Underrated Action Movies
by Mikesw1234 | created - 25 Oct 2013 | updated - 28 Oct 2013 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
Approved | 98 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
British agent Bulldog Drummond is assigned to stop a master criminal who uses beautiful women to do his killings.
Director: Ralph Thomas | Stars: Richard Johnson, Elke Sommer, Sylva Koscina, Nigel Green
Votes: 1,996
2. Shaft's Big Score! (1972)
R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Shaft is back to find the murderer of an old friend on the cold hard city streets with a little help from his new friends.
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown, Joseph Mascolo
Votes: 3,590 | Gross: $10.00M
3. Trouble Man (1972)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A neighborhood "problem solver" is framed for murder by a couple of local crime bosses trying to get him out of the way.
Director: Ivan Dixon | Stars: Robert Hooks, Paul Winfield, Ralph Waite, William Smithers
Votes: 1,602
4. Truck Turner (1974)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
While tracking a strong-armed pimp who has skipped bail, a bounty hunter discovers a contract has been put out on him and must go on the run.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan | Stars: Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Alan Weeks, Annazette Chase
Votes: 3,587 | Gross: $0.18M
5. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A Highway Patrol Officer, two criminals and a station secretary defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct office against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West
Votes: 55,507
6. Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
PG | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When a South American drug lord pays Pace to steal 48 cars for him, all but one is in the bag - thereby, the police precipitate in a desperate car chase against Pace and his Eleanor across Southern California.
Director: H.B. Halicki | Stars: H.B. Halicki, Marion Busia, Jerry Daugirda, James McIntyre
Votes: 9,938 | Gross: $0.47M
7. Project A (1983)
PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Fighting against pirates at the turn of the 20th century, the Hong Kong navy are failing miserably. It's up to Sergeant Lung (Jackie Chan) to take matters into his own hands.
Directors: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung | Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Dick Wei
Votes: 18,511
8. Project A 2 (1987)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dragon is now transferred to be the police head of Sai Wan district, and has to contend with a gangster kingpin, anti-Manchu revolutionaries, some runaway pirates, Manchu Loyalists and a corrupt Police Superintendent.
Director: Jackie Chan | Stars: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Rosamund Kwan, Carina Lau
Votes: 11,327
9. Police Story (1985)
PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
Directors: Jackie Chan, Chi-Hwa Chen | Stars: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Yuen Chor
Votes: 41,781 | Gross: $0.11M
10. Police Story 2 (1988)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The Hong Kong supercop must stop a group of blackmailing bombers, while the villains of Police Story (1985) are out for revenge.
Director: Jackie Chan | Stars: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung
Votes: 22,501
11. Wheels on Meals (1984)
TV-14 | 100 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two Chinese friends, who operate a food truck in Barcelona, Spain, use their martial arts expertise to help their private investigator friend protect the pickpocket Sylvia, who's been targeted by a ruthless gang.
Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung | Stars: Jackie Chan, Biao Yuen, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Benny Urquidez
Votes: 15,154
12. Heart of Dragon (1985)
R | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Tat, ex SWAT turned CID cop in HK, has a 29 y.o. Disabled brother, behaving like the small boys, he plays with, always getting into trouble. Tat struggles to care for him - at the expense of his cute girlfriend and dreams.
Directors: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Fruit Chan | Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Emily Chu, Hoi Mang
Votes: 5,192
13. Tiger Cage (1988)
TV-MA | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A team of cops get brutally exposed to violence after raiding a drug operation and discovering a link between few members of the police force and an American crime syndicate dealing with drug trafficking.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Jacky Cheung, Carol 'Do Do' Cheng, Simon Yam, Man-Tat Ng
Votes: 1,163
14. Righting Wrongs (1986)
Not Rated | 85 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Yuen Biao plays Jason Chan, a lawyer angry at the way the law seems to protect the bad guys. He decides to take the law into his own hands when a key witness and his entire family are ... See full summary »
Director: Corey Yuen | Stars: Biao Yuen, Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Roy Chiao
Votes: 2,008
15. Tiger on Beat (1988)
TV-MA | 93 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A seasoned cop and his rookie partner are a pair of mismatched partners in this Hong Kong action-comedy in the style of 'Lethal Weapon'. The wacky twosome are up in arms as they try to solve the murder of a heroin trafficker.
