This was my top 10 frrom a thread I made on 80's action movies 5 years ago.
10. Commando
Daft as a brush but the quintessential one man army film, Arnie mows his way through eager onrushing groups of bad guys on his way to rescuing his daughter (a young Alyssa Milano), and facing a Freddie Mercury lookalike.
9. Rambo III
Yes the plot is thin while Sly's mullet is out of control, but
ohhhhh those action sequences! From the neatly lit cave sequence of Rambo taking on Russian soldiers, to the amazing chopper action both early on and in the finale, every penny of what was at the time the worlds biggest movie budget, is on screen.
8. Lethal Weapon 2
It is a bit more on the comedic side than the first due to the addition of Pesci's Leo Getz and lacks the raw edge and atmosphere, but it's a good development of the duo and when the **** hits the fan it gets awesome as Riggs and Murtaugh put away their badges.
7. Rambo: First Blood Part II
Often denigrated due to it's high body count and hamfisted villainy, the story is actually pretty good both in content and how it provides a soulful journey for Rambo. The action is fantastic, in particular the bow and arrow action when Rambo escapes, the stealthy parts being especially cool.
6. The Killer
If A Better Tomorrow was the genesis and Hard Boiled the zenith of John Woo's bullet ballet masterpieces, then The Killer was surely the film that refined his style. The shootouts are a gloriously stylish exercise in carnage and cool, and the film has a real heartbeat.
5. The Terminator
Essentially Halloween filtered through sci fi, Cameron without the aid of CGI and a gazillion dollar budget shows what he can do as Arnie's terrifying cyborg hunts Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese across Los Angeles through a set of fantastic action sequences. From the first tension filled showdown in a gaudy nightclub, to the memorable cop station massacre to a couple of action packed chase sequences.
4. Predator
This is all about the tension as Arnie and his team are systematically picked off by an alien hunter that stalks them through a South American jungle. It could be hokey and lame, but instead is a tightly woven action thriller with palpable tension. The action sequences such as the village rescue are meticulously executed by McTiernan and the film delivers a hugely satisfying pay-off as Dutch goes native to take on the high tech hunter one on one in the big finale that succeeds due to Mctiernan's ability to stage Arnie vs a man in a suit with perfect shot selection and lighting.
3. Lethal Weapon
Mel Gibson's burnt out reckless narcotics cop Martin Riggs provides the films livewire energy, but the contrast with Danny Glover's world weary Roger Murtaugh makes the film. The hard boiled noir stylings supported by the evocative score and strong story; the action is smaller in scale than some of the others here but it's action you're invested in, the escape and Riggs vs Mr Joshua chase/shootout/fight finale is the highlight.
2. First Blood
For me the strongest story of any film here as it was rooted in a sad reality. Stallone's Vietnam vet Rambo is forced into a fight against an ignorant and brutal local police department in a small town. In the narrative he's cast as the bad guy in an escalating manhunt that sets it's fantastic action in a forest, as a parallel to Rambo's time spent in the jungles of Vietnam. Tthe arrogant sheriffs department completely outmatched by a man they don't understand. Unlike the other movies in the series Rambo avoids killing, he just wants to be left in peace.
1. Die Hard
No surprise here, it is a trailblazer for action cinema, Bruce Willis creates an iconic character in the sarcastic, wisecracking everyman cop John McClane as he goes up against a heist crew inside a skyscraper full of hostages, inclduding his wife. McTiernan crafts the perfect action film with great structure and doses of wry humour as McClane becomes ever more worn down, taking the bad guys out one by one as the stakes rise in superbly paced and executed bursts of action, with highlights being McClane vs Karl and the rooftop sequence.
