Top 20 Action Movie Killstreaks
#20: Bullet Countdown
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“Deadpool” (2016) What do you do when you have lots of bad guys to kill and only twelve bullets? According to Deadpool, nicely ask them to share. When the immortal vigilante finds himself face to face with his archenemy’s henchmen on an expressway, he has to find creative ways to use the little ammo he has. What follows is an impressive display of speed, acrobatics, and shooting skills, as Deadpool guns down his enemies, ducks behind cars, and carefully counts down his remaining bullets… all while finding time to goof off with silly jokes. While he doesn’t exactly use all of his bullets wisely, Deadpool definitely succeeds at giving us an action-packed scene that simultaneously makes us laugh and kickstarts our adrenaline.
#19: Office Showdown
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“The Equalizer” (2014) It takes serious guts to walk alone and unarmed into a room full of Russian mobsters - but that’s no problem for retired Marine turned regular Joe, Robert McCall. After a young prostitute he befriended gets brutally beaten by her pimp, McCall tracks the man down and offers to buy her freedom. When that doesn’t work, he resorts to the only other solution: ruthlessly but efficiently murdering everyone in the room. His close combat experience and analytical skills allow him to use his enemies’ weapons - and various objects in the room - to his advantage. Not only does he kill five men without breaking a sweat; he manages to achieve this in only nineteen seconds. Talk about deadly speed!
#18: Hospital Face-Off
“Hard Boiled” (1992) Nothing is more dangerous than a cop with brains, brawns, and an instinct to kill. In this action-packed John Woo flick, hardcore inspector Tequila Yuen teams up with an undercover cop to take down a crime syndicate. During the movie’s climactic scene, the two men find themselves facing off against hordes of gangsters inside a hospital. In the midst of a mindblowing shootout, the heroes fight their way through floor after floor of enemies while evacuating the besieged maternity ward: it doesn’t get more badass than shooting bad guys and saving babies. In total, the hospital scenes took forty days to film. But because of a tight schedule, the cast only had one shot at filming the now infamous continuous take; and they nailed it.
#17: “Are You Not Entertained?”
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“Gladiator” (2000) Being forced to fight to the death for entertainment is hard enough, but getting stuck in the arena with ex-Roman General Maximus Meridius pretty much guarantees you’re going to lose. In this Oscar-winning epic historical drama film, Maximus, played by Russell Crowe, is nothing short of a killing machine. It’s in this particular scene though that he really showcases his talents, slicing through multiple gladiators in less than one minute. After decapitating his final victim, Maximus then antagonizes a crowd that was bored with a fight that ended so quickly. Shame on you, Rome: we are most definitely entertained!
#16: Minigun in a Coffin
“Django” (1966) Just what are you hiding in there? In this ‘60s Italian Spaghetti Western, vigilante cowboy Django surprised everyone, especially audiences, when he opened the coffin he’d been dragging around the whole movie to reveal one serious beast of a mini-gun. Taking aim at Major Jackson and a horde of bandits closing in, Django lets go of what we believe must be some serious anger issues, gritting his teeth and dropping those bad guys to the floor. Extra points go to the innocent town folk, who just look on with their faces set to stun. Hey man, you dropped your cigar.
#15: Restaurant Shootout
“A Better Tomorrow” (1986) We wouldn’t smirk if we were you! Not in front of a Mark Lee seeking revenge in this action drama. With two guns and a steely look of determination, Lee opens fire on the criminals that wronged him, but that’s not where the real magic starts. After running out of bullets, Lee retrieves a gun he’d stashed in a potted plant, not once, but twice, and unloads more hot lead. The sounds of single screams and the juxtaposition of dark red blood on the pure white setting create a visual effect that is mesmerizing. Seriously, who knew plants were so dangerous?
#14: Battle of Bloody Porch
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“The Wild Bunch” (1969) Back when it came out in 1969, this classic western caused plenty of uproar thanks to its revolutionary editing style and displays of graphic violence. Following the story of a group of aging outlaws on the Mexico-United States border, the movie features plenty of gory scenes. But above all, the most striking one comes at the end, when the outlaws and the federal officers led by the corrupt General Mapache kill each other in one brief yet spectacular shootout. With an abundance of blood, machine gun explosions, and anguished screams, director Sam Peckinpah allegedly wanted to show people just how “ugly, brutalizing, and bloody awful” gunfights were: mission accomplished.
