Volume 2 of my hypothetical action movie collection continues. The rules are simple, select 30 of your favourite action movies to have them in one large 30 disc boxset split into 3 volumes. What if there were no rights issues? what would you put in your collection?
Here we go with Volume 2 of the collection.
THE ULTIMATE ACTION COLLECTION VOLUME 2
Disc 1
THE ROCK (1996)
Michael Bay follows up his debut action flick with quite possibly the best film of his entire career. The Rock is a breathlessly paced, action packed, expertly acted action extravaganza that's not only one of the best action films of the 90s but highly influential, much like Die Hard, where it spawned a ton of knock of films, most notably the Steven Segal film, Half Past Dead. Ironically, The Rock does seem to be a knock off of Die Hard, well knock off is a bit harsh-a-word to use but it does bare some similarities but The Rock manages to be it's own beast. Alcatraz prison is taken over by a rogue military general and a squad of highly trained ex-military soldiers, holding the city of San Francisco hostage with the threat of a biological attack unless his demands are met. The FBI and the military join forces for a mission to infiltrate and prison and deactivate the VX rockets containing the biological weapon. For this they need FBI bio-specialist Stanley Goodspeed, a man with zero field combat experience, he's to infiltrate and deactivate. How do they get in, well they need the only man who ever managed to escape; John Mason, a former SAS commando, locked up for life for stealing secrets.
The Rock casts Nicolas Cage in a rare role where the main protagonist is a bit more laid back instead of Cage's usual OTT acting. Mason is played brilliantly by Sean Connery and the two men have excellent onscreen chemistry. Ed Harris plays the renegade general who's conscience eventually gets the better of him, he's not a bad man, he's a good man who lost his way.
The Rock is almost non stop from beginning to end and a perfect opener to Volume 2.
Disc 2
PREDATOR (1987)
A year before he would go on to redefine the action genre with Die Hard, director John McTiernan gave the world Predator, a jungle set, macho sci-fi action thriller. Arnold's best 80s actioner and the best in the rather lackluster Predator franchise. Predator is balls to the wall action, it's over abundance of macho, muscular badasses dropped into a jungle on a rescue mission, find themselves up against a force they've ever encountered before, a self-camouflaging elite Alien Hunter with weapons we've never come up against.
This is a proper man flick, muscles, guns, explosions, one-liners, camo, more guns, Aliens and Jesse fuckin' Ventura with a damn rail gun.
It's a shame the franchise never bettered the original film, Predator 2 was good, not great but a worthwhile follow-up but relied to heavily on gore and violence than plot and characters but Danny Glover was a decent replacement for Arnie and Shane Black's 2018 sequel The Predator, suffered with studio interference, ruining what could have been a great sequel. 2012's Predators, written and produced by Robert Rodriguez gets a bad rap, sure Adrian Brody is no Arnold but has a neat concept, good action and more predators than you can shake a stick at. The less said about the AVP films the better but it's here, in McTiernan's inaugural Predator entry, where the good shit is. Arnold is great, we also get Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Landham, Shane Black in an acting role and Bill Duke, following up his role opposite Arnie in Commando. Predator is just an awesome film with, now an iconic score. Also notable for being the film that Jean-Claude Van Damme was fired from.
Disc 3
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)
Shane Black makes his second appearance in volume 2 thanks to his script for 1996's Renny Harlin actioner, The Long Kiss Goodnight. The plot follows an amnesiac school teacher who hires a private detective to find out about her past, when a car accident on an icy winter road starts bringing back flashes of her past, our amnesiac, Samantha Caine, starts to unravel her past. Along with private detective, Mitch Henessey, the two embark on a journey espionage, government hitmen, terrorist organisations and Brian Cox. Sam discovers that she is infact a highly trained CIA assassin named Charlie Baltimore and when her daughter is kidnapped, she's forced to utilise her now remembered skills to stop the terrorists and save her daughter.
I Abso-fucking-lutely love this film. I have done since I first saw it, over 20 years ago. The script is awesome, the acting is awesome, it does have a bit of a shitty villain in smug faced douche bro Craig Bierko and David Morse is sadly under-used but Geena Davis made for a badass action hero and Samuel L. Jackson is just perfect as scummy P.I Mitch. Renny Harlin's direction is good, it's what you expect from a mid 90s mid budget action film, practical action, great use of miniatures and great sound effects. The stunts are always a stand out in a Renny Harlin film. I recently re-watched it with my brother and we both agreed at how awesome the film still is.
