Movies That Were Probably Made By a Spasm of Six Year-Olds on Acid: The Top 75 Action Films Poll Results Thread

friedkin's staging in TLADILA is so bravura. i love the way he tracks the action and establishes geography, giving you a glimpse of something before it happens to build suspense. the sound work on this movie is outta this world too. 2011's Drive really bugged me with its shitty, lazy soundwork in the driving scenes. to live and die in L.A. is a study in how to get it right. love those fucking careening chevys. love this airport foot chase:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLTGV07Gc7E

Die Hard with a Vengeance is tremendous, i like it better than the original in many ways tho it's not as taut or iconic. The kinetic camera work is totally engrossing, when most steadicam stuff becomes an annoying tic.

― dayove cool (Noodle Vague), Thursday, February 16, 2012 10:28 AM (35 seconds ago) Bookmark

i think it actually might be more taut! or at least it's pretty close. yeah otm re: the camerawork - its hard to describe but mctiernan had this great style at that point which was really intense and in-the-moment with lots of handheld stuff and closeups that filled the frame, but without taking it to an obnoxious tony scott level. it's an incredible, constantly moving thrill ride

oh i don't think those are spoilers, not to someone who hasn't seen it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/matrix2.png

#36

THE MATRIX

Andy and Larry Wachowski
1999
United States
(290 points, 11 votes)

Why on earth is the real world preferable to the Matrix to Morpheus? I mean, I'd be like, Morpheus, go fuck yourself, I don't want to play your stupid war and eat gruel and battle robots and live in the world without a sun, I'd rather live in the Matrix. It seems like it's a good thing, and it's not like the alien fiends are really doing anything harmful to the humans. You live in a nice world, they get energy from you. It's a win-win situation!

― Ally

I wonder whether all that robot technology to extract a small wattage of power from each human being is worth the effort. I am troubled by the economy of the matrix idea. Surely windpower would be more efficient? The barren wastelands look pretty windy.

― moley

i never thought the matrix was partic good, but for a summer event movie, it's better than most.

― That one guy that hit it and quit it

if matrix had the swayzer it would be better.

― chaki

The theory of the Matrix (only spoilers if you know nothing about the first film, and if that's true you SUXOR)

ok i guess i need to see diehard.wav again, havent seen it since it came out!

i voted for the matrix almost reluctantly, like, it deserves to be on this list, but i never want to think about it again

Do no recall that helicopter scene at all.

i've softened on my position somewhat, but i feel like one of the few people who really didn't give a shit about The Matrix even when it was new. i don't know how the world didn't have Keanu sci-fi fatigue already by then.

matrix is p lame, f a stupid dreadlock rave at the center of the earth

the matrix sux

i voted for the matrix almost reluctantly, like, it deserves to be on this list, but i never want to think about it again

I chose not to vote it for the same reason. It felt cool and fresh in 1999, but overall its legacy for (action) movies has probably been more negative than positive.

the thing about the matrix is that, for all of its pop culture associations & philosophizing college freshmen douchebags, it's still an amazing film that really changed (probably for the worse) how action films were made from then on out

^^ the bullet time stuff is p classic even if it's been ripped off seven ways till sunday since then.

The Matrix still rules. Lets pretend the sequels dont exist though.

it's like the 1st velvet underground album*, look at how much bad indie that spawned

*if the 1st velvet underground album was actually good and listened to by millions of people

lol JS

Yeah, it's not my thing.

i feel like ive seen the matrix enough times to last me for a long while, but i voted for it anyway. its a wicked cool movie, even if it's hard for it to not seem diminished by the horrible sequels. there's some neat performances in it too! im a big keanu fan but even if you aren't, you have to admit it's an apt role for him.

apparently the original idea was for the machines to be using humans as living processors, which makes way more sense but the studio didnt understand it

ya i understand that the matrix is now the least cool thing in the world and it is very easy to hate it but it was still pretty sick at the time and if the sequels/bad ripoffs didnt exist we'd proabbly all still think it was sick

i couldn't vote The Matrix cos of the douchery around it and in its wake but the Wachowski boys used to know how to put on a kick-ass action sequence back in the day.

and there were lots of still-kinda-cool ideas in it (that neither of the sequels seemed to remember at all)

no real desire to see the matrix again but its a dope movie man, i saw it in LA on a trip w/ my dad and brother when it was in some kind of limited release, i was 13 and i went back to school the next week or whatever and couldnt even describe how insanely good it was.

