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Ajax wants to start a round of The List focusing on Great TV Theme Songs. Are you in?
Count me in!
60%
No thanks.
20%
I'll play but you'll have to prod me into participating.
20%
Total votes: 10
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Submitted by osomatic on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 5:09pm.
I would have a better argument here if Die Hard wasn't actually a totally awesome popcorn movie. However, I submit that Die Hard is superior to 8 of the movies on this list, but inferior to just one.
A man's prostate problems are between him and his doctor.
I defy you to characterize Ernst Stavro Fucking Blofeld as the slightest bit "regular".
It's kind of a complicated question, but Batman became a superhero as the DC Universe evolved because he fought super-villains and used impossible technology to do so. (Although when he started out in Detective Comics, he was mostly just a genius-level intellect in great physical condition. And the recent Batman movies have tried to dial him back in that direction, giving him more in common with Dick Tracy than Superman.)
James Bond has always been a regular hero because he fights regular villains and uses unlikely technology to do so. Rocket launchers disguised as portable radios, rather than cars that can drive up the side of buildings.
It's a fine distinction, I'll grant you, but I think it holds up.
The difference between John McClain and John Rambo is that Rambo needed two tries to win. McClain won his war the first time. And the second time. And the third time. And the live freeth time. Rambo took twenty years to win once.
Nice try at pre-emption, pre-emptor. Throw a bunch of actor and director names at us, as if Hollywood glamour means anything. I can't believe the Army still lets you serve our glorious nation, since you seem to hate America so much.
This time, WE GET TO WIN.
Waffle House omelet for lunch.
23 total.
Alan Rickman vs. Steven Berkoff.
Oh, and eight more:
Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone and James Cameron.
Yes, that one. Saying Rambo: First Blood Part II or Maybe Rambo II or Maybe Rambo Negative Two is the greatest action movie ever is a vote for Titanic. And also probably Joseph Stalin. In conclusion, go back to Russia, commie.
Eh. I haven't seen Casino Royale, but frankly it probably should have been eliminated on the basis of being a superhero movie. If Batman is a superhero (and I submit that he is), so is James Bond.
I sort of wonder why anybody is bothering to still have this conversation, because there simply is no question that Rambo is the baddest-ass Popcorn Action Hero of all time, in the Popcorniest movie ever. EVER.
You say you want cheesy catchphrases? How 'bout "Sir, do we get to win this time?" or Rambo plunging a knife into a table saying "Mission... accomplished."
Rambo shoots arrows with dynamite on it and blows shit up. Rambo shoots dozens of faceless gooks who apparently couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a bucket of paint. Rambo is a patriot, a killing machine, the perfect soldier. His enemies are weak liars and pinko commies or worse, pinko commie sympahtizers.
First Blood Part II was the perfect action movie not just for the Reagan 80s, but for all time. You want car chases, you want a coherent plot? I can only say to you what Rambo told the Russian guy: "Fuck you." Unless you're some kind of pussy or America-hater, you'll vote for Rambo: First Blood Part II.
In conclusion, USA! USA! USA! USA!
Borrows from Karate Kid? Please. The sequences in question have more in common with those in, say, Empire Strikes Back. I shall leave you to your creepy Kate Mulgrew fantasies; in conclusion, go back to Russia.
Yes, Casino Royale is a pretty good movie, what with the taking out the comic relief and the gadgetry that made the Brosnan movies so over-the-top. You know -- making it more like Die Hard. But they did manage to slip in some parkour, thereby making it as embarrassingly dated as the Moore movies. In ten years, the opening sequence is going to be absolutely cringeworthy, while Die Hard will still be awesome from stem to stern.
Giving the future Captain Janeway an orgasm with a flick of her wrist was all very well, but this is a film that simply spends too long spinning its wheels on the "training" sequence (which, while entertaining, delivers more humor than action and borrows too heavily from The Karate Kid) and thus doesn't have enough gas left (ho ho!) for a real rock-'em sock-'em climax.