Disc 4
INVASION U.S.A (1985)
If you're having an ultimate action movie boxset, you need at least one Chuck Norris film and no-other Chuck Norris film comes close to the giddy heights of this Red Dawn redo with Norris playing all of the Wolverines rolled into one. Norris plays Matt Hunter, a one man army with one goal; stop mad russian terrorist Mikhail Rostov from invading the USA. Technically he does invade but only manages to get about 10 miles inland so not so much a Red Dawn situation but more a "I never really thought this through" situation. But it's not the plot we come to see, it's Norris' action chops at work we really want to see and Invasion USA is almost non stop action for 90 minutes. Stand-out moments include the mall shoot-out, Rostov blowing up suburbia and the finale in the office building. Invasion USA is a ten ton truck full of fun and for me, personally, the best of Norris's filmography.
Directed by Joseph Zito, famed for his 1981 slasher classic, The Prowler and Friday 13th: The Final Chapter, Zito went onto carve out a minor career as a class A action director with the Norris 'Nam flick, Missing In Action and Dolph Lundgren's lead debut Red Scorpion. Joining Norris is the late Richard Lynch, a character actor with a distinct face, well known for playing villains in some great genre films such as The Seven Ups (1975), Deathsport (1979) for Roger Corman and Rob Zombie's Halloween remake. Also among the cast is the late, as of 2 months ago, legendary Billy Drago who's face has appeared in more films than I can actually count, most memorably as gangster Frank Nitti in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987).
Invasion USA is a great anti-commie 80s fun of the highest order.
Disc 5
MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982)
The quintessential Aussie action flick and the film that put Mel Gibson on the map. It's never fully stated how many years after the first film this one is set but gone are the last semblances of civilisation, they've gone to make way for the bandits, the marauders and the crazy's. There are a few settlements here and there and all are after one thing; guzzoline. Max come across an oil refinery/settlement under siege from a gang of marauders lead by the lord Humungus, a towering musclebound, hockey mask wearing behemoth who demands the oil and will kill to get it. Max unwittingly becomes a sort of savoir of this small community, fighting for them but in the back of his mind, the motivation is to use these people to fill up his car, the last of V8 Interceptor Ford Falcon. A black muscle car, modified for the post apocalyptic wasteland that it traverses, under the powerful growl of the V8 engine that sits under it's hood.
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, took action and stunt-work to a point that had never been matched untill 35 years later when director George Miller returned to the action genre with the incredible Mad Max Fury Road, setting the bar once again for practical automobile stunt work.
There's a mystique about the Mad Max films, on one hand it's completely possible that world of Mad Max, the first one, could become a reality, even the the second one has at least a minor air of reality to it but sits more on the fantasy side of action and then Thunderdome is just pure post-apocalyptic fantasy. The action in Mad Max 2 is so unbelievable, so expertly crafted and choreographed that every time I watch it, and i've seen it A LOT of times, that it still manages to amaze and astound me as to how Miller and co pulled it off.
Disc 6
THE KILLER (1989)
John Woo's cool as all hell hitman thriller, The Killer, blasts on to the scene, taking us into a world of cool efficient assassins and cops in this insane and bloody Hong Kong action masterpiece. Chow Yun Fat plays ace Hitman Ah Jong who accidentally blinds a nightclub singer during a shootout. Feeling remorse and guilt for injuring the poor woman, Ah Jong, pays for her treatment and they become friends with her not being able to recognise him, but hot on his tail is Inspector Li Ying, played by the effortlessly cool Danny Lee, a man hell bent on taking Ah Jong down and who also happens to be in love with the blind singer Jennie. When Ah Jong's bosses double cross him, wave after wave of killer attempt to take him out, culminating in bloody church set gun battle. The Killer, for me, was the first HK action film I ever saw, It was also the first John Woo film I ever saw and even though I love it, The Killer beats Hard Boiled for me everytime. Hard Boiled is possibly one of the greatest action films of all time but there's a heart and a humanity to The Killer that I feel is missing from Woo's Hard Boiled. The Action is grandiose, balletic, bloody and almost feels like a dance. Its stylised action, very similar to the action in John Wick but there's more skill behind the choreography of The Killer. Sure John Wick looks badass and the action is staged effortlessly but The Killer, while operatic and highly stylised, still seems to find itself grounded in reality, there's a grit the majestic slow-mo, bullet hits and wave of hitmen and for me it's an almost perfect action film.
Disc 7
BAD BOYS (1995)
Shit just got real!!
