Daniel Rutledge’s short but sweet reviews of films formerly found on NEON can be seen here. Use the titles of each action hit to discover their new streaming homes!
12 Strong (2018)
Fairly bog-standard jingoistic US propaganda about American supersoldiers laying waste to swathes of inferior brown men in a faraway part of the world…but if you can put that aside, on a lizard brain level this is a bit of fun. It’s got a solid cast of men and the way they shoot the other men is filmed in a way that is enjoyable to watch.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
The infamous, deadly 2012 terrorist attack that created enormous political divisions in the US that continue to cause serious problems to this day was adapted for the screen in 2016 by the man child who made the Transformers movies. Surprisingly, it’s not as terrible as it could have been and it features some brilliantly constructed modern combat scenes. If you ignore the politics, story, themes etc and just focus on the shooting, this is mildly satisfying.
Above the Law (1988)
Steven Seagal’s first movie was a real shot in the arm for action fans in the late 80s and remains thoroughly enjoyable for action fans of the early 2020s. He set himself apart from the genre’s other stars back then with a devilishly sinister mean streak, a penchant for graphically snapping bad guy’s bones and an inability to run like a man. Oh and his ponytail, of course—that was truly iconic.
Ambulance (2022)
Michael Bay’s return to his proper action movie roots in 2022 was just as ridiculous and over the top as anyone could have hoped for. It’s a romp that serves up a bank robbery, plenty of shootouts and a couple of crims hijacking an ambulance and speeding it around LA for a few hours. Jake Gyllenhaal is wonderful in the lead and does a great job of making this watchable even when there’s no action happening.
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Regarded as one of the genre’s greatest releases of the 1970s for very good reason, this John Carpenter classic is a bit like an urban action version of Night of the Living Dead with an army of gang members instead of zombies. You can also see western influences in it, but it’s much easier to see subsequent action films influenced in turn by this one, and rightfully so. It absolutely rules.
Bad Boys II (2003)
If you want a fix of classic Bayhem action you can’t go past the brainless fun of this 2003 sequel. It’s packed with so much shooting, explosions and expertly crafted real destruction it makes you rue the day CGI was invented. The scene with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence shooting the shit out of a bunch of Ku Klux Klan bozos is particularly cathartic too.
The Batman (2022)
Perhaps trying to out-dark the Dark Knight trilogy, this standalone 2022 Batman film has a lot to love about it, especially its action. Despite its ambition, it’s ultimately very much a case of style over substance; but that stylism is particularly entertaining and it includes the most brutal Batman fist-meets-skull business along with what is quite possibly the coolest Batmobile sequence ever filmed.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Save for the very occasional delight like The Nice Guys, we just don’t get buddy action comedy movies this good anymore. Eddie Murphy in his first film as Alex Foley was him at peak charisma, firing on all cylinders with impeccable comedic timing. Judge Reinhold and John Ashton are great in supporting roles, but this is an Eddie Murphy show and it’s a wildly entertaining show to behold.
Blade (1998)
Aside from some poor CGI, this holds up surprisingly well today. The iconic opening sequence featuring an underground rave being showered in blood still rules as hard as it did back then. The final fight scene is remarkably well choreographed and directed, and throughout it all Wesley Snipes is an ultimate badass as the titular Marvel Comics anti-hero.
Castle Falls (2021)
Scott Adkins versus Dolph Lundgren in a building is a very promising setup, and while this 2021 film doesn’t properly deliver on that promise, it still boasts some kick arse action. There are gym fights, prison fights, rooftop fights, gun fights and more, all of which are put together well, with some nice tension-building scenes to boot. Everything else in the film is very average, but what does that matter? Scott Adkins rules.
Collateral (2004)
One of Michael Mann’s many beloved cult favourites, this neo-noir action thriller features Tom Cruise at the top of his game—although he’s almost never not been. Notable for being one of the first major Hollywood films shot on digital, it delivers loads of great action thrills, including the best nightclub scene that side of the John Wick franchise.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Christopher Nolan’s best Batman film is one of the finest action films of the 2000s, working as both a fantastic superhero movie as well as a great, dark crime saga. The opening bank heist sets the tone brilliantly, creating awesome tension and hammering home how different this is from the campy Batman your dad enjoyed in the old days. Then it just never lets up, with Heath Ledger delivering one of the all time great performances.
Dunkirk (2017)
When Christopher Nolan decided to make a war movie, he of course made one of the most ambitious war movies of all tme. It’s one of the most spectacular films of the last few decades, depicting one of Britain’s most incredible modern military feats from a filmmaker at the top of his game. It’s also got one of Hans Zimmer’s very best scores.
Faster (2010)
Dwayne Johnson almost became a great modern action movie icon but instead has just made a whole bunch of exceedingly average, mildly entertaining bits of trash. Faster isn’t great, but it is a great glimpse at what we could have had if The Rock had gone harder edged. In it he’s mostly silent, always angry and fun to watch dishing out virtuous vengeance. The opening 10 minutes in particular kick arse.
