It's hard to define what an action movie truly is, when you think about it. Almost every movie has a story that involves conflict, and it's pretty common to have that conflict get violent at some point in a film. Physical fights can happen, people can get hurt, and characters might die in films that aren't considered action movies, and surely, the line has to be drawn somewhere. Where that line is - or how many action scenes make a movie an action movie - isn't always clear.
We might know an action movie when we see one, but words can let us down when it comes to defining the term. This is made clear by the following 10 movies. None are listed as action movies on the film-related social media app, Letterboxd, yet all feature some compelling - albeit infrequent - action. Maybe genre descriptors are silly sometimes, and we should just enjoy a good action scene when one comes our way... even if it's not in an "action" movie.
'The Princess Bride' (1987)
The Princess Bride is a movie that manages to belong to many genres all at once. This is most evident by the way that it simultaneously feels like a fairytale and a fairytale parody at the same time, expertly blending comedy, romance, adventure, fantasy, and action all into one, all whilst also being a family-friendly movie.
That it does so much (whilst also being very quotable and filled with great characters) is a minor miracle, as far as its screenplay is concerned. Perhaps the action isn't consistent or visceral enough for Letterboxd to consider "action" as one of its genres, but regardless, it does have some genuinely fantastic swordplay (particularly the fight between Inigo Montoya and Westley).
'Free Solo' (2018)
It's rare to get a documentary that's just as tense, exciting, and action-packed as any fictional big-screen spectacle, but Free Solo is just that. This documentary follows professional rock climber/thrill-seeker Alex Honnold as he attempts to climb a 3,000-foot-high rock face without any ropes or safety gear.
It's truly stomach-churning stuff, and a great deal of the documentary details the entire ordeal in exhaustive detail. It's spectacularly shot and incredibly intense, regardless of whether you know how it ends. While such rock-climbing sequences might not qualify as true "action scenes," they're more gripping, suspenseful, and exciting than the kinds of scenes you'd see in the majority of actual action movies.
'Yojimbo' (1961)
Akira Kurosawa was no stranger to great action. Arguably, he even helped develop the idea of a modern action movie with his masterful 1954 film, Seven Samurai. Elsewhere, there's a particularly great battle scene in his 1985 film Ran, and his 1961 film Yojimbo also has a memorable showdown in its climax.
In Yojimbo, the protagonist (played by Toshiro Mifune) pits two rival gangs against each other in a small town, playing both sides so that he always comes out on top. He has to get his hands dirty near the film's conclusion, but is such a powerful physical force that he decimates the remaining gang members in a quick, brutal, and satisfying skirmish. The reason Yojimbo isn't an action movie might be because the main character is just too efficient for the action scenes to be sufficiently prolonged.
'Blade Runner 2049' (2017)
Blade Runner and its sequel, Blade Runner 2049, are each more concerned with their science-fiction/thriller elements than action elements. Given both films are set in dystopian futures and have plots involving violent replicants and equally violent forces tasked to hunt them down, they do contain a decent amount of action, though.
Blade Runner 2049 probably has the most action out of the two. It's filled with slow, atmospheric moments, yet punctuated with brief bursts of intense action here and there. It's enough to keep the average viewer engaged (also thanks to these scenes being consistently beautiful to look at), but not enough for Blade Runner 2049 to be a true action movie.
'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2019)
Quentin Tarantino might be a director who's happy to put plenty of violence in his movies, but it's rare to see him make a full-on action movie. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (not so much Vol. 2) would qualify as an action movie, and perhaps Death Proof, too. But otherwise, his films are more concerned with dialogue and threats of violence, rather than prolonged scenes of action.
His 2019 film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, particularly follows this idea. It's a laidback movie about people trying to get by in the film industry during 1969, with brief bursts of violence/action here and there. However, those scenes are very memorable (and impactful), particularly a brief skirmish one of the main characters has with a fictionalized version of Bruce Lee, and then of course its brutally violent and gleefully over-the-top finale.
'Princess Mononoke' (1997)
Princess Mononoke stands as one of the best films directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It's a fantasy/adventure story about a war going on between a small industrial town and those who live in a nearby mystical forest, using this fantastical storyline to comment on themes like pollution, environmental destruction, and the harm that technological innovations can have on the natural world.
Its action scenes are brief and certainly not a focal point of the movie, but they leave an impact (particularly a scene involving a demonic boar near the film's beginning, and the combat scenes near the end). For what it's worth, it's also a little more violent than most Miyazaki movies, making it perhaps the closest the filmmaker has come to making an action movie in his career so far.
'North by Northwest' (1959)
Whilst he was best known for being the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock was no slouch when it came to action, either. This is perhaps most evident in his classic 1959 film North by Northwest, which sees a hapless man thrown into a tense and exciting adventure after being mistaken for a spy, with him running for his life whilst also trying to prove his innocence.
It has two of Hitchcock's most famous setpieces, which - thanks to the film's scope and ambition - are essentially action scenes. The most famous is probably the crop-duster sequence about halfway through the film, with the chase/fight atop Mount Rushmore being a close second. Hitchcock knew how to get a viewer's blood pumping, that's for sure.
'Ad Astra' (2019)
Ad Astra was a surprisingly divisive and ultimately underrated science-fiction movie that deserves a little more love. It's a dark adventure film set in space that sees Brad Pitt's character traveling a great distance to uncover the truth about a mission that went wrong some years earlier, whilst possibly finding his estranged father in the process.
Well, in all honesty, maybe it's the film's forays into the action genre that rub some viewers the wrong way. There's a buggy chase on the surface of the moon involving space pirates (it makes more sense in context), and also an extended (and tense) scene set on a space station with a rogue, murderous baboon. Of course, others will appreciate these strange and exciting detours, and honestly, they serve to make Ad Astra stand out among other sci-fi movies.
'Dune' (2021)
Even with a plot concerning an interplanetary conflict, Letterboxd doesn't consider Dune an action movie. It does contain a good deal of exciting setpiece moments and skirmishes, but reserves much of its action to its final hour, and even then, doesn't spend too much time on most of its action sequences.
Still, it can't be denied that what action we do have here is quite stunning. As long as you're not expecting non-stop action, action movie fans should still come away satisfied. In addition, the fact this film ends abruptly when the conflict is already built up all but guarantees that Dune's eventual second part will be more action-packed.
'The Invisible Man' (2020)
The Invisible Man reboots an old horror series in a way that's darker, more intense, and certainly more violent (even if it's a lot less charming than something like the 1933 original). Part of this is done through the film's infrequent but memorable action scenes which establish the titular invisible man as more of a threat than he's ever been in any previous movie.
There's a novelty to seeing fight sequences where one of the participants is completely invisible, and it makes for some of the movie's best moments. Particularly great is a hallway fight scene, where we see the power of the invisible man in all its glory... well, we can't see him exactly, but the damage he's capable of isn't shied away from in the slightest.