Best Action Movies: 8 Thrillers Ranked on Runtime

The best action movies are the ones where the action is the plot rather than a break from it, and eight of them are ranked below on a record you can check: national preservation first, then Academy Awards won, then worldwide box office.

That order puts a 1988 film about one man in one building at the top and a 2015 chase picture with six Oscars second. Runtimes here run from 101 minutes to two hours 51, so the table is also a way to pick by the clock when you have a specific evening to fill.

#	Film	Runtime	Record on paper	What you get
1	Die Hard (1988)	2 hours 11 minutes	National Film Registry, 2017	One building, one night, no filler
2	Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)	2 hours	6 Academy Awards	Almost no dialogue, almost no pause
3	Speed (1994)	1 hour 56 minutes	2 Academy Awards	A single mechanical rule, obeyed for 116 minutes
4	Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)	2 hours 27 minutes	$791.1 million worldwide	Six set pieces, each a different vehicle
5	The Bourne Identity (2002)	1 hour 59 minutes	$214 million worldwide	Close-quarters fights, no gadgets
6	Heat (1995)	2 hours 51 minutes	$187.4 million worldwide	Two careers, one street shootout
7	John Wick (2014)	1 hour 41 minutes	$86 million worldwide	Fights shot in long takes, 101 minutes
8	Sicario (2015)	2 hours 1 minutes	National Board of Review top ten	Dread over spectacle, 121 minutes

What Makes an Action Thriller Rather Than an Action Movie

An action movie can stop for a joke, a romance or a city-levelling finale that has nothing to do with the first hour. An action thriller cannot: the threat has to keep moving, and every scene has to change the odds. All eight picks above pass that test, which is why several famous franchise entries are missing.

The practical difference shows up in the runtimes. Six of the eight sit between 101 and 147 minutes. Only the biggest box office hits routinely run longer, and they do it by adding plot rather than pressure.

It also shows up in what the films win. Two of these eight took Academy Awards for sound or editing, both categories that reward keeping an audience oriented while the camera moves.

The Eight Best Action Movies, Ranked

1. Die Hard (1988): The Template Everything Else Copies

Director: John McTiernan · Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes · Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov · National Film Registry, 2017

John McTiernan put one off-duty cop in a half-finished Los Angeles tower and gave the villain better manners than the hero. Alan Rickman plays Hans Gruber as a thief in a good suit, which is why the film still works when the explosions date.

Twenty-nine years after release it was chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, in the same 2017 class as Titanic and Memento. A Christmas-set siege picture clearing that bar on cultural grounds is the strongest single argument for its place at the top here.

At 2 hours 11 it is longer than it feels, because the film never cuts away to a subplot that does not end in the same building.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): A Two-Hour Chase That Won Six Oscars

Director: George Miller · Runtime: 2 hours · Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult · Six Academy Awards

George Miller made a film that is one chase out and the same chase back, and it took six Academy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound editing, sound and production design. No other film on this list won more than two.

Charlize Theron gets the arc and Tom Hardy gets maybe forty lines, which is the point. Information arrives through props and stunts instead of exposition, so the 120 minutes carry a plot most scripts would need half an hour of talk to set up.

It also made $380.4 million worldwide, so this is not a case of awards without an audience.

3. Speed (1994): The Purest One-Sentence Premise Here

Director: Jan de Bont · Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes · Starring: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock · Two Academy Awards

A bus cannot drop below 50 miles an hour. Jan de Bont shoots that rule honestly for 1 hour 56 and never cheats it, which is rarer in the genre than it sounds.

It won two Academy Awards for sound, for sound and sound editing, and grossed $350.4 million. Dennis Hopper plays the bomber as a man enjoying himself, and Sandra Bullock became a lead off the back of a part written as a passenger.

If you want to see how little a thriller needs, this is the cleanest demonstration on the list.

4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018): The Biggest Grossing Film on This List

Director: Christopher McQuarrie · Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes · Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames · $791.1 million worldwide

Christopher McQuarrie built 147 minutes around a bathroom fight, a HALO jump, a Paris motorcycle chase and a helicopter sequence Tom Cruise flew himself. It took $791.1 million worldwide, more than double any other film here.

The reason it belongs on an action thriller list rather than a blockbuster one is the plotting: every stunt is a consequence of the previous scene, and the film pauses only to change vehicles.

It is the longest pick here after Heat, so treat it as an evening rather than a late watch.

5. The Bourne Identity (2002): The Film That Reset Spy Fights

Director: Doug Liman · Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes · Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper · $214 million worldwide

Doug Liman shot the fights tight, short and ugly, and the genre followed for a decade. Matt Damon plays an assassin who is better at the job than he wants to be, and the film explains almost nothing until it has to.

