20 of the Coolest Action Movies Ever Made
Dwayne Johnson’s passion project Black Adam was met with bad reviews (critics) and rapturous hugs (fans) over the weekend. Even though the superhero genre is moving up the chain of cinematic respectability , there seems to be a gap between films that are considered worthy and those that are viewed as empty calories. Described less condescendingly: some films want to say something important; others just want to say something loudly , with lots of explosions. (Given that Black Adam is 80% slow motion, you can guess which category it falls into.)
There is art in a dumb action movie. Many of the next 20 films divided critics and moviegoers quite sharply, either because audiences saw something in them that reviewers missed, or because they were looking for a very different experience. They’ve been called dumb fun, but anyone who’s recently looked out the window (or checked Twitter) will realize that the reality is much dumber. There’s nothing wrong with having fun or finding joy (and maybe even hidden meaning) in a thrilling action movie.