10 Best Mindless Action Movies of All Time

It feels obvious to say that there are some amazing mindless action movies, and it’s probably more novel to point out dramas or thrillers (or maybe even films from any other genre) that are mindless and successful. But oh well. Action films often feel simple and approachable, and then the ones below go the extra mile in terms of being the sorts of movies you can really enjoy with a switched-off brain.

So, anything that’s kind of dense, or maybe long, or a bit of both (see Seven Samurai, Tenet, and The Matrix, for starters)? No room for those here. These movies are the kind that are best watched after a long day, when you don’t really want to have to think too hard, but you also want something a little more fulfilling than doom-scrolling. These action movies are wonderfully mindless, not to mention very entertaining, and should do the job.

10

‘Lone Wolf McQuade’ (1983)

Image via Orion Pictures

Chuck Norris is undeniably tied to the action genre, having been at the center of a bunch of very straightforward – and sometimes quite enjoyable – action flicks. They’re the sorts of roles that made him an enduring meme, with Chuck Norris jokes/facts being everywhere on the internet in the 2000s, and kind of dated by the 2010s… but for a meme to live and die before the 2010s, when memes really, really took off? That’s something. You can’t really downplay what they were on, and what they meant for, the internet back then.

Anyway, maybe the best Chuck Norris movie where he has the central role is Lone Wolf McQuade. He plays Chuck Norris, basically, and has to take on unambiguously evil criminals with a combination of firearms and martial arts skills. It’s blunt, kind of silly at times, yet also pretty good for what it is (and perhaps what it is isn’t much, but it is enough).

9

‘Streets of Fire’ (1984)

Image via Universal Pictures

Streets of Fire is named after a Bruce Springsteen song that ultimately wasn’t used or sung in the film itself, but that’s okay, because Streets of Fire still has an all-time great soundtrack. There’s a lot of bombastic rock music here that gives personality to an otherwise rather simple story, since Streets of Fire is just about a man setting out to rescue his ex-girlfriend after she’s kidnapped by the film’s main villain.

While it’s not technically either a fantasy or sci-fi film, Streets of Fire almost has the vibe of either – or both – at certain points, owing to its style and the way it claims to be “A Rock & Roll Fable.” The whole thing is broad and certainly imperfect, but ultimately deserving of its cult classic status, being one of the oddest – yet most memorable – neo-noir action movies of its decade.

8

‘Bad Boys II’ (2003)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

It’s not like the other Bad Boys movies are brainy affairs or anything, but Bad Boys II does prove to be particularly mindless and ridiculous. It’s the longest of the four films so far, and is packed with the most grandiose action and, quite comfortably, the most low-brow humor, too. Yet it commits to being crass and stupid with such confidence that it ends up actually being kind of great.

If you want a profane epic of sorts that represents Michael Bay at his absolute best and most unrestrained, that’s what you get here, and then some. It’s like a feature-length apology for Pearl Harbor, which is infamously a movie with one impressive sequence, and then a whole heap of poorly handled romantic melodrama. Bad Boys II, on the other hand, is non-stop with its dumb humor and explosions, and sees Will Smith and Martin Lawrence playing unconventional cops (bad boys and all, what’re you gonna do?) who yell a lot and shoot a bunch of people. What’s not to like?

7

‘Top Gun’ (1986)

Image via Paramount Pictures

People mostly remember the music of Top Gun, and the style, more than what it’s going for narratively, since it doesn’t really go for much, as far as the narrative’s concerned. There are some young men who are working their way through a fighter pilot training school, with a rivalry between the characters played by Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer probably being about as interesting as the drama gets… outside one attempt to dive into tear-jerking territory closer to the film’s end.

Unpredictable and engaging in a narrative or thematic way, it ain’t. If you want this kind of setting and some of these characters within a story that’s got a bit more forward momentum (albeit nothing complex), there is always 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. But there is a certain cool and mindless quality to the original Top Gun that’s fun, especially if you’re okay with a movie’s best moments feeling like a series of music videos.

6

‘Pineapple Express’ (2008)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Before Pineapple Express, David Gordon Green directed a fair few dramas, and then some years after Pineapple Express, he made a somewhat awkward shift into horror. But Pineapple Express remains probably his best film, and it’s also one of the greatest comedies of the 2000s, being about a pair of friends who are stoned for basically the whole movie, and they wind up on the run because they witness a corrupt cop commit a murder.

