1986-87-88...the height of the "Action Movie"?

You forgot "Robocop". Include that and you're on the money. Maybe if you want to look back even further, "The Terminator" could be included as well.

 

What about Rambo and Commando.

 

Yeah, "Rambo: First Blood Part II" also fits the bill. I've never seen "Commando".

 

It's basically....Predator...without the Predator

 

Die Hard is the best, hands down. Aliens and The Terminator are quite honorable, but not as much as Die Hard, I would give it the peak of the Action Movies from the 80s, because it settled a pattern and a genre for many other movies after

 

Are we forgetting one Dr. Jones?

and how about The Road Warrior?..greatest stunt movie ever!

 

Indy was released in '81, '84 & '89.
The 80's had the best action movies.

 

I always saw Indy's movies as part of the "adventure" genre more than the "action" genre. Those movies weren't as hardcore as "Die Hard" or "Aliens".

 

The ENTIRE decade was good.

1980
The Blues Brothers - Admit it, man. Those car chases were awesome.

1981
Raiders of the Lost Ark
For Your Eyes Only
Escape From New York
The Road Warrior

1982
48 HRS
First Blood
Conan

1983
Octopussy
Sudden Impact
Never Say Never Again
Scarface

1984
Beverly Hills Cop
Temple of Doom
Red Dawn
Terminator
City Heat (Clint Eastwood AND Burt Reynolds )
Missing In Action

1985
Rambo: First Blood, Part II (I hate it, but most people like it)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Commando
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Code of Silence

1986
Top Gun
Aliens
Cobra
Heartbreak Ridge
Running Scared

1987
Beverly Hills Cop II
Lethal Weapon
Predator
Robocop

1988
Die Hard
Midnight Run (VERY underrated movie)
Action Jackson
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1989
Batman
Last Crusade
Lethal Weapon 2
Tango & Cash
Black Rain
K-9
Road House

 

Don't forget "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence to Kill!" (1989)

 

Yeah. The 80's pretty much killed the Action Movie for the rest of time... that is unless someone can find a way to make a great action movie that doesn't rely on all the tricks setup in the 80's or just throwing twists around.

 

Meh.

 

One could say that the late 80's were the peak of the "action movie...of the 80's." However, it is not the peak of the "action movie." We have many years to come, and since 1990, we have had great action movies every single year. The genre has yet to peak, and I doubt it will ever peak. Action-Adventure will not peak like, let's say, the horror genre has.

 

There is far more action in any of the Indy movies than there is in Aliens or Die Hard.

 

If you watch Escape from New York, there is hardly any action in it at all.

 

Yeah I believe the action genre reached its peak with Ahnuld's success. The absolute peak being T2 then it all went to ****, rose again with the matrix but then every movie just tried to be another matrix and now we have some kind of cgi artificial action films we have now that seem like cartoons.

 

I have to agree with that part of it. CGI has allowed us to realise the comic book action which we all like so much. Formerly it could not have been realised to the level it does now.
But I really think CGI has made action films a little less interesting, because like you said, we know we are watching a cartoon. I watched The Road Warrior recently, and my jaw was still on the floor at the level of stuntwork and effort that went into that...and that kind of thing will never see the light of day again.

 

apparently you haven't watched Casino Royale or the Bourne trilogy

 

CGI or not, it is still an action movie. CGI has allowed for things that could never be achieved using stunt and wire work. Film will continue to evolve. Before the 80's, stunts and explosions were the new thing, too, and you had people who were opposed to it. I see it as history repeating itself. I have yet to see the majority of action films have so much CGI in it that it is viewed as merely a cartoon. It seems like hyperbole to me.

That's just me, of course.

 

it was really a great time.
so many movies I like...

 

Those aren't strictly action though. And there's no complete and total failure of logic where one man takes on a whole army, in the open, with one gun.

 

If Casino Royale and the Bourne movies aren't considered action films, then Aliens, Lethal Weapon, (etc.) aren't either.

 

I agree with Hammertime.

"I ain't got time to bleed" - pretty much distills the mindset of the 80's action movie into one line.

 

What about all the Hong Kong action films by Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and John Woo?