There are few things cooler than seeing a dude get beat the hell up. That’s subjective obviously but you get my point. I think that’s very cool to see. Clearly.
If you’ve been following along closely with my twitter and letterboxd logs this year you’ll zero in on one thing (not that I’m gay): I’ve been very into action movies. I tweeted about wanting to get more into them on New Years Eve last year and I did! Substantially. In this newsletter I will be going be through the stuff I saw and rating them. I don’t feel like ranking. Enough newsletters including mine are just ranking. I shall go in order. Essentially. Sorta Kinda.
My Year of Action Movies began with…shocking the world…A Michael Bay movie. To be more specific, Ambulance. Ambulance is a simple story with a lot going on but to shorten it’s basically about a heist. Two brothers (played by Yahya Abdul Mateen and Jake Gyllenhaal) go on this deranged journey to rob a bank and then escape using an ambulance. Sounds stupid? It is! But it’s also extremely fun. It was a thriller that was thrilling which was exactly what I needed.
A big part of why I wanted to get into action movies in general beyond my caveman like desire to see violence is the fun. There’s an inherently unserious nature to most action movies that’s approached earnestly. It feels refreshing compared to (I don’t just mean the mcu) the self referential and cynical more mainline stuff of today. Not that doesn’t have its place though. There’s much more to say how cynicism has tainted how people view action or superhero movies with the formula. But there’s something so funny about watching a movie where a guy drives a car through a village and off a ledge with no one to joke about it happening. One franchise that notably deals in that earnestness is the Mission Impossible franchise.
The Mission Impossible are deranged and I mean that positively. From dangling out of a hole in a ceiling, to jumping of a skyscraper, to running across the roof an airport this has always been a series where logic is out the window. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Within all of these insane exploits and excursions is a lot of heart. The cast stays impressively consistent over time and the stakes constantly increase. More importantly it’s always fun to watch Tom Cruise do a lot of spy shit in general. The most recent one Dead Reckoning actually made me sick with anxiety in the theater. Heart beating so fast my Apple Watch let me know. That’s real storytelling. Speaking of grand epic action franchises, we can’t forget John Wick.
I love John Wick. I’m of the opinion that the movies are getting better over time as they continue to mythologize themselves. All of it feels ridiculous and I love it. They’ve actually gotten closer to early action movies in their dedicated tone and precise pacing. The strength of these movies and the other ones on this list are that sometimes the fights are plot. The style is the substance. In an action movie, a good set piece can knock a rating up half a star.
The precision in how a fight scene is completed and how they add to each character’s storyline is incredible. John Wick 3 and 4 often can weave entire arcs into fight scenes. Characters like the ones played by Halle Berry and Rina Sawayama communicate loads of information about their characters without saying much dialogue. Action movies occasionally simplify backstory to short brief scenes in between action so the choice to do this feels refreshing. Occasionally, the franchises are so drowned in backstory it can be exhausting for people (not me). Like Fast and Furious.
The Fast and Furious movies are full of plot. Yeah it’s a bunch of cars and fights but it’s driven (hehe) by a genuine love for family and friends. The films effectiveness are almost entirely based on the strength of the ensemble. You have to believe these people like each other and cars a LOT. It works on a weird level even if the returns have diminished with the last film. Star power also carries these movies which reminds me of another franchise I got into this year, Universal Soldier which stars Jean Claud Van Damme.
I watched the three Universal Soldier movies I watched for Day of Reckoning. The first one is largely inoffensive American 90s action with a handsome lead and a blonde love interest. It follows a relatively predictable formula with a robot man breaking away from his programming to become a nice person. The second that I saw which was subtitled Regeneration was a modern direct to video reboot. It didn’t move me as much as the first and felt a bit convoluted at times but it was a relatively entertaining watch. Day of Reckoning however, was a different animal.
I’d read that it leaned closer to David Lynch than Michael Bay and that was very accurate. It’s essentially a full on psychological horror movie that reworks the premise of the original. What if that soldier programmed to kill was also given a horrid backstory. What follows is very surprising with dark visuals and intense fight scenes to follow. It’s genuinely unnerving in a way I completely did not expect. I loved it. The last and by far the best action franchise I watched this year was the In the Line of Duty franchise.
I originally started these movies for Michelle Yeoh who stars in the first two movies (Yes, Madam and Royal Warriors). They follow a simple pattern, there’s a female cop, a gang plot and a lot of fighting. They also tend to get better incrementally with these first entries being the worst. They’re still pretty great but like I said earlier, they focus way too much on plot. This would be fine if these plots were interesting they’d be better if Yeoh was more prominent. In The Line of Duty 3 slightly fixes this by having a more streamlined yet still unnecessary plot but it still works better than the other. The fourth installment however is essentially the best action movie I’ve seen all year. Every fight is insane, the scene transitions are great and the characters feel so real. It’s extraordinarily silly while somehow staying grounded in its logic. The last twenty minutes have some of the most beautifully exhausting action I have ever seen as well. It’s perfect.
I also caught a few standalone action movies last year with Wing Chun (1994) and Magnificent Warriors (1987) standing out. These were Michelle Yeoh movies I caught around the Oscars as well and they were incredible. Wing Chun follows Yeoh battling bandits and Magnificent Warriors follows her battling a malevolent army. A lot of startlingly good fight scenes and decent writing.
I watched Shin Ultraman (2022) and Shin Kamen Rider (2023) which I can only describe as live action cartoons. The latter especially feels like an epic condensed into a short time with the whole thing having this beautiful dreamlike feel. I watched The Killer (2023) which I think is fine. I watched two John Woo films, Hard Boiled and Silent Night. I’d describe Hard Boiled as a beautiful collection of bullets. Transcendent action cinema right there. I liked Silent Night a lot less but the silent format works better there than in most other projects. I also watched 300 while I was very sick. I couldn’t comprehend anything but the fights were cool and guts were hot. I also saw Rebel Moon which I found pretty decent. Not terrible at all and I’m excited for the directors cut. My Year of Action Movies was pretty great.
As the year ends I’d like to take a second to thank you all. I’ve almost hit 50k on Twitter and 10k on Letterboxd! That’s crazy actually. There’s countless moments I had this year that feel too big for me to seriously think about but that’s sticking with me. There’s a lot of yall that genuinely are excited to hear what I think about movies…even if I like everything. I really appreciate that. I really hope you’ve found something I’ve written insightful or you found a new favorite from what I’ve posted about. Thanks for being here
As I go into this new year I have one central, shocking goal: watching LESS movies. I know it’s become my thing to have an insane amount of movies logged but over time that began to erode at my comprehension. I still remember most of everything but I’m gonna try to pare down, switch to shows, read a book or write more often. I feel like it makes it more impactful when I do go to post #nw. This does mean that yes the floodgates are open. If there’s something you’d like me to see I can add it to a very long list of movies, directors and general filmographies. I have not seen a lot.
It’s been a long year and I’m still pretty glad to be here. I’ll be including a list of the action movies I watched and a sequel to my 2022 Hidden Gems list as well. Here’s the list.
(Why not make it annual.) I hope to make this less of a tri annual newsletter next year but I refuse to make promises. I still hope I’m able to get this out. Anyways. Happy New Year! Go watch a movie! I will be by the time you’ve read this!