The 10 Best Action Movies Of 2023 Ranked
2023 was a surprisingly great year for several movie genres, but action fans in particular had a bounty of terrific options to choose from. When it came time for a few of the /Film writers and editors to get together and rank our favorites, our individual lists were overflowing with great titles. But in accordance with the unwritten laws/demands of the Internet, we were forced to make some tough decisions, whittle our choices down to a collective ten films, and rank them accordingly.
As is often the case, the movies that didn't make this list could easily comprise an impressive list of their own. When the inventive and propulsive "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," the energetic and comedic "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," the brutal and pulpy "Sisu," the touching and hilarious "Polite Society," and the moody and subversive "The Killer" get relegated to honorable mentions, it becomes clear how truly fantastic this action movie year really was.
This ranking was determined by assembling /Film's experts on the subject, letting them debate the merits of various titles, and then submitting their choices via a secret ranked ballot. The final list reflects that process. After much deliberation, here are /Film's 10 most hard-hitting, pulse-pounding, jaw-dropping, and ultimately satisfying action movies of 2023.
10. Silent Night
Never underestimate John Woo. The action guru's long-awaited return to American cinema, just in time for the holiday season, comes in the form of perhaps the most surprising package underneath the Christmas tree. The man behind classics such as "The Killer," "Hard Boiled," and "Face/Off" has never needed to rely on gimmicks before, but "Silent Night" provided the best excuse to flex his filmmaking muscles and put off all pretenses. In arguably the purest-ever distillation of Woo's sensibilities, the very existence of dialogue is all but discarded in favor of letting the images — violent, gruesome, and hard-hitting as ever — tell the story.
Yes, much more of the plot is taken up by a prolonged training montage than viewers may have been expecting (for more on that, check out /Film's review by Chris Evangelista here). Sure, the dialogue-free contrivance runs out of steam a bit. But failing to live up to Woo's own incredibly high standards is hardly a crime. In fact, the greater sin would be to let that get in the way of appreciating the magic that Woo and star Joel Kinnaman weave together. Once the bullets start flying and bodies start dropping, audiences are given a blood-soaked reminder that nobody knows how to stage an action sequence quite like Woo does. From the opening car chase to various shootouts to the go-for-broke rampage that takes the story to its (admittedly predictable) conclusion, "Silent Night" hits on all cylinders. (Jeremy Mathai)
9. Napoleon
Director Ridley Scott has made a name for himself as a filmmaker who doesn't appear daunted by anything that would intimidate lesser directors: Making a prequel to one of the most beloved sci-fi/horror films of all time, changing lead actors at a late stage of production, letting Cameron Diaz have sex with a car, and so on. Where many other directors (including the likes of Stanley freakin' Kubrick) found themselves in their own Waterloo while attempting to mount a film about Napoleon Bonaparte, Scott got his version to the screen relatively smoothly. To paraphrase Joaquin Phoenix's Emperor of France in Scott's film, he simply knows where to put the camera.
Scott and writer David Scarpa's take on Bonaparte involves continually pointing out how destructive Napoleon's quest to conquer Europe was, with the film providing statistics on the number of casualties of each conflict. Thus, the battle sequences in the movie are as brutal as they are opulent, with scores of soldiers being mowed down by armies on horseback, cannon fire, and other various hazards of war. The result is the action feeling immediate, thrilling, and especially shocking, particularly during Scott's version of the Battle of Austerlitz, wherein Napoleon's forces herd the Austrians and Russians over a frozen lake before shooting the ice and sending them to a watery grave.
As a spiritual follow-up to the likes of his "Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down," and "Kingdom of Heaven," "Napoleon" not only proves that Scott is still a master at staging epic scenes of war, but that such scenes can tell a story and enrich character all on their own without the need for dialogue. After all, action isn't just flashy, but can be substantive, too. (Bill Bria)
8. Fast X
By now, you're either on board for the absolute bonkers insanity of this franchise, or you're not. As a member of the viewing #family, I've loved these movies for years and stuck with them through plenty of highs and lows, but even I was pretty worried heading into this one. Director Justin Lin left the movie shortly into production, and Louis Leterrier was given the unenviable task of wrangling a gigantic blockbuster with exceptionally short notice. Not exactly ideal circumstances. Thankfully, he managed to deliver a film that not only has the requisite action beats — That bomb rolling through Rome! Dom driving down the face of a dam! — but also delivers the best villain of the franchise in the form of Jason Momoa's Dante, one of the most unhinged and anarchic villains of any American action film this century.
Momoa's extravagant, over the top performance (my man is really dialing it up here) gives the movie something the "Fast" saga has struggled to find in the wake of Paul Walker's tragic death: a sense of fun. Walker's surfer bro hero was the audience surrogate into the world of Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto and his family of street racers, but since Walker's death, Diesel's ultra-serious character has set the default tone for these movies. Not here. Dante licks the blood off a knife, and paints the toenails of a man he's murdered. He's so heightened that he dominates the movie. He's deranged. It rules.