The famous Paris sequence runs a Mini Cooper down stairs and through traffic with no music cue telling you to be excited. That restraint is why the 119 minutes still play straight rather than dated.

It made $214 million and produced four sequels, but the first one is the tightest.

6. Heat (1995): The Longest and the Most Patient

Director: Michael Mann · Runtime: 2 hours 51 minutes · Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer · $187.4 million worldwide

Michael Mann spends 2 hours 51 on a crew, a detective and the paperwork of both, so the downtown shootout lands as a consequence rather than a sequence. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro share one scene before it, in a diner, and it is the quietest thing in the film.

The gunfire was recorded live on location rather than dubbed, and the sound is the reason people still cite the bank robbery thirty years on.

This is the one pick here that asks for a full evening with no second screen.

7. John Wick (2014): The Shortest Film Here and the Most Choreographed

Director: Chad Stahelski · Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes · Starring: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen · $86 million worldwide

Chad Stahelski came from stunt work and shot the fights in long takes with the camera far enough back to show the whole body. After a decade of cutting every half second, that was the novelty.

At 101 minutes it is the shortest pick on this list and it moves accordingly: the grief, the motive and the first kill are all inside twenty minutes.

It grossed $86 million on a small budget and turned into a four-film series, so the format answered a question the market had.

8. Sicario (2015): The One That Withholds the Thrill

Director: Denis Villeneuve · Runtime: 2 hours 1 minutes · Starring: Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin · National Board of Review top ten film

Denis Villeneuve keeps Emily Blunt a step behind the operation she has joined, so the audience learns what is happening at the same time she does and never earlier. The border crossing sequence is ten minutes of traffic and almost no gunfire.

The National Board of Review put it among its ten best films of 2015. Roger Deakins shot it, and the night-vision raid is the most imitated image in the film.

It is ranked last here on record alone. On nerve it would sit much higher, which is why the table carries a second column.

Picking by the Clock, From 101 Minutes to Nearly Three Hours

The spread here is wide enough that the runtime column is a real filter. John Wick at 101 minutes and Mad Max: Fury Road at 120 both finish inside a normal evening. Heat at 171 minutes and Mission: Impossible – Fallout at 147 do not.

• Under two hours: John Wick, Speed, The Bourne Identity
• Two to two and a quarter hours: Mad Max: Fury Road, Sicario, Die Hard
• Longer than that: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Heat

Three of the eight were made in the 1990s and three since 2014, so the list is not a nostalgia exercise. The 1988 and 1994 picks are the two the Academy and the Library of Congress have both had three decades to assess.

The Three Tests Each Film Had to Pass

Every pick had to clear a checkable credential, not a vibe. First, a record outside the film itself: National Film Registry selection, an Academy Award, a National Board of Review listing or a verified worldwide gross. Second, the threat has to drive the plot from the first act rather than arrive in the third.

Third, the film has to be in wide circulation, so you can start it tonight on a streaming service rather than hunting an out-of-print disc. Where two films had the same credential, the higher worldwide gross ranked first.

The one column that is not a credential is the last one in the table. That is an editorial read on what each film is for, and it is the column to use when the ranking and your mood disagree. The most decorated films ever made are a different list for a different night.

How to Choose Your Next Action Thriller

If you have never seen any of these, start with Die Hard. It invented the shape the other seven are working inside, and the 1988 version of a skyscraper siege is still legible without a single explanation scene.

If you want the least dialogue, take Mad Max: Fury Road. If you want the most, take Heat. If you have 101 minutes, take John Wick. If you want to be unsettled rather than entertained, take Sicario and watch it early in the evening.

For a double feature, Speed then John Wick runs 3 hours 37 and moves from a mechanical premise to a choreographic one without repeating a single beat. Anything from a mainstream streaming subscription will usually carry at least five of the eight in a given month.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best action movie of all time?

By the record rather than opinion, Die Hard has the strongest claim among action thrillers: the Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 2017 on cultural and historical grounds. Mad Max: Fury Road has the most Academy Awards of any film here, with six.

Which action movie on this list is shortest?

John Wick, at 101 minutes. Speed is next at 116 and The Bourne Identity at 119. Heat is the longest at 2 hours 51, with Mission: Impossible – Fallout second at 2 hours 27.

Are action thrillers and action movies the same thing?

No. An action thriller keeps a single escalating threat running through the whole film, while an action movie can pause for comedy, romance or a finale disconnected from the setup. Every pick above holds the threat from the first act to the last.

How many of these films won Academy Awards?

Two. Mad Max: Fury Road won six at the 2016 ceremony and Speed won two, for sound and sound editing, at the 1995 ceremony. Die Hard and Titanic were both added to the National Film Registry in 2017, which is a different kind of recognition.

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