There are plenty of great action movies from all over the world, and some of the best don’t even come from American studios. While many American action movies from the past feature big gunplay and explosions, things are not always the same around the world. These movies have some great gunplay, but they also add in sword action, epic martial arts fights, and settings unlike anything in American action films.
These great action movies happen from locations all around the world. Most of the biggest international action movies are from Asian countries, with releases from Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. However, the best action movies aren’t only from Asia, as there are big, exciting movies from countries like Germany, France, Mexico, Spain, and more. These films have won major awards, some have crossed over to be hits in American cinemas, and they match up well with anything Hollywood produces.
10
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
China
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was one of the biggest crossover hits for international action movies. Directed by Ang Lee, the film really popularized Wuxia martial arts choreography to American movie fans. This was the more fantasy-styled wire-fu martial arts fighting that is completely unrealistic, but visually dynamic. It led to future hits like Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but Crouching Tiger really started it all.
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The cast was incredible, with Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen in the lead roles, and everyone did their part to turn in some of the most amazing fight scenes in cinema history. The plot sees two master warriors trying to recover a treasured stolen sword. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon earned 10 Oscar nominations, the most ever for an international movie until Emilia Perez broke the record.
9
Oldboy (2003)
South Korea
Oldboy
- Release Date
-
November 21, 2003
- Runtime
-
120 minutes
- Director
-
Park Chan-wook
In 2003, Park Chan-wook directed what might go down as his masterpiece, the South Korean action thriller Oldboy. The film tells the story of a man named Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik). Someone kidnaps him without telling him why and holds him captive in a hotel room for 15 years. When his captor finally releases him, Dae-su sets out to find out who did it, why he remained imprisoned for so long, and he seeks revenge.
Everything from John Wick to Daredevil created scenes that mimic this fight.
This South Korean action movie has one of the best action scenes ever made, and it was one that influenced cinema in Hollywood for years to come. This was, of course, the hallway fight scene where Dae-so defeats several attackers in the narrow hall with weapons he finds and impressive defensive moves. Everything from John Wick to Daredevil created scenes that mimic this fight, and it helps the film remain beloved by action movie fans all over the world.
8
Run Lola Run (1998)
Germany
Run Lola Run
- Release Date
-
March 3, 1998
- Runtime
-
81 Minutes
- Director
-
Tom Tykwer
Not all action movies create intense scenes with gun fights or even fist fights. German director Tom Tykwer proved this with his experimental German action thriller Run Lola Run. The action here doesn’t come from fight scenes. Instead, Franka Potente (The Bourne Identity) stars as Lola, a woman who has only 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutsche Mark to save her boyfriend’s life. That is only the start.
Tykwer shows Lola’s journey three different times.
What makes this experimental movie special is that Tykwer shows Lola’s journey three different times. Each instance sees something stall her and delay her mission just long enough to change the end of the movie. The themes show how little things can change the fate of a character, and it questions free will versus fate. Critics praised it, with a 94% fresh rating, and it remains a cult classic for international movie fans.
7
Taken (2008)
France
Taken
8/10
- Release Date
-
January 30, 2009
- Runtime
-
90 minutes
- Director
-
Pierre Morel
While it might come as a surprise, the Liam Neeson action movie Taken is not a Hollywood American production. Instead, the 2008 action movie comes from France, helmed by director Pierre Morel based on a script co-written by Luc Besson. The movie was an important moment in the career of Neeson, as it showed that the 56-year-old actor found new life as an action movie star, a role he maintains almost two decades later.
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The plot of the film sees Neeson as a former CIA officer who realizes sex traffickers kidnapped his daughter. He then uses his unique skill set to save her, killing anyone who gets in his way. Taken remains highly influential on American movies in later years, as John Wick, Nobody, and The Equalizer share much in common with what Neeson accomplished in his action movie. It also spawned two sequels and a TV spinoff.
6
Police Story (1985)
Hong Kong
Police Story
- Release Date
-
December 14, 1985
- Runtime
-
99 minutes
-
Sergeant ‘Kevin’ Chan Ka-Kui
-
Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia
Salina Fong
If there is one action movie star who revolutionized what people see in movies today, it is Jackie Chan. The John Wick franchise owes most of its fight choreography to Jackie Chan’s drunken boxing fighting style. Out of all of Chan’s projects, Police Story is arguably his greatest action movie, and the fact it spawned a successful franchise should leave no doubt about its legacy.