#13: On a Yacht
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“Taken” (2008) He gave them fair warning, they didn’t listen, and then they paid the high price. Liam Neeson practices his very particular set of skills in this scene, shooting up several Albanian Sex Traffickers with a pistol and machine gun, then crashing through a plate glass window to engage in an intense fist fight - which he eventually wins by stabbing a broken bottle through his enemy’s heart and hammering the man’s own knife into his stomach with his knee. And that isn’t even the last guy he kills! We’ll say this: the next time Neeson gives you a warning, take his word for it!
#12: .50 Caliber Rescue
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“Rambo” (2008) He may be old, and this may have been the franchise’s fourth installment, but we have never seen Rambo kill like this before. In this scene, a group of missionaries, and the mercenaries that set out to rescue them, are at the mercy of the vicious Tatmadaw army when Rambo appears on the scene, decapitating his first enemy before taking the helm of a jeep-mounted 50-caliber machine gun. From there, we watch heads blow up and bodies tear in half as Rambo takes out the entire army. Did we forget to mention he disembowels a guy? Yeah, that happens too, but we’ll let you watch that on your own time.
#11: Pint-Sized Killing Machine
“Kick-Ass” (2010) Let’s be real now: Hit-Girl was the best part of “Kickass.” This little girl may look innocent, but she’s actually an extremely dangerous and foul-mouthed costumed vigilante. Seeking revenge, the eleven-year-old infiltrates Frank d’Amico’s headquarters. Thanks to her amazing gunfighting skills and almost superhuman reflexes, she ruthlessly kills almost all of his guards. The action-packed scene required a lot of hard work from actress Chloë Grace Moretz, who was thirteen when the film hit theaters. She spent months training with Jackie Chan’s stunt crew and learning how to handle weapons like guns and butterfly knives. She even earned the nickname “mini-Schwarzenegger” from her co-star, Aaron Johnson. We’re sure the Governator would approve.
#10: First Battle at the Hot Gates
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“300” (2006) This epic period action movie has basically turned “Spartan” into a synonym of “badass” in popular culture - and for good reason. When the battle begins at the Hot Gates, Leonidas encourages his men to show no mercy against the much larger Persian army. The king seems to feel neither fear nor exhaustion, charging forward and killing more than half a dozen enemies before he even catches a breath. His kill count may not be as high as some of the other entries on this list, but the sheer fierceness of his movements as he slashes through wave after wave of soldiers is more than enough to make this scene iconic. After all, who needs numbers when you’ve got the power of Sparta behind you?
#9: Open Contract
“John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017) In the second installment of this classic franchise, John Wick is sent on a mission to Rome in order to kill Gianna D’Antonio. Though he manages to escape her bodyguards and return to New York, his troubles don’t stop there: a former friend and fellow assassin puts a seven million dollar contract on his head, which prompts an entire underworld of trained killers to go after him. As he tries to make his way to safety, John Wick is attacked by a diverse cast of assassins that seem to spring up from every corner of the city. Despite being battered and bruised, he fends them all off using his gun, his bare hands, and whatever weapons he can find - including a single pencil.
#8: Matrix vs. the Island
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“Commando” (1985) An island full of soldiers versus one Arnold? Our money’s on the Governator. In this scene, Colonel John Matrix kills lots of bad guys with his trusty machine gun, and takes advantage of some well-placed garden tools, and uses his fists, and shoots some more, but our favorite of his kills is all about creativity. Using that Mr. Olympia strength, Matrix breaks off a steam pipe and launches it right through the chest of a very unfortunate bad guy. We know it’s obvious, but that’s one way to blow off some steam!
#7: Candyland Shootout
“Django Unchained” (2012) Even though seeing a bloody massacre in a Tarantino movie is as surprising as seeing a fish in water, this scene still managed to shock viewers with how lurid it was. When Dr. Schultz decides to shoot slave owner Calvin Candie on his plantation, this sets into motion an unstoppable chain of events. Schultz gets killed by Candie’s bodyguard, who in turn gets killed by Django. Amidst the chaos, the freed slave finds himself facing off against Candie’s bodyguard, his lawyer, and half a dozen gun hands. As the Candyland mansion gets painted a fresh new shade of red, the violence of the scene is wonderfully underscored by a bold mashup of Tupac’s single “Unchained” and James Brown’s “The Payback.”
