31 best action adventure movies

What are the best action adventure movies of all time? There are so many great action adventure movies out there, and after so many years of movie making, it is almost impossible to rank them in any sort of order.

Not to mention, you also have to consider the different genres, including:

• war
• sci-fi
• historical epics
• crime
• comedy

So, what better way to decide than to go with the ones we enjoyed and were the most fun to watch? Here’s the list of our 31 best adventure and action movies.

Our 31 best action-adventure movies

1 – The Dark Knight

As the Joker brings havoc to Gotham, Batman is faced with one of his greatest physical and psychological challenges.

• Starring: Christian Bale as Batman.
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Released: 2008
• Duration: 2hr 32m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on YouTube

2 – Raiders of the Lost Ark

This action movie, set in 1936, follows U.S. adventurer and archaeologist Indiana Jones’ search for the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler’s Nazis can capture its awesome powers.

• Starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
• Director: S. Spielberg
• Released: 1981
• Duration: 1hr 55m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on YouTube

3 – King Kong

When greed drives an unscrupulous film producer and his crew to Skull Island, they face more challenges than were in the script.

• Starring: Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow
• Director: Peter Jackson
• Released: 2005
• Duration: 3hr 7m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on YouTube

4 – Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in a televised fight to the death. Doing so, she becomes the star of a new generation of “game show” – the Hunger Games.

• Starring: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen
• Director: Gary Ross
• Released: 2012
• Duration: 2h 22m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on YouTube

5 – Robin Hood

Set in the medieval world of 12th century England, Robin Hood’s mission is to fight corruption and lead the people to rise against their unjust rulers.

• Starring: Russell Crowe as Robin Hood
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Released: 2010
• Duration: 2hr 20m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

6 – Wrath of Man

A mysterious guard, responsible for protecting a cash truck which transports millions of dollars across LA every say, single-handedly embarks on a killing spree against his attackers.

• Starring: Jason Statham
• Director Guy Ritchie
• Released: 2021
• Duration: 1hr 59m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

7 – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

This action-adventure movie is set on the seas and islands of the Caribbean. Our “hero” pirate captain has to fight his own trickery, morality, and sobriety as well as fend off the Royal Navy.

• Starring: Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow
• Director: Gore Verbinski
• Released: 2003
• Duration: 2h 23m
• Watch on: Disney +
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

8- Jurassic Park

Stunning special effects helped bring the dinosaurs to life in this box office hit movie. When a storm knocks out the electric fence keeping these terrific creatures locked up, chaos ensues.

• Starring: Sam Neill as Grant
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Released: 1993
• Duration: 2h 7m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

9 – No Time to Die

James Bond has retired from active service. However, his peace and quiet is interrupted when his old CIA friend Felix Leiter, shows up seeking help. Bond finds himself on the trail of a mysterious and dangerously armed villain.

• Starring: Daniel Craig as Bond
• Director Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Released: 2021
• Duration: 2h 43m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

10 – Moby Dick

This action filled epic tells the story of an obsessed whaling ship captain’s self-destructive search for the white whale, Moby Dick. One of the all-time classic feature action films.

• Starring: Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab
• Director: John Huston
• Released: 1956
• Duration: 1h 56m
• Watch on: DVD or Blu-ray
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

11 – Mad Max: Fury Road

Set in the dystopian world of near-future Australia, Mad Max tells the grisly story of a highway patrolman seeking revenge on criminal gangs among the squalid desert back roads.

• Released: 2015
• Duration: 2h
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

12 – Bad Boys

Bad Boys is a fun action adventure comedy depicting two buddy cops as they protect the life of a murder witness.

• Starring: Will Smith as Mike Lowrey
• Director: Michael Bay
• Released: 1995
• Duration: 1hr 59m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

13 – World War Z

As a global zombie pandemic overcomes the world, a former UN employee fights the clock in a race to save the human species in this epic sci-fi movie.

• Starring: Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane
• Director: Marc Forster
• Released: 2013
• Duration: 1hr 56m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

14 – Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The fragile balance between good and evil is always present in this legendary tale of young Frodo Baggins’ journey to save the world and the lives of his friends.

• Starring: Elijah Wood as Frodo
• Director: Peter Jackson
• Released: 2003
• Duration: 3hr 21m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

15 – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Two men form an uneasy alliance against a third in a hunt for gold that involves an elaborate bounty scam.

• Starring: Clint Eastwood as Blondie
• Director: Sergio Leone
• Released: 1966
• Duration: 2hr 58m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

16 – Saving Private Ryan

This epic war movie follows a platoon of soldiers as they search behind enemy lines for a young paratrooper whose brothers have recently been killed in the Normandy invasion.

• Starring: Tom Hanks as Captain Millar
• Director: S. Spielberg
• Released: 1998
• Duration: 2hr 49m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

17 – Gladiator

In this movie, a decorated Roman General ends up imprisoned as a gladiator, but seeks revenge on the corrupt emperor who incarcerated him.