The Fugitive (1993)
Harrison Ford versus Tommy Lee Jones and the one-armed man is about as good as thrillers get, complete with several awesome, thrilling action sequences. This is such a well-made movie that really does stand the test of time. It’s smart in ways I wish more modern blockbusters were, like how it uses spectacle to genuinely build its characters rather than just provide thrills. Well worth a rewatch if you haven’t for a while.
Gladiator (2000)
Sword and sandal movies don’t come better than Ridley Scott’s 2000 multi Oscar-winner. It’s a classical tale of redemption and revenge with Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix both knocking it out of the park. The gladiatorial battle sequences are masterfully created, but we get a wonderful wide range of amazing action from one vs one fights right on up to epic army vs army battles. One of Scott’s greatest movies and to this day Crowe’s best performance.
Haywire (2011)
This stripped-back genre effort from Steven Soderbergh is notable for its wickedly cool fight scenes and for catapulting Gina Carano from her MMA career to a film career, a decade before she derailed it with dumb social media posts and an anti-vax approach to COVID regulations. Regardless of what Carano became, she is fantastic to watch kicking all kinds of arse in the wonderfully filmed hand-to-hand combat in this.
John Wick (2014)
The first John Wick set the initial bar very high and plotwise remains the best in the franchise, stripped of the bloaty lore that bogs down the sequels. This masterpiece combines virtuoso action choreography with subtle visual effects in sequences that feature nice wide shots and long takes, making every impact as explicit and visceral as possible.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2022)
There are two consistently amazing modern Hollywood action franchises—Mission: Impossible and this one. Instead of Tom Cruise and the coolest stunts ever, the John Wick movies are all about operatic, very R-rated violence centred on blow-your-mind incredible gun-fu. The fourth chapter throws Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror into the mix and features a Hotline Miami inspired top-down sequence that is especially jaw-dropping, even for a John Wick movie. It’s amazing.
Last Man Standing (1996)
Walter Hill fuses film noir stylism with classic western tropes in this remake of Yojimbo with awesomely over the top gunplay clearly influenced by John Woo. It’s also a great Bruce Willis vehicle for when he was in his absolute prime, rolling into town and blowing away untold waves of mobsters while setting them against each other all for his own gain. An underrated 90s gem.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Of all Peter Jackson’s Middle earth works, the Battle of Helm’s Deep is the greatest action sequence. That’s what I love about this film the most, but it’s also got the benefit of being the middle film in a trilogy—not burdened by all the setup the first has to do, nor the ultimate wrapping up of the third. It’s the easiest one to recommend a rewatch of.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
George Miller’s legendary 1981 flick is a masterclass in thrilling action and visionary world-building with minimal dialogue. It’s a great example of show don’t tell, and it does the showing with set pieces that are truly incredible. They’re delivered at a relentless pace, peppered with inventive vehicle-based stunts and amazing practical effects that make for a wonderfully visceral experience, anchored by Mel Gibson at the top of his game.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Almost always, legasequels are absolute garbage that make me angry at the world, but every now and then you get a Cobra Kai or a Top Gun: Maverick and everything feels alright again. Lana Wachowski’s latest Matrix movie doesn’t quite recapture the magic of the original, but it has plenty of cool new ideas, loads of heart and action sequences interesting enough to make it a success.
The Nice Guys (2016)
This is exactly the sort of film Shane Black needs to make and make and make again. A glorious update on the ’80s buddy action comedy formula, this is just such a blast to watch, no matter how many times you’ve already watched it. There’s a wild and sometimes mean-spiritedness to the feel of it all which really tickles me pink, as does the sizzling chemistry of leads Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.
Nobody (2020)
This gleefully violent action comedy strikes a masterful tone and consistently delivers thrills for its lean 92 minute runtime. A deliciously over the top fist fight on a bus early on is a clear highlight, but there is a lot more to love after that. It gets very, very goofy by the final gun battle in a way some won’t like, but if you get onboard with it you’ll laugh your arse off right to the end. I sure did.
The Northman (2022)
Vikings are eternally cool, but Viking movies are often pretty crap. Not so with this one. Robert Eggers’ 2022 arthouse revenge thriller features plenty of terrific action with loads of lovely bloodshed. This pulls the trick of working as a primal experience all about honour and retribution, but also working on a deeper level with loads of literary allusions and deeply rooted spiritual meanings.
Out for Justice (1991)
Steven Seagal kicked off his career with five flicks in a row that were astounding, each sinister and mean-spirited and lacking the righteousness of most of the ’80s action flicks they followed. Of that astounding five movie run, this is arguably the nastiest and most mean-spirited. Seagal plays a New York cop on a mission to stop a suicidal maniac on a drug-fuelled killing spree he intends as his last night alive. It’s brutal, dark and brilliant.
Passenger 57 (1992)
Wesley Snipes in his prime in one of the very best ‘”Die Hard on a Blank” movies? Hell yeah! Snipes kicks serious arse, doing most of his own stunts in a very physical role, despite it mostly taking place on a plane. At a lean 84 minutes the action is non-stop, the one-liners are endearingly corny, the support cast are all fun. But Snipes is the man!
