As is tradition, here's 10 of my favorite action scenes from 2025.
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Do American audiences like action movies anymore? It's hard to say at the moment, because with superhero movies seeing a dip at the box office and much of the R-rated goodness seemingly escaping from theaters after one weekend, you could argue that one of American's definitive genres is at a creative low.
But not in these flicks, that all offered plenty of sometimes bloody, sometimes hilarious, and always a lot of fun action beats to thrill audiences this year. So as is tradition, here's 10 of my favorite action scenes from 2025.
Honorable Mentions: The Final Fight from the martial arts action movie Diablo, The bullet hell shootout at the cabin in Havoc, Working Man's biker brawl finale, the Thunderbolts* awkward escape, and Jack Quaid's face-off with a tattoo artist in Novocaine.
"5 Years Time" from Superman
There's a lot of great comic book action to be had in James Gunn's DC kick-off, but the best example doesn't come from the man of steel. It comes from Mr. Terrific.
Hot on the Superman's trail, the stoic Mr. Terrific and Lois Lane arrive at a LexCorp beach base to find our blue boy scout...and the LexCorps goons don't care for it. After seemingly ignoring their escalating threats, or hearing jibes that "don't worry it's just the smart one," Lex's Raptor guards tell Terrific "we're giving you one last chance to stop."
To which Mr. Terrific replies, "I was about to say the same thing to you." Cue a T-Sphere shield popping up to protect Terrific and Lois, a full push of "Five Years Time" by Noah on the Whale to the top of sound mix (an ironically chosen song about a lovely day at the beach), and an absolute one-man mauling of the base by Terrific and the T-Spheres.
The audience is in Lois' position whom likely had no idea what Terrific was capable of as a regular fighter and get to watch as Terrific KOs Raptor guards with haymakers, batters around and shocks others with T-Spheres while moving like a conductor, before using the spheres like a six shooter to finish the job and cooly walking to his target. A Yondu-esque highlight, complete with the aforementioned ironic song pairing, for a hero all but the most dedicated comic book nerds didn't know about before the film.
Lois' breathless reaction says it all "Holy shit."
Popping Pins and Flame On! (tie) from Ballerina
The John Wick action model is a well-established mix of tactical gunplay, mixed martial arts bouts and bunches of blades. Which means the question for each new entry is simple: what can they add this time around?
The answer: let's go back to stuntie basics. Blow stuff up and set people on fire.
After her revenge rampage has brought her to a literal murder cult town, Ana de Armas' Eve is running low on allies and weapons, which means picking up whatever's around...and it's not always guns.
In the first example, in the middle of a furious firefight and unable to pick up a gun without taking fire, Eve makes the most of what she's got which is...an awful lot of grenades. This one has a lot of fun with the audience since Eve goes through multiple rooms looking for anything else to fire at her opponents...only to find more grenades. Guess it's a party now. The audience is then treated to Eve using said grenades like a single shot weapon, casually diving into cover tossing a grenade at the problem and moving on to her next opponent who is probably about to enjoy a shrapnel-laden death.
But in her final fury charge towards the cult leader, Eve hits the armory and finds something the audience can't see, but Eve describes as "cool." An ironic choice since the weapon in question is a handheld flame thrower that Eve introduces to the goons pursuing her by lighting up a catacomb and then lighting up the catacomb.
The fun only expands from there as Eve shifts between a pistol and the flame thrower before engaging a blonde haired mini-boss who has a flame thrower of his own. All of which is amplified by real stunt people setting themselves on fire for the sake of the fun.
Here's hoping the series continues in this more gonzo direction.
Biplane Madness from Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Since Ghost Protocol the Mission Impossible movies have made a single stunt core to the movie's marketing. In Ghost Protocol it was climbing the Burj Kalifa. In Rogue Nation it was Cruise strapping himself to a plane. In Fallout there were quite a few but the halo jump took center stage. And in the first part of the Reckoning movies, it was Cruise sending a motorcycle off a cliff into a skydive. The key here, these are almost all moments. Not entire scenes.
So of course they made the last stunt sequence the maddest one of the bunch.
Tracking down our big bad Gabriel, who has the kill switch for our AI villain, the entity, Ethan has a singular goal. Get to Gabriel and get that switch. Easier said than done though, because Gabriel and his allies have two biplanes to make their escape.