Bad Boys marks a turning point in the 90s for action movies. The world was introduced to Michael Bay, a music video director who's visual skill seems to come from bonnet of Lamborghini or a Ferrari super kit car, it's all glitz and gloss but underneath is a Ford escort. But, and there is a but, they're incredible to drive. Now I say that but I myself cannot actually drive, I mean it by pointing out while Bay's films, especially anything between 1995 and 2001, were exceptionally exciting but lacked any sort of substance, Yeah I know it's a weird analogy but you know what I mean. Bad Boys is a violent, super clean action film, breathlessly paced and well acted by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence but, lets face it, the plot is a bit wanky. What saves Bad Boys is the action and excellent onscreen partnership of Lowry and Burnett, two of Miami's best narcotics cops. Will Smith somehow manages to rid himself of the family friendly image of the Fresh Prince for the foul mouthed, cocky nature of Mike Lowry and Lawrence got an actor he could bounce off brilliantly. The action is what we now expect from Michael Bay, frenetic, constantly moving and explosive. Bad Boys is excellent fun if not too taxing on the brain and the sequel, Bad Boys 2, while still following the same style of the first film ups the ante considerably with regards to Action. But while BB2 is a hell of a lot of fun, it just feels a bit too loose, Bad Boys feels like a much tighter action film...Now everyone repeat after me..."bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?"
Disc 8
POINT BREAK (1991)
Kathryn Bigelow's excellent surfer/action thriller takes it's place on Disc 8 of the collection. Young FBI agent, Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is sent undercover to track down a gang of bank robbers called the Ex-Presidents who rob banks wearing masks of, you guessed it, Ex-presidents. They know that the robbers are probably surfers so Utah, along with his "partner" Papas, played brilliantly by Gary Busey infiltrate a group of surfers lead by the mythical Bodai, a bleach blonde surfer dude played by the legendary Patrick Swayze.
Point Break is excellent, there's a definite realism to Bigelow's film that doesn't really fit with the so called idea of an action film and thats why Point Break stands out. Made at a time when action was still reeling from the phenomenal success of Die Hard 4 years earlier and also taking somewhat inspiration from Reservoir Dogs with it's bank heist themes, Point Break feels like a 70s thriller with a 90s edge and this works brilliantly. Reeves, pre-Speed breakout stardom is perfectly cast as Utah, Reeves' has that surfer dude edge to him and his performance as Utah is equal parts Jack Tavern and Ted Theodore Logan but wrapped up in a straight dramatic story line. Patrick Swayze is just the effortlessly cool Patrick Swayze and brings an enigmatic mystique to his character, he has rules but sometimes rules need to be broken. The action is fantastic and includes possibly the greatest foot chase ever filmed, the only foot chase to come close to capturing Point Break's crown is Joe Carnahan's 2002 cop flick Narc. Point Break is awesome.
Disc 9
STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997)
This where I struggled, I wanted to chose at least one Paul Verhoeven action film but I couldn't decide between Robocop, Total Recall or Starship Troopers, I opted for the latter because, while i absolutely adore both Robocop and Total Recall, I just love the ever living shit out of Starship Troopers. Yes I am aware that ST is more war film than straight up action film but when the action starts its just a hell of a fun ride. The plot follows the recruiting, training and eventual deployment of a group of High school seniors who enlist in the army to fight a war against an alien nemesis. Based on the novel by sci-fi author Robert A.Heinlein, the movie does jettison some of the things from the books such as the power suits but this film is pure magic, full of violent, blood curdling fun and some incredible special FX courtesy of FX legend Phil Tippet. It also boast a brilliant score by composer Basil Pouldaris who previously scored Verhoeven's Robocop and Total Recall as well as John Millius' Conan The Barbarian.
Starship Troopers has a great cast in the form of some great B-movie actors, Casper Van Dein plays the hero of the film, Johnny Rico, he's joined by Dina Meyer, Patrick Muldoon, Jake Busey, Denise Richards and Neil Patrick Harris (yes that one) as the young recruits and a cast of stellar character actors such as Clancy Brown, Marshall Bell, the excellent Michael Ironside, Breaking Bad's Dean Norris and even a golden girl, Rue McClanahan. Starship Troopers is more than just a great action film, It's one of the best sci-fi films of the 90s...
"Come On You Apes!, You Wanna Live Forever?"
Disc 10
LETHAL WEAPON (1987)
Lethal Weapon has a special place in my heart, it was my first Mel Gibson film and one of the first action films my parents let me watch as a kid. I loved the action as a kid but as I grew up I understood the themes of Shane Blacks script, I understood what happened to Riggs to make such a rough edged character, I understood Murtaugh's reluctance to take on a partner with so many issues so close to retirement. I'm not saying Lethal Weapon is a deep meditation on human grief or mental health, I'm just pointing out how as I grew older, I came to understand that action movies don't have to be Schwarzenegger blowing up an Island, It doesn't have to Stallone taking on Vietnam, Action movie scripts can have layers, they can have characters and character development, whole worlds can be built, worlds that contain people like you and me, Lethal Weapon was that movie for me, Whether it was Shane Black's script or Gibson's portrayal of Riggs but Lethal Weapon shaped and influenced my own way of writing. I Love Lethal Weapon, I love the whole quadrilogy, I love Riggs and Murtaugh. These are my kind of people. It also helps that the action, shot by Richard Donner, is fucking awesome.
THE ULTIMATE ACTION COLLECTION VOLUME 2
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