Patriot Games (1992)
Many of us are suckers for Harrison Ford pulling serious faces and yelling dramatic things and there’s plenty of that in this version of Jack Ryan he gave us. Having him face off against Sean Bean in a 90s Tom Clancy adaptation in which his family is endangered by terrorists makes this about as daddish as movies get, so it’s perfect for when you’re into dadding it up as much as possible.
Payback (1999)
As much of a cretin as Mad Mel Gibson turned into, there’s no denying how great he was on screen in his prime and this is an underrated example. He’s so good as this charming antihero, this loveable asshole, out for vengeance and cash after being wronged and left for dead by his co-criminal cohorts. It’s got a wonderful, rough, dirty feel to it, there’s loads of casual brutality and Mel is just so on form.
The Rookie (1990)
If you can get past the maddeningly dumb humour, there is a lot to love about this 1990 cop caper in which Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen murder a whole bunch of crims while cracking wise. There’s also a glorious amount of destruction with loads of cars and a few planes getting smashed, a building getting blown up and Sheen smashing up an entire bar along with every patron in it before setting the place on fire.
Romeo Must Die (2000)
Jet Li, Aaliyah and DMX star in this 2000 spin on Romeo and Juliet, depicting the Montagues and the Capulets as two warring gang families—one African-American, the other Chinese. It’s a fun watch and an interesting time capsule of its era, but of course it’s at its best when Jet Li is kicking arse, his moves choreographed by the great Corey Yuen.
Sicario (2015)
Denis Villeneuve’s 2015 thriller is a gritty, stylish and hugely impactful exercise in suspense that often explodes into violent fury with stars Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin all delivering fantastic performances. It features several thrilling sequences, with the lead-up to a shootout at the Mexico/US border in particular being the one of the best examples of tension building you’ll find on NEON.
Sin City (2005)
Groundbreaking when it was released for its faithful visual recreation of the Frank Miller comics it’s adapted from through stunning visual effects, this 2005 Robert Rodriguez film holds up surprisingly well and still delivers plenty of thrills. It’s super pulpy neo-noir fun with wickedly dark humour, a great use of anthology storytelling, an enjoyably bleak outlook on humanity, it oozes raw sexiness and packs in loads of lovely ultraviolence.
Snatch (2000)
It may be more comedy than action, but Guy Ritchie’s best ever film has great action chops and is always a pleasure to rewatch. There’s so much to love about this, but I can never get over how Alan Ford delivers such an incredible performance he outshines both Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro when they were in their absolute prime. As Brick Top, he delivers some of the greatest hard bastard lines ever.
Sniper: Rogue Mission (2022)
I love how lovingly this franchise celebrates long-range, high calibre kills. The main sniper is Chad Michael Collins, who seems better suited to Hallmark Christmas movies, but when he pulls the trigger from ages away and makes the bad guys squirt blood out of fresh holes, it’s mint. In this ninth Sniper movie (!) he does that to corrupt federal agents slash sex traffickers and they really, really deserve it, the bastards.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
If you’re in the mood for family-friendly, kiddy style action on NEON, this is about as good as it gets. Everyone loves Spider-Man and this is three Spider-Man movies for the price of one. You get Spider-Men Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, as well as various villains from the franchise’s last couple of decades all battling each other through the multiverse in an enormously successful work of fan service.
Tango and Cash (1989)
Super fun and fairly ridiculous late ’80s flick featuring Kurt Russell with an elite mullet alongside a tidy Sylvester Stallone sporting spectacles. The pair ferociously try to out-cop each other in an awesome and vaguely flirty dick measuring contest. They get wrongfully imprisoned together, escape together and ultimately attack a mob boss’s compound and kill all his dudes together. It has solid humour and a great supporting cast featuring the likes of Jack Palance, Teri Hatcher and Brion James.
Terminator 2 (1992)
Arguably the number one greatest action film ever made, they simply don’t come better than this. James Cameron’s masterpiece uses Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as he’s ever been used, delivers loads of exhilarating set pieces, innovative effects and sci-fi ideas, all stitched together with iconic characters and a supremely kick arse story. Thanks to my VHS-fuelled 90s, this is my personally most rewatched movie of all time.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Perhaps the finest example of a ‘legasequel’ yet, this 2022 follow-up to the 1986 classic is as good as modern blockbuster action flicks get. If you’re lucky enough to have a nice big TV at home, popping this on will send you soaring high above the clouds with Tom Cruise into the danger zone for some truly incredible airborne action.
Wanted (2007)
Angelina Jolie can be great when she does silly B-grade action like this one that is mainly memorable for bullets that curve through the air and can get baddies around corners and stuff. It’s extremely dumb in a way that will greatly amuse those in the mood for it, with solid supporting performances from Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy along with plenty of CGI-blood and brains being sprayed over the walls.
The Woman King (2022)
Despite the PG-13 rating, this delivers the goods with a nicely unique historical action flick. It’s based on a true story about an all-female army in Africa and Viola Davis is badass in the lead. The fight choreography is at times exceptional and the action in general is excellent. Gina Prince-Bythewood directed this as her next film after the impressive The Old Guard, making her a burgeoning action master to watch.
