Best spy movies or other action films?

[Levant]

I watched the Bourne Legacy movies along with Taken and Taken II on DVD recently.  Since my wife and I aren't big on going to theaters I think I've missed a lot of good shoot-em-up movies.  I tend to think that many of us here might like the same genre, along with whatever else we might like so I think it would be fun to compile a list of the best movies along the same lines or similar to these two.  And then I can buy them from Amazon and have something to watch since 500 channels of satellite TV doesn't generally yield anything better than Raymond or Chopped.

[T.O.M.]

Man On Fire is a good one. The new Bond films with Daniel Craig are pretty good, less gadget and more action.  A lot more oike Ian Fleming wrote.  The "Justified" series from FX is a good shoot-em-up series, and available on disc.

[RoadKingLarry]

In like Flint and Our man Flint. True classics of the genre.

[Jocassee]

I enjoyed Jack Reacher and most of the gun details were good.

Blood Diamond is my all time favorite.

[Brad Johnson]

No one seems to like it but me, but I enjoyed the heck out of Battleship.  All the Avenger precursor movies are good, too.

Brad

[Perd Hapley]

Ronin

Payback - theatrical release

The Man With No Name trilogy, if you consider those action films.

[Monkeyleg]

Take a look at "Parker" with Jason Strathman. It's a little like "Payback", but serious.

[mtnbkr]

Killer Elite.

Chris

[charby]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

[Viking]

Not exactly a "spy" movie, nor is it an action film, but The Day Of The Jackal is one of my favorite movies of all time.  

[HankB]

In like Flint and Our man Flint. True classics of the genre.

Funny movies - in fact, I use the movie's ringtone for the President's phone on my cell.  

Also in a similarly light vein, there was the series of Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin in the title role - The Ambushers, The Silencers, The Wrecking Crew, and Murderer's Row.

In a more "serious" vein I can recommend the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor. If you stretch the undercover aspect a bit, Where Eagles Dare is pretty good.

Then there's always the old TV shows The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Danger Man, the latter a British show renamed Secret Agent for the US market, but they're much more low-key than a typical shoot-em-up.

For pure shoot-em-ups, without the spy angle, try Blackhawk Down, The Wild Bunch, We Were Soldiers, and of course, Zulu.

[Perd Hapley]

Tears of the Sun


I haven't seen the two Statham movies that were mentioned, but I have some advice on his films. Movies with Statham can be quite alright. Movies in which he is the central character tend to be just awful.

[roo_ster]

Tears of the Sun


I haven't seen the two Statham movies that were mentioned, but I have some advice on his films. Movies with Statham can be quite alright. Movies in which he is the central character tend to be just awful.

I could not watch Tears to completion, I thought it was that awful.

Ronin is likely the best of those already mentioned.

Justified teevee series is terrific.

Blood Diamond convinced me DiCaprio doesn't deserve to be stuffed in a sack and drowned like a litter of unwanted kittens.

Grimm teevee series is good, if you don't mind supernatural elements.

Man on Fire is a good movie.

The two Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes movies I thought particularly well done and got the character's action orientation closer to the books than the drawing-room-agatha-christie-in-drag way he has been played since the dawn of film. His mania is a little over the top, however.  And Watson is played like the veteran he was, not a doddering fool for comic relief.

I only saw a few minutes of Get the Gringo at a buddy's place, but I plan on watching the rest.

True Grit and Warhorse for action set in the past.

[mtnbkr]

Get the Gringo is good.  I hadn't heard of it before seeing it on Netflix.  I'm a big fan of Grimm as well.

Chris

[Tallpine]

How about The Eagle Has Landed ?   

[SADShooter]

How about The Eagle Has Landed ?   

Absolutely. An all-time favorite.

I haven't seen Heat mentioned, an excellent action flick starring De Niro and Pacino, with particularly good weapons-handling detail.

[Perd Hapley]

roo_ster's long post

Between Willis and Bellucci, I don't think I could have not liked Tears. Maybe I should watch it with more objective-ness.

I wanted to like the first Sherlock film, but it just fell flat. Not sure why, but it just wasn't very satisfying. The Watson character was pretty good, though.

Also, I like Way of the Gun. You can mute Sarah Silverman, in the first scene, if you can't tolerate her.

For a c-grade shoot-em-up with a fun soundtrack, Mean Guns. 

[TommyGunn]

Olympus Has Fallen is a good thriller/adventure that has just recently come out on DVD.  A retired Secret Service PPD agent finds himself trying to thwart an attack on the White House.
He wins of course but the White House really needs a good clean-up afterward!

[Tallpine]

A retired Secret Service PPD agent finds himself trying to thwart an attack on the White House.

Why would you want to      

[TommyGunn]

Was that a snidly covert wham on the Obamster?

Obama isn't the prez in Olympus Has Fallen.
And in the movie you'd WANT to because the consequences for America don't end with a White House with burn marks on the portico. 
Watch the movie.  Find out.  I ain't sayin' more. 

[HankB]

I could not watch Tears to completion, I thought it was that awful.

That's exactly my reaction to the second Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movie, which didn't live up to the mediocrity of the first.

Get the Gringo was better than I expected.

For a c-grade shoot-em-up with a fun soundtrack, Mean Guns. 

In the category of fun grade-C movie shoot-em-ups, Dogs of War and Equilibrium, if only for the fictional martial art GunKata in the latter.

[freakazoid]

I thought the second Sherlock Holmes was even better than the first, and I really liked the first one.

+1 for Mean Guns.

[Pharmacology]

While not what you asked for, and another thread entirely, probably, I have to recommend the British gangster movies ( layer cake, snatch, lock stock and two smoking barrels)

They are incredibly entertaining

[Perd Hapley]

While not what you asked for, and another thread entirely, probably, I have to recommend the British gangster movies ( layer cake, snatch, lock stock and two smoking barrels)

They are incredibly entertaining

"Shotguns? You mean, like guns that fire shots?"

[Viking]

While not what you asked for, and another thread entirely, probably, I have to recommend the British gangster movies ( layer cake, snatch, lock stock and two smoking barrels)

They are incredibly entertaining

"The f*ck is that? What the f*ck is that?"
"It's me Bren gun!"
"Don't you think you could've brought something more practical?"