Director: Chia-Liang Liu | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Nina Li Chi, Conan Lee, Norman Chu
Votes: 2,051
16. Eastern Condors (1987)
R | 93 min | Action, Adventure, War
A group of Asian prisoners is recruited, trained, armed and sent to Vietnam to destroy a cache of American weapons left behind after the Vietnam War, before the Vietcong discovers its location.
Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung | Stars: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Haing S. Ngor, Ching-Ying Lam
Votes: 2,877
17. Dragons Forever (1988)
TV-14 | 102 min | Action, Comedy, Romance
Three successful Hong Kong lawyers are hired by a chemical company of questionable ethics and must eventually make a difficult decision when their employer's motives become clear.
Directors: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Corey Yuen | Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Pauline Yeung
Votes: 9,326
18. Yes, Madam! (1985)
TV-MA | 93 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two unlucky thieves break into a just murdered man's hotel room and steal his passport with a hidden microfilm wanted by a triad boss. Two hard kicking women cops from HK and UK get the case.
Director: Corey Yuen | Stars: Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, John Sham, Hoi Mang
Votes: 2,923
19. Dynamite Fighters (1987)
R | 91 min | Action, Drama
Action film about Chinese resistance after Japanese invasion in 1930's.
Director: David Chung | Stars: Michelle Yeoh, Richard Ng, Tung-Shing Yee, Lowell Lo
Votes: 1,306
20. Royal Warriors (1986)
R | 96 min | Action, Drama
Michelle Yip of the Hong Kong police is a mild-mannered Kung Fu expert; Michael Wong, from air security, is happy-go-lucky, stuck on himself, constantly talking, and smitten by her; ... See full summary »
Director: David Chung | Stars: Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Wong, Ying Bai
Votes: 2,066
21. In the Line of Duty III (1988)
90 min | Action
Genji Nakamura and his soul-mate and partner Michiko Nishiwaki are thieves for the notorious Red Army terrorist organization in Japan. After pulling off the jewelry heist of the century (in... See full summary »
Directors: Arthur Wong, Brandy Yuen | Stars: Cynthia Khan, Hiroshi Fujioka, Stuart Ong, Michiko Nishiwaki
Votes: 761
22. In the Line of Duty IV (1989)
R | 94 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A Hong Kong cop and two American cops are onto a suspected harbor worker and are forced to team up when they discover that the suspect is a witness on the run from CIA agents and their schemers; two corrupt cops.
Director: Woo-Ping Yuen | Stars: Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen, Michael Wong, Yat-Chor Yuen
Votes: 1,798
23. The Killer (1989)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu
Votes: 51,042
24. The Punisher (1989)
R | 89 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as The Punisher.
Director: Mark Goldblatt | Stars: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé, Kim Miyori
Votes: 25,765
25. Renegades (1989)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An undercover cop forms an alliance with a Native American to help him hunt down the criminals who stole an ancient Lakota tribal lance.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jami Gertz, Robert Knepper
Votes: 3,944 | Gross: $7.00M
26. Tango & Cash (1989)
R | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Framed by their ruthless arch-nemesis, a pair of mismatched LAPD officers must put their differences aside to get even with the brutal crime baron who sent them to rot in a maximum-security prison.
Directors: Andrey Konchalovskiy, Albert Magnoli | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Teri Hatcher, Jack Palance
Votes: 113,428 | Gross: $63.41M
27. Navy Seals (1990)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A battle-hardened SEAL Team set off on a mission to destroy a shipment of US-built Stinger missiles that have fallen into terrorist hands.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley, Rick Rossovich
Votes: 17,951 | Gross: $25.07M
28. Fire Birds (1990)
PG-13 | 85 min | Action, Adventure
Elite Apache helicopter pilots are tasked with destroying powerful armed drug cartels operating in South America.
Director: David Green | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, Sean Young, Bryan Kestner
Votes: 7,176 | Gross: $14.76M
29. Marked for Death (1990)
R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A retired DEA agent is out to hunt down and take out a Jamaican drug posse that has targeted he and his family for murder.
Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Steven Seagal, Joanna Pacula, Basil Wallace, Keith David
Votes: 24,296 | Gross: $46.04M
30. The Last Boy Scout (1991)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A private detective's protected female witness is murdered, prompting him and the victim's boyfriend to investigate the crime that leads to a corrupt politician and a crooked football team owner.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham
Votes: 111,953 | Gross: $59.51M
31. Point Break (1991)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty
Votes: 201,934 | Gross: $43.22M
32. Under Siege (1992)
R | 103 min | Action, Thriller
An ex-Navy Seal turned cook is the only person who can stop a group of terrorists when they seize control of a U.S. battleship.
Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: Steven Seagal, Gary Busey, Tommy Lee Jones, Erika Eleniak
Votes: 95,402 | Gross: $83.36M
33. Hard Target (1993)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A woman hires a drifter as her guide through New Orleans in search of her missing father. In the process, they discover a deadly game of cat and mouse behind his disappearance.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lance Henriksen, Yancy Butler, Chuck Pfarrer
Votes: 56,195 | Gross: $32.59M
34. Cliffhanger (1993)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner
Votes: 139,855 | Gross: $84.05M
35. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
R | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Casey Ryback hops on a Colorado to LA train to start a vacation with his niece. Early into the trip, terrorists board the train and use it as a mobile HQ to hijack a top secret destructive US satellite.
Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Everett McGill, Katherine Heigl
Votes: 50,106 | Gross: $50.02M
36. Broken Arrow (1996)
R | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Terrorists steal nuclear warheads from the U.S. military but don't count on a pilot and park ranger spoiling their plans.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo
Votes: 105,156 | Gross: $70.77M
37. Last Man Standing (1996)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern, William Sanderson, Christopher Walken
Votes: 60,963 | Gross: $17.60M
38. Ronin (1998)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 194,951 | Gross: $41.62M
39. Enemy of the State (1998)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet
Votes: 258,714 | Gross: $111.55M
40. Shiri (1999)
R | 125 min | Action, Thriller
South Korean agents Ryu and Lee are tracking a female assassin from North Korea who has mysteriously disappeared. With new killings and the theft of a deadly bomb, time is running out to catch her.
Director: Kang Je-kyu | Stars: Han Suk-kyu, Choi Min-sik, Yunjin Kim, Song Kang-ho
Votes: 8,573 | Gross: $0.10M
41. The Way of the Gun (2000)
R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two criminal drifters without sympathy get more than they bargained for after kidnapping and holding for ransom the surrogate mother carrying a baby for a powerful, shady man.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs
Votes: 35,210 | Gross: $6.06M
42. The Nest (2002)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Alliances change when an armored car with an Albanian mafia boss prisoner escapes a mafia army by driving inside a warehouse, which is being robbed by a French gang stealing laptops etc.
Director: Florent-Emilio Siri | Stars: Samy Naceri, Benoît Magimel, Nadia Farès, Pascal Greggory
Votes: 5,734
43. The Transporter (2002)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Frank Martin, who "transports" packages for unknown clients, is asked to move a package that soon begins moving, and complications arise.
Directors: Louis Leterrier, Corey Yuen | Stars: Jason Statham, Shu Qi, Matt Schulze, François Berléand
Votes: 320,881 | Gross: $25.30M
44. Unleashed (2005)
R | 103 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A man enslaved by the mob since childhood and raised into behaving like a human attack dog escapes his captors and attempts to start a new life.
Director: Louis Leterrier | Stars: Jet Li, Bob Hoskins, Morgan Freeman, Kerry Condon
Votes: 108,001 | Gross: $24.52M
45. The Marine (2006)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A group of diamond thieves on the run kidnap the wife of a recently discharged marine who goes on a chase through the South Carolinian wilderness to retrieve her.
Director: John Bonito | Stars: John Cena, Kelly Carlson, Robert Patrick, Anthony Ray Parker
Votes: 35,794 | Gross: $18.84M
46. Exiled (2006)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A friendship is formed between an ex-gangster, and two groups of hitmen - those who want to protect him and those who were sent to kill him.
Director: Johnnie To | Stars: Nick Cheung, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Francis Ng, Simon Yam
Votes: 9,635 | Gross: $0.05M
47. The City of Violence (2006)
92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
After their childhood friend is murdered, a two-man martial arts army beats a path to the perp.
Director: Ryu Seung-wan | Stars: Ryu Seung-wan, Lee Beom-su, Kim Byeong-Ok, Baek Dong-hyeon
Votes: 4,770
48. The Man from Nowhere (2010)
R | 119 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug-and-organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.
Director: Lee Jeong-beom | Stars: Won Bin, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Hee-won
Votes: 74,781 | Gross: $0.01M
Tell Your Friends