Empire Magazine's "50 Greatest Action Movies"
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- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsBruce WillisAlan RickmanBonnie BedeliaA New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.In the 1980s, action movies tended to be the preserve of steroid-addled muscle men, chain-gunning their way to body-counts of infinitude. At the decade's close, a TV comedy star and a sci-fi/horror director made an action movie about a regular schmoe in the wrong place at the wrong time... and inadvertently made the greatest action movie of all time. It's sometimes easy to forget that John McClane was a product of the 1980s (only Holly McClane's hair and Ellis' coke habit really signpost the era), but that's what you get for being a timeless classic. Yippee ki, and indeed, yay.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.Imagine Aliens getting announced in our current social media age. 'Alien is perfect – leave it alone!' the internet would bleat. 'Get some original ideas, Hollywood!' And of course, the internet would be wrong. James Cameron, in those days a former FX guy who'd directed a low-budget cult- sci-fi called The Terminator (plus Piranha 2: Flying Killers) took Ridley Scott's gothic space horror and extrapolated it into a war movie, expanding the mythology in the process. We'd seen the face huggers and the xenomorphs before. But now, in one of cinema's greatest shock reveals, we had a queen...
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonEdward FurlongA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.The action, the pace, Sarah Connor's biceps, the clever early switcheroo where you think Arnie's the bad guy and Robert Patrick is the good guy - only you're wrong - and the further considerations of what time travel means for the present are all effective. But it's the effects and the set pieces that really blew our collective socks off. Incredibly, they’ve barely dated at all.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKaren AllenPaul FreemanIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.Nazis, the Staff of Ra and a boulder the size of a small house were the order of the day for Harrison Ford in his first Indy outing. An archaeologist protagonist (proteologist?) may not sound all that exciting, but Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' franchise follow-up to Star Wars succeeded on every level, not least of which was not taking itself too seriously. Lesser prequels and sequels followed, but [Raiders] cemented Ford as a Hollywood heavyweight. Face-meltingly good stuff.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.The perfect fusion of action and character, East and West, blockbuster and arthouse, Kurosawa's first entry into the samurai genre is one of the great masterpieces in any language. The great director creates distinct, memorable characters out of seven luckless samurai hired to defend a poor farming village from marauding bandits, showcasing his heroes as rounded but dignified outcasts - Takashi Shimura's noble leader and Toshiro Mifune's crazed hothead are the standouts. All human life is here, as are debatably cinema's greatest battle scenes: the climactic showdown in the rain is the stuff of cinematic legend.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerCarl WeathersKevin Peter HallA team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.John McTiernan's second feature is proof that the unremarkably generic can be elevated to ridiculous greatness by the right director and cast. A mash-up of the men-on-a-mission war movie and an alien / then-there-were-none slasher horror, McTiernan slips in some sly swipes at the action genre along with some groan-worthy homoeroticism – but more-or-less keeps a straight face. It's full of iconic moments like the Ol' Painless jungle destruction and the final one-man-army mud fight. And Arnold was, arguably, never better.
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.Every now and again a film comes along that’s dubbed a "game changer". Some deserve it more than others, but the effect of The Matrix on the 21st century’s action cinema can’t be understated. The Wachowskis can’t quite be credited with creating a new visual language (FX man John Gaeta credits Michel Gondry and Katsuhiro Otomo with the original "bullet time" effects), but the use they put it to was so thrilling and eye-popping that it seemed entirely new. Backing up the extraordinary spectacle was a mash-up of lofty ideas cribbed from William Gibson and Jean Baudrillard: The Matrix felt like it had a brain as well as balls. And the casting was also note perfect, transforming the public perception of Keanu Reeves overnight from dim-bulb stoner to deadpan killing machine (a role he continues to enjoy in the likes of Man Of Tai-Chi and John Wick). Imitated to the point of audience fatigue by subsequent films (including its own sequels), it still seems fresh almost 20 years on.