The Captain's Top Ten Action / Adventure Movies
Nov 07 '05 (Updated Dec 05 '06)
The Bottom Line My Top Ten Action / Adventure Movies. Well, top 15.. 20.. 22 or possibly 23. I think.
Hmm… many of my picks are in other peoples’ lists (which either proves how good the films are or how unoriginal I am!), and as I haven’t even seen Die Hard, I’m one of the few without it in my top ten… but here goes…
(I know there are some sci-fi ones here too, but only ones that didn’t make my sci-fi film top ten!)
My personal Top Ten (yeah like I’ll stick to just ten!) action / adventure films:
Pirates Of The Caribbean - Johnny Depp’s performance lifted this above the average film it would probably have been otherwise, with a truly swashbuckling performance as pirate Jack Sparrow, vying with his arch-rival (Geoffrey Rush) for a treasure beyond price… Also starring token good guy Orlando Bloom and token love interest Kierra Knightly. (See, it could have been so average without Depp!)
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - no list would have been complete without this, Harrison Ford stars as Indy in the definitive archaeologist action adventure movie! Sounds an unlikely combination? Throw in some evil Nazis, a holy relic, and of course the trusty bullwhip…
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – wasn’t quite so keen on the second film (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - though it was still a lot of fun), but this time Indy is back searching for a legendary religious relic (before Dan Brown could claim it as his own invention). More action, more adventure, more Nazis, and Sean Connery as his dad! Brilliant.
The Fugitive – Harrison Ford once more, this time as a doctor falsely accused of murdering his wife. All he really knows about the true killer is that he has a prosthetic arm… Tommy Lee Jones as the detective on his trail puts in a tremendous performance to help make this a truly memorable action adventure.
Speed - Eeeeeeeeevil Dennis Hopper puts a bomb on a bus and rigs it so that it will explode when the bus’ speed drops below a certain point… it’s up to maverick cop Keanu Reeves and sexy chick Sandra Bullock (yeah so I can’t remember what she was actually meant to be in the film, all right!??!) to somehow keep everyone alive and of course fall in love with each other. Funny and exciting, and a classic line when Hopper gets what’s coming to him.
Romancing the Stone – Michael Douglas wasn’t looking for adventure when Kathleen Turner came along, but he certainly got it… rescuing her sister from a Columbian drug baron is first order of the day. Danny De Vito also gets involved there somewhere…
Jewel of the Nile – Douglas,Turner, and De Vito are back in the sequel to the above, this time after the fabled “Jewel of the Nile”. More fun-packed adventure and a big surprise when they find out what the Jewel actually is…
Gladiator - Russell Crowe stars as “Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.” His journey to vengeance takes him to the Coliseum in Rome and up against evil Caesar, played by Joaquin Phoenix…
Last of the Mohicans – a virtuoso performance by Daniel Day Lewis is the key to this exceptional film about a native American tribe fighting for survival in the midst of a bloody battle between the French and English colonists. (And it has nothing to do with hairdressing…) This film also boasts quite possibly the best musical score of any film ever made (or at the very least it’s in the top 5.)
Clear and Present Danger – to my mind the best of the Jack Ryan films (so far… he says hopefully… “Debt of Honour” would make one hell of a film, though the plane crashing into the Pentagon may be seen as a little too controversial). Harrison Ford once more takes up the mantle of Ryan as he gains ever increasing responsibility, but begins to sense that something very wrong is going on…
Dr No & From Russia With Love – my two favourite Bond films, the first for the tropical setting and the second for the dodgy Russian accents!! I’m not a huge fan of James Bond films in all honesty but these two, and possibly Thunderbolt, deserve to have a mention as classy action films.
The Adventuress of Robin Hood – Errol Flynn’s epic swordfight with Basil Rathbone has probably never been bettered, while some of Flynn’s stunts (performed while somewhat more than tipsy if the stories can be believed) make the eyes water. (Remember the leap onto the horse from the castle walls?!? OUCH!!!)
The Guns of Navarone and Force 10 From Navarone – two highly effective war films, the first starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, the second starring Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford (yet again!! I’d completely forgotten he was in it until I looked up IMDB to refresh my memory!), Barbara Bach, and Edward Fox benefit greatly from being based on a novel by the late, great Alistair MacLean, as did Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
Troy - not everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed this modern version of Homer’s epic poem The Iliad. Not terribly authentic by all accounts but fantastic performances by Eric Bana as Prince Hector and Brad Pitt as Achilles.
All of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy - The Fellowship of the Ring,
The Two Towers, and
Return of the King deserve to be in this list – great films, brilliant action sequences. (Though for me the battle at Helms Deep in The Two Towers outdoes the battle for Minas Tirith in Return of the King.)
Ok, cheating a bit, but I had to include Shogun (Mini-series) - a brilliant adaptation of James Clavell’s novel about an English Navigator who becomes a Samuri. Richard Chamberlain and Jon Rhys-Davies are among the stars. (Chamberlain plays the English Navigator, John Blackthorne, while Rhys-Davies plays, not a Dwarf this time, but a Portuguese!)
Finally, more Keanu Reeves action with The Matrix and Matrix: Revolutions are both great action flicks, though the middle film of the trilogy (Matrix: Reloaded was tripe.
Well that’s it… thanks for reading!
CaptainD
http://www.darscom.net
My Other Movie Top Ten Lists:
Top Ten Movies of 2002
Top Ten Movies of 2003
Top Ten Movies of 2004
Top Ten Movies of All Time
Top Ten Romantic Comedies
Top Ten Science Fiction Films
Top Ten Star Trek Movies
Top Ten Science Fiction Series
Top Ten Animated Movies
Top Ten Spoof Movies
Top Ten Musicals
Top Ten Comedies
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