Action Reviews

The Bourne Ultimatum is one of the most entertaining action thrillers ever. This high-energy, fast-paced movie skillfully intersperses quieter moments and features an outstanding performance by Matt Damon.

Read a DVD review of Apocalypto, a visually stunning action-adventure movie about Mayans just before they first encountered the Spanish.

I found Black Hawk Down well worth watching when I saw it on DVD. Read my brief review of Black Hawk Down on DVD.

Brotherhood of the Wolf is a fascinating mélange of genres--including action-adventure movies--and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read my review of this DVD movie.

Set in feudal China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a martial arts film, but it offers several other dimensions as well.

I found that Daredevil was an entertaining movie despite its flaws, including an unsatisfying dramatic line and a "cute meet" scene that’s so over-the-top it's just plain goofy. Read a brief review of Daredevil on DVD.

Read a review of this action movie on DVD.

Read a review of this action movie on DVD.

At the 2003 Academy Awards, this movie was one of the nominees for Best Foreign Language Film. There are martial-arts action sequences in Hero, but its overarching sensibility is the visual poetry of director Zhang Yimou.

Read my DVD review of Joy Ride, a taught thriller with a B-movie sensibility.

I found The Two Towers to be highly cinematic moviemaking and mythic storytelling. However, it’s basically an action-adventure movie, and for me some of the action sequences became tedious. Read a short DVD review of the two-disc DVD set.

Read a full-length DVD review of The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers two-disc set.

Pulp Fiction is a dark, violent mix of action and comedy that satirizes our expectations of a crime drama. I love Tarantino’s dialogue and the way he tweaked crime movie clichés into something fresh. Read my review of the movie Pulp Fiction on Collector's Edition DVD.

This mix of action, crime drama, and thriller tells three loosely connected hard-boiled tales, all unfolding in a gritty metropolis steeped in corruption. Read a review of Sin City on DVD.

Matt Damon again plays CIA-trained assassin Jason Bourne in this action thriller. Read a review of this movie on DVD.

Jet Li stars in this action movie/crime drama that in some countries is titled Danny the Dog. Written by Luc Besson, the film also features Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins. Read a short review of Unleashed on DVD.

Mel Gibson gives a winning performance in We Were Soldiers, an emotionally engaging military action movie that centers around a historic Vietnam War battle. Read my review of this movie on DVD.