#6: Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves
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“Kill Bill: Volume 1” (2003) Tarantino may have given us a wonderful bloodbath with the Candy Land ranch massacre in “Django Unchained,” but we’ve gotta rank his earlier effort with The Bride just a bit higher than that one. Why? Because this ultraviolent fight includes several iconic moments, such as the entrance of O-Ren Ishii and her bodyguards, the Bride’s battle with the terrifying 17-year old Gogo Yubari, and the slaughter of the Crazy 88 with her Katana. She also scalps someone, but we’ll leave that to your imagination here. We also haven’t even talked about Tarantino’s crazy visual effects, but take our word for it - they’re amazing. Oh, and don’t ever cross the Bride.
#5: The Red Circle Nightclub
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“John Wick” (2014) After effortlessly getting rid of a team of assassins sent to kill him in his own house, John Wick eventually tracks down his enemies at an upscale nightclub. The infamous Boogeyman mercilessly shoots down each of Viggo’s henchmen, while maneuvering through a crowd of dancers in search of the man who murdered his dog. The scene is not only badass, but also highly aesthetic, thanks to its ethereal electronic soundtrack and killer lighting - pun intended. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that Keanu Reeves learned and memorized the choreography on the very day the scene was shot. Plus, he was sick with a cold and actually had a high fever during the whole process. Now, that’s true dedication.
#4: Seventh Hell
“The Raid: Redemption” (2011) “One Ruthless Crime Lord, 20 Elite Cops, 30 Floors of Hell!” The tagline of this Indonesian flick tells you everything you need to know about this action-lover’s dream movie, and nothing captures its spirit of mayhem and tenement pandemonium more than the brutal ass-kicking that occurs in the seventh floor hallway. Armed with a baton, knife, and expert martial arts skills, Officer Rama finds creative ways to stab every member of a seemingly endless supply of dangerous attackers to their gruesome deaths. When you have these skills, who needs guns?
#3: Bloody Finale
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“Scarface” (1983) When the powerful cocaine kingpin Alejandro Sosa sends hitmen to infiltrate his estate, Tony Montana is forced to acknowledge that he’s cornered. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to go down without a fight. The Miami drug lord picks up a rifle equipped with a grenade launcher and goes to town on the invaders. As he unleashes the full force of his wrath, his luxurious mansion is shot to ruins in a way that symbolizes the collapse of his empire. Nevertheless, he manages to kill an impressive amount of men and keeps shooting despite getting injured several times, determined to defend himself to the bitter end. It seems as if nothing can stop Montana’s rage-powered rampage - until he gets gunned down from behind.
#2: Church Melee
“Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014) Okay, going to a radicalized church for a hate group and expecting everything to go smoothly… maybe not your brightest idea Kingsman agent, but thank the lord it gave us this amazing all-out brawl. This crazy scene took a full week to film and involved almost 100 extras and 20 stuntmen. What makes this scene special is its appearance as a single chaotic tracking shot, following agent Hart as he shoots, stabs, lights on fire, and pretty much finds every way in the book to kill, all set to the intense guitar riffs of “Free Bird.” All in a day’s work, right? Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Tyler vs. Asif’s Henchmen, “Extraction” (2020) Tyler, The Creator? More Like Tyler, The Destroyer Joe Carries Out a Job, “You Were Never Really Here” (2017) Hammer Time Preston Kills DuPont’s Bodyguards, “Equilibrium” (2002) Death by Gun Kata The Rooftop, “Hardcore Henry” (2015) Army of Clones Legolas Takes Down a Mumakil, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) That Still Only Counts as One!
#1: Government Lobby Shootout
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“The Matrix” (1999) How do we even begin to describe the carnage that ensues when Neo and Trinity roll up to security, fully stocked with every gun imaginable, in this sci-fi action flick? The two take turns blowing away soldiers, taking advantage of their heightened powers in the Matrix. Bullets aren’t the only things falling to the ground, as the entire lobby explodes and bits of concrete blast in every direction. Utilizing slow motion, the Wachowskis create a truly unique shootout experience. Good thing Neo took the red pill.
