Over 100 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 16 Action Movies With Zero Downtime
Voting Rules
Vote up your favorite action flicks that have no chill.
The whole appeal of an action movie is, well, the action. While other elements can elevate an action movie, fans will often be satisfied as long as they are engaged by what they are seeing the entire time. This means that some action movies decide to crank the dial up to 11 in terms of having no chill, just to ensure they aren’t losing the attention of their adrenaline-seeking audiences.
Some of these movies are critical darlings, and others weren’t so well received. They all have one thing in common: each of these films leaves the audience little time to catch their breath between intense action sequences.
When Mad Max: Fury Road came out, some film reviewers were claiming that the entire movie was little more than a two-hour-long car chase. While this may have been a minor exaggeration, most of the movie is dominated by Max and Furiosa’s action-packed trek across the wasteland.
Even during slower reactive scenes, there is still the sense of approaching danger as Immortan Joe’s War Boys are always just behind the main cast. This all results in an impending sense of doom that permeates the film's action-packed runtime.
Constant action isn’t exactly a stretch for the John Wick franchise; however, John Wick: Chapter 4 seems to have taken its action to a new level.
Perhaps this is the result of a longer runtime or the series’ increasing budget, but the action in the newest installment has even been called cartoonish. This is by no means a bad thing in this case, as John Wick: Chapter 4 seems to prove that more can be more. You get to see Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, and Scott Adkins battle it out! What more could you possibly want?
Hardcore Henry had the unique idea to put the audience in the shoes of the film’s protagonist by shooting the movie completely through Henry’s point of view. This gave audiences the illusion that they were much more involved in the movie’s events than they would normally feel.
This means that even scenes that would usually feel more lowkey were more engaging because the audience saw everything through the main character's eyes. There are also just a lot of high-stakes action moments that really get the heart pumping, especially in the film’s climax set to “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen.
Many films use a ticking clock element, but usually, the time allotted for the characters to succeed at their mission is at least a few days. Well, Crank: High Voltage sees your 24-hour clock and ups the ante by cutting it down significantly.
In this 2009 sequel, protagonist Chev Chelios only has an hour before his artificial heart’s battery runs out. This necessitates a plot that moves very quickly. Chev also finds some extreme ways to charge his heart, like hooking himself up to jumper cables. Critics pointed out how ridiculous the movie got at times, but this only adds to the fun and excitement it provides.
The Raid is an action movie that wastes absolutely no time getting to the point. The film jumps right into its action-packed story of a Brimob raid on an apartment building. What else do you need to know? It's called The Raid, and it's about, shocker, a raid.
Not only are there a ton of fight scenes, but the stakes are always high for the film’s main characters. The action sequences themselves are also very engaging and creative, leaving audiences on the edge of their seats the entire runtime.
Bullet Train, for better or for worse, moves about as quickly as the train it is set on. While not every scene is completely packed with action, the constant drawing threat of the train reaching its destination before protagonist Ladybug is able to finish his mission and depart the train keeps the stakes high and the pace up.
There are also plenty of stories to follow on the train, so even when one character is taking a breather, others may be fighting for their lives. Also, Brad Pitt seems to really be enjoying himself, so there's that as well.
