The 20 Best Action Movies on Max

This nonfiction is updated often arsenic titles permission and enter Max. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

Action movies person agelong been the astir palmy genre astatine home, arsenic viewers effort to replicate that unreserved they got astatine the movie theatre successful their ain surviving room. The Max (formerly HBO Max) enactment of enactment flicks is predictably dense, bringing successful immoderate of the DC Universe, classical genre movies, and modern hits. Everyone from Martin Campbell to Martin Scorsese tin find a location here, and you’ll often find a Batman, too. We volition update this database regularly to springiness readers a caller enactment movie to ticker whenever they request a fix, oregon a reminder to ticker a classical they’ve already seen.

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes astir movies and TV each day. To curate this list, helium dives into Max’s catalogue each period to aboveground exciting, white-knuckle enactment titles — utilizing his sensation and a beingness of cinema survey arsenic his guide, alternatively of immoderate the algorithm happens to beryllium pushing. After triple-checking to marque definite they’re inactive available, helium watches each and writes his recommendation. We item much than conscionable the thrilling crowdpleasers: Filmmakers usage enactment to punctuate drama, lighten oregon heighten the temper of a movie, and explosively marque an interaction connected cinema. Read connected to find thing to watch.

Year: 1989
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Tim Burton

The modern superhero movie owes an unthinkable indebtedness to what Tim Burton did successful 1989 with Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Kim Basinger. It wasn’t the archetypal superhero movie, but it felt darker and antithetic from the candy-coated men successful tights movies that came before, particularly the superior sequel, besides connected Max. Watch them both.

Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 56m
Director: Matt Reeves

Matt Reeves present owns the saga of the Dark Knight arsenic a sequel to his March 2022 enactment blockbuster has already been announced. Dropping connected Max portion it was inactive successful theaters, The Batman is an ambitious epic reboot of the legendary hero, anchored by Reeves’s trade and fascinating performances from Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, and galore more.

Year: 2006
Runtime: 1h 28m
Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor

There aren’t capable enactment movies with the axenic momentum of Crank, directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, and the 2009 sequel, besides connected Max. Jason Statham plays a hitman who has to support his adrenaline up to enactment alive. It’s similar Speed with a quality bosom alternatively of a bus. It’s a hellhole of a ride.

Year: 2014
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Matt Reeves

Any database of the champion modern enactment trilogies truly needs to see the rebooted Planet of the Apes bid that started with Rise of the Planet of the Apes over a decennary ago. The bid arguably got adjacent richer successful the follow-up from The Batman manager Matt Reeves, which is presently the lone 1 successful the trilogy connected Max for immoderate inexplicable reason. Still, it’s a large movie, adjacent if it’s weird to not person the full saga of Caesar to marathon for your subscription fee.

Year: 2021
Runtime: 2h 36m
Director: Denis Villeneuve

The 2nd portion of this epic enactment communicative was delayed from the vacation play of 2023 into 2024 due to the fact that of the strike, but that conscionable means much clip to drawback up with the archetypal Best Picture nominee. Timothee Chalamet stars successful this sci-fi blockbuster from 1 of the astir fashionable existent directors successful the world. It’s benignant of fractional of a movie, but it won’t beryllium for long.

Year: 1997
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Lee Tamahori

David Mamet wrote this 1997 endurance thriller astir a affluent businessman (Anthony Hopkins) who crashes successful the Alaskan wilderness with a lensman (Alec Baldwin) and his adjunct (Harold Perrineau). The men person to past the vicious elements to instrumentality to information … and each other. Hopkins and Baldwin are each in, adjacent successful immoderate awesome sequences involving a ample Kodiak carnivore who is hunting his prey.

Year: 2014
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Gareth Edwards

The caller MonsterVerse is connected Max successful its entirety, but let’s instrumentality a infinitesimal to lavish immoderate praise connected the 1 that restarted it all, Gareth Edwards’s underrated 2014 blockbuster. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, and Bryan Cranston prima successful the reboot of the classical Toho bid that pits the large lizard feline against 2 monsters of arsenic unfathomable size. It’s a rocking bully time.

Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Ric Roman Waugh

An end-of-the-world movie released during the archetypal Summer of the pandemic, this genre workout wasn’t seen by capable people. It’s truly solid, a reminder of however overmuch Gerard Butler tin transportation a movie similar this one, which reunites him with his Angel Has Fallen manager successful a movie that’s rather virtually astir the extremity of humanity. The movie takes a micro attack to the astir macro contented arsenic it tracks 1 household trying to find a mode to past the impending interaction from a planet-destroying comet.

Year: 2008
Runtime: 2h
Director: Guillermo del Toro

Oscar victor Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed this sequel to his ain 2004 adaptation of the Mike Mignola comic publication astir everyone’s favourite demon from hell. Ron Perlman returned to play the rubric quality successful a much ambitious movie than the first, adjacent if it doesn’t rather travel together. The astir frustrating happening astir watching Hellboy II present is knowing however overmuch Del Toro and Perlman wanted to marque a 3rd portion but the workplace declined. Those are the existent monsters.

Year: 2010
Runtime: 2h 29m
Director: Christopher Nolan

After the brainsick occurrence of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan went and made 1 of the astir ambitious blockbusters ever made, cementing himself arsenic 1 of the astir absorbing auteurs moving successful the Hollywood system. Leonardo DiCaprio stars arsenic a antheral who leads a squad into different people’s dreams for the purposes of firm espionage astatine first. Of course, helium brings immoderate idiosyncratic baggage with him. This movie is simply a reminder of Nolan’s unthinkable imaginativeness and robust filmmaking. It’s held up wonderfully. One wishes determination were much big-budget filmmakers taking these kinds of risks.

Year: 2002
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Andy Lau, Alan Mak

A batch of radical astir apt don’t adjacent cognize that Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winner The Departed was a remake of an awesome Hong Kong enactment movie from conscionable a fewer years earlier. Andy Lau and Tony Leung prima successful the communicative of a bull who goes undercover successful a Triad portion a transgression becomes a mole successful the different absorption astatine the aforesaid time. It was followed by 2 sequels, some of which precocious dropped connected Max too.

Year: 2001
Runtime: 2h 58m
Director: Peter Jackson

The Oscar-winning franchise by Peter Jackson bounces astir the streaming services with alarming regularity, present uncovering its mode to Max for an indeterminate magnitude of time. Watch the full saga of Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gange, and the remainder of the Fellowship portion you can.

Year: 2015
Runtime: 2h 1m
Director: George Miller

Have you seen the Furiosa trailer?!!? It’s insane and easy 1 of the astir anticipated films of 2024. Go backmost to its predecessor, 1 of the champion enactment movies ever made. This sequel rocked the satellite erstwhile it was released successful 2015 connected its mode to winning aggregate Oscars and truly mounting a caller barroom for applicable enactment effects. George Miller went into the godforsaken and returned with 1 of the astir ambitious, insane, downright intolerable enactment epics ever made.

Year: 1982
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: George Miller

Mad Max was fun, and it helped enactment some Mel Gibson and George Miller connected the map, but it was the sequel, often conscionable called The Road Warrior that blew the extortion off. With immoderate of the champion car sequences of each time, this was a game-changer, a movie that felt wholly caller and new, portion besides paying homage to classical tropes of the Western.

Year: 2004
Runtime: 2h 26m
Director: Tony Scott

One of Tony Scott’s past (and best) films is this enactment flick based connected the 1980 caller of the aforesaid name. Scott collaborates with his regular prima Denzel Washington, who plays a erstwhile G-man turned backstage bodyguard who scorches the world aft the 9-year-old he’s protecting is kidnapped. It’s 1 of those “they messed with the incorrect guy” enactment flicks that truly works.

Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Paul Verhoeven

People similar to constituent astatine ‘80s movies and accidental they were up of their time, but this whitethorn beryllium astir existent astir Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece, a movie that foretold however exertion would interaction instrumentality enforcement successful ways that took decades to travel true. A superb enactment satire, this is the communicative of a Detroit bull who is murdered and revived arsenic the rubric character, a superhuman cyborg enforcer. It’s adjacent much riveting and applicable astir 4 decades later. Note: Both archetypal epoch sequels and the 2010s reboot are besides connected Max.

Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Brad Peyton

Some enactment movies are astir heroism; immoderate are astir spectacle. This falls into the second category, an ode to the ‘70s catastrophe movies with the CGI of the 2010s. Dwayne Johnson stars arsenic an L.A. Fire Department chopper aviator who becomes our eyes into the “big one” hitting California. As earthquakes ravage the scenery and nonstop buildings tumbling, the movie ne'er lets up. Is it highbrow genre fare? Nah. But it’s undeniably fun.

Year: 1956
Runtime: 3h 26m
Director: Akira Kurosawa

They don’t get much classical than Akira Kurosawa’s classical that inspired generations of enactment filmmakers. Co-written, directed, and edited by 1 of the champion filmmakers of each time, it’s the communicative of 7 ronin who are hired by farmers to combat the bandits who are ruining their village. It’s a formative substance for the enactment genre, and rather simply 1 of the champion movies ever made.

Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 54m
Director: John McTiernan

Pierce Brosnan gave his champion non-Bond show successful stellar remake of the 1968 movie of the aforesaid name. Stepping into the shoes of Steve McQueen is nary casual feat but Brosnan does truthful with benignant arsenic Thomas Crown, a billionaire creation thief who falls for the security researcher chasing him, played by the fantastic Rene Russo.

Year: 2009
Runtime: 2h 43m
Director: Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder fans, assemble! In 2009, the arguable manager yet got his accidental to accommodate arguably the champion graphic caller bid of each time, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons superb unpacking of heroism and the past of America successful Watchmen. The effect was benignant of a miss — and this movie doesn’t remotely comparison to the superior HBO bid mentation — but determination are immoderate absorbing scenes and performances present that marque it worthy this list.

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