I congratulate the good doctor on a well-stated case, but wave away the smoke and there's just no there, there.
You should be able to do better than that. Just like somebody should have been able to find a better vehicle in which to finally insert Pacino and DeNiro.
It is patently indisputable, and thus must be stipulated by all comers, that any action movie with James Bond is ipso facto superior to a corresponding action movie without James Bond, according to the Bond Doctrine.
That said, the question still deserves some study. Let us examine the Bond oeuvre from 1980 to present:
1. For Your Eyes Only (1981). Begins the indifferent John Glen-directed Moore Bond films; indeed, marks a fairly stark contrast between the earlier, totally awesome Bond movies and the later, frustrating decline in quality of the franchise.
2. Octopussy (1983). The most ridiculous name ever given to a Bond Girl, and that's saying something.
3. A View To A Kill (1985). Utterly forgettable except for the Duran Duran-penned theme song.
4.The Living Daylights (1987) & 5. Licence to Kill (1989). Starring Timothy Dalton, who was used primarily because they were legally barred from using Pierce Brosnan. When you come in second to Remington Steele, you're not Bond enough.
6. GoldenEye (1995). Not completely awful, but even fans say that the video game is better.
7. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), 8. The World Is Not Enough (1999), 9. Die Another Day (2002). The turn of the century was not a good time for Bond, what with the Cold War being over and the War On Terror yet to begin. Probably the nadir of the entire franchise, despite the best efforts of Pierce Brosnan.
That leaves us with the one Bond film that was actually nominated -- Casino Royale from 2006. A thorough rebooting of the franchise and reimagining of Bond that keeps the most compelling aspects of the character and jettisons the bloated, unworkable and frankly self-parodic continuity established in the nine previous films.
Light on gadgetry, big on mystery, with a darker and more ambiguous Bond, it should be no surprise that Casino Royale has the highest adjusted grosses of any Bond film since -- well, looky here, it's Moonraker: the last Lewis Gilbert-directed effort, in 1979.
For single-handedly rescuing the greatest action franchise the film industry has ever seen from a 25+ year decline, and making it interesting and relevant again, Casino Royale deserves to be your choice for Best Pure Popcorn Action Movie 1980-present.
"I'm not sure I would characterize it as 'sci fi' just because there were aliens and spaceships in it."
Now, normally I wouldn't say that one thing could possibly outperform the cavalcade of wrongitude that Ajax has espoused over the years. But this may well do it. You don't get to claim rightness about anything until that gem is off the front page at least.
I think that pretty much says it all with regard to your judgment.
I hadn't thought of that. I might have three within a few months. Rawk.
An official (red) passport and a civilian (blue) passport. The official passport gets you perks such as front of the line privileges at most int'l airports and waiving of entry fees. But you have to be on orders to use it.
"Action movies are a film genre where action sequences, such as fights, shootouts, stunts, car/vehicle chases or explosions either take precedence or, in finer examples of the genre, are used as a form of exposition and character development. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero."
Fights? Bruce Willis beats up Alexander Godunov. That is bad-ass.
Shootouts? Bruce Willis wins a shootout with the building. Even more bad-ass than beating up Alexander Godunov.
Stunts? Bruce Willis jumps off a skyscraper with a fire hose wrapped around his waist. Do I even need to say what form of ass that is? Very well, then. I shall. It was bad-ass.
Car/vehicle chases? Okay, in this I shall admit Die Hard is lacking, as it takes place entirely within a single building. And yet, we have a police car getting hit with a dead body; a limousine vs. an ambulance; and "Oh my God, the quarterback is toast."
Explosions? The top third of the skyscraper goes up, killing guys in helicopters, but not Bruce Willis. Because, as previously proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, he is more bad-ass than fire.
"The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero." What movie more exemplifies that definition than Die Hard? One single positive action is taken by any other character. One. Everything else is Bruce Willis killing the fuck out of eurotrash and shooting and blowing shit up for no reason other than it was keeping him from killing the fuck out of more eurotrash.