The whole sequence is incredible in terms of sheer practical stunt work, with Cruise literally being strapped to these planes that are either spinning in mid-air or barely hovering about the ground as he attempts to take control of one...only for his plane to get disabled, which means somehow...jumping to the other one...and then taking control of that one.
It's a seemingly impossible series of feats as Ethan goes from plane to plane. Cockpit to cockpit. And ultimately bailing when his quarry decides to end his own life out of spite and even has to put out his own parachute when it catches fire.
And as much as the movie could lean into the inherent drama of a world about to go up in nuclear fire or Ethan's pitched struggle to hang on for dear life, director Christopher McQuarrie lets the sound of the planes and real life human struggle on screen speak for itself.
Rescue Op from The Accountant 2
Sibling bonding takes many forms. Sometimes you crack jokes with one another. Other times you take out a band of mercenaries together while saving a literal busload of children.
After struggling to work together due to their disparate damage and neurodivergence for most of the movie, estranged brothers Christian and Braxton put their lethal skill sets together for a good cause. Said cause is a two man assault on a prison camp for trafficked children, whom are all set to be murdered to "hide the evidence."
What follows is a great bit of tactical action as the brothers work in union, clearing rooms and ground as they seamlessly cycle through assault weapons, with the ticking clock of the children's imminent demise hanging over them.
Half the fun here is the blend of grounded elements like weapon cycling, clear use of military tactics working to perfection and action hero goodness like shaking off a body shot to a kevlar vest before delivering a perfect lyplaced grenade.
It's a chaotic firefight that's paid off with some vehicle based gunplay, a daring rescue, and Braxton stopping to pick up a cat, after he's spent half the movie trying to adopt a dog, that he takes to immediately like his brother said he would.
Popping the Trunk on the Klan from Sinners
Part of the magic of Sinners is how it takes potentially indulgent elements, like this action beat, and makes them both so satisfying and so stirring that no one will complain.
With his vampire attackers burned to ash, Smoke sends his cousin, and the only other survivor, Sammie on his way. Because Smoke has unfinished business.
Well aware that the man that sold him the mill is arriving with a collective of Klansman to burn the place down, Smoke decides to finally "pop the trunk," (an excellent payoff and use of some more modern vernacular) and set up an ambush for the violent racists.
When the men arrive, they're greeted with a hail of bullets from Smoke picks off the men first with a Browning Automatic Rifle from distance, a Tommy Gun from mid-range, explosives and finally pistols as he tears through the men like a vengeful force of nature.
But as fist-pumpingly satisfying as this scene is and could be, there's also a beautiful melancholy hanging over it, as Smoke forgoes Annie's protective totem and for the first time, after war and his criminal life, is mortally wounded with a gunshot to his side.
And in his reverie he's greeted by Annie and their baby as he smokes his final cigarette and delivers the killing blow to the man begging for mercy. A suitably messy finale for a violent and sensitive man/character.
Amusement Park Massacre from Nobody 2
Is this a slight retread of the first movie's finale? Yes it is. Does it go regardless? Yes it does. With Hutch and his new allies' survival in the balance, the former government assassin lures a band of mercenaries to an amusement park he went to in his youth.
And cue the R-rated Home Alone goodness as the resulting battle between Hutch and friends and a pack of mercenaries turns into a skeet shoot. The location is truly inspired, not because of fun added varieties on the idea, whether it's weaponizing carnival games, rides or standard features, but also because it's basically winking at the audience that...this is silly fun remember.
Each member of the Mansell family gets to shine as they spring traps, set off explosives or pump a row of men full of a bullet, in increasingly over-the-top way or silly ways, including a gleeful Christopher Lloyd. Connie Nielsen getting a moment to shine and the RZA wielding a katana while spouting philosophy.
This sequel is at its best when it goes for excess, and this expanded take on the original's finale demonstrates why.
Giyu and Tanjiro vs. Akazan from Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1
It is kinda cheating to put in an extended action beat that makes up about a third of this hit anime adaptation? Ummm no. I've been doing this a long time and I've tossed in plenty of animated sequences thank you for very much.
Sarcasm aside, Ufotable have been on a stunning run of animating action, that not only captures the tension of each Demon Slayer battle but goes beyond. The featured battle of the first part in the Infinity Castle trilogy, has all of the emotional investment fans were looking for. A chance to see Tanjiro face down the demon he witnesses murder Rengoku without an ounce of fear with Giyu by his side. So much shared history that's been building to this moment for literal years.