Live and Die is awesome. Matrix deserves a mention. Dawn of the Dead is not a fucking action movie by any stretch. Does shambling count as action? Is it because someone drives a truck and flies a copter? Is it because there are guns? Is Bambi an action movie because there's a fire and someone gets shot (not saying who!)?

its true, dawn of the dead is a lot like bambi

glad to see to live and die in LA on here. was so blown away when I saw it in the theatre that I sat through the next showing. so anti-80s, so out of step with where the culture was at the time, a big shot of coldblooded nihilism when every other action movie seemed to be a celebration of reagan-era military power like rambo or top gun. also major "who is THAT" moment at willem dafoe.

yeah Dawn of the Dead is a classic example of a movie i love more than lots of the films i voted for, but i couldn't vote for it cos it isn't an action movie

the matrix is really accomplished visually and technically, but it's a p deece movie from a storytelling perspective too. it's not just a collection of visual gimmicks, it sucks you into its world and has some decent jokes and a cool mystery to unravel. its fun

Speaking of bad Matrix ripoffs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U6jYuqERXI

yup. i can never watch it again but it's pretty tight, it prob belongs even higher tbh

the soundtrack is probably the most embarrassing thing about it but i played it to death in 8th grade. every movie i made w/ my brother featured at least 1 track from the matrix soundtrack

Yeah, in a "canon" sense Matrix could be top 10, even though I can't imagine ever seeing it again.

true story: I made my windows xp background the scrolling matrix text for a while

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/lastcru.jpg

#35

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE

Steven Spielberg
1989
United States
(295 points, 10 votes)

last crusade is like the only action movie that manages to be really, really funny without giving up thrillpower.

― Jordan

Crusade; Scene on the airship where Vogel get's beaten by Indie, luzzed out the window and then actually shakes his fist at the Zeppelin as it lifts off. Cue cod joke "no ticket."

― Alex K

Last Crusade feels cheap - look at the FX at the end of Raiders versus the guy falling off the edge of the cliff in the tank. And the final scene is a very balsa-wood affair. It doesn't even move like rock would if the fury of the LORD was being visited upon a remote hidden cave. Tchoh!

― Dave B

Indiana Jones LOVE thread

Saw the Matrix opening night in I want to say Denver, and the theatre was half full. Want to say the movie came after a whole bunch of disappointing alternate world movies, like the Thirteenth Floor and stuff? Anyway, the Matrix is wild because it did not become a thing for months.

Like Def Leppard's Hysteria.

i do remember people talking about it like 'you gotta see this cool new thing' before it became a huge phenomenon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdNwaa7w3q8

i love last crusade but i remember being kinda bummed as a kid that it was so xian

compared to raiders' old testament fury

Last Crusade nearly made my 50 and wd have been the only Indiana Jones flick i'd've countenanced voting for if there weren't at least 50 better flicks i've seen. but imo action movies shd remind me of being 15, not 10.

yeah i wonder maybe i didnt actually see the matrix in 'limited release' maybe i just saw it before it was a thing. but man! i hadnt seen any previews or anything when my dad took us, had no clue what to expect, and it just completely killed me.

Reverse-Dirty Harry moment here - all the movies to come I'm going to be thinking "Really? This is better than the Matrix? Really?".

Helped a lot by context - there had really been a dearth of exciting action films by 1999, and this was the indie "have you heard about?" alternative to The Phantom Menace's bombast.

Also it was cool, which is kind of an uncool thing to acknowledge considering how terrible the sequels were, but the fact that it wasn't an aging Bruce Willis in a vest was not incidental.

(Blade, the year before, was kind of the Matrix's John the Baptist)

all three indies are gonna place, huh

That's surprising to you?

aging Bruce Willis in a vest pisses all over nerd fests

(Blade, the year before, was kind of the Matrix's John the Baptist)

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, February 16, 2012 10:57 AM (40 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol so otm

lol I love Blade.

Lots of love for The Last Crusade as well - you are only ever 5 mins away from someone getting punched in that film.

sean connery is really great in last crusade.

Blade II is pretty ex. too

I can't believe I've never seen any of the Blade movies.

I never forgave the matrix for starting out with a rich, intriguing cronenberg/PKD premise and then devolving into the dumbest "shoot guns is cool" denouement, and this from a guy who liked T2