Yes, these movies are ridiculous. But that excess is part of the point, and "Fast X" provided so many moments of big time blockbuster action that you have, quite simply, gotta hand it to them. (Ben Pearson)
7. Plane
Back in the heyday of the '80s action film, it wasn't a director or concept that signaled a call to audience members, it was the stars. Schwarzenegger, Norris, Van Damme — these names and more sought to entice audiences to get their butts in seats. While there are a plethora of action movie actors working today, there aren't as many names that promise a certain level of quality and consistency with each successive film.
Enter Gerard Butler. Where people like Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, and others reach dizzying heights of pulse-pounding, bone-crushing action while appearing in a diverse slate of other types of films, Butler has made action films his priority ever since 2013's "Olympus Has Fallen." As evidence, Butler had two action movies released in 2023: "Kandahar," and this, simply (and cheekily) titled "Plane," wherein his ex-RAF commercial airline pilot named Brodie Torrance has to make an emergency landing on an island in the Philippines. Although the plane was transporting ex-French Foreign Legion murder suspect Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), it turns out that the convict and Brodie must team up to rescue themselves and the rest of the plane's passengers from a violent gang of rebels.
Director Jean-François Richet keeps the pulp on a low simmer while dialing up the pathos, allowing Brodie to inspire Louis and the other passengers to fight for their freedom almost as much for being Just A Good Dude as for being handy with his fists. Like the action stars of old, Gerard Butler's name has become synonymous with a solid action film; as "Plane" demonstrates, with Butler in the lead, you don't even need a snappy title. (Bill Bria)
6. The Equalizer 3
After wiping out the Russian mob in "The Equalizer" and dealing with the scourge of white frat bros in "The Equalizer 2," you didn't think the Italian mafia was going to be a match for old Robert McCall, did you? Denzel Washinton's congenial ex-Gunnery Sergeant doesn't even break a sweat dispatching the gang menacing a small Italian town in "The Equalizer 3." In fact, the toughest enemy he faces is his own guilt over his past actions and the ongoing internal moral crisis they've wrought.
That might initially seem like exactly the wrong kind of thing you'd want from a Denzel actioner, but it actually sets the film apart from every other offering we've had of late. Rather than doing action for action's sake, this film spends more time on McCall, his psychological struggles, and his interactions with the residents of his adopted Italian town. The fact we gain an insight into the relationships he's forged makes it all the more satisfying when he takes measures to honor those relationships by raining hell on the local mafia.
"The Equalizer 3" remains a fairly unsophisticated action flick with some rad violence, but it at least remembers the most important aspect of these classic "man just wants to live a quiet life but is forced to resort to violence" narratives: You've gotta be at least somewhat emotionally invested in the story and the characters for the violence to really pay off — and boy does it pay off in this threequel. (Joe Roberts)
5. Creed III
There's an "elephant in the room" factor when it comes to talking about "Creed III" these days. The film's co-star, Jonathan Majors, has been accused of assault, and as of this writing, is involved in a court case centering on those accusations. That obviously complicates the experience of watching this; some audiences may want to either wipe this movie from memory or never seek it out in the first place.
While we're certainly not excusing any off-set allegations, that shouldn't take anything away from this movie, which has a lot going for it. Majors gives a great performance full of haunted intensity, jangled nerves, and powerful physicality. Star Michael B. Jordan, who steps behind the camera to make his directorial debut here, does fascinating things with the boxing scenes, giving the movie a heightened stylization that helps immerse audiences in the mental and physical battle he fights with Majors' character, an abandoned figure from Creed's past. There are no empty action beats here — Jordan uses every fight as an opportunity to explore and illuminate these characters and track the shifting dynamic between his leads, and without spoiling anything, I found the ending to be cathartic and highly satisfying. I know it's high praise, given how beloved the first entry is, but this might just be the best of the "Creed" movies. (Ben Pearson)
4. Godzilla Minus One
Depending on who adapts the latest "Godzilla" movie, the King of the Monsters is usually depicted as either an indiscriminate force of nature, a godlike being enacting divine retribution on humanity's hubris, or, frankly, a Saturday morning cartoon. Yet of all the dozens of entries in official canon, Japanese and American alike, only "Godzilla Minus One" has the nerve to ask: What if Godzilla were all of these at once?
