edgar Wright consulted with “Mad Max: Fury Road” director George Miller, the master of practical effects, for help on his car-chase movie “Baby Driver.” That tells you everything you need to know about the detail that went into making this tale of hot-rod heaven. The stunts in “Baby Driver” are INSANE. Wright filmed all of the action sequences on location, and what was on screen was 95% practical effects, with only 5% CGI for touch-ups. Because they shot in a city and working freeway, they had to rehearse on the Atlanta Motor Speedway and choreograph with Matchbox cars. The film tells the story of a talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) who’s forced to work on a heist for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey) and two for-hire crooks (Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm). The film is a candy-colored mash-up of “Drive,” The Driver” and Michael Mann’s “Thief.”
9) “Snowpiercer”
Survivors of Earth’s second Ice Age live out their days on a luxury train that ploughs through snow and ice. The train’s poorest residents, who live in the squalid caboose, plan to improve their lot by taking over the engine room. You expect unpredictability and downright original storytelling whenever you watch a new Bong Joon-ho film, but what you don’t expect is a jaw-dropping workshop on how to shoot the perfect action sequence, sequences so tightly constructed and so visionary that they put almost all of Hollywood’s action movies to shame. Axes, fish, complete darkness, complete light, a blood soaked floor, and that’s only the half of it. Snowpiercer’s first 90 minutes are the most brilliantly looney science fiction I’ve seen since Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil”. I could have chosen any of the car-hopping, adrenaline-pumping, blood-running sequences from Bong Joon- ho’s “Snowpiercer” as a pièce-de-resistance moment, but the one that sticks with me most is the nightmare Axe-wielding bloodbath that occurs mid-way through the film as the locomotive runs through a barrage of dark tunnels. In this case, even in the pitch black, the action goes on.
10) “Dredd”
Despite critics, and audiences, missing the boat and it completely fizzling at the box-office, “Dredd” has become a cult classic over time with a solid, loyal, fan-base that has become a monster in itself. You can thank home-video and streaming services for that. I can understand the fascination with the film. Why and how has this cult fanbase happened? Because “Dredd” is not just an artful piece of work, but it’s also just a damn entertaining film. A reboot of “Judge Dredd,” a terrible ’90s action movie starring Sylvester Stallone, the 2012 version was a genuinely visionary film. Paul Leonard’s exalting techno soundtrack gave the film an avant-garde edginess that fit perfectly with the film’s atmosphere. The 3D was also second to none. Using color and the best use of slo-mo I could recall in ages, ”Dredd” was incredibly singular in its vision. Let us not forget that the screenplay was written by Alex Garland (he may have also directed it), a screenwriter who burst into the directorial scene in 2015 with his brilliant “Ex-Machina.” His lean, mean work on “Dredd” had none of the superfluous tropes that would hamper down most of the action movies we see today. I also can’t fail to mention Karl Urban (“Star Trek Beyond”) who played a great, nasty hero as the titular character himself.
Runners-Up: Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, John Wick 2, Jack Reacher, Logan, Kick-Ass, Salt, Fast Five, Looper, Haywire, War for the Planet of the Apes, Drive, Non-Stop, The Accountant, The Kingsman,
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.