I don't think it's great, no. It's a good Bond film, but none of them would make my all time list.
What was the last truly great big budget hollywood action film?
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I don't think it's great, no. It's a good Bond film, but none of them would make my all time list.
Diprosalic
Banned
MI4
Edge of Tomorrow
and more
Edge of Tomorrow
and more
teruterubozu
Member
Not sure what you mean by "great" but 100 years from now people will look at the box office numbers and say, "Damn, they loved that Avatar movie."
Fallout-NL
Member
And wonder why.
LilWayneSuckz
Member
I'm assuming some of GAF hates Skyfall for some reason since it hasn't been mentioned yet.
But I thought that movie was great, had excellent action sequences, and amazing cinematography from Roger Deakins
But I thought that movie was great, had excellent action sequences, and amazing cinematography from Roger Deakins
Leithkorias
Member
You'd be correct. But I'll elaborate a little. Start with the trailers that alluded to some serious "mission gone wrong" mindfucks. Leading you to believe "skyfall" was actually a mission that bond thought he'd completed, rather than.....the name of thee ranch he grew up on? What? That's the whole skyfall reveal?
Then how about its only Daniel Craigs third movie and all movie long he is referred to as a relic who is over the hill.....he just got double 0 status! And wasn't the reason they brought him in in the first place was to get back to young bond? Back when he was a bruiser and wasn't the suave debonair agent that he's been with sean connory and pierce brosnan? Yet already they act like he's too old to do the job???
Then lets talk about the fact that Quantum of Solace was a direct sequel to Casino Royale. At the end of Solace the storyline has not yet been resolved, and were lead to believe the next movie will be a continuation of that storyline, yet skyfall has nothing to do with royale or solace, and in fact seems to take place 20 years later, I mean if I'm to assume bond is no longer young like he was supposed to be in royale it must have been much later.
Skyfall was a dissapointment in every imaginable way. Even the action and pacing were poor.
To me those things aren't interchangeable.
2014 was full of good action films, some had great aspects, but none had the full package.
Funny, there was concern about this movie back in the day due to the Oklahoma City bombing.
krameriffic
Member
These seem like incredible shallow reasons that have nothing to do with the movie itself. Why would anyone care about how the title ties in to the movie? And why would that make it terrible if it wasn't what you expected? Daniel Craig was never young Bond. Dude was like 40 when they casted him for Casino Royale. Bond can never really be a young guy, he needs to seem seasoned yet still attractive.
Leaving behind the Quantum plot from QoS was a positive in my eyes, because QoS's plot was really strange and uninteresting, and they never did a good job of making the organization Quantum seem particularly menacing or interesting. The villain's big bad plot in the movie is to blackmail a general in some South American country to have to buy overpriced water owned by the villain...
The third act was disappointing. All I could think of, all I can still think of, is that I watched a grown-up version of Home Alone unfurl on screen. Some of the action was really silly and Silva met with a really dumb ending as I recall as well (but at least I remember his name, unlike the guy in QoS).
NipplesAndToes23
Member
For me it was Captain America The Winter Soldier.
Mister Wilhelm
Member
There have been many great action movies over the years since the classics you posted.
As others have pointed out Edge of Tomorrow and Mission Impossible were amazing.
Marvel has also been cranking out excellent movies, though they do rely a lot on greenscreen.
I think that's the big difference between action movies today and those from the past - just way too much CGI and "stunts" that are just fake models getting thrown around.
As others have pointed out Edge of Tomorrow and Mission Impossible were amazing.
Marvel has also been cranking out excellent movies, though they do rely a lot on greenscreen.
I think that's the big difference between action movies today and those from the past - just way too much CGI and "stunts" that are just fake models getting thrown around.
Agreed i loved Edge of Tomorrow great seeing that more people are loving it and also one of Tom Cruise his best film i say.
And yeah Dredd was just fucking awesome such a shame this movie didn't do well at the box office but it did become a cult classic now.
Great list
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Edge of Tomorrow..hands down.
Edge of Tomorrow. I almost skipped it and that would have been a shame.
It was smart, slick and nicely quirky for a big blockbuster. And it had Bill Paxton.
Sure the core MaGuffin was pure fantasy SF by the structure built around it was terrific.
Best blockbuster in years IMHO with better characterisation and script and a real care for its characters be they cliched or not.
Beyond that MI:4 and Skyfall were very good too.
Now if you're talking Die Hard or Jaws or Raiders level of excellence, out and out genre defining classics, I'll have to ponder things further.
It was smart, slick and nicely quirky for a big blockbuster. And it had Bill Paxton.
Sure the core MaGuffin was pure fantasy SF by the structure built around it was terrific.
Best blockbuster in years IMHO with better characterisation and script and a real care for its characters be they cliched or not.
Beyond that MI:4 and Skyfall were very good too.