Writer, director, and visual effects artist Takashi Yamazaki was undoubtedly the perfect person for the job, making the daring choice to set "Minus One" in the latter days of World War II to truly emphasize the atomic bomb parallels and bring the big guy closer to his roots. But that was only the first of many creative decisions that set this film on the path to greatness, followed by the inspired move to foreground the human drama above all else. Of course, such rich drama only makes the spectacle and horror hit that much harder. Even as Yamazaki recreates several moments and visuals from the 1954 classic, he also riffs on American touchstones like "Jaws" in giving us the most terrifying conception of the radioactive giant since "Shin Godzilla." With every blast of Godzilla's atomic breath or horrifying rampage through a Japanese city, "Minus One" never loses sight of the awe-inspiring power of its title character.
The end result isn't simply one of the best "Godzilla" movies ever, but one of the best action films of all 2023. (Jeremy Mathai)
3. Extraction 2
Action, like any genre, needs to keep moving forward while continually acknowledging the past. Doing too much of one or the other could hinder it, if not kill it for good. While the theatrical landscape when it comes to American action films is still plenty littered with superhero movies (though that may finally be changing), it's clear upon digging a little deeper that Hollywood-produced action is alive and well thanks to films like "Extraction 2."
The action genre should always be one that's larger than life, and "Extraction 2" has audaciousness baked right into its premise by bringing back black ops merc hero Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), who appeared to meet his demise at the close of the first "Extraction." From there, director Sam Hargrave (a former stunt coordinator, like many of the coolest action directors), writer Joe Russo, and the crew and cast (which include the likes of Golshifteh Farahani, Olga Kurylenko, and Idris Elba) raise the stakes both within the film's narrative and without: Sam struggles with his morality and his past while Hargrave stages one of the most thrilling "oner" action setpieces ever made, a 21-minute prison break that includes a full-scale riot, stuntmen (and Hemsworth!) on fire, and a train/helicopter duel.
Now that it seems the "Extraction" franchise has nowhere to go but forward and up, it's even more impressive that Hargrave, Russo, and company have struck the perfect action balance with the film. It's engaging and diverting, grounded yet ridiculous (that exercise equipment scene!), silly and smart. The existence of "Extraction 2" makes the future of Hollywood action look pretty bright indeed. (Bill Bria)
2. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Sometimes, seeing movie stars actually perform incredible physical feats is all you need from your movie-going experience, and that's almost always preferable to an all-out CGI-fest. Talking about the use of practical effects in his seminal 1991 action classic "Terminator 2," director James Cameron put it this way: "If you're just going to crash a tow truck into a drainage canal, I think just crash a tow truck into a drainage canal. Don't you just want to see that happen?"
"Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" follows a very similar principle, i.e. if you're just going to have Tom Cruise jump off an enormous cliff on a dirt bike, then just have Tom Cruise jump off a huge cliff on a dirt bike. That is to say this is where Cruise, who's known for his dogged commitment to stunt work, truly outdid himself. Not only did he jump off the aforementioned cliff in what was one of the biggest stunts in cinema history, he also fought atop a real train going 60 miles per hour and drove around Rome like a mad man with one wrist handcuffed to another human being; all of which he did for real. Taken as a tongue-in-cheek, over the top Tom Cruise actioner, things don't get much better than this. (Joe Roberts)
1. John Wick: Chapter 4
Every saga needs an appropriately epic conclusion, and "John Wick: Chapter 4" doesn't disappoint on that count. The barn-burning sequel takes Keanu Reeves' perpetually embattled assassin and truly puts him through the wringer for one last attempt at freedom. Along the way, stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski and his action team subject John Wick to one masterclass of a set piece after another — starting with the multistory siege on the Osaka Continental through waves of armored killers (and an unrelenting assassin named Caine, played by the legendary Donnie Yen), continuing through an unforgettable nightclub attack with an unrecognizable Scott Adkins as the final boss, and steadily ramping up the thrills to even greater heights over the course of a single endless night in Paris.
It all builds to one brazenly extended sequence unlike any we've ever seen from this series before, in which Wick dodges cars and gunmen alike through the iconic Arc de Triomphe, narrowly fends off dozens of attackers (armed with "Dragon's Breath" exploding bullets) in a derelict warehouse, and even traverses a seemingly never-ending staircase on the Rue Foyatier as a hilariously apt metaphor for Wick's Sisyphus forever rolling that stone up a hill. In this mythological retelling, however, he finally reaches the summit, wins his freedom in an unbearably tense duel to the death, and ultimately goes out blazing on his own terms. None of us could've asked for a more fitting end for the Baba Yaga, or a better conclusion to the 21st Century's greatest action franchise. Unless, of course, they decide to make "John Wick: Chapter 5." (Jeremy Mathai)
How this list was made
This ranking was decided by assembling /Film's writers and editors who are experts on the subject. They discussed their selections in private conversation before submitting a ranked ballot with their choices for the list. Each list was then compiled, with higher ranked titles carrying more weight than lower ranked titles. Ties were broken by calls made by the editorial team, with discussion from the larger group. The final list reflects a general consensus, and therefore, the larger recommendations and opinions of the /Film team.