LoC: Top 51 Action Movies Countdown! Part 83!

[Johnny Unusual]

#15 – The Empire Strikes Back

56 Points, 3 Lists, #3 Hebs

  I know.

   
   
After a victory over the Empire’s Death Star, the rebel forces are hiding on the ice planet of Hoth to plan their next move, only to be discovered and attacked by the Empire.   After taking out imperial forces, the rebels abandon their compromised base.  Luke Skywalker goes to a planet in the Dagobah system to find a Jedi master whom the ghost of Obi Wan claims can help Luke complete his training, while Han Solo, Leia Organa, C-3PO, R2D2 and Chewbacca head to the cloud city of Bespin.  Their Han meets an old friend named Lando, and things seem to be going well, unaware that a trap has been laid that will put Luke’s friend in jeopardy.

Shit Just Got Real! – Well, this seems like it will be a nice dinner party and HOLY SHIT!?  Who invited that guy?
   
Pure Adrenaline Percentage –60%  There are some amazing pieces in this one, including the big fight between Vader and Skywalker.  And, of course, the fight on Hoth is one of film’s most memorable battles.
   
AAAAAAAAND ACTION!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/WASr5-mS238" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/WASr5-mS238</a>

[Johnny Unusual]

#14 – Predator

56 Points, 5 Lists, #10 CJones

  Ain’t got time to bleed.

   
   
A team of elite soldiers are sent into a Central American jungle to rescue a presidential candidate minister taken by guerrilla force.  The team takes out their enemies with little difficulty, saving a woman named Anna, but the team leader Dutch is angry to learn that there is no cabinet minister and that it was a ruse to get his team to take out a rebel camp.  With the mission complete, the team heads to the extraction point only to find that they are being stalked by an invisible entity, who is picking them off one by one.  With their numbers being whittled down, they soon find that the strange creature is hard to kill and has a number of nasty tricks up its sleeve.

Shit Just Got Real! – Probably when the alien shows up.  If it wasn’t for a little scene at the beginning when a spaceship lands, you’d be like “this is kind of a fun action mov—wait, what the hell?”
   
Pure Adrenaline Percentage –70%  Lots of big, sweaty muscles and severed limbs in this one.  There is no better decade more suited to Schwarzenegger than the 80’s.
   
AAAAAAAAND ACTION!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/eF8OJmB6kY" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/eF8OJmB6kY</a>

[Johnny Unusual]

#13 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

57 Points, 3 Lists, #5 Anais.Butterfly

  Nazis. I hate these guys.

   
   
Adventuring archaeologist Indiana Jones learns that his father has gone missing in a search for the holy grail and Indy sets out to find him.   After dodging a secret society trying to stop anyone discovering the location of the grail, Indiana finally finds his father in a castle filled with Nazis.  Turns out the Nazis are after the grail and they believe the Joneses will help them get the cup for the third reich.  The two escape but find themselves in a chase across Europe to get to the grail before the Nazis do. 

Shit Just Got Real! – It turns out that Indiana’s new lady friend is a dirty ratzi!  And fucked his Dad!  Ew!
      
Pure Adrenaline Percentage –80%  I haven’t seen the Crystal Skull, but at least all the other Indy movies always have some incredible set pieces.  The boat chase, and the motorcycle chase are pretty cool, but I think the fight on the tank is what takes the cake.
   
AAAAAAAAND ACTION!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/YtxGMfWxzNc" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/YtxGMfWxzNc</a>

[Darth Geek]

The tank scene is amazing! But I always found the boat scene very contrived and obviously manufactured.

[Johnny Unusual]

#12 – The Road Warrior

62 Points, 4 Lists, #3 Relaxing Dragon

  In the roar of an engine, he lost everything, and became a shell of a man. A burnt-out, desolate man. A man haunted by the demons of his past. A man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again.

   
   
In the future, society has broken down.  The world has become a wasteland and gasoline is now more valuable than gold.  A small village with a supply of gasoline finds themselves under siege by the brutal yet stoic Lord Humungus who demands that the town hands over their gasoline in exchange for their lives.  All hope seems lost until a man in the village named Max decides to step in and help the town come up with a plan to protect their gasoline.  It involves a tanker truck and a driver who knows no fear.  Any sane man would know that the battle is unwinnable and that giving in to Humungus’ demands might be the only reasonable choice.  But there is a reason the stranger is known as Mad Max…

Shit Just Got Real! – Things escalate fast when Max finally heads out on the road to protect the gasoline.
      
Pure Adrenaline Percentage –85%  This is a movie that is essentially a prolonged car chase with some fight scenes as well.  Quite admirably, it’s a film that doesn’t slow down.
   
AAAAAAAAND ACTION!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/Bmf-HCCZYOg" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/Bmf-HCCZYOg</a>

[Soguru]

Max! you are mad i tells ya! MAD!!!

[Darth Geek]

Max! you are mad i tells ya! MAD!!!

It's a mad mad mad mad Max.

[Soguru]

Max! you are mad i tells ya! MAD!!!

It's a mad mad mad mad Max.

Dammit, I miss my "like" buttons. 

[Darth Geek]

I find it ironic how much we have gotten accustomed to them. Since they are only a few years old, and the Forum went for many years without them.

[CJones]

#12 – The Road Warrior

62 Points, 4 Lists, #3 Relaxing Dragon

Damn. Road Warrior was one I actually did intend to include, but when I finally wrote my list, for some reason it slipped my mind. I'm excited to see what they do with Fury Road, especially now that Mel Gibson is out of the picture.

[Johnny Unusual]

#11 – Aliens

66 Points, 4 Lists, #1 CJones

  Get away from her, you bitch.

   
   
Ellen Ripley awakes after her encounter with a deadly alien life form that murdered her fellow crewmen to discover that 50 years have passed.  Her child is gone and she has nowhere to return to.  Soon, she learns of an extermination mission to destroy a colony of the same alien creatures that killed her crew and she is asked to join as a consultant.  The marines sent in are well trained but are completely unprepared for the true danger they are about to face.  Soon new, greater horrors than they could possibly imagine begin to emerge and what began as a search and destroy mission turns into a retreat, with little hope of success.

Shit Just Got Real! – Things get very bad, very fast, but shit gets double real when we see the xenomorph queen.
      
Pure Adrenaline Percentage –75%  Though it starts up with the alien-like tension, it becomes a grand guignol of an action war movie.  Say what you will about James Cameron as a writer, as a direction of action, he is amazing.
   
AAAAAAAAND ACTION!
I wanted to go with a less obvious scene, but you can’t beat iconography.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/FSrcMaid0mg" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/FSrcMaid0mg</a>

[ScottotD]

BOOOOOOOOO 

[Johnny Unusual]

In the sense that it is very scary.

[Pak-Man]

See, if it had been a best movie list, Alien would beat out Aliens, hands-down. But on an action movie list, Aliens has it all over the competition.

[CJones]

#14 – Predator

56 Points, 5 Lists, #10 CJones

The thing I really loved about Predator is how it practically makes a mockery of the stereotypical Schwarzenegger action movie. It starts out all one liners and blowing people away like they're not even shooting back. And then suddenly shit gets real and it's like the characters suddenly realize they're not in that sort of movie after all.