• Starring: Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Released: 2000
• Duration: 2hr 35m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

18 – Star Wars

In this adventure movie, the forces of good and evil are locked in interstellar conflict between two sides of the Force.

• Starring: Mark Hammill as Luke Skywalker
• Director: George Lucas
• Released: 1977
• Duration: 2hr 01m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

19 – The Godfather

This movie, telling the story of an organised crime dynasty in post-war New York, makes a compelling action movie.

• Starring: Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone
• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Released: 1972
• Duration: 2hr 55m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

20 – Fight Club

This cult action-adventure movie resolves around an insomniac office worker, a crazy soap salesman, and the underground fight club, come terrorist group, “they” create.

• Starring: Edward Norton as the Narrator
• Director: David Fincher
• Released: 1999
• Duration: 2hr 19
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

21 – Back to the Future

When 17-year-old Marty McFly is sent back 30 years in a time-travelling DeLorean, there are plenty of unforeseen consequences in this fun adventure movie.

• Starring: Michael J Fox as Marty McFly
• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Released: 1985
• Duration: 1hr 56m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

22 – The Usual Suspects

One survivor is left to recall the twisting details of how a seemingly random police line-up ended in a horrific gun battle.

• Starring: Kevin Spacey as Verbal
• Director: Bryan Singer
• Released: 1995
• Duration: 1hr 46m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

23 – The Silence of the Lambs

This thrilling crime movie will grip you as you watch the novice FBI agent enlist the help of a manipulative cannibal to catch an equally as beastly murderer.

• Starring: Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling
• Director: Jonathon Demme
• Released: 1991
• Duration: 1hr 58m
• Watch on: MGM
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

24 – Apocalypse Now

Considered the best movie set in Vietnam, this story follows an Army officer ordered to assassinate a renegade U.S. Special Forces Colonel.

• Starring: Martin Sheen as Captain Willard
• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Released: 1979
• Duration: 2hr 27m
• Watch on: DVD and Blu-ray
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

25 – Aliens

On awakening after a 57-year hypersleep following a devastating alien attack, Officer Ripley frantically warns of the predators’ danger.

• Starring: Sigourney Weaver as Ripley
• Director: James Cameron
• Released: 1986
• Duration: 2hr 17m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

26 – Once Upon a Time in America

Returning to his old neighbourhood after 35 years, a former Prohibition-era gangster confronts the ghosts of his past.

• Starring: Robert de Niro as Noodles
• Director: Sergio Leone
• Released: 1984
• Duration: 3hr 49m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

27 – Reservoir Dogs

Following a failed jewellery heist, the protagonists turn on each other in their search for a police informant.

• Starring: Harvey Keitel as Mr White
• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Released: 1992
• Duration: 1hr 39m
• Watch on:
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

28 – Scarface

This crime-action movie charts the rise of a determined Cuban immigrant to the head of a drug cartel.

• Starring: Al Pacino as Tony Montana
• Director: Brian de Palma
• Released: 1983
• Duration: 2hr 50m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

29 – Inception

A sci-fi action movie involving dream-catching technology to steal and plant ideas, but where does the dream end and reality begin?

• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Released: 2010
• Duration: 2hr 28
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

30 – Die Hard

A legendary action movie that spawned an enduring franchise. An NYPD officer thwarts a terrorist plot when he shows up at his wife’s office party.

• Starring: Bruce Willis as John McClane
• Director: John McTiernan
• Released: 1988
• Duration: 2hr 12m
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

31 – Ben Hur

With a cast of thousands, this could be the most epic adventure movie of all time. A betrayed Jewish prince returns to Jerusalem after years in Roman captivity. Having won his freedom, he seeks revenge on his betrayers.

• Starring: Charlton Heston as Judah Ben Hur
• Director: William Wyler
• Released: 1959
• Duration: 3hr 32
• Watch on: Prime Video
• Official Trailer: Watch on IMDb

What is Our Number One Action Movie?

It’s virtually impossible to rank these great adventure movies; they are all fabulous!

But, we have opted for King Kong this time. We think this movie is a classic beauty and beast adventure, and the star is so cute. (We mean Kong, not Jack Black!)

What is the Best Rated Action Film?

This question is easier to answer as there is an objective answer to it.

On our list, The Dark Knight comes out as the top movie with an IMDb rating of 9/10 from over 2.6 million ratings.

Upcoming Action and Adventure Movies

If this fantastic list of war, sci-fi, history and fun action movies is not enough to satisfy your action-adventure movie hunger, here is something that might.

Check out these upcoming magnificent 7 adventure movies:

• Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
• Indiana Jones 5
• Kraven the Hunter
• The Flash
• The Marvels

You might also like to check out the latest 2022 video game releases, live streaming games, and these Summer 2022 video game releases.

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