Don't get me wrong -- there are some really good movies on this list.
Casino Royale is among the very best Bond movies ever made. Because James Bond stopped acting like Raffles and started acting like John McClain.
Die Hard II is not amongst those rare sequels (Terminator 2, The Godfather Part II, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey) that surpass their originals.
Hard Boiled stars Chow Yun Fat. That is a goofy-ass action hero name, I'm sorry.
The Long Kiss Goodnight survived solely because it was long ago enough that you people don't remember it. Plus it was the genesis point of the "people outrunning explosions" cliche. And Geena Davis kills a deer. That's just uncool.
Rambo: First Blood II is another of those sequels that doesn't surpass its original.
Red Dawn? Seriously? I... what, Footloose didn't make the cut?
Remo Williams was only awesome because you were twelve when it came out. It no longer is.
Ronin was a brilliant parable of the post-Cold War espionage malaise, but it stars Robert De Niro, who made a better action movie in Heat, and Jean Reno, who made a better action movie in The Professional. Plus it has ice skating.
Shoot 'Em Up was clearly placed here by some sort of crazy person who is blinded by lust for Paul Giamatti, and is so silly a finalist that I refuse to discuss it further. Good day to you, sir!
And so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit for your approval, the greatest action movie not only of the last quarter-century, but indeed of all time.
Bruce Willis is John McClain in Die Hard.
Tommy Shaw's epic exploration of the mysteries of human potential forms not only the theme song for Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, but also frames the fundamental questions the film explores. For who would really ever "want to see you standing by the light of the fire"? Who indeed.
Back in the dark days of the mid-1980s, the people yearned for a man with no name to subvert the justice system and the Constitution itself in order to root out corrupt defense contractors through the most savage means imaginable: Remo Williams was that man. Delivered into the capable hands of a master assassin by a shadowy government agency, Remo is transformed from blundering New York cop to faceless bare-handed killing machine, discovering in himself new frontiers of badass that he never knew existed, finally building to an epic confrontation with a villainous purveyor of faulty small arms.
Goldfinger veteran Guy Hamilton's direction is kinetic, rising to the level of fellow Bond veteran Christopher Wood's crackling script. Fred Ward, Wilford Brimley, and Kate Mulgrew deliver capable performances, but Joel Grey's Oscar-worthy performance as Chiun is really the centerpiece of the film. Remo's irascible mentor in the dark arts of Sinanju essentially defined the aged master professional assassin for a generation, while his prescient critique of the perils of American foods can only have been an inspiration for the work of Eric Schlosser and Morgan Spurlock.
As an adoring New York Times gushed in 1985, the film includes "includes a lot of arbitrarily vicious scenes of mayhem." And indeed, Remo delivers on that promise: this is really the action film par excellence, notably featuring useful aphorisms aplenty, training sequences that make Rocky look like a punk, Sinanju bullet-dodging, battles atop the Statue of Liberty, concrete drownings, and perhaps the finest diamond-studded-tooth glass-cutting to-escape-from-poison-gas-chamber sequence ever committed to film.
There have been a number of fine films made in the action genre over the years, but none can compare in sheer creative battery, misogynistic Orientalism, and general wisecracking to Remo Williams. The only flaw in this film is its title, an all-too-optimistic promise of a series that would sadly never come [probably as a result of the discomfort of the Trilateral Commission with the film's premise].
As the final cull, I'm choosing Bloodsport, since IMO it doesn't quite qualify. It's just a little too close to being a wuxia film, having almost the same plot as Enter the Dragon.
Also, cutting it leaves us with ten movies that are very much alike in form and content, which should make the final ranking easier -- as well as ensuring that nothing starring Jean Claude Van Damme has the slightest possibility of winning the contest. You're welcome.
Elizabeth may be adventurous to you, Nancy, but the rest of us, not so much. It's certainly no thriller like Sense and Sensibility.
Lola renntThere's no point buying popcorn in an art house. They don't turn over enough product for freshness.