“Die Hard” Japanese Theatrical Poster
If you are a fan of films with scenes were a seemingly indestructible hero cop clings to the roof a speeding car, then it was almost definitely a movie made in the 80s. Most of these movies have the driver not even attempting to swerve or brake, either. He just holds his hands up in front of his face before going through the obligatory plate glass window.
This article outlines the very best of this great genre, and most have either initiated or contributed to a long-running franchise, and are being imitated to this day. If any of the following films are missing from your collection, as an action movie fan you are going to have to correct that at once.
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A Great Director and a Super Script: Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon is the unsurpassed movie about two mismatched policeman, one a family man who likes to play by the rules, the other a suicidal psychopath, whose attempts at apprehending a drug ring lead to gun battles, kidnapping, and epic one-on-one smackdowns.
While this formula is not a new one, it has never really been done as well as it was in Lethal Weapon. This is thanks to the director, Richard Donner, who gave us The Omen and Superman, and the scriptwriter, Shane Black, the whizzkid also responsible for co-writing The Monster Squad.
Keeping the Tension Right: Predator
Unlike Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and the rest of the top action film actors, Arnold Schwarzenegger is comfortable with science-fiction/action hybrids, and has never forced us to endure mistakes like Surrogates or Demolition Man. This makes him the ideal choice to play a character battling an extra-terrestrial who is hunting human beings for fun. John McTiernan, of the Die Hards, is the director, which means that the film is more action than it is sci-fi, and McTiernan knows how to generate the proper amounts of tension so that the film never turns into a cheesy monster movie.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior Defines an Era
George Miller, the director, stated that he didn’t have the money to do the first film the way he wanted to, and he wanted to try and get it right with the second one. Miller did not just get it right – he made a movie that defined the times, and stands to this day as the gold-standard of action movies that hypothesize what will become of us after the apocalypse. It’s reminiscent of the best Xbox games, and it’s an action packed extravaganza thats visually stunning too.
The Terminators
Sheer brilliance in all respects, and, if you ever wondered why the movie has an acknowledgement to Harlan Ellison included, check out Soldier, an episode of Outer Limits that Ellison wrote the script for. It deals with two soldiers who come back from the future to battle it out in contemporary Los Angeles.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Most directors who release blockbusters in the summer compare their films to roller coasters, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is this exactly. It is a near perfect fusion of humour and action, and set the standard for adventure action movies for many years. The dialogue, cast, action scenes and pacing are all first rate.