That’s an excuse, basically, to have a lot of chaotic comedy happen, and then Pineapple Express also works more and more as a gonzo action film as it trucks along. There’s a certain kind of humor here that is pretty much all you get throughout the whole film, so if you’re not on board within the first few scenes, it’s probably worth bailing. But if you’re there for it as a mindless comedy, and enjoying it in that way, then it comes as something of a pleasant surprise once Pineapple Express also decides to be a mindless action movie at the same time, too.

5

‘Point Break’ (1991)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Before Speed, The Matrix, and John Wick, Point Break was the film that best demonstrated Keanu Reeves’s ability to thrive within the action genre. Patrick Swayze also gives one of his most iconic performances here, with Reeves playing an undercover FBI agent who has to befriend and (possibly) take down Swayze’s character, who’s an adrenaline junkie and also (probably) behind a series of bank robberies.

If you’ve seen an action movie with a police detective as a main character before, much of Point Break will probably feel familiar to you, but that’s not such a bad thing when the movie manages to have as much fun with it all as this one does. Point Break is old-fashioned in some ways, and maybe a little cheesy, too, yet that adds to the movie and what it has to offer, more than it runs the risk of detracting from things.

4

‘Kung Fu Hustle’ (2004)

Image via Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International

Though he might well be the most famous person who’s ever made humorous martial arts movies, Jackie Chan by no means has a patent on that whole genre, or sub-genre, with the work of Stephen Chow showcasing that pretty well. Like Chan, Chow has both starred in and directed a decent number of action comedies, and Kung Fu Hustle, quite understandably, stands as the most iconic.

This functions like a heightened parody of – and homage to – old-school martial arts movies, dialing everything up to an extreme extent and having certain conventions of the genre play out within the bounds of something that often feels like a cartoon… but in live-action. Kung Fu Hustle does have things to offer if you’re well-versed in martial arts cinema, but there’s also just a lot here that’s appealing in a gleefully silly way. It is quite the blast; a real sugar rush of a film.

3

‘Fast & Furious 6’ (2013)

When the Fast and Furious series really hit its stride, between about 2011 and 2015, it was pretty great. And, honestly, the movies made before that point all had their charms, and then some of the movies made after that whole period were also kind of enjoyable, but the three arguable top-tier Fast and Furious movies came out in that time: Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7.

Fast Five is almost more than mindless, and then Furious 7 is mindless until you get to the end, which is genuinely touching and heartfelt. So, it’s Fast & Furious 6 that stands as the most ridiculous of the three Fast and Furious movies that got the level of bombast, fastness, and fury just right. It’s a movie that feels like stuffing your face with candy and popcorn for two hours straight, but it’s high-quality candy and popcorn, so you honestly don’t feel as nauseous as you might’ve feared you would once the two hours are up, and your binge is over.

2

‘Commando’ (1985)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Commando is not the best Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, though it could potentially be the ultimate Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Like, that stereotypical ‘80s action hero is right here, and Schwarzenegger gets to dominate the screen as him, with said hero being given one of the simplest narratives imaginable: a loved one is kidnapped, and a rampage is undertaken to get her back.

It’s basically the same thing, structurally, as Streets of Fire, but it’s the main character’s daughter who gets kidnapped, rather than an ex, and also, the main character kills a great deal many more people during his quest to rescue her. “Bombastic” doesn’t begin to cover it, with so much of the 90-minute runtime of Commando dedicated purely to a series of escalating, meaty, and almost comically blunt action sequences. It’s silly and great all at once.

1

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

Image via Paramount Pictures

To finish with something that’s a little more than mindless, here’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which is the sixth film in the Mission: Impossible movie series, and also the greatest of the bunch (which is saying a lot, since there are a fair few good ones). “Mindless” here shouldn’t suggest the movie is poorly made, though, or even anything close to that.

It’s more just that this is about as good as a simple action/spy movie can get, achieving a level of grandiosity with a premise that’s basically “Ethan Hunt is a god and he can save the world pretty much single-handedly.” He does have to save the world, and that’s it. He does, because there are two sequels. Like, that’s the movie. But Mission: Impossible – Fallout takes that and somehow spins it into one of the most exciting and compelling action movies released in (relatively) recent memory.