Last Updated on 25 March 2024
I searched the Internet for lists of the best or greatest action movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).
I was able to find 31 lists. I took the 31 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 264 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.
The movies that were on the most lists (out of 31) were:
- Die Hard (1988) – 29 lists
- The Matrix (1999) – 28 lists
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – 28 lists
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – 25 lists
- The Dark Knight (2008) – 24 lists
- Aliens (1986) – 24 lists
- Kill Bill: Vols. 1&2 (2003/4) – 22 lists
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – 21 lists
- Predator (1987) – 21 lists
- Casino Royale (2006) – 20 lists
Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:
- TrendSpotter – 15 Oct 2022
- Looper – 13 Oct 2022
- MensXP – 30 Aug 2022
- TimeOut – 17 Aug 2022
- Ranker – 5 Aug 2022
- Stacker – 18 Jul 2022
- The Chive – 14 Jul 2022
- 24/7 WallSt. – 30 Mar 2022
- Inspiration Feed – 8 Mar 2022
- Metacritic – 2022
- Empire Online – 10 Dec 2021
- The Manual – 2 Sep 2021
- Rolling Stone – 11 Aug 2021
- Rotten Tomatoes – 1 Aug 2021
- Mental Floss – 8 Jun 2021
- WatchMojo – 30 Nov 2020
- Men’s Health – 1 Sep 2020
- Man of Many – 1 Jun 2020
- Studio Binder – 3 May 2020
- Small Screen UK – 7 Apr 2020
- Business Insider – 18 Feb 2020
- Ultimate Action Movies (UAMC) – 22 Oct 2019
- USA Today – 23 Sep 2019
- ScoopWhoop – 21 Apr 2019
- Showbiz CheatSheet – 4 May 2018
- IGN – 21 Nov 2016
- Thrillist – 19 Jan 2016
- Taste of Cinema – 20 Apr 2015
- Flickchart – no date
- Top Tens – no date
- World of Reel – no date