So I was getting in an argument with a couple of friends of mine and we were all arguing about what is the greatest movie of all time, and none of us could come up with a consensus because there's just way too damn many good movies out there.

Now I know everyone has their own picks, so I just wanted to start this to see what most people around here are gonna choose.

So what do you guys think is the single greatest action movie of all time? And state reasons why you think so.

Personally, I find it a really close tie between Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Die Hard (the first one). When I hear the term "Action Movie" I think of either A: Badass American killing Foreign Terrorists (Die hard did it best), Or B: That [censored] Semi Truck coming off the bridge and landing in the storm canol followed by an awesome car chase.

Terminator 2 seems to have it all. It's got consistent action scenes (which are badass by the way), awesome acting (Not talking about Arnold, but even then it's probably one of his best roles because he doesn't have to act too hard), still pretty decent effects that aren't terrible by today's standards and the movie is more than 20 years old, relatable and deep characters (when i was a kid i felt so bad for the black dude who worked at skynet who sacrifices himself to save the rest by blowing away that building, mostly felt bad for his family), and an intriguing story with few plot holes (especially when it comes to action movies in general, or just even the terminator franchise as a whole).

Every time i watch this movie, I always have a smile on my face, and everything is still so exciting.

Die Hard is another really good one, it's just a regular dude that takes on a terrorist organization and seems relatable enough because he isn't an indestructible badass, he's bleeding and pulling glass out of his feet bare feet, getting his ass kicked, jumping from explosions, and all of it doesn't seem over the top as was usual for action movies in those days. The ending when John Mclean comes down the hall limping, covered in blood and just destroyed, how awesome was that?

I'm not even American, but the whole American killing foreign terrorists that most action movies in the 80s and 90s just loved to do, that whole concept reached it's peak with the original Die Hard movie.

Not to mention that Hans Gruber is one of the most memorable and badass villains in any action movie to date.

This movie made the career of both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman, at least that's the way I've always saw it.

It's also no wonder that Die hard got so many sequels, they wanted to keep the iconic american hero alive (though arguably all of the other die hards besides #3 are mediocre at best).

Other honourable mentions go to (some of these being a close second in my eyes):

The Warriors

The Matrix

Escape From New York

Commando

Predator

Lethal Weapon

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Highlander

Conan The Barbarian (the original)

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Jurassic Park

Batman The Dark Knight

Ghostbusters

and many, many more.

I thought it was Die Hard which created the trend? Made those 'one guy versus many bad guys in a crazy situation' popular, which is one of the reasons many love it so much.

I haven't seen as many action movies as some other people but the extended version of Aliens would probably get my vote.

Predator imo. The Predators movie that came out years later would've been better if they comprised of all the top 80s action stars, kinda like The Expendables.

As a pure action movie, I'd have to say the expendables 1. Followed by lord of the rings 3 and then Star Wars episode 3.

How do you define "action movie"?

How about https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwbjzgi0q79THa7XQbKN5WQ

For me I like the action movies from the 60's more.

It is hard to pick one of them since any of Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood action movies are great. Add in a few John Wayne movies and then some of the great WWII movies. I would likely state Bullitt is the best Action Thriller Movie. I still think it has the best Car chase ever made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullitt

Yeah, Return of the King did have some great action scenes (battle of Minas Tirith comes to mind).. sadly they took far to many liberties with the source material (example: In the Books the Oathbreakers did not take part in the Battle of Minas Tirith (as shown in the films), instead Aragorn declared their oath fulfilled as soon he used them to Slaughter the Corsairs.. Instead it was Aragorn, some of his most Trusted Rangers (as Aragorn was the Chieftain of the Rangers), and a Militia of Soldiers from the Southern Shores were the ones who came poring off the ships)

*wipes nostalgia glasses* Terminator 1 and 2.

Edit: Was the scene where Arnie takes on the police station as badass as I remember it? Or is it just the nostalgia talking?

Guardians of the Galaxy.

I'd add Assault on Precinct 13 to the list - John Carpenter version naturally. Also has one of the best OST's ever.

The Underworld series.

The Long Kiss Goodnight.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - another amazing OST.

svcker Punch - great OST again.

Top would be Aliens, though.

The Notebook.

First Terminator was really badass. Watched it again few days ago, special effects agedbadly , but I'm sure I was totally fascinated by them when I was a kid. + it became much more awesome for me ever since I found out that Ron Young, vocalist of one of my favourite bands, Little Caesar, appears in one scene, specifically- he's the guy in a biker pub that whacks Arnie with a pool stick, and is then tossed through the window.

Aside from that, Alien is awesome too, and I enjoy pretty much any movie with Clint Eastwood and Jackie Chan. Die Hard is cool too, but I can't stand Bruce Willis for some reason.

There are also fighting movies with guys like Dolf Lundgren, Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme etc. I actually genuinely consider these movies crap, but I always seem to end up watching them, and even enjoy them, and I probably watched over some more famous titles more than 4 or 5 times.

Die Hard is great, although I'm not fond with any of the sequels. There are mainly 3 things I like with the movie.

• Alan Rickman is an excellent villain.
• It take things very slowly. There's almost half a hour before there's a gunshot.
• It's just a normal guy in a bad situation, he calls for help, he gets wounded and so on. In the sequels John McClane somehow been transformed into an invincible superhero which I think is rather unfortunate.

But my vote probably goes to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427954/, cause there is a 4 minute long epic fight scene at a resturant in it, all in one single take which I find very impressive.

The first 3 Police Story movies with Jackie Chan are pretty great too.

I've heard about Protector from like 2/3rds of my friends, all said it's totally epic. Still didn't remember to watch it, but I swear, since I first heard of it, I keep seeing it all over the internet.

Point Break (suprised this hasn't been mentioned yet)
Robocop
Commando
Lethal Weapon

Escape from NY

Predator

And of course the original Die Hard and the first two Terminators.

I love Bullitt, but I'd say that French Connection has the best car chase scene ever.
It may not be as fast, but it's tense and looks so good.

I honestly can't give an unbiased answer.

I pretty much love most action movies.

Here's a few more good ones from my youth.

Rambo's I, II and III

Robocop 1

The first Die Hard. Alan Rickman was awesome as a witty villian with a sense of humor.