Top 5 Action Movies
Published:Sometimes there is nothing more satisfying than just watching a bunch of stuff get blown up and shot at; it’s downright primal, and it speaks to our warlike animal urges! Action movies understand this, and they feed us all of the high speed chases, shoot-outs, sword fights, and explosions that we so crave!
1) The Dark Knight
- When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice
- Nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two (including Best Supporting Actor for Ledger)
- Currently the #4 ranked movie of all-time on imdb.com (9.0 out of 10)
- The highest grossing Batman movie, and, in fact, the highest grossing of any film adapting DC Comics characters. Both records were previously held by Batman (1989)
- Heath Ledger designed the Joker make-up himself, using white clown makeup and cosmetics from a drugstore, reasoning that since the Joker himself would design and apply it, Ledger should do so as well.
2) Die Hard
- John McClane tries to save his wife and several others, taken hostage by a German terrorist during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles
- Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects
- Often also referred to as one of the best Christmas movies of all-time
- The scene where Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman meet was unrehearsed to create a greater feeling of spontaneity between the two actors
- Only a couple of the actors who played the German terrorists were actually German. The actors were cast for their menacing appearances rather than their nationality. 9 of the 12 were over 6 feet tall.
3) The Terminator
- A human-looking indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs
- Maintains an 8.1 rating on IMDB.com, placing it in IMDB’s Top 30 list
- Schwarzenegger tried to avoid Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn as much as possible since the Terminator was trying to kill them, not form connections.
- The initial draft for the movie was sold to James Cameron's wife for the price of $1
- Schwarzenegger's famous debut line 'I'll be back' was originally scripted as 'I'll come back'
4) Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis
- Nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four of them
- Jeff Bridges actually turned down the role of Indiana Jones
- During fight scenes, most of the body blows you hear were created by hitting a pile of leather jackets with a baseball bat.
- During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick, except director Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he'd brought with him: cans and cans of Spaghetti-O's
5) The Matrix
- A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers
- Won all four of the Academy Awards it was nominated for
- The opening action scene took six months of training and four days to shoot
- In the first 45 minutes of the film, Neo has 80 lines. 44 of these lines are questions, just over half of his total dialogue, averaging at roughly one question per minute
- Nicolas Cage turned down the part of Neo because of family commitments. Other actors considered for the role included Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio