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHeath LedgerAaron EckhartWhen the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonMichael BiehnA human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.Strange how the biggest action hero of the decade earned that accolade by playing one of that same decade's biggest villains. Even stranger when you consider said action hero wasn't even physically suitable for the part, as originally envisioned by James Cameron. After all, the T-800 cyborg was supposed to blend in, be a hidden assassin, look… normal. Not, for example, like a hulking Austrian bodybuilder last seen hacking people up with a broadsword in Conan The Barbarian. Still, The Terminator hit huge and gave us two '80s icons in one: the larger-than-life Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his catchphrase, his rippling muscles and his extensive, explosive ordnance. And the steely-grinned, red-eyed nightmare from the future, which until the firey final act lurked beneath that sculpted physique.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsTom HardyCharlize TheronNicholas HoultIn a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.Almost unbelievably this is a studio movie: Warner Bros. trusting a significant budget (estimated at $150m) to George Miller’s undiluted, berserk vision. That vision includes vehicles fuelled with blood, ‘Doof Warriors’ playing flaming guitars as they hurtle into battle, CG used in respectful subservience to jaw-dropping practical stunts, and Hugh Keays-Byrne’s Immortan Joe presiding over a religious cult seemingly inspired by a Duran Duran song that was inspired by the original Mad Max films (“Wild Boys always shine”, remember). Fury Road takes notes from John Ford’s Stagecoach and Sergio Leone’s Dollars films while forging its own route, and sits alongside the previous Max films while paying no attention to continuity whatsoever. This is filmmaking as myth, legend, campfire tale. Sequels have been mooted but it’s hard to imagine ever experiencing anything like Fury Road again.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsSylvester StalloneBrian DennehyRichard CrennaA veteran Green Beret is forced by a cruel Sheriff and his deputies to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.Rambo was forced into the role of one-man-army superhero for the daft sequels, so it's refreshing to revisit First Blood and find a thrilling pulp drama about a PTS sufferer driven over the edge by bullying small-town petty-mindedness. Sylvester Stallone is a decent actor when given the opportunity, and John Rambo in this film, crucially, is almost believable: the crunchy action kept under tight control by director Ted Kotcheff. It's a decent adaptation of David Morrell's page-turning novel too, although Brian Dennehy's Sheriff Teasle gets shorter shrift, and the devastating ending is changed so that Rambo lives.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsPatrick SwayzeKeanu ReevesGary BuseyAn F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.Kathryn Bigelow’s surfing-and-skydiving extravaganza remains as preposterous as it is glorious. Keanu Reeves’ undercover agent infiltrates the cult-like bank-robber gang of Patrick Swayze’s action-zen guru Bodhi… and comes to question his life choices. The truly breathtaking action spectacle coupled with the bollocks macho-grunge philosophising (to which Swayze was no stranger, having already done Road House) make it a classic already, but with Bigelow at the helm there’s a whole other level of genre critiquing, embodied wonderfully by Lori Petty’s character, constantly exasperated at the idiocy all around her. The remake dutifully piled on the action but missed that aspect entirely. Petty’s feisty Tyler got replaced by Teresa Palmer’s vapid, floaty hipster chick.
- DirectorWalter HillStarsRyan O'NealBruce DernIsabelle AdjaniA getaway driver becomes the latest assignment for a tenacious detective.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsChow Yun-FatTony Leung Chiu-waiTeresa MoA tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.
- DirectorMartin CampbellStarsDaniel CraigEva GreenJudi DenchAfter earning a licence to kill, secret agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007. Bond must defeat a private banker funding terrorists in a high-stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, in Montenegro.Finally able to adapt the first of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels (after decades of rights issues), the Bond franchise’s gatekeepers took the bold move of re-starting the entire elderly franchise. Although Judi Dench remains as MI6 chief M, this is a younger Bond’s first mission, in which we see him earn his 00 status with his first kill, and in which the gadgets are kept to a minimum (a defibrillator in the Aston; Q doesn’t even show up for another two films). The controversy about Daniel Craig’s casting seems quaint now (someone made a whiney website - imagine the furore on social media if he was cast today), and it’s fascinating to look back, post Craig’s bored-looking turn in Spectre, and see the fire with which he absolutely owns the role, from the opening free-running chase to the airport battle and the climactic destruction in Venice. And yet, the film’s most thrilling sequence, somehow, is a lengthy card game. It’s a fascinating franchise that can count its 21st film as one of its very best.
- DirectorJustin LinStarsVin DieselPaul WalkerDwayne JohnsonDominic Toretto and his crew of street racers plan a massive heist to buy their freedom while in the sights of a powerful Brazilian drug lord and a dangerous federal agent.The moment when the Fast & Furious franchise suddenly grew wings and flew. The first trilogy had petered out with the almost straight-to-video Tokyo Drift. The comeback fourth instalment had re-grouped and rebooted but hadn’t got anybody particularly excited. But then there was this: a holiday in the Rio sun that wasn’t over-reliant on series continuity. Fast Five reimagines the brand as a ridiculously high-octane Italian Job-style crime caper – climaxing with a vault robbery in which massive safes are dragged round busy streets by Dodge Chargers, causing maximum destruction. And of course, this was the first of the Fasts to drop The Rock on proceedings. Which is always an excellent idea.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsYves MontandCharles VanelPeter van EyckIn a decrepit South American village, four men are hired to transport an urgent nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment that would make it safe.
- DirectorGareth EvansStarsIko UwaisAnanda GeorgeRay SahetapyA S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.Seemingly from out of nowhere came the sudden arrival of one of the most blistering action films of the 21st century to date: a ferocious curio stemming from Indonesia but written and directed by Welshman Gareth Evans. The premise is simplicity itself: Iko Uwais’s greenhorn cop and a small SWAT team are sent into the deadliest housing project in Jakarta, the kind of place that’d give even Snake Plissken second thoughts: a labyrinth of Silat-skilled villains and big bosses... oh, and guns. Lots of guns. They have to fight their way to the top of a tower block and back out again. And that’s pretty much it. But it’s not so much the destination as the journey, which is so intense it’ll leave you with actual bruises. The Raid 2 – a massive and unexpected expansion, keeping the extreme violence but adding a level of Once Upon A Time In Indonesia-style epic drama – followed two years later. The third in the projected trilogy has been promised but has yet to materialise.
- DirectorMark L. LesterStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerRae Dawn ChongDan HedayaA retired Special Forces colonel tries to save his daughter, who was abducted by his former subordinate.Pretty much the apotheosis of the lunkheaded ‘80s one-man-army action subgenre, Commando pits Arnold Schwarzenegger against the entire military force of Dan Hedaya’s corrupt South American general. Many explosions, machine-gunnings and knifings later, Arnold is, of course, unscratched. Hooray! There’s a also a great bit when he escapes from a plane by jumping off its undercarriage; the whole business with killing David Patrick Kelly last; and – who could possibly forget? – Vernon Wells sporting a Village People moustache and a chainmail wifebeater. For decades only available in the UK in a heavily censored version, you can now buy a fully unadulterated director’s cut on Blu-ray. What times we live in.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean RenoGary OldmanNatalie Portman12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.The idea of Jean Reno as a taciturn, super-efficient "cleaner" (of crime scenes) first show’s up in Luc Besson’s Nikita, where he appears for a single eccentric sequence as Vincent. Four years later he was Leon: essentially the same character (Besson has suggested they’re cousins) but this time front and centre, with some actual dialogue. It remains an extraordinary film, for its violence, its insane performance from Gary Oldman as villain Stansfield, and for the queasy pseudo-romance at its centre between Leon and stray waif Mathilda (the then 12-year-old Natalie Portman).
- DirectorMark NeveldineBrian TaylorStarsJason StathamAmy SmartCarlos SanzProfessional assassin Chev Chelios learns his rival has injected him with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsPeter WellerNancy AllenDan O'HerlihyIn a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.So much more than a high-concept action movie about a cyborg policeman, RoboCop is also a savage satire and a religious parable, with its structural narrative nicked from folk mythology. The deeper you go into it, the more you find. But it works as a shoot 'em up too. Its gonzo violence perhaps functions so well because it's from an outsider's skewed perspective: Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, here only making his second English-language film. The sequels (and remake) increasingly missed the point. Verhoeven's later Starship Troopers is RoboCop's real spiritual successor.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsSean ConneryGert FröbeHonor BlackmanWhile investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.The third James Bond movie and perhaps the quintessential one. Connery’s Bond is at his most charming and deadly, while not yet the quipping cartoon he’ll become. Connery is still invested in the material; there’s a great, megalomaniac villain with a ridiculous scheme; and there’s the Aston Martin DB5 with "modifications", ushering in the era of escalating Q-branch nonsense. Exciting, funny, and even a reasonably close adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel, it was the first Bond film to really nail the ongoing formula. For better or worse…
- DirectorMichael BayStarsSean ConneryNicolas CageEd HarrisA mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.Glossy Michael Bay action from the days when that meant something other than Transformers. This is actually only his second film - following the original Bad Boys - but it’s a confident, swaggering slice of macho action: a men-on-a-mission yarn about an ex-con breaking back in to Alcatraz to square off against hostage-taker Ed Harris. Sean Connery, evincing monstrous star power, is the pissed-off former agent (almost Old Bond, kind of The Prisoner’s Number 6) press-ganged back into action. Nic Cage is the younger suit sent to chaperone him. Both are on their very best form, in one of the truly great action films of the ‘90s - and indeed all time.
- DirectorChad StahelskiStarsKeanu ReevesMichael NyqvistAlfie AllenAn ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters who killed his dog and stole his car.The set-up (they killed his dog and now he’s mad as hell) verges on parody, and the plot (gunman steadily works his way up the opposition’s organisational chain) as perfunctory as they come. But John Wick was an instant classic nonetheless, kicking of a series that continues to gain momentum. It’s partly the self-aware humour; partly the sheer cool and charisma of Keanu; and partly the brio of the action sequences: Raid-like in their single-minded, bloodthirsty focus. Everyone’s afraid of John Wick, and as he head-shoots and executes to a truly mind-boggling bodycount, you can see why.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisBill StrotherA boy leaves his small country town and heads to the big city to get a job. As soon as he makes it big his sweetheart will join him and marry him. His enthusiasm to get ahead leads to some interesting adventures.
- DirectorMichael CurtizWilliam KeighleyStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandBasil RathboneWhen Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.Technicolour swashbucklery, as Errol Flynn’s green-hosed merry man takes on the dastardly might of Basil Rathbone’s Guy Of Gisbourne, in the service of Claude Raines’ waspish King John. It’s justly reputed as a thoroughly jolly romp, but there’s a steel to Flynn’s flashing blade that he often misses the credit for. He can trade a quip, slap a thigh, clash a foil, string a bow and roister a jape with the best of them, but he’s also a great romantic and a stirring rebel leader.
- DirectorJackie ChanChi-Hwa ChenStarsJackie ChanMaggie CheungBrigitte LinA virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsKirk DouglasTony CurtisErnest BorgnineA slave and a Viking prince fight for the love of a captive princess.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsChow Yun-FatDanny LeeSally YehA disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsMatt DamonEdgar RamírezJoan AllenJason Bourne dodges a ruthless C.I.A. official and his Agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer.Five years on from his introduction in The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon’s amnesiac super-agent reaches the end of his journey (at least until he went on the run again in 2016). The conclusion of the original Bourne trilogy is a snare-drum-tight thriller that at last gives some closure to Treadstone’s most successful-but-unpredictable experiment as he embarks on a breakneck world tour. The biggest hit of the three, it also established Paul Greengrass as arguably the premier thriller director currently plying his trade.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsWilliam HoldenErnest BorgnineRobert RyanAn aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
- DirectorAlex ProyasStarsBrandon LeeMichael WincottRochelle DavisA man brutally murdered comes back to life as an undead avenger of his and his fiancée's murder.
- DirectorRowdy HerringtonStarsPatrick SwayzeKelly LynchSam ElliottA bouncer hired to clean up the baddest honkytonk in a Missouri town. Armed with a black belt in karate and a degree in philosophy, Patrick Swayze sets out to tame the Double Deuce for its owner.
- DirectorAndrew DavisStarsHarrison FordTommy Lee JonesSela WardDr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt led by a seasoned U.S. Marshal.Harrison Ford is on his best Action Dad form - see also the Jack Ryan films - in this ‘90s big-screen remake of the venerable TV series. As in the show, he’s on the trail of the mysterious one-armed man who murdered his wife and got Ford framed for the crime. On the run - a journey including the spectacular set piece of Ford flinging himself down a storm drain - he has to deal with the formidable tenacity of pursuing agent Tommy Lee Jones. Jones’ dogged, dryly humorous screen persona here was so successful that he recycled it for any number of films subsequently, including the Ford-less official Fugitive sequel US Marshals.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsChow Yun-FatMichelle YeohZiyi ZhangA young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
- DirectorPrachya PinkaewStarsTony JaaPhetthai VongkumlaoPumwaree YodkamolWhen the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsStanley BakerHerbert LomPeggy CumminsA rookie trucker tries to expose his boss' rackets.
- DirectorAnthony RussoJoe RussoStarsChris EvansRobert Downey Jr.Scarlett JohanssonPolitical involvement in the Avengers' affairs causes a rift between Captain America and Iron Man.Marvel’s most ambitious outing to date set everyone’s favourite super-squad against each other – and sent a few of them home to patch up their suits. The idea of pitching 673 (or thereabouts) superheroes against each other was a dizzying notion, but the brothers Russo pulled it off with aplomb, introducing a unanimously crowd-pleasing baby Spidey in the process. Worried about superhero fatigue? Those fears completely vanish by the time you reach the film’s airport battle opus.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsJohn TravoltaNicolas CageJoan AllenTo foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.The high watermark of John Woo’s stint in Hollywood, Face/Off is full of all the slo-mo action gunplay and doves you’d expect. The story - cop and gangster swap faces and lives during a protracted game of cat-and-mouse - is high-concept bordering on nonsensical. But what makes it work are Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, playing not only their own characters but essentially each other. Travolta actually has more fun, cutting loose as one of Cage’s loopy bad guys. Cage, after some madness at the start, has to reign it in a bit to play Travolta. It was probably for the best.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonBruce SpenceMichael PrestonIn the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community get rid of a horde of bandits.The original Mad Max had its share of awesome vehicular chase sequences, but nothing that quite prepared audiences for what was to follow. The plot is simple: Mel Gibson's Max gets roped into helping a besieged community escape the marauders outside. But it’s the crazy world and character-building, vehicle design and pedal-to-the-metal action that’s important: unstoppable forward momentum and a focused, blistering vision.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKate CapshawKe Huy QuanIn 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.
- DirectorJan de BontStarsKeanu ReevesDennis HopperSandra BullockA young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.Mixing action thriller with disaster movie tropes in the way Die Hard had done previously, Speed can basically be described in terms of its setpieces: the lift, the bus and the train. The middle section is the principal one, of course: Keanu Reeves is on a bus with a bomb on it, which will explode and kill all its passengers if its speed drops below 50mph. Dennis Hopper is the aggrieved bad guy on the phone giving instructions, and Sandra Bullock is, reluctantly but pluckily, at the wheel. Thrills! Spills! Near misses! Romance, even! Most impressive is the way that, despite seemingly limited options for drama in its enclosed space, the bus section never outstays its welcome. Only the final train sequence feels slightly tacked on. Director Jan De Bont had been Die Hard’s cinematographer, clearly watching John McTiernan closely for some tension tips.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsLeonardo DiCaprioJoseph Gordon-LevittElliot PageA thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.While David Lynch arguably has a better handle on how dreams actually function, there’s no arguing with the brio and spectacle of Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi heist flick. His dream worlds are piled layer on layer, allowing for some head-scratchingly intricate plotting. Strong performances all round too, from Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Michael Caine and particularly Tom Hardy in his breakout role. But it’s the set-pieces that stay with you, like the shifting cityscapes, the snow sequences, and that fight sequence in the building with a shifting point of gravity.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineDaryl HannahAfter awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.Vol. 2 was more of a measured-paced, dialogue driven Western. But Kill Bill Vol. 1 is Quentin Tarantino’s Eastern, lovingly channelling the marshal arts movies he most adores. It’s even got Sonny Chiba in it. The plot is almost perfunctory: Uma Thurman's "The Bride" is almost murdered on her wedding day, but recovers to seek revenge on the perpetrators, including ultimate goal Bill. We’ll get to him next time, but for Vol. 1 it’s all about the journey rather than the destination. Still, it manages an extraordinarily choreographed fight sequence, as The Bride hacks her way through dozens of opponents on her way to Lucy Liu’s formidable O-Ren Ishii.
- DirectorRobert ClouseStarsBruce LeeJohn SaxonJim KellyA Shaolin martial artist travels to an island fortress to spy on an opium lord - who is also a former monk from his temple - under the guise of attending a fighting tournament.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsMel GibsonDanny GloverJoe PesciRiggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.Barely a day goes by in the Empire office without someone shouting "Dip-lo-mat-ic-imm-un-it-y!" in a bad Afrikaans accent: this is a film that has entered the public consciousness. There's action, conspiracy, a truly hissable bad guy, and the fact that it actually manages to surprise us by killing off Patsy Kensit. The first Lethal Weapon's rougher edges have been sanded off: this is heading more towards action-comedy territory. But it gets more brutal in a dark final act where the cast is dramatically thinned out.