But action wise this is precisely the over-the-top physics defying fun I come for.
Using this "Infinity Castle" idea to its maximum potential, Tanjiro, his mentor Giyu and the demon Akazan bounce back and forth changing planes and orientation on a dime while they throw out one color bomb haymaker after another. And that's before we get into patented Demon Slayer desperation mode when Tanjiro either has to figure out a trick to survive a moment longer, or find a way to exceed his limits. All the while our opponents volley enough visual fire power at the audience to match a literal fireworks show.
I cannot tell you how hard this hits in a theater.
"They're All Assassins" from Fight or Flight
This R-rated Josh Hartnett vehicle starts off with a fun idea. We've got one lethal hero, Hartnett's Lucas Reyes set to defend and detain a hacker wanted by the United States government. Just one problem. There might be an assassin or two on board. Which means the definitely not sober Reyes is primed for a few hand to hand bouts.
Unless, for some reason, the entire plane is loaded with folks who do murder for hire....
In a great incorporation of a twist that then explodes into an action sequence, Hartnett's Reyes begins to fight his way to the front of the plane, after learning that almost every passenger wants them both dead. Chaotic grappling ensues as Reyes begins tear through the assassins as the weapon choices and payoffs get progressively more absurd.
Said chaotic elements include:
- a small man being beaten in the face and shoved into an overhead compartment
- literal Shaolin monks coming to Reyes' aid
- the small man then being released out of the overhead compartment and smashed into oblivion again like a respawned NPC.
- The least safe usage of seat belts.
- Wind pipes being crushed by seat dividers and more.
A great use of the space and concept to deliver a deliciously over-the-top bit of action. And we haven't even brought out the chainsaw or shot a hole in the fuselage yet...
Bullet Train from Sisu: Road to Revenge
This sequence from the Sisu sequel has all the hallmarks of prime eighties cheese. A bad-ass escape. A stealth section. And finally a dual-wielding machine gun section where our hero turns a bunch of Russian soldiers into paste.
To kick things off our hero Korpi, who's been captured and tortured by the man who murdered his family, first hulks out enough to break his restraints out of the ceiling, before unsheathing a knife he slide in under his skin, take out his guards and works his way forward.
From there things get progressively more comical as the Finnish fighter does his level best to avoid detection from a platoon of Russian soldiers with silent knife kills and a casual attempt to skip the highly armed portion of this video game level by sneaking on top of the train to the front cars.
Just kidding, instead Korpi is clanged in the face by a post and is thrown directly into a furious firefight against multiple cars full of men. Dual-wielding automatic weapons with no regard for human life in a ten mile radius.
What really makes the scene stand-out isn't just the absurd level of carnage but also the movie's tongue in cheek approach to it all including a soldier who sees both of his hands removed before the final cu-de-grace explodes his head.
A rampage that continues for a solid number of minutes as Korpi cuts through the chum to get to his ultimate foe, literally bathed in his own blood, that lives up to the one-man army Korpi is alleged to be.
Rescue Mission from Predator: Badlands
After spending most of the movie reject help or connection, our Yautja hero Dek has just been spared by his Kalisk prey and seen his android friend, whom he's called a tool, Thia, save him from a horrific series of experiments by the Weyland-Yutani androids.
So what do you do when you've had a change of heart, have new enemies to fight but none of your signature weapons? Take a page out of Dutch's book.
The payoff here is delicious for a lot of reasons.
One of the big ones is that this is the first time that Dek is actually like a traditional Predator, carrying out a series of stealthy hit and run attacks on the androids, using a bunch of makeshift weapons to his advantage. We also have a series of payoffs as Dek uses the potentially lethal aspects of the planet, including acid spitting worms and explosive plants, as his primary defense and weapons to substitute for his lack of laser sword. And there's the delightful fun of Dek's small ally Bud tearing through plenty of androids on his own and Thia's bottom and top half working in acrobatic concert to take out the gun-toting androids guarding her. And because these are androids and not humans, the scene delights as each of these soulless androids meets a gruesome end.
All of which builds to a series-appropriate finale between Dek, Thia's evil twin Tessa wielding a giant Ripley-ass power loader, and the Kalisk coming in for a save.
And while I could go on about how well this sequence blends CGI elements with practical action, choice use of slow-motion, and a fun use of the environments, the real kick for this scene is our hero Dek, finally rejecting the solitude imbued by his culture to embrace connection and his own tribe.
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