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Chan stars as a Hong Kong police sergeant who sets out to clear his name after being framed for a murder. The movie uses several dangerous stunts, with Chan mostly doing his own, and between the fight scenes, car chases, and hand-to-hand combat, and it set the template for what Asian action movies would copy for years to come. There were three Police Story sequels, a spinoff, and two reboots.
5
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)
Thailand
Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior
- Release Date
-
October 17, 2004
- Runtime
-
106 minutes
- Director
-
Prachya Pinkaew
- Writers
-
Panna Rittikrai, Suphachai Sittiaumponpan
-
Petchtai Wongkamlao
George / Humlae
-
Released in 2003, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior starred Tony Jaa in one of his greatest action roles. The Thai action flick has Jaa play Ting, a Buddhist monk trainee who is also a Muay Thai warrior. He volunteers to travel to Bangkok to recover a head stolen from a respected Buddha statue. This leads to him getting involved in some amazing martial arts fight scenes.
This was Jaa’s breakout movie role, and for good reason. After the movie found immense success in Thailand, Luc Besson helped get it released in Europe and the United States. It holds an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score and spawned two sequels that ensured that Tony Jaa proved he was the next big thing in the Asian action movie scene.
4
The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Indonesia
The Raid is another international action movie that was highly influential on American action releases in the following years. An Indonesian action film by Gareth Evans, The Raid: Redemption featured a rookie MBC officer who joins a team of police officers who are going into a high-rise apartment block to arrest a crime lord. However, they have to go up the stairs to reach him at the top, and it isn’t easy.
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That is because they have to fight people on every floor of the building, while being hopelessly outnumbered. Director Gareth Evans put together some of the best fight scenes in an enclosed location of any action movie, American or international. With only a $1.1 million budget, it was a box-office success, won several Asian awards, and spawned a sequel and an upcoming American Raid remake.
3
The Killer (1989)
Hong Kong
The Killer
- Release Date
-
March 24, 1989
- Runtime
-
111 Minutes
Cast
If there is one man who has mastered action movies internationally, it is John Woo. He was so great with his Asian action releases that Hollywood came calling. While his American releases never came close to his Hong Kong action movies, Woo’s films before making the move remain masterclasses in filmmaking. In The Killing, Woo makes a movie about an assassin who wants to retire but has to take one last job after injuring a singer he wants to help.
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What makes this specific John Woo action movie so great is that the hero (Chow Yun-fat) is not only on a tear, fighting and killing anyone in his path, but he is doing it for the right reasons, as he is looking for redemption in the face of violence. This is also not a martial arts movie, as it instead uses the gun-fu that Woo mastered in the ’80s and its choreography is something Hollywood began copying for the next two decades.
2
Hard Boiled (1992)
Hong Kong
Hard Boiled
- Release Date
-
April 16, 1992
- Runtime
-
126 Minutes
- Writers
-
John Woo, Gordon Chan, Barry Wong
While some fans prefer The Killer when looking at John Woo’s non-American action movies, there are just as many fans of Hard Boiled, which might be one of the best pure action movies ever made. This film stars Chow Yun-fat as a police officer who teams with an undercover detective, played by Tony Leung, to stop an arms dealer. The main plot isn’t a big deal in this movie, but the action scenes might be the best that Woo ever directed.
There might not be a movie with better fight scenes than Hard Boiled. From the shootout in the tea house to the innovative and groundbreaking hospital scene, there is one set piece after another in this film. The hospital alone is top of the line, with a single one-shot take that includes a gun fight shot almost like a video game scene. This is the scene that American directors copied, but few ever reached this level of brilliance.
1
Seven Samurai (1954)
Japan
Seven Samurai
10/10
- Release Date
-
April 26, 1954
- Runtime
-
207 Minutes
- Director
-
Akira Kurosawa
Anyone who thinks that the best action movies started in the 1980s and beyond never watched an Akira Kurosawa movie. The Japanese filmmaker’s masterpiece is easily a movie called Seven Samurai. In this film, a Japanese village learns some bandits plan to invade them soon, so they hire some rōnin to help protect them. What results is seven rōnin warriors agreeing to show up to protect them from the invaders.
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The Japanese release was such a landmark in the action movie genre that Hollywood almost immediately remade it with The Magnificent Seven, bringing the Japanese samurai story to the American West and replacing samurai warriors with outlaws and cowboys. Severn Samurai has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and remains considered one of the best movies in history, regardless of genre.