Now if you're talking Die Hard or Jaws or Raiders level of excellence, out and out genre defining classics, I'll have to ponder things further.
I just can't see how that film is on par with something like T2.
It's very good, but not one of the greats.
Avengers and Winter Soldier. Avengers was an appropriate climax to the first phase and quite a unique feat in doing so. Perfect pacing, nice action, lighthearted but greatly timed and acted humor and a good chemistry between the cast. Also a colorful and playful superhero movie without looking ridiculous, which is neat (not everything needs to be Nolans Batman or Xmen). Seems easy, but there are so many films which fail utterly at these points. It is one of those movies I do not get tired of. As for Winter Soldier, I could almost feel the punches in the cinema, damn. Amazing action and great pacing. Both were excellent and Terminator 2 and Die Hard one level for me.
As for the "almost" cases:
Edge of Tomorrow was really good and engaging but not the kind of movie I like to watch twice (does not detract from the fact it is absolutely one heck of a ride the first time around).
Also, I liked Dredd a lot, alltough not many seem to enjoy it as much as I did (I am really fond of that Die Hard kind of concept).
As for the "almost" cases:
Edge of Tomorrow was really good and engaging but not the kind of movie I like to watch twice (does not detract from the fact it is absolutely one heck of a ride the first time around).
Also, I liked Dredd a lot, alltough not many seem to enjoy it as much as I did (I am really fond of that Die Hard kind of concept).
Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Just watched it again last night, what a great movie it is. The buddy relationship between Steve and Natasha really grows into something great. Sam Wilson's unwavering belief in Steve and his willingness to uproot his life for him really made me like his character. The action was top notch and really sold the "peak human" status of Steve. It had America's Knee for fucks sake.
I think your fighting against hyperbole here.
'Great', for instance, is a pretty casual term now, and is often just a louder way of saying that something is good. Is there a recent action film that fits the 'great' you describe? I'm not sure, and certainly not from what I've seen. They've been competent works of formula for the most part, but too rigid and focus-tested in its characterizations/plotting to have the kind of character (and soul) that makes a true classic.
In my eyes, anyway.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Bourne ultimatum.
I'd say Rambo (it had a low budget tho), Edge of Tomorrow, Kick Ass, Apocalypto, Inception and Interstellar are a few movies that approach/match the big action blockbusters (from guys like Spielberg, Mctieran, Cameron) from the past. Some superheroes flicks could be mentioned as well, but there have been so many of em, that I feel they all blur together. I can't pick any really, except for Kick Ass which was a completely different experience the first time I saw it.
Dredd's gotta be there as well
Dredd's gotta be there as well
Bobby Roberts
Banned
No, people keep mentioning Dredd.
They shouldn't. It wasn't big budget. It was mid-budget. It wasn't really a "hollywood action film," either. In fact, everyone kept saying it was ripping off "The Raid," (it wasn't) which is about as not-Hollywood as you can get. Plus it was independently produced, and was only distributed by a "Hollywood" studio (Lionsgate)
Dredd was fun as hell. So was Rambo. Neither of them were big-budget Hollywood action films. Rambo was a mid-budget actioner as well, made out of country and with not a lot of Hollywood dollars.
I think you need to set some parameters for what you mean by both "Big-Budget," "Hollywood" and "Action Movies"
For example, a "Hollywood" movie usually means it came out of the American studio system, and had at least half of its budget paid for by one of the big studios: Universal, Fox, Disney, Sony/Columbia, Warners, etc. etc.
Leithkorias
Member
Daniel craig wasn't supposed to be young bond? Did you not read anything about why he was cast and what they wanted to do with the semi-reboot?
And the villain from two was weak and the plot and his motivations were weak. I thought most of it was uninspired, but it still continued some of the threads from casino royale which they dropped completely in skyfall. Didnt even touch on them.
I'm not saying quantum was good, it was very disappointing, but if they'd tied up all the loose ends from casino and quantum in skyfall I'd have at least been satisfied.
I don't remember QoS villains naname either. Utterly forgettable.
I thought Dredd was mostly a UK production?
Ya Dredd and Rambo (and kicks Ass too) were very low budget. But for me they bring about the feelings I had from those Action/sci fi flicks of the 70s, 80s, early 90s. That being said they probably aren't the best picks for this thread
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Might have been. I just remember five or six really small production companies I never heard of taking up a lot of room in the credits. I don't know how many of them were UK.
You're over analyzing the question...
Professor Lich
Member
What about White House Down? I enjoyed that movie a lot but I don't know if it fits all the criteria.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
No. Taking the premise of the thread at the plainest of face-value isn't overanalysis at all. Otherwise the thread basically has no point.
abracadaver
Member
white house down is awful. olympus has fallen is the good one
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Fury Road might actually be my most anticipated movie for 2015.
Leithkorias
Member
I'm going to say
Expendables 2